Public Health
New DCHHS director
a public health ‘rock star’
Philip Huang, MD (center), the new medical director of
Dallas County Health and Human Services Department,
with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and DCMS Past
President John Carlo, MD
March 2019 Dallas Medical Journal 11
physician familiar
to many physicians
involved in public
health issues in DCMS
and nationwide,
Philip Huang,
MD, brings a strong public health
background to his new role as
director of the Dallas County Health
and Human Services Department.
He is the first physician to hold this
position in more than 20 years. After
a unanimous vote by Dallas County
commissioners, Dr. Huang began his
new role in February.
“Dr. Huang is a rock star in the
world of public health,” says Michael
Darrouzet, DCMS executive vice
president/CEO. “We are grateful to
the Dallas County commissioners for
selecting him. They could not have
chosen a more qualified person for
our community, and we look forward
to working closely with him in the
years ahead.”
Dr. Huang had been medical
director of Austin Public Health
Department since 2008. As such,
TMA frequently called on him to
testify on public health issues before
the Legislature.
The smoking-cessation campaign
he led in the Austin area, which
called for tobacco-free policies
at work places, earned him the
2012 Public Health Award from
the American Academy of Family
Physicians. He also was instrumental
in successful efforts by Smoke-free
Dallas to prohibit smoking at most
Dallas work sites. DCMS was a major
player in that campaign.
Dr. Huang grew up in Dallas and
graduated from Rice University
with a civil engineering degree. He
earned his medical degree from UT
Southwestern Medical School and is
board certified in family medicine.
Dr. Huang has a master’s degree
in public health from Harvard with
a concentration in health policy and
management. While at Harvard, Dr.
Huang led the successful movement
resulting in Harvard’s divestiture of
its tobacco stocks.
In Texas, he served as medical
director for Chronic Disease
Prevention at the Texas Department
of State Health Services and led the
department’s Bureau of Chronic
Disease and Tobacco Prevention,
where he oversaw state activities
related to cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease,
asthma, and tobacco use prevention.
Dr. Huang served two years as an
Epidemic Intelligence Service officer
with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, where he conducted
infectious disease outbreak
investigations and epidemiologic
studies in chronic disease.
When the director’s position came
open, DCMS formed a task force,
chaired by DCMS Board Chairman
John Carlo, MD, and comprised
of area physicians with extensive
background in public health and
experience in health department
leadership. Together they created
a white paper that summarized the
backgrounds and qualifications of
directors, and provided the primary
functions, budgets and operations
of similarly sized local health
departments in the country.
“I was thrilled that our
Commissioners Court approved Dr.
Huang as the next director for Dallas
County Health and Human Services,”
Dr. Carlo says. “The department plays
such a pivotal role in ensuring the
public’s health, and I know Dr. Huang
will be a great leader to inspire and
mobilize efforts toward improving
the health of everyone in Dallas
County.” DMJ
A