Today, Dr. Karyl Rattay is announcing that she will be leaving her role as Director of the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) effective June 30, 2022. Dr. Rattay assumed her position in 2009, during the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and is the nation’s longest serving Public Health Director.
As Delaware’s State Health Official, Dr. Rattay leads nearly 1,000 employees who promote health, reduce health inequities, and protect Delawareans from disease, environmental hazards, and public health emergencies.
Dr. Rattay says leading the state through the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years – the greatest public health crisis in a century – has tested those in public health departments professionally and personally. She indicated that while she is not ready to announce her next role, she is excited about the new opportunities in front of her and believes this is a good time to transition the Division to its next leader.
During her tenure at DPH Dr. Rattay and her team have:
- Succeeded in becoming one of the first 16 states in the nation to achieve and maintain full accreditation from the national Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB).
- Launched the State’s first Health Improvement Plan and multi-year agency strategic plans.
- Significantly reduced infant mortality rates by nearly 30% from 2015 -2019 through close collaboration with many maternal and child health partners, and a 25% reduction in unintended pregnancies through the Delaware Contraceptives Access Now (Delaware CAN) initiative.
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Saw a 14% reduction in cancer mortality rates through a comprehensive statewide prevention, screening, and treatment initiative.
- Worked with the legislature to pass a bill increasing the age to buy tobacco products to 21 and adding e-cigarettes to Delaware’s Clean Indoor Air Act.
- In conjunction with the University of Delaware and Delaware Community Foundation, spearheaded the creation of the Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD) initiative – a placed-based partnership with communities to address their most important social determinants of health.
- Played the state’s leading role in responding to multiple health threats, including COVID-19, H1N1, Superstorm Sandy, Ebola, Zika virus, Tuberculosis outbreaks and others.
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Launched the My Healthy Community data portal in 2019, bringing Delaware public health data down to the ZIP code level, including community characteristics, the environment, chronic disease, and mental health and substance use, air quality, asthma incidence data, public and private drinking water results, and drug overdose and death data. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Division of Public Health used My Healthy Community to report COVID-19 data, again down to the ZIP code level in many cases. It was one of the most robust COVID-19 data sites in the country.
- Assumed a leadership role in addressing the state’s opioid crisis.
- Added the Medical Marijuana Program in 2014 to administer medical marijuana cards for eligible Delawareans and to license and oversee compassion centers in all three counties.
- Added the Office of Animal Welfare in 2013 based on the recommendations of the General Assembly Animal Welfare Task Force as a way to consolidate and coordinate animal companion programs in Delaware
Dr. Rattay has earned multiple honors and awards. In 2019, she was awarded the prestigious Arthur T. McCormack Award by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) for her leadership and contributions as a state health official. She also received the Vision of Peace award from the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence; the Health Professional of the Year award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness; the President’s Award in 2020 from the Medical Society of Delaware, as well as Special Recognition awards from MSD in 2012 and 2018; the Medal of Honor Award from atTAcK addiction; and was honored by Governor Carney as the longest-serving state health official in the nation.
She has been named as one of “Delaware’s Most Influential” individuals for 2020 and 2021. Dr. Rattay chairs the Healthy Babies Subcommittee for ASTHO and is a Board member of ASTHO and the Public Health Foundation. She is the Chair of Delaware’s Addiction Action Committee, Co-Chair of the Overdose System of Care Committee, and a current member and former president of the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
Dr. Rattay earned a Medical Doctorate from the Medical University of Ohio in 1992 and a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the University of Maryland in 2001. She completed her Pediatric Residency at Georgetown University and a Preventive Medicine and Public Health Residency training program at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Rattay is board-certified in pediatrics and practiced pediatrics for 14 years. Between September 2001 and June 2004, she served as a senior public health advisor to the U.S. Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary of Health in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Department of Health and Human Services, where she had a leadership role in the President’s Healthier U.S. Initiative.
The Medical Society of Delaware is proud to acknowledge Dr. Rattay as a member since 2005. MSD and the Division of Public Health have enjoyed a close, well-working relationship as a result of Dr. Rattay. She and her team were the nucleus during the COVID-19 pandemic providing up-to-date information to the physicians of Delaware. The medical community appreciates the work she has done for Delaware and its citizens over the span of her career as the Director of the Division of Public Health. On behalf of all our members, MSD sends our greatest appreciation and best wishes to Dr. Karyl Rattay.
