Monecia Rena Thomas will be sworn in as Yadkin County’s new Health Director Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

The ceremony will take place during a regular scheduled Yadkin County Board of Health meeting where Yadkin County Clerk of Court Mr. Wayne Dixon will administer the oath of office to Thomas.

Thomas was named Health Director Jan. 31, 2011 by the Board of Health after consultation with the County Commissioners.

“The Board of Health would like to welcome Mrs. Thomas to the Health Department and we look forward to her leading us into the future,” said Anne Watkins, Chair of the Board of Health.

The position became open when Health Director, Mr. J. Michael (Mike) Reavis, retired Dec. 31, 2010.

“With support from the staff and the community, I am ready to develop a vision for the Yadkin County Health Department and move that vision forward to meet the needs of the community,” said Thomas.

She is currently a program director for two public health programs at the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Previously, she was the Senior State Accreditation Coordinator for the NC Local Health Department Accreditation Program.

She received a master’s Degree in Health Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004. She was the 2008 recipient of the “Craig Michalak Annual Award for Excellence and the 2007-2008 UNC-Chapel Hill’s Emerging Leaders in Public Health Case Study winner.

She is married to Kenneth Thomas, a native of East Bend.