VALDOSTA — Dr. Kathleen Toomey, MD, MPH, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, will be the keynote speaker at an employee development day Thursday, Oct. 10.

South Health District, one of 18 health districts in Georgia, will host an event for more than 200 employees throughout South Georgia at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center, health officials said.

Toomey was appointed the commissioner of DPH by Gov. Brian Kemp in March.

“This event will allow Dr. Toomey to share her vision and goals with our employees,” said Dr. William Grow, MD, FACP, district health director. “It will also allow our employees a time to visit with Dr. Toomey that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

An epidemiologist and board-certified family practitioner, Toomey’s career in public health is long and distinguished, holding key leadership positions with the State of Georgia and both national and international leadership positions with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials said.

She served as the CDC’s country director in Botswana. In addition to other leadership positions with the CDC, Toomey previously served as the director of the Division of Public Health with the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

“We look forward to having Dr. Toomey at our event,” Grow said. “I believe our front-line staff who work in our health departments daily should have the same opportunity to meet our commissioner as our staff that travel to Atlanta for state business.”