HEALTH DIRECTOR LEAVES PORTSMOUTH FOR BEACH.(LOCAL) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: STAFF REPORT

VIRGINIA BEACH -- Dr. Venita Newby-Owens, who has been the Portsmouth health director for eight years, is leaving to take over Virginia Beach's Health Department.

The move is effective today, but Newby-Owens has agreed to serve as Portsmouth's interim director until a replacement is hired.

Newby-Owens' appointment, announced Friday, was made by Dr. Randolph Gordon, the state commissioner of health.

The Virginia Beach position has been open since Dr. Suzanne Dandoy left earlier this year to head a new master's degree program in public health at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University.

Newby-Owens, a native of Elizabeth City, N.C., received her bachelor's degree at Howard University, her master's degree at Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After residency training, she worked for eight years in a variety of roles in the Baltimore City Health Department, ending as assistant commissioner.

She began her service with the Virginia Department of Health in 1987 when she joined the Norfolk Health Department as medical director of the Children and Youth Clinics. She became Portsmouth's health director in 1989.

Less than a year after taking the Portsmouth post, the city was forced to close its medical and dental clinics, the result of a funding shortage.

Re-establishing health care services for the city's indigent residents became one of Newby-Owens' priorities. She helped secure a federal grant to open the Portsmouth Community Health Center in 1995 at Lincoln and Seventh streets.

That clinic is staffed full time by a family physician, pediatrician and a nurse practitioner.

Newby-Owens also worked closely with the Portsmouth public schools to establish a clinic for students. The Sunshine Health Center opened in 1995 in Hunt-Mapp Middle School. The center provides screenings, treatment for simple illnesses and injuries, sports physicals, immunizations and mental health counseling.

Newby-Owens is married and has two children. Her husband, Frank J. Owens, operates an insurance agency in Virginia Beach.

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Dr. Venita Newby-Owens