BATON ROUGE, La. — The chief medical officer for the Louisiana Department of Health is stepping down from his post.
Dr. Joe Kanter will step aside as the department’s top health official LDH announced Monday.
Dr. Kanter has been the chief medical officer at LDH since fall 2020 following Dr. Alex Billioux’s resignation. Kanter served in an interim position before becoming a permanent fixture in the job in 2021.
Dr. Kanter did not say where he was going next, but he still maintains his positions at University Health Center, LSU Health Sciences Center, and Tulane University's School of Medicine.
Dr. Kanter was the face and voice of the state’s health department as he helped guide the state through the COVID-19 pandemic and advocated for public safety by encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Kanter was one of the first public health officials to receive the first round of the vaccine.
Kanter lives in New Orleans with his wife and young daughter. He was raised in Florida and Illinois but said New Orleans grew on him.
Hurricane Katrina hit one month after he started at Tulane Medical School, and he never left.
WWL Louisiana sat down with Dr. Kanter in an interview in February 2021 where he shared his experiences at the LDH and during Hurricane Katrina.
“I do love it. I’m a music fan, and I love food, and I love culture and so the city spoke to me because of that. But the experience of Katrina is really what cemented me here. And my medical school experience was intertwined with the rebuilding of New Orleans, both the physical rebuilding and the healthcare infrastructure,” he told WWL in an interview in 2021.
The LDH said the current deputy secretary, Dr. Pete Croughan, will serve as interim state health officer.
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