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Mayor names new agency directors
(Published August 9, 2004)

By ROBERT ARKELL
Staff Writer

Mayor Anthony A. Williams has named a new city health director and nominated the man who has served as interim chief of public works since April to become that department’s permanent director.

The appointments of Dr. Gregg A. Pane to head the Department of Health and William O. Howland Jr. to lead the Department of Public Works both require confirmation by the D.C. City Council. The council returns from its summer recess on Sept. 15.

Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, who chairs the committee that will conduct Howland’s confirmation hearing, praised his appointment to the director’s post. Howland stepped into the job after previous director Leslie Hotaling retired in April.

"I think Bill Howland is an excellent (example) of appointing from within (the agency) – I’m glad we’ve done so," Schwartz said.

Pane, who has served the past two years as vice president for clinical quality and medical director for public policy initiatives at Detroit’s Henry Ford Health System, will take over a long-troubled health department.

Under the interim direction of Deputy Mayor for Operations Herbert R. Tillery since March, when previous director James Buford departed, the health department recently began undergoing major restructuring. Among the shakeups was the recent firing of Theodore Gordon, longtime chief of the department’s Environmental Health Administration.

Introduced during the mayor’s weekly press briefing on Aug. 4, Pane pledged to "devote all my energy to move this department forward and to serving the people of this city."

Pane served as chief policy and planning officer for the Veterans Health Administration from 1996 until he left to work at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. He previously served two years as chief medical officer for Unisys Health Information Management and two years as medical director of the Louisiana Medicaid program, and was residency program director at the University of California-Irvine Division of Emergency Medicine for several years. Pane received bachelor of science and medical degrees from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of San Francisco.

The mayor also announced the appointment of Lydia L. Watts as the city’s HIV/AIDS administrator, a position she will assume on Sept. 7. Watts has served since 2000 as health policy director for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and previously worked as contract director for the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Office of HIV/AIDS Public Policy and Programs.

During the mayor’s press briefing, Watts said her top priority in the District will be to link people with HIV/AIDS into a system of care.

Questioned about her past opposition to needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of VIV/ AIDS during her four years with Chicago’s health department, Watts asserted her support for needle exchange.

"I agree with this agency’s support (for needle exchange)," Watts said of the D.C. Department of Health’s position. "My personal opinions are secondary to the interests of this agency."