By Skyler Laird
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster has tapped the interim director of South Carolina’s 5-month-old public health agency to permanently lead the department.
Beaufort resident Dr. Edward Simmer has been the interim director of the 2,000-employee Department of Public Health since July. That’s when the former Department of Health and Environmental Control — which Simmer began leading in 2021 — officially split into two separate agencies. His salary is $258,960.
“I am grateful for his continued commitment to serving our state and know he will build upon the progress he has made in advancing public health in South Carolina,” McMaster said in a news release announcing his decision.
The 2022 law that required DHEC to split put both newly organized agencies into the governor’s Cabinet. Previously, Simmer answered to a board of commissioners appointed by the governor. Now Simmer answers directly to the governor, who has sole authority in picking Cabinet nominees. Simmer must still be confirmed by the Senate.
McMaster has not yet announced his choice to permanently lead the environmental agency.
Simmer was confirmed as DHEC’s director in February 2021 as the agency was rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations, eight months after the previous director quit for family and health reasons.
Senators were incensed DHEC’s board took so long to fill the role amid a pandemic.
Despite starting at a challenging time for public health, Simmer “immediately proved to be an exceptional leader,” McMaster said in a news release. That remained true as Simmer led the agency through the split.
Simmer, a psychiatrist, took over DHEC shortly after retiring from the Navy, becoming the agency’s first director in 35 years with a medical degree.
He spent his previous six years overseeing Tricare Health Plan, the military’s massive health system for care outside military hospitals.
“It has been a privilege to serve the people of South Carolina for the past three and a half years, and I look forward to continuing to work with the amazing team at DPH and our many dedicated external partners to improve the health of all South Carolinians,” Simmer said in a news release. “Working together, there is nothing we cannot achieve.”
Simmer’s previous roles include a stint in South Carolina, from 2010-2012, as executive officer of the Navy hospital in Beaufort. He was also head of the Navy’s Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team, or SPRINT, for nine years, leading responses to tragedies, including Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, and the USS Cole bombing.
Originally from Ohio, Simmer received a medical doctorate degree from Saint Louis University.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau. S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
