Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris nominated Dr. Michelle Taylor to be the next director of the Shelby County Health Department.
The nomination comes after the March resignation of former director Alisa Haushalter amid a state investigation of wasted COVID-19 doses and untidy vaccine record-keeping. Dr. LaSonya Hall has been serving as interim director.
Taylor is a graduate of White Station High School. She has a B.S. from Howard University, an M.D. from East Tennessee State University, and an M.S. the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She also earned a Doctor of Public Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University.
“I believe Dr. Taylor is the right person to lead our health department and pull us all toward shared responsibility,” Harris said in a statement. “She will bring to the job a wealth of knowledge and, as important, compassion and commitment to community.”
Taylor said she was a “military brat” and “Memphis was the only place I lived for more than three years.”
“God didn’t bring me here with all of this expertise not to give back to the community that has nurtured me and helped me to grow up in so many different ways,” she said.
Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner said “Taylor is exactly what Shelby County needs.”
“She has the academic credentials, professional skills, and knowledge to lead our health department well into the future,” Turner said. “The fact that she is from right here in Shelby County is an added benefit, but even if she weren’t from here, she’d still be an excellent candidate for this job.”
Taylor has served with the department for several years. She also worked as the associate medical director and deputy administrator for the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program. Most recently, Taylor worked as an aerospace medicine division chief in the Office of the Air National Guard Surgeon General in the Air National Guard Readiness Center.
Taylor will be presented to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners’ General Government Committee on Wednesday, July 21st. The full commission will vote on her appointment on Monday, July 26th. If approved, she will begin work on August 2nd.
