Mississippi health officials have selected the person who will replace Dr. Thomas Dobbs as the state’s health officer.
Deputy State Health Officer Daniel P. Edney takes over in the job on Aug. 1, the Mississippi State Board of Health announced Wednesday.
Dobbs, who was the top state official leading Mississippi through the COVID-19 pandemic, is resigning July 31.
Edney joined MSDH in February 2021 as chief medical officer and regional health officer for the Central Public Health Region.
“Among his various contributions, Dr. Edney worked with various organizations and partnerships to explain COVID and answer questions,” Dobbs said. “He has also worked with providers to sign them up to give COVID vaccine, and he fielded questions from providers about allergies and other complications related to the administration of the vaccine.”
Edney said he appreciates the time he has spent working closed with Dobbs.
“Following in the footsteps of Dr. Dobbs, I, too, hope to serve as a catalyst for change — especially with infant and maternal mortality, the opioids battle plaguing the country right now, and moving the needle in preventive health and health equity issues,” he said.
A summa cum laude graduate of both William Carey University and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Edney is a board-certified general internist with subspecialty board certification in addiction medicine.
He has practiced general primary care internal medicine in Vicksburg since 1991 and has worked in the field of addiction medicine since 2013. He is an addiction medicine specialist for various inpatient residential facilities and outpatient programs in the state and has a private practice at the Medical Associates of Vicksburg.
Edney is a former president of the Mississippi State Medical Association and serves as a board member on the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. He has also served as a fellow and laureate for the Mississippi Chapter of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
