Medical Director/Health Authority
The City of Austin has identified Desmar Walkes, M.D. as the City’s next Medical Director/Health Authority. Dr. Walkes will begin her new duties on May 31, 2021.
Dr. Walkes has 33 years of experience in health care as a family practitioner, medical authority, medical director, and in administrative medicine. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with honors from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada and her Medical Doctor degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Walkes completed a surgical internship at Baylor College of Medicine and, for many years, has participated in medical mission trips to Central and South America, Asia, and Africa.
Desmar Walkes to take over from Escott after shakeup among Austin-area public health leaders
The city announced Friday that Dr. Desmar Walkes would take over May 31 as the Austin s area s top doc in matters involving public health policy.
Walkes will replace Dr. Mark Escott, who served as Austin-Travis County health authority throughout the coronavirus pandemic in an interim role.
As the health authority, Walkes will serve as medical director for Austin Public Health and will be responsible for the clinical oversight of the department s medically related services and more than 300 professionals.
“I’m honored to be joining the Austin Public Health team and look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead as the next medical director and health authority for the city of Austin and Travis County,” Walkes said in a statement provided by the city.
The Bastrop City Council last week decided to pass on making Juneteenth a city holiday, opting instead to add a floating holiday to its roster of employee benefits. The move sparked debate and discussion among council members, residents and people who want the city to formally recognize Juneteenth an annual holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S.
The council’s discussion on April 27 centered around how Bastrop could provide city employees with an additional holiday, after the council was presented two weeks earlier with the results of an employee classification and compensation study.
The study revealed that Bastrop lagged behind neighboring city governments, the county and the state in how many holidays it observed.
KUT
Dr. Mark Escott, Austin Public Health s then-interim medical director, announces the cancellation of SXSW at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Austin will soon have new public health leadership as it continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Two leaders who have helped guide the city through the pandemic so far interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott and Austin Public Health Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard are moving into new roles with the city.
Dr. Desmar Walkes has been named the new medical director and health authority. This role is responsible for overseeing Austin Public Health’s medical services. She previously served as the health authority for Bastrop County and has been the point person for the county’s pandemic response and vaccine distribution.
ken herman (kherman@statesman.com)
There was a time in Texas a long, long time when it was political malpractice for candidates to declare anything other than unflinching fealty to the death penalty.
I recalled that era this week as the Texas House took a significant, if less than sweeping, step in a direction that once might have been scorned by some as soft on crime because it would reduce the pool of miscreants eligible for execution.
Anyone else remember the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial primary when Ann Richards, Mark White and Jim Mattox each sought to be the staunchest supporter of capital punishment?