THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504130178
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
SUZANNE DANDOY, director of the Virginia Beach Public Health Department, remembers very clearly the reason she decided to go into medicine back in the days when women entering the field were in a distinct minority in the country's medical schools.
``Neither of my parents finished high school,'' Dandoy said. ``They both encouraged me to go into medicine because they felt that it was the most respected field.''
She remembers with equal clarity the summer she decided to go into the public health field.
``I was mid-way through med school,'' the native Californian said, ``and I was doing a clerkship with the L.A. Health Department. I realized that was a way to do more for large numbers of people. And I found it intriguing, too.''
For Dandoy, and for the public health field, both turned out to be excellent choices.
Last month she was honored by her peers in the American College of Preventive Medicine as the 1995 recipient of its distinguished service award.
The group, comprised of physicians in the public health field, in academics and in medical management, gave the award to Dandoy both in recognition of her dedication to the organization and achievements in her field.
Not only is she a longtime member and past president of the group, but as chair of a national committee on redesigning the specialty of preventive medicine, she had the opportunity to make a serious impact on how major health issues in the United States will be dealt with in the 21st century.
Making an impact on the health delivery system is nothing new to Dandoy. In the more than 35 years she has practiced in the public health field, she has served as director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, executive director of the Utah Department of Health and deputy commissioner of the Virginia Department of Health.
She also spent four years as a full professor of health administration at Arizona State University.
And then there were the two years with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia where her husband, Jeremiah, was an administrator on the Peace Corps staff.
``I had two jobs there,'' Dandoy said, ``both volunteer.'' One was teaching maternal and child health through an interpreter to Ethiopian women. The other was teaching her own three children, now grown, who had no other options for their schooling.
Her marriage has been one of those successful two career ones in which each supports the other when there's an opportunity for a new challenge.
Jeremiah Dandoy, who served as director of state facilities for retarded citizens both in California and Arizona, recently changed to an entirely different field.
He is an archaeologist with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, an organization whose research extends to sites throughout the country.
Suzanne Dandoy assumed her current position last September. Although the months since then have been filled with news of staff cuts, major changes in the Medicaid system and reports of large scale changes in funding, she goes about her job of getting things done with minimal fuss and bother.
In restructuring the way in which public health services will be delivered in Virginia Beach she has reached out to the community itself for advice on needed changes.
She has submitted to City Council a list of proposed members for a Health Services Advisory Board. Her proposal includes the names of health department patients and business people along with a small representation of medical professionals.
``I want representative citizens to help us set the direction for public health services in the city,'' Dandoy said of the board which is scheduled to start meeting next month. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Suzanne Dandoy, director of the Virginia Beach Public Health
Department, has proposed including health department patients,
business people and a few medical professionals on a Health Services
Advisory Board.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW BIOGRAPHY by CNB