Douglas Skelton, M.D., Georgia Coastal Health District (9-1) Director.

Currently the district health director in the Coastal Health District, District 9-1, W. Douglas Skelton, M.D., has accepted an opportunity to become vice chancellor and dean of the Trinity School of Medicine in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Upon his departure from the Georgia Department of Public Health on June 1, Skelton will leave a tremendous legacy.   
 
Skelton joined the department in 2004 as the director of the public health district serving Chatham and Effingham counties, and later oversaw the merger of the public health programs in Camden, Glynn, McIntosh, Liberty, Long and Bryan counties with those in Chatham and Effingham to create the present-day Coastal Health District. Skelton served as dean of the Mercer University School of Medicine from 1985 to 2001 and as senior vice president and provost for health affairs from 2001 to 2004. Skelton currently serves as a clinical professor of psychiatry for Mercer and the Medical College of Georgia, and previously held faculty appointments at Emory and Morehouse Schools of Medicine.  
 
Diane Z. Weems, M.D., chief medical officer for the Chatham County Health Department and Coastal Health District, will bring 25 years of public experience to her new role as interim district health director. Weems also serves as medical director for the Chatham County Health Department Laboratory and is an adjunct faculty member of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University. In 2011, Weems received the Sellers-McCroan Award for outstanding achievement in epidemiology and the Al Dohany Award for community service. Weems earned a bachelor's degree and medical degree from the University of Florida and is a board certified pediatrician. 

-Story by DPH Communications