Steering Committee Member – Heather Dacus, DO, MPH
Heather Dacus, DO, MPH
New York State Department of Health
Dr. Dacus joined the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) in the summer of 2007. She serves as Director of the Bureau of Chronic Disease Control to support population and evidence-based initiatives to reduce the burden of chronic disease across New York State, with a specific focus on cancer prevention and control. She is directly responsible for the oversight and implementation of multiple Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants, including the Colorectal Cancer Control Program grant entitled Integrating Colorectal Cancer within Other Chronic Disease Programs. 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 and the Citywide Colorectal Cancer Coalition (C5), and serves on the CDC/Colorado Advisory Committee on Cancer Screening Surveillance. In 2010 and 2012 she participated as an outside expert reviewer for the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. 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 wonderful husband, Darel, and teaches yoga and lives in Upstate New York.