Kasich fills newly created ODH medical director position

Earlier this week Gov. Kasich appointed former state epidemiologist Dr. Mary DiOrio as the Ohio Department of Health’s medical director (Source: “Kasich appoints medical director for Health Department,” Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 10, 2014).

DiOrio and Richard Hodges — the former director of the Ohio Turnpike Commission whom Kasich appointed to lead the Health Department in August — will form a two-person leadership team at ODH.

DiOrio’s position was created to work alongside Hodges, a former Republican state lawmaker who has managerial but no significant medical experience. She replaces Dr. Mary Applegate, appointed in August on an interim basis to the newly created medical-director position.

A release from Kasich’s office yesterday said DiOrio will be part of a “new management structure to oversee medical issues as Hodges applies his management and public-health experience to lead the overall management of the agency.”