Naomi Adeline-Biggs will take over as director of the public health division of the Oregon Health Authority in August, bringing a mix of local, regional and international experience to the job.
Her hiring fills one of several permanent positions at the agency that had long been vacant even as the state faces a behavioral health crisis and the effects of rapid consolidation and other changes in the health care industry. She is the second major appointment of Director Sejal Hathi, who'd earlier named a North Carolina health official, Emma Sandoe, to head the state's Medicaid program that provides free care to 1 in 3 Oregonians.
From 2012 to 2019, Adeline-Biggs worked as a medical registrar and physician in her home country of Seychelles. Then she took a job as country administrator for the World Health Organization.
Starting in 2022 she served as the top administrator of Polk County’s public health program for more than two years and became involved in a number of initiatives and efforts both regional and statewide.
Adeline-Biggs served as board chair of the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials, where she testified to the Legislature regarding public health modernization funding that had become a matter of debate. She also served on the board of the Marion-Polk early learning hub, part of a statewide initiative. She also served on the clinical advisory panel of Willamette Health Council, an arm of one of the regional coordinated care organizations contracted by the state to serve Oregon Health Plan members.
After graduating from medical college in 2012, Adeline-Biggs obtained a master’s degree in public health from the University of Glasgow in 2017, doing her dissertation concerning treatment of Hepatitis C in Seychelles. In 2015 she was part of a public health fellowship program and worked with syringe exchange in Multnomah County.
Polk County includes the cities of Dallas, Monmouth and Independence, as well as part of Salem. The county was home to about 87,000 people in 2020, according to federal census data.
Her new position had been open for 10 months since Rachael Banks, the previous permanent director, left the state to head Multnomah County’s health department.
Cara Biddlecom, the longtime agency staffer who had held the job as interim director, is leaving the agency later this month and reportedly will relocate to the east coast.
