Director of the Office of Family Health Services

Director, Maternal Child Health

Virginia Department of Health

 

Diane Helentjaris, MD, MPH, is the current Director of the Office of Family Health Services for the Virginia Department of Health and the state Maternal Child Health Director. In this role, she is responsible for a variety of state-level programs serving women, children and their families, including family planning, rape prevention, and efforts to decrease infant mortality. She served as the Director of H1N1 Response for the Virginia Department of Health during the 2009/10 Influenza Pandemic and received the State Commissioner’s Award for her efforts in this area. Dr. Helentjaris has public health service as a local health director as well as the deputy and acting state epidemiologist for Virginia. Her public health experience has ranged from grant administration to taking the initial history of one of the anthrax attack victims. She has taught public health organization and management at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Helentjaris graduated cum laude from Michigan State University’s Honor College with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Humanities. She studied science at McGill University and then returned to Michigan State for medical school. Her postgraduate work was at Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco. She received her Masters in Public Health in Health Policy and Administration from the University of Michigan.

A past President of AMWA, Dr. Helentjaris has held a variety of leadership positions with AMWA. She is dedicated to both professional equity for women physicians and health equity for all.