{"id":18842,"date":"2026-07-02T12:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T16:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=18842"},"modified":"2026-07-23T10:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:28:07","slug":"former-richmond-henrico-health-district-director-takes-on-a-new-leadership-role-at-the-virginia-department-of-health","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-news-releases\/former-richmond-henrico-health-district-director-takes-on-a-new-leadership-role-at-the-virginia-department-of-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\u00a0<\/span><\/b> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">July\u00a02, 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:-90,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276,&quot;469777462&quot;:[10530],&quot;469777927&quot;:[0],&quot;469777928&quot;:[4]}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Media Contact:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cheryle Rodriguez,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"mailto:Cheryle.Rodriguez@vdh.virginia.gov\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Cheryle.Rodriguez@vdh.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:-90,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276,&quot;469777462&quot;:[8730,10530],&quot;469777927&quot;:[0,0],&quot;469777928&quot;:[1,4]}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:2,&quot;335551620&quot;:2,&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:2,&quot;335551620&quot;:2,&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">RICHMOND, Va.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Today, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced that Elaine Perry, M.D.,\u00a0former\u00a0director of the\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD)<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Central Region<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0health director, is the new\u00a0Deputy\u00a0Commissioner for Community Health Services. She succeeds Susan Fischer Davis, M.D., who is retiring after more than four years in the role.\u00a0\u00a0A board-certified preventive medicine physician, Dr. Perry has served as RHHD director since July 2022. In October 2024, she expanded her leadership responsibilities by also serving as Central Region health director.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dr. Perry brings decades of experience in clinical medicine, public health leadership, pharmaceutical safety, and epidemiology to her role. Her career began in the United States Navy, where she served five years on active duty as the\u00a0senior\u00a0medical\u00a0officer\u00a0at two clinics in Maine. Following her military service, she accepted the position of\u00a0health\u00a0director\u00a0for the\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Peninsula Health District<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0in Newport News.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A native of upstate New York, Dr. Perry earned a Bachelor of Science in biology, with honors in microbiology, from Penn State University. She attended Dartmouth Medical School and Brown Medical School, graduating with academic distinction. She completed a pediatrics internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth before completing a residency in preventive medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she also earned a master&#8217;s degree in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Throughout her tenure at VDH, Dr. Perry has led efforts to strengthen public health infrastructure, advance disease prevention initiatives, and improve the health of communities across Central Virginia.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dr. Perry assumed her new role as\u00a0Deputy\u00a0Commissioner for Community Health Services on June 25.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\u00a0 July\u00a02, 2026\u00a0 Media Contact:\u00a0Cheryle Rodriguez,\u00a0Cheryle.Rodriguez@vdh.virginia.gov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health\u00a0 RICHMOND, Va.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Today, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced that Elaine Perry, M.D.,\u00a0former\u00a0director of the\u00a0Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD)\u00a0and\u00a0Central Region\u00a0health director, is the new\u00a0Deputy\u00a0Commissioner for Community Health Services. She succeeds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"parent":16873,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18842","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-news-releases\/former-richmond-henrico-health-district-director-takes-on-a-new-leadership-role-at-the-virginia-department-of-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\u00a0 July\u00a02, 2026\u00a0 Media Contact:\u00a0Cheryle Rodriguez,\u00a0Cheryle.Rodriguez@vdh.virginia.gov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Former\u00a0Richmond Henrico Health District Director Takes on a New Leadership Role\u00a0at the Virginia Department of Health\u00a0 RICHMOND, Va.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Today, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced that Elaine Perry, M.D.,\u00a0former\u00a0director of the\u00a0Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD)\u00a0and\u00a0Central Region\u00a0health director, is the new\u00a0Deputy\u00a0Commissioner for Community Health Services. 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