SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s lead specialist for tracking and combating infectious disease has resigned amid the coronavirus pandemic to take a job with the Virginia Department of Health.
A Health Department spokesman on Monday confirmed the departure of epidemiologist Michael Landen’s from the agency. He was appointed state epidemiologist in 2012 under Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and was a leading figure in the state’s response to the opioid epidemic.
Deputy Epidemiologist Chad Smelser will lead the epidemiology and response division, while a nationwide search takes place for successor to Landen. Smelser accompanied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at news conferences in the early stages of the pandemic.