Public health director to retire

Devlin pushed for higher cigarette tax

State Health Director Dr. Leah Devlin is retiring at the end of the month, leaving a job that included everything from pushing for more school nurses to planning responses to pandemic flu.

Devlin, a dentist, took the job in May 2001. She has held various state posts since 1996 and served for 10 years as director of Wake County's health department.

In a letter dated Monday to Dempsey Benton, the state secretary of health and human services, Devlin said she was grateful for the collective efforts of government, businesses, schools and the media to improve the health of North Carolina residents.

In an interview, Devlin talked, seemingly without breathing, about the state's public health system, its accomplishments and its challenges. "I love public health, and I really get excited about it," said Devlin, 54.

Devlin, who lives in Raleigh with her husband and teenage son, said that she decided to retire "to get some balance in my life" and that she has no firm plans to take another job.

In the past eight years, she said, the division has focused on improving women's and children's health, preventing chronic diseases, preparing bioterrorism responses, controlling communicable diseases and strengthening health departments.

Devlin was outspoken and willing to take controversial positions.

Anti-smoking efforts

She wrote a letter in 2005 to legislators, who were considering raising the tobacco tax, urging them to raise it from 5 cents to at least 50 cents per pack of cigarettes. Legislators approved a smaller increase that year.

The state still has plenty of work to do to improve public health, Devlin said. The state could do more, for example, to make it easier for people to quit smoking and to discourage nonsmokers from starting, such as raising the cigarette tax to the national average of $1.19 per pack, or increase the tax by $1.

"The science is in, and we know what works," she said. "We've not made the investment in terms of resources and health policy."