Governor Wolf, Department of Health to Provide Update on COVID-19
Governor Tom Wolf and State Epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Watkins of the Pennsylvania Department of Health will provide an update on the coronavirus known as COVID-19 and efforts to mitigate the virus in Pennsylvania at 2 p.m. today, March 30.
News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS will carry the event live.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health website,
Sharon Watkins, PhD is the Director, Bureau of Epidemiology and State Epidemiologist within the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
She is the President of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Dr. Sharon Watkins joined the Pennsylvania Department of Health in November 2015. She is the Director for the Bureau of Epidemiology and the State Epidemiologist and is responsible for the
management and oversight of the Bureau which includes the Division of Infectious Disease,
Environmental Health, and Community Health. Dr. Watkins is a graduate of Ohio State
University and specialized in Epidemiology, Environmental Epidemiology, and
Perinatal/Maternal & Child Epidemiology.
Prior to joining Pennsylvania, she has served as Chief for the Bureau of Epidemiology and as Director of Public Health Research for the Florida Department of Health.
Since coming to Pennsylvania, she has led disease surveillance and outbreak response efforts
including those related to Zika virus, healthcare associated infections, measles, hepatitis A and
many others. Noninfectious efforts underway in the bureau being led by Dr. Watkins include
neonatal abstinence syndrome surveillance, Zika related birth defects registry, surveillance of
childhood and adult blood lead levels, public health response to water contamination with Perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), community cancer concerns, and the current response to
severe lung injuries related to vaping. Dr. Watkins has over 40 peer reviewed publications and
over 20 years of experience in Applied Public Health and Epidemiology.
She has served as an elected Executive Board member of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists since 2012 and is the current president.
