Over the course of its 150-year history, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has been guided through times of growth, turbulence, and challenge by a group of accomplished and visionary state health officers.
They came from varied backgrounds; most were born, raised, and educated here in Alabama, but one was born and attended school in Canada, and others attended prestigious schools such as Harvard before settling into their roles in Alabama's health.
While circumstances have naturally changed from 1879 to 2025, these state health officers have faced many similar challenges, from the difficulties of creating and maintaining a unified network of professionals, to the political and financial hurdles involved in building a healthy infrastructure, to the struggle to combat entrenched and emerging infectious diseases, and to the need to eliminate gaps in health care for the state's many different populations.
In recognition of ADPH's 150th anniversary, here are profiles of each state health officer, the challenges they faced, and the accomplishments that define their individual legacies, and the legacy of ADPH as a whole.
Even before he was named Alabama's first state health officer in 1879, Dr. Jerome Cochran was laying the foundation for a body of work that now marks him as the "Father of the Alabama Public Health System."
A respected physician throughout his career, Dr. Cochran served on a committee of notable public health officials who, under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Smith, created the American Public Health Association (APHA) in 1872. The APHA's announced purpose was advancing the science of sanitation and promoting the importance of public hygiene.
In 1873, while serving as the city health officer of Mobile, Alabama, Dr. Cochran's leadership was instrumental in containing and ultimately ending a year-long smallpox epidemic.
Writing important health legislation was a cornerstone of Dr. Cochran's career. In addition to authoring the bill that transformed the Medical Association of the State of Alabama into the official State Board of Health, he is credited with writing every statute and ordinance related to public health between the years of 1873 and 1896.
During his tenure as state health officer, Dr. Cochran was the only full-time paid officer of the entire state and local public health system. His primary responsibilities included the investigation of epidemics and the implementation of quarantine measures when necessary. He also took on a challenge that would be a familiar --- and difficult --- task for himself and for many subsequent state health officers: developing a cohesive reporting system, driven by the county boards of health, covering vital statistics such as births and deaths.
While he was ultimately unsuccessful in that endeavor, Dr. Cochran is credited with building great confidence in the state's fledgling health system, and with encouraging the growth of that system at the county level.
Dr. William Henry Sanders was appointed to the position of state health officer in 1896, replacing state health officer pro tempore Samuel D. Seelye, M.D., who temporarily filled the position in the immediate aftermath of Dr. Jerome Cochran's death.
Dr. Sanders approached the position with expansion in mind. He worked with the state to increase appropriations for the health department each year, hitting a high point of $25,000 in 1911. He also sought to develop a state-run bacteriological and pathological laboratory to help with "microscopic work" that would benefit doctors and citizens.
Dr. Sanders established two new positions within the health department during his tenure: State Bacteriologist, first filled by Dr. E.M. Mason; and Registrar of Vital and Mortuary Statistics, first filled by Dr. Horace G. Perry. These eventually became the first "bureaus" in the State Health Department, and were the first instances when certain duties were encapsulated as their own departments within the overall agency.
Dr. Sanders resigned in January 1917 due to illness, and passed away a year later.
Dr. Samuel Wallace Welch's nomination as state health officer was approved in 1917, following the resignation of Dr. William Henry Sanders. He was also elected chairman of the State Board of Censors; chairman of the State Board of Medical Examiners; and chairman of the State Committee of Public Health. Dr. Welch held these positions throughout his entire tenure as state health officer.
Known for his diplomacy and ability to persuade, Dr. Welch's leadership saw an increased attitude of cooperation among the state's public health entities --- as well as increased support from the state in the form of higher budgets. He successfully campaigned to increase the State Board of Health's appropriations to $150,000 in 1919. His directives for the larger budget, which included establishing the bureaus of Rural Sanitation, Public Health Nursing, and Child Welfare, were intended to "make Alabama the most desirable state in the union to live in."
Despite his successes in the political aspects of the position, Dr. Welch faced challenges. There were opponents who wanted to see the power of appointing people to the State Board of Health transferred to the governor, an opinion he opposed because, in his opinion, Alabama's health system was meant to "divorce public health from politics." Despite these power struggles, Dr. Welch was deliberate in maintaining legislative contacts in every community in the state. He also sponsored legislation that gave the governor the position of ex officio chairman of the State Board of Health.
During his tenure, Dr. Welch also guided the state through various health concerns, including malaria, hookworm, and typhoid fever.
Dr. Douglas Cannon was appointed acting state health officer in August 1928, and named state health officer in April 1929. Dr. Cannon was the last state health officer to also serve as chairman of the Board of Censors, the Committee of Public Health, and the State Board of Medical Examiners simultaneously.
Citing mental health reasons, Dr. Cannon resigned from all positions just 3 months after his appointment. He was able to return to the public health profession 6 months later, serving as an administrative assistant to the state health officer. He went on to be elected as health officer in Montgomery County in 1955, and served in that position until his death in 1962.
When Dr. James Norment Baker was appointed state health officer in 1930, it was in a diminished version of the role as compared to his predecessors. Dr. Baker's duties were now limited to the administration of the State Board of Health, and did not include chairmanship of the State Board of Medical Examiners, the Committee of Public Health, nor the State Board of Censors.
Dr. Baker concentrated his efforts on organizing the state's county health system. He also emphasized the importance of public health activities and consultation. Educating the public on matters of health was also important to Dr. Baker. He expanded education efforts, which typically utilized newspapers and radio, to include short educational films. By 1935, 21 county health departments were equipped to produce their own 16mm films.
Dr. Baker sought to expand the scope of the department's work, and by 1941 he'd added a Division of Mental Hygiene, joining bureaus dedicated to administration, maternal and child welfare, laboratories, preventable diseases, sanitation and county health.
Chief among Alabama's health concerns during Dr. Baker's tenure were tuberculosis and maternal and child care.
Dr. Baker held the position of state health officer until his death in November 1941.
Dr. Burton Forsyth Austin worked his way up through Alabama's burgeoning county health system, becoming the first county health officer of Morgan County in 1920, moving on to become Madison County's health officer in 1923, and then serving as a district health officer from 1925 to 1930. From there, Dr. Baker moved up to the state level, serving as director of the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health beginning in 1935. He was named acting state health officer in November 1941 after the death of Dr. James Norment Baker, and was appointed to the position in April 1942.
Dr. Austin experienced two legislative sessions as state health officer, and was largely successful in advancing the initiatives and capabilities of the public health system during both.
In 1943, seven new pieces of healthcare-related legislation were passed, including those establishing blood test requirements for syphilis, funding for indigent patients with cancer, and education regarding cancer control.
In 1945, seventeen pieces of legislation passed --- notable among them were the granting of new powers for the State Board of Health regarding licensing, the awarding of federal monies, and the establishment of new bureaus and divisions.
Additional items brought to the legislature during Dr. Austin's time concerned the prevention and cure of cancer, the vaccination of dogs, venereal disease, prostitution, and public water supplies.
Dr. Austin resigned his position as state health officer in 1946.
Dr. Daniel Gordon Gill, born, raised, and educated in Canada, became the first person neither born nor educated in the United States to hold the position of Alabama's state health officer.
Dr. Gill first arrived in Alabama as the beneficiary of a Rockefeller Foundation Grant, studying hookworms in the southern portion of the state. In 1925, the foundation requested he go to South America, but Dr. Gill chose to stay in the state. He was hired as a physician epidemiologist for the State Health Department, and was appointed director of the Bureau of Preventable Diseases in 1928.
His career path leading up to his appointment as state health officer included a stint as state medical officer of the Selective Service System of Alabama, and time serving as the Montgomery County health officer in 1946.
Throughout the 1950s, Dr. Gill and the State Board of Health found themselves in dispute with the state's chiropractors. The board opposed a 1951 bill that would have allowed chiropractors to create their own licensing board. While that bill did not pass, the Medical Practice Act was passed in 1959, releasing the board of the responsibility of licensing chiropractors and allowing for the formation of the Chiropractic Board. Repeated attempts were made during this time to dissolve the State Board of Health over the pretense of it wielding too much power, but those efforts failed.
The board claimed other accomplishments during Dr. Gill's tenure, including:
In 1959, Dr. Gill was chosen as a U.S. delegate to the World Health Organization conference in Geneva, Switzerland. His eventual successor, Dr. Ira L. Myers, served as acting state health officer from May 9 to June 7, 1959, in his absence.
Dr. Gill passed away in December of 1962, just months after accepting a new 5-year term as state health officer. Dr. J. Paul Jones was appointed acting state health officer days after Dr. Gill's death.
Dr. Ira L. Myers was recruited to the Alabama public health system by then-state health officer Dr. Daniel Gordon Gill, who wanted to prepare Dr. Myers to be his successor. Dr Gill took a pay cut to join the Department in 1955, feeling he owed the state of Alabama for helping him begin his education via a scholarship to the Medical College of Alabama in Birmingham, awarded to him by the State Board of Censors. He spent seven years as the number two man in the department's administration, eventually becoming the youngest man to hold the office of state health officer in the U.S. at 38.
The years Dr. Myers served were a transformative time for the department, and for healthcare in Alabama as a whole. Notable developments included:
Myers retired in 1986, leaving behind a legacy of unprecedented legislative success and much-needed departmental growth in personnel, facilities, and education.
As state health officer, Dr. Claude Earl Fox, III, helped the department advance its work in two extremely important areas: vital records and minority health.
During his tenure, the department implemented the Vital Statistics Image Oriented Network, or ViSION. This was an automated system that allowed vital records to be issued through any county health department in the state. This vastly improved the public's ability to quickly and easily obtain records such as birth certificates and death certificates.
In 1991, concerned about the large gap in the health statuses between minorities and Caucasians in Alabama, Dr. Fox established the Office of Minority Health. Its mission was multi-faceted:
Dr. Fox's time with ADPH came to an end in 1992, when he joined the United States Public Health Service as a regional health administrator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In June of 1992, Dr. Carole Wilkerson Samuelson became the first woman to serve as state health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Dr. Samuelson received her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, and her Doctorate in Medicine from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. When she and her husband, Dr. Paul Samuelson, moved to Birmingham in 1975, she joined the medical staff of the Jefferson County Department of Health.
Dr. Samuelson served as deputy health officer before being named Jefferson County Health Officer in May 1985. Among the initiatives Dr. Samuelson focused on during her seventeen years in the position were the Healthy Start program to reduce infant mortality, and the development of clinics in four area schools.
Dr. Samuelson also served on the medical staff of Children's of Alabama for over 25 years, and worked in the University of Alabama Department of Pediatrics as an adjunct assistant professor, a clinical assistant professor, and assistant professor.
Her career was highly decorated, including a place in the Birmingham Business Journal's Top Ten Birmingham Women, the Ira L. Myers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Health, and The Medical Association of the State of Alabama William Henry Sanders Award.
Dr. Samuelson served as the interim state health officer from June 1992 through November 1992, when Dr. Donald E. Williamson received the permanent appointment.
She retired as Jefferson County health officer in March 2002. In November 2008, the Carole W. Samuelson Building, which houses the Eastern Health Center of the Jefferson County Department of Health, was dedicated.
Dr. Donald Williamson's 23-year tenure as state health officer was characterized by major challenges and major achievements.
Two of the department's most significant accomplishments during his time were the creation of the Alabama Public Health Care Authority, which was responsible for building and maintaining public health infrastructure throughout the state, and the establishment of the nation's first approved Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which continues today to provide millions of dollars in insurance to otherwise uninsured children.
A major, unexpected challenge faced by ADPH during Dr. Williamson's administration was the threat of anthrax attacks on the heels of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Letters laced with anthrax were circulated through the U.S. postal system, ultimately resulting in five deaths. ADPH's Bureau of Clinical Laboratories worked closely with local, state, and federal officials to combat this terrorist activity. This included analyzing specimens submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), conducting education and safety seminars for state mail handlers, and coordinating public communication and education efforts.
In April of 2010, another challenge arose when the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon suffered a massive explosion, resulting in the spill of nearly 210 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Multiple coastal areas in Alabama, including Mobile and Baldwin counties, and communities like Bayou La Batre and Dauphin Island, were affected. ADPH coordinated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health and Sciences to respond to the disaster, working to test seafood samples, monitor water conditions, and provide answers and solutions to the public regarding health and safety issues.
Dr. Williamson's work earned him a number of awards, including the 2013 Paul W. Burleson Award from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, the 2006 and 2010 Presidential Meritorious Service Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Offices, and the 1999 Child Health Advocate Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Perhaps the most notable recognition of Dr. Williamson's impact came in 2022, 7 years after he departed ADPH, when the new state lab facility in Prattville, Alabama, was dedicated to him as the Donald E. Williamson, M.D., State Health Laboratory. This new lab, which began operations in 2020, was built to replace a leased 1970s-era facility on the Auburn University Montgomery campus.
Dr. Thomas Miller was named state health officer in 2015, following the retirement of Dr. Donald E. Williamson. In his 25 years at ADPH, Dr. Miller touched nearly every corner of the department, working as chief medical officer and overseeing bureaus such as Clinical Laboratories, Family Health Services, and Home and Community Services. In addition, he worked with multiple programs, including Family Planning, WIC, Immunization, and HIV Prevention and Control.
Dr. Miller also served his home community of Prattville, serving several terms on the Prattville City Council.
Dr. Miller retired in 2017.
Before being named acting state health officer in 2017 and being unanimously elected to the position by the State Committee of Public Health in February of 2018, Dr. Scott Harris practiced infectious disease medicine in Decatur, Alabama, and served as the medical director of the Decatur-Morgan Community Free Clinic from 2005 to 2015. His pre-ADPH work also included stints with the 1917 Clinic and the VA Hospital's HIV Clinic, and time serving as a volunteer physician on international medical mission trips to Central and South America, and Africa.
Dr. Harris's initial focus was on infant mortality, emergency preparedness, and the growing opioid epidemic. One of the department's greatest challenges arrived in early 2020, in the form of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The timeline of the pandemic in Alabama was brisk. Education efforts regarding the disease began in January 2020, and COVID-19 was declared a reportable disease on March 6. The first case of COVID-19 in Alabama was recorded on March 13, and the first Alabama death attributed to the disease was recorded on March 25.
The months and years that followed included a range of lows and highs, from the declaration by Governor Kay Ivey of a state of emergency, to the imposing of strict health orders including size limitations on public gatherings and school closings. There were complications due to the circulation of misinformation and the resultant public resistance to newly-developed COVID-19 vaccines. There was the development of the COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, which helped get timely, accurate information out to the public. And finally, there was the expiration of the public health emergency for COVID-19 in May 2023.
Throughout the sometimes chaotic uncertainty of the pandemic, Dr. Harris provided calm, steady leadership that enabled the department to navigate the situation to the best of everyone's ability.
It should also be noted that, just before the pandemic, Alabama's eWIC program launched in 2019, providing WIC members with a debit-style card to replace the paper-based vouchers previously in use. Also, in the early days of COVID-19, the state's first comprehensive Oral Health Plan was released.
In October 2024, Dr. Harris was named the 82nd president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). ASTHO is a national nonprofit organization representing public health agencies in the U.S. and its territories. The group seeks to promote the development of sound public health policy and ensure excellence in public health practice.