Heather Dacus, DO, MPH

Profile picture of Heather Dacus, DO, MPH

New York State Department of Health

Steering Committee Member, 2014-2018, Policy Action Strategic Priority Team Chair

Dr. Dacus joined the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) in 2007 and serves as Director of the Bureau of Cancer Prevention and Control to support population and evidence-based initiatives to reduce the burden of cancer across NYS, with a specific focus on cancer prevention, screening and survivorship. She oversees implementation of multiple State-funded programs as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants, including the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program and the Colorectal Cancer Control Program grant. A board-certified and NYS-licensed preventive medicine & public health physician, she earned her master’s in public health degree at the University at Albany’s School of Public Health and her osteopathic medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Dacus is a Steering Committee member of the NYS Cancer Consortium, the Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition (C5) and co-chairs the Policy Action Workgroup of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable.  She has served as an outside expert reviewer for the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society. She is also a member of the NYSDOH’s Institutional Review Board.  Prior to pursuing a career in public health and joining the NYSDOH, Dr. Dacus spent six years as a General Medical Officer in the United States Navy providing direct medical care to Sailors and Marines assigned to her units in Washington D.C., Okinawa, Japan, and Upstate NY. She is married to her husband, Darel, is a stepmom, dogmom and grandmother of three, and teaches yoga in Upstate New York.