Oct. 2, 2007 — The governor has announced the appointment of three Department of Health officials.
Gov. John deJongh Jr. made the announcements Tuesday, according to a Government House news release. Fern Clarke has been appointed territorial assistant health commissioner, while Julia Sheen-Aaron has been appointed assistant health commissioner, based out of St. Croix.
Dr. Audria Thomas, the department's St. Thomas District health officer for 15 years, has been appointed to serve as medical director to oversee the Office of Medical Affairs, newly created by Health Commissioner Vivian I. Ebbesen-Fludd.
The appointments will help build a stronger infrastructure that will enhance the Department of Health's role as the leading health agency in the territory, the commissioner said.
"I am pleased to have them on board because of the energy, expertise and interpersonal skills that they each bring to their respective positions as we work to continue moving the department forward to meet the needs of both internal and external customers and partners," she said.
Clarke previously served as assistant commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement; operations manager for SourceNet, a management and consulting company; bureau chief for evaluations and negotiations at the Department of Property and Procurement; and director of materials management at Roy L. Schneider Regional Medical Center.
Clarke, a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School, holds a master's of management degree and a graduate certificate in health-care administration from St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla., and a bachelor's in Sociology from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
Sheen-Aaron holds a master's of science degree in public health from Emory University in Atlanta and a graduate certificate program in public health from the University of Washington's School of Public Health and Community Medicine. She is not new to the Department of Health, having served in various capacities between 1993-2004. She served as the department's director of the chronic disease prevention from 1993-2004; project manager for its breast and cervical cancer unit from 1995-1998; project manager for its cardiovascular health program from 1993-2004; project coordinator for its behavioral risk factor surveillance systems from 1994-2004; and project manager for its tobacco prevention and control program from 1995-2004.
Thomas, a native of Washington, D.C., has practiced in the Virgin Islands for 22 years and currently serves as the district health officer on St. Thomas for the Department of Health. She is also a member of the Schneider Regional Medical staff as an allergy consultant and holds memberships with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Allergy and Immunology and American Lung Association of the Virgin Islands.
Thomas completed her pediatric residency and allergy-immunology fellowship at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland in College Park and her medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.
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