HJBR Sep/Oct 2021

COVID-19 VACCINE HESITANCY Q & A JOSEPH KANTER, MD State Health Officer and Medical Director As state health officer and medical director, Joseph Kanter, MD, serves as the top medical official of the Louisiana Department of Health, consulting on issues relating to policy, programmatic implementation, quality and accessibility of care, health equity, emergency preparedness and infection control, and bearing responsibility for enforcing the state’s sanitary code. His previous state roles have included assistant state health officer, interim assistant secretary and regional medical director. Prior to joining the Louisiana Department of Health, Kanter served as director of health for the city of New Orleans and led Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s comprehensive opioidmitigation strategy,which included issuinga first-in-the-state standingorder for naloxone, equipping the New Orleans Police Department with the reversal medication, increasing availability of medication-assisted treatment, promoting harm reduction services and initiating a city-wide effort to reduce the stigma of addictive disorders. A practicing and board-certified emergency physician, prior medical director of the Health Care for the Homeless clinic, and clinical assistant professor of medicine at both LSU Health Sciences Center and Tulane School of Medicine, Kanter cares for a diverse spectrum of patients in the New Orleans area, including some of the most vulnerable in our community. DELTA SLAMS THE DELTA HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  SEP / OCT 2021 15