ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health in Orange County has gained a new medical director of communicable diseases, health officials announced Monday.
Asim Jani, M.D., M.P.H., started as the department’s new medical director of communicable diseases on June 30, taking over for Dr. Thomas Prince.
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“We are excited to have Dr. Jani rejoin the DOH-Orange Team,” interim administrator Beth Paterniti said in a news release. “He brings with him organizational leadership skills as well as a wealth of experience in clinical medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology and several years of state and local Florida Department of Health experience to the position.”
Jani is bringing 30 years of leadership experience to the role, having gained skills in public health practice, primary care and clinical infectious diseases, medical epidemiology (emerging infections/population health) and workforce development. His specialties include internal medicine, infectious diseases and public health/general preventive medicine, health officials said.
Before this role, Jani served as Medical Director in the Division of Disease Control and Health Protection for FDOH since 2020 and, before that, as hospital epidemiologist on the corporate quality and patient safety team at Orlando Health since 2016.
Jani was also trained as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, later becoming a director of the program, which analyzes outbreak investigation, surveillance system strengthening and strategic planning, among other things, according to health officials.
He released the below statement following the announcement:
“I’m very grateful to rejoin the team at DOH-Orange, having started here as a newly minted Infectious Diseases physician back in 1995. Over the last 25 years, I’ve enjoyed a career of service, caring for patients in hospitals, clinics, and public health in Central Florida, facilitating the improvement of care delivery in communities and teaching physicians and nurses. My decade at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a Commissioned Corps Medical Officer in the US Public Health Service reinforced my deep respect for professionalism, scientific rigor and integrity as critical to the process of health protection. While I have seen firsthand the value of treating patients for infections, the most important thing is to follow the 2000-year-old wisdom of Hippocrates, who said ‘prevention is better than cure’. Whether it’s screening and early detection of treatable diseases, daily exercise, healthy diets, dental hygiene, or vaccines to prevent life-threatening infections and epidemics, disease prevention is paramount. Improving the health of any community takes a lot of collaboration, which is one of the core values for the DOH-Orange, in addition to excellence, innovation, accountability and responsiveness. And it’s this great recipe for success that is at the heart of what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us. In fact, a key message from a recent book on lessons learned from the pandemic is that people should listen to the experts and experts should listen to the people. I hope my role as Medical Director will be to listen and learn and help inform, educate, and guide people in Central Florida and beyond, to thrive and live healthier lives.”
Dr. Asim Jani
The appointment comes as FDOH still continues its search for a new director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County months after Dr. Raul Pino resigned from the position back in April to accept a job as the county’s new head of Health Services.
FDOH Orange County said it is still recruiting individuals for Dr. Pino’s position. Applications for the position closed June 13 and the agency said interviews are soon to follow.
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