By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org
Dr. Lisa Kaplowitz. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)
After only 18 months as Alexandria’s Health Director, Dr. Lisa Kaplowitz has resigned. On March 1, she will become the Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, located within the Office of the Secretary, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.
“I have very mixed feelings about leaving this job because I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as director of the Alexandria Health Department,” Kaplowitz said. “This is an amazing staff and the City is very supportive of our mission. I am leaving because I have been offered a once in a lifetime opportunity and I just can’t refuse it.”
In her new position, Kaplowitz will be responsible for addressing a broad range of policy issues related to public health and health care emergency preparedness and response, and for restructuring the Office. This will involve interactions and collaboration with many agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, other federal departments, the White House and a broad range of governmental and private organizations and entities in public health and health care, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Kaplowitz’s local and state public health experience will serve her well in her new position. “This includes my experience developing private-public partnerships, linkages between public health and health care, and intergovernmental collaborations in the Commonwealth. I hope to also bring an understanding of the different roles of local, state and federal governments in emergency preparedness and response to my new position,” she said.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (left) and Dr. Lisa Kaplowtitz (right). (Photo: Regan Kireilis)
Kaplowitz earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology and mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1970. She attended medical school at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina. She began her career in public health in Richmond in 1983 as medical director for the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic at the Department of Health. In 1985, she became the director of AIDS program of the Medical College of Virginia hospitals. In 1991, she became the director and principal invesitgator of the mid-Atlantic AIDS Education and Training Center. From 1996 to 1997, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. From 2002 to 2008, she was Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response for the Virginia Department of Health.
In Alexandria, she played a key role in planning for the H1N1 pandemic. “Even though I am leaving the Alexandria Health Department, I plan to remain involved in the life of the City,” Kaplowitz said. “My husband and I tutor young siblings and I am committed to the work of the Partnership for a Healthy Alexandria. I also could be a member of the reserve medical corps. I will have to see what my new schedule will permit,” Kaplowitz said.
City Manager Jim Hartmann is sorry to lose her. “In her time with the Alexandria Health Department Dr. Lisa Kaplowitz has been an essential member of the City leadership team. Her strong leadership, vision, and health expertise will certainly be missed here in Alexandria,” Hartmann said. “However, we are excited that Dr. Kaplowitz will bring her extensive qualifications to the Health and Human Service Department right here in the National Capitol region. We know how valuable Dr. Kaplowitz was to Alexandria. Now the federal government will have the opportunity to see what an asset she is for the country.”