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Coastal Health District names new director
Diane Z. Weems MD
Diane Z. Weems, M.D., who has lived and worked in this area for nearly 25 years, has been named district health director of the Coastal Health District. - photo by Photo provided.

Diane Z. Weems, M.D., has been named district health director of the Coastal Health District.
Weems will be responsible for planning, organizing, directing and managing public-health services within the district.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen to lead public health initiatives in southeast Georgia,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to work with our staff, community leaders, and public health advocates to help improve the lives of those living along our coast and throughout our state.”
She replaces W. Douglas Skelton, M.D., who retired last summer.
Weems began her public health career in 1986 at the Lowndes County Health Department in Valdosta. She relocated to Savannah in 1988 to become the clinical physician for the Chatham County Health Department.
In 1993, she was named chief medical officer for the Chatham County Health Department and, for the past eight years, has served in that same capacity for the entire district which includes Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long and McIntosh counties.
“The unanimous vote to approve Dr. Weems as the permanent district health director is a win for public health, a win for everyone in the Coastal Health District and a win for all of Georgia,” said Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “Dr. Weems knows first-hand the challenges in southeast Georgia and is prepared with the right credentials to absolutely meet those challenges.”
Weems has been the chair of the Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council since its formation in 2004. She currently serves as the physician representative to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s State Nurse Protocol Committee and actively participates on several community boards including Step Up Savannah, the community’s poverty reduction initiative, and the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority Collaborative. She is a member of the Georgia Public Health Association, the Georgia Medical Society, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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