Shuford Named Commissioner of Texas Health Department
Texas Health and Human Services
AUSTIN (News Release) – The Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young named Dr. Jennifer Shuford commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, effective immediately.
Shuford has been serving as interim commissioner since September when former commissioner, Dr. John Hellerstedt, retired from state service. Before being named interim commissioner, Shuford served as chief state epidemiologist at DSHS.
“Dr. Shuford has demonstrated an exceptional commitment and passion for public service. Her extensive experience and knowledge in public health will serve Texans well as she assumes this new role,” said Young. “I have the utmost confidence in her abilities to lead DSHS forward and carry out its important mission to promote a healthy Texas.”
Shuford graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and received her Doctor of Medicine degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, where she served as chief resident. Shuford completed an infectious disease fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She earned her Master of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to joining DSHS in 2017, Shuford practiced medicine in Austin as an infectious disease physician.
Shuford serves on the faculty of the DSHS Preventive Medicine and Public Health Residency Program and is a member of the Travis County Medical Society and the Infectious Disease Society of America. She is also a member of the Texas Medical Association, serving as a consultant to TMA’s Committee on Infectious Diseases.
