NEW YORK: Indian-American physician Dr Sampat Shivangi has been appointed as the chairman of the Mississippi Board of Mental Health, making him the first Asian to occupy the top health post in an American state.
Shivangi assumed the office of chair of the Board of Mental Health which is the second largest state agency with a budget close to billion dollars with the staff of 8,500. The office of chair is of one year duration elected by a nine-member board.
“We are in process of having the patients who are capable to move in the communities, are being moved in the communities with the help of federal and state funds to assimilate them in the communities rather than keep them in the institutions. The state is moving successfully in this direction,” Shivangi said in a statement.
He was first appointed to the board as a member by the then Mississippi governor Haley Barbour for seven year term. Prior to this, he served one term at Mississippi State Board of Health. “This term I served along with as an adviser at US health and human services in Washington DC an appointment by President George Bush,” Shivangi said.
“We are very excited to have Dr Shivangi serve as chairman of the board of mental health,” said Diana Mikula, Mississippi department of mental health executive director. From 2005-2008, Shivangi served as the adviser to the US secretary of health and human services.
He is the founding president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian-origin in Mississippi and is the past president and chair of the India Association of Mississippi. Shivangi is the president and CEO of US Info Systems of Mississippi.
Prakash M Swamy
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