Dr. Daniel Edney appointed new State Health Officer

    The Mississippi State Board of Health recently announced that Daniel P. Edney, MD, FACP, FASAM, will be appointed as the new State Health Officer of the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), effective August 1, 2022.

    Edney currently holds the position of Deputy State Health Officer. He initially joined MSDH as chief medical officer and regional health officer for the Central Public Health Region in February 2021.

    According to State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Edney has been a tremendous asset since he joined the health department, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Among his various contributions, Dr. Edney worked with various organizations and partnerships to explain COVID-19 and answer questions. He has also worked with providers to sign them up to give COVID-19 vaccine, and he fielded questions from providers about allergies and other complications related to the administration of the vaccine,” said Dobbs.

    Edney appreciates the time he has spent working closed with Dobbs.

    “Following in the footsteps of Dr. Dobbs, I, too, hope to serve as a catalyst for change – especially with infant and maternal mortality, the opioids battle plaguing the country right now, and moving the needle in preventive health and health equity issues,” Edney added.

    A summa cum laude graduate of both William Carey University and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Edney is a board-certified General Internist with subspecialty board certification in Addiction Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia.

    He has practiced general primary care internal medicine in Vicksburg since 1991 and has worked actively in the field of addiction medicine since 2013. He currently serves as an addiction medicine specialist for various inpatient residential facilities and outpatient programs in the state and has a private practice at the Medical Associates of Vicksburg. 

    Edney is a former president of the Mississippi State Medical Association and currently serves as a board member on the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. He has also served as a fellow and laureate for the Mississippi Chapter of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

 Edney will be replacing Thomas Dobbs, MD, MPH, who is resigning from his position at the end of July.