Jon McCullers, MD, has been appointed to the Shelby County Board of Health. Dr. McCullers is the senior associate dean for Clinical Affairs and chief operating officer for the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and pediatrician-in-chief at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
Dr. McCullers, who is also chair of Pediatrics at UTHSC, joins new board members including Rev. Charlie Caswell, director of Legacy of Legends; Carla Kirkland, president of the Tennessee Nurses Association and a nurse practitioner at Saint Francis Hospital; and Mary Manspeaker, DVM, staff veterinarian at the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County. Members of the newly formed Shelby County Board of Health were appointed by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and voted on by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.
“I’m happy to act as a sounding board for the Health Department in priority areas and to help communicate with the public and other stakeholders about complex issues facing our community,” Dr. McCullers said.
The board will meet regularly to provide expert advice to the Health Department on both routine issues, such as health-related policies, and responses to emerging issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or other health threats.
Dr. McCullers has not only been on the front lines of the response to the coronavirus pandemic at UTHSC and Le Bonheur, but has emerged as an infectious disease leader advising the local and statewide response to the pandemic.
He is on the Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force established by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Mayor Harris, and on the COVID-19 Advisory Committee for the UT System.
Dr. McCullers joined UTHSC in 2012 as chair of Pediatrics. In 2019, he was named senior associate dean for Clinical Affairs.
Dr. McCullers is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has served as technical consultant for the World Health Organization on research priorities for respiratory infections. He is a respected and funded researcher in influenza and virus-induced pneumonia.