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		NEWS RELEASE
		Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Contact: René Milligan; (225) 342-7913 or (225) 223-9961 (cell)

BATON ROUGE – Today, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine named Anthony Keck as DHH deputy secretary, effective Oct. 14, 2009. Keck was formerly Governor Bobby Jindal’s health and social services policy advisor.

Governor Jindal said, "Tony is a hard worker and very experienced in public health policy. I am grateful for his work in my office and know he will continue to serve our state well in his new position at DHH."

“I’m excited about Tony coming back to DHH to provide leadership to the major program areas of the Department. He brings with him a great wealth of public and private sector health care experience and relationships with community and provider stakeholders,” said Secretary Levine.

As deputy secretary, Keck will be responsible for overseeing all of the major program offices of the department, including addictive disorders, adult and aging services, developmental disabilities, mental health and public health, as well as the Bureau of Internal Audit. He will spearhead efforts to launch the new Office of Behavioral Health, a product of recent legislative action to combine the administrative functions of the Offices of Mental Health and Addictive Disorders, and continued expansion of community-based mental health programs across the state.

Prior to joining the Governor’s Office in March, Keck served as chief of staff for Levine. His responsibilities included the management of DHH’s legislative affairs, communications, and policy departments. Prior to joining DHH, Keck was teaching and researching at Tulane University while working on his doctorate in health systems management.  Prior to his time at Tulane, Keck was employed at Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Device & Diagnostics Group, where he worked as manager, and later the Director of Operations of Latin American Consulting & Services in Santiago de Chile.

Keck worked in New Orleans from 1992 to 1997 as a senior engineer and later director of management engineering at Ochsner Clinic, and as an administrator at St. Thomas Health Services community clinic. Keck has a bachelor’s of science in engineering and a master’s of public health from the University of Michigan, and is currently completing his doctoral thesis in public health from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

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