Dr. Kim Cook, a former Gainesville resident, has been appointed the new District Health Director for the North Central Health District (NCHD). The district includes Baldwin, Hancock, Jones, Crawford, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Monroe, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs, Washington and Wilkinson counties.
With an extensive background in preventive medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research, Cook brings decades of experience and leadership to the position, which he assumed July 1, according to a NCHD news release.
While living in Hall County, he founded and led a clinical research site in Gainesville, conducting safety and efficacy trials for new prescription drugs in collaboration with leading pharmaceutical sponsors.
For more than 20 years, he also operated a small vegetable and fruit farm in Clermont.