New health commissioner has local ties

Thursday, March 4, 2010
Dr. Gregory Larkin

INDIANAPOLIS -- Governor Mitch Daniels announced Wednesday he has appointed Dr. Gregory N. Larkin, a former Greencastle family physician who went on to a distinguished 22-year career at Eli Lilly and Company, as the state's new health commissioner.

He will replace Dr. Judy Monroe, who is leaving her position March 8 to become deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and director of the CDC's newly formed Office of State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support.

The governor has asked Dr. Larkin to continue the state's progress in immunizing children, reporting and reducing medical errors, and changing the health culture of Indiana.

Dr. Larkin has served as the chief medical officer for the Indiana Health Information Exchange, which promotes health information technology for the advancement of quality patient and community care, since retiring from Lilly in 2007. He is a recognized expert on health information and technology and will extend Indiana's recognized leadership in that area.

In the past five years, Indiana has improved its childhood immunization ranking, moving from 41st to 15th in the country for children with full immunizations. The Department of Health also implemented the governor's executive order to create the state's first medical errors reporting system and advocated the governor's INShape Indiana program which is aimed at improving Hoosiers' health.

During his tenure at Eli Lilly, Dr. Larkin was the company's global medical director, managing five domestic health care clinics, the domestic employee and retiree health plan and was the global liaison for the company's world affiliates for occupational and corporate health care.

He has been a member of the Healthy Indiana Plan task force, served as chairman of the board of the Indianapolis Medical Society and the Indiana Blood Center and volunteered with many other medical and community organizations.

Dr. Larkin had a family practice in Greencastle from 1975 to 1986.

Dr. Larkin earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Indiana University.

He will join the health department on April 1.

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