One of the first decisions Dr. Lisa Piercey made after she was appointed commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health by Gov. Bill Lee, was to keep things at home as normal as possible.
“I’m not moving to Nashville,” Dr. Piercey said, “We have four teenagers, one of whom is about to be a senior in high school, so we felt it was really important to keep her and the rest of the kids in school here.
“Both of our parents, (kid’s) grandparents are in town, so I’ll be commuting, so that will give me a lot of time for reflection and thinking.”
A resident of Gibson County, Dr. Piercey served as the executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare, where she would oversee or supervise a roster of hospitals with an emphasis on rural hospitals in Bolivar, Camden, Milan, Dyersburg and Martin.
She see’s a part of her new position as an extension of her role at West Tennessee Healthcare.
“I have a great team here, that has taught me so much and provided such a great foundation, and so much of what I have done – been allowed to do here – rural hospitals, population health is what we are going to build on in our foundation,” Piercey said, “In my conversations with Gov. Lee, that has resonated with him. He’s talked about that all throughout the campaign about how important rural areas are to him and how we need to tackle the excess costs in our health care system before we do anything else.
“How do we cut down on the rates of chronic disease, and make those disease processes less costly, and that way we can start to reform the system in that manner.”
Dr. Piercey’s clinical background is in pediatrics with a specialization in child abuse pediatrics. She serves as the Medical Director for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center, and is also on faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
(PHOTO: Dr. Lisa Piercey)
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