Governor Culver has named a new leader for the Iowa Department of Public Health. Tom Newton graduated five years ago from the University of Northern Iowa’s masters program in Public Policy, and he’s headed the public-health agency’s Division of Environmental Health.
Steve Gleason left the post in 2003 to become an aide to former Governor Tom Vilsack, and since then the department’s been headed by Mary Mincer-Hanson, who came from a job teaching nursing at Drake University. Newton’s worked with the Black Hawk County Health department and also served as a Community Health Consultant with the Department of Public Health. He’s also served as President of the Iowa Environmental Health Association.