CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland announced Monday night that Health Commissioner Persis Sosiak will be resigning. The city did not say why Sosiak has chosen to step down, but her last day on the job will be Friday, Feb. 5.
Sosiak has been the Commissioner of the Division of Health since Dec. 2016. Before that, she spent 11 years at the Cleveland Clinic, as well as some time with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Alexandria Health Department, in Alexandria, Va.
Sosiak's resignation will add to the list of open positions within the Cleveland Department of Public Health, when the position is listed after Friday. In addition to looking for a new commissioner, the department is searching for three epidemiologists in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently the department has three epidemiologists, including two CDC Foundation Fellows.
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In order to help their Epidemiology Unit, the city recently announced a partnership with Case Western Reserve University. The partnership, led by Daniel Tisch and Scott Frank from the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, will, "help the CDPH epidemiology team manage, analyze and display the incredible volume of data necessary to optimize the COVID response" according to a statement from the city.
Frank will also head another team, whose goal is to help the public health system use the data the epidemiology unit collects to look at things like outbreak response, vaccine distribution and community concerns.
Currently, just over 90,000 people have started the vaccination process in Cuyahoga County, according to the state health department.