MADISON COUNTY, Ala. — Alabama State Health Officer, Dr. Tim Miller is retiring this fall. Dr. Scott Harris of Decatur will be stepping in to take Miller’s place.
Harris currently serves as the Assistant State Health Officer and has been a practicing medical professional in Alabama for more than 20 years.
From his experience working in a community hospital, going on medical mission trips and in private practice, Dr. Scott Harris says he has a good feeling as to what doctors deal with on a local level.
He says he’s ready to take the next step in a new role.
“There are just some groups of people that are much more prone to have health complications than other folks and that’s really the issue of public health, the ones to address and that’s really what I’d like to do,” Harris said.
The position looks over 65 local health departments in the state.
As an Alabama native, Dr. Harris says there are some major health challenges our state faces.
“Obesity, smoking, inactivity, sedentary behavior and those relate to a whole lot of chronic diseases,” Harris said.
He plans to call on his two decades of experience to help him in his new position.
“I care a lot about public health, which I think is true for anybody in the job,” Dr. Harris said. “But what I’d like to bring to it is the perspective of somebody that’s born and raised here, who spent a couple of decades working in private practice and seeing how that works.”