Lexington emergency room doctor chosen as Kentucky public health commissioner

Jan. 27--A Lexington emergency department physician is Kentucky's new Department for Public Health commissioner.

Dr. Steven Stack, who works at Saint Joseph East, will replace Dr. Angela Dearinger as public health commissioner, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced Monday.

Stack formerly served as emergency department medical director and department chair at the Saint Joseph East. In 2015, he was the youngest person to be named president of the American Medical Association.

Stack is the third public health commissioner to hold the position since last summer. Dearinger, who was appointed by former Gov. Matt Bevin in September, replaced Dr. Jeffrey Howard. Howard, before he left his post in August for a job with the White House, was sharply criticized for his department's slow response to the nation's largest hepatitis A outbreak earlier in 2019, which killed 61 Kentuckians.

Acting Cabinet Secretary Eric Friedlander in a statement said Stack is an "excellent choice to modernize our state's public health services."

"Health care is one of the most important needs of Kentuckians," Gov. Andy Beshear said. Stack will help provide a "strong foundation of well-being for everyone by informing, educating and empowering people about health issues and hazards in their own communities."

Stack has worked at hospitals across Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business, where he also received his Master's of Business Administration. A Cleveland native, he graduated from Ohio State University's medical school. He has lived in Lexington since 2006, where he has since spent more than a decade as a member of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's Emergency Medical Advisory Board.

As commissioner, Stack said he intends to make public health resources more accessible.

"Our state health officials are here to support and enhance local health departments," he said. "We can't forget that health care is local, and we have to balance a practice of targeting the right care with the approach of maximizing our state and federal resources."

He begins his new role Feb. 10.

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