Karla Buru, DrPH, MPH, MSW, serves as Deputy Director of Health Strategy and External Affairs & Chief of Staff for the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH). In this role she assists the agency's director in the development and implementation of special projects, strategies, budgeting and agency initiatives on a day-to-day basis.
Gwendolyn (Gwen) Thompson serves as deputy director of Healthcare Quality for the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH). Healthcare Quality's primary purpose is to work together with health care facilities and services to protect the public's health by assuring that safe, quality care is provided.
Edward Simmer, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is the interim director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH). In this role, Simmer leads the cabinet agency and reports to Governor Henry McMaster.
Useful Information
Chronic diseases, in general, are conditions that last one year or more and require ongoing medical attention and/or limit the daily living activities of someone with the disease. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States.
Commercial tobacco use remains the single largest avoidable risk factor for disease and premature death in the United States and in South Carolina.
The Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control uses data to identify commercial tobacco use-related health disparities and to effectively implement meaningful commercial tobacco prevention and control strategies that include:
