Dr. Thomas Gutwein is Allen County's new health commissioner.
Gutwein was one of four candidates for the role. He was appointed by the board of health during its quarterly meeting Monday night.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University and graduated from IU School of Medicine in 1990. He has worked as the director of emergency medicine at Parkview since July of 1993, and also serves as president of Professional Emergency Physicians P.C.
Gutwein says while he doesn’t have any major initiatives mapped out just yet, but he’s committed to investing into his community.
He says he sees the health of Allen County residents is critical to “everything else surviving in this community,” and wants it to be known as a healthy place.
"My dream would be for any of us to travel to another community out west, or travel anywhere, and to go to a meeting and they would say, ‘You’re from Fort Wayne, Indiana. That’s a healthy community, isn’t it?’" Gutwein said Monday.
Gutwein replaces Dr. Matthew Sutter, who announced in April that he would be stepping down as the county health commissioner and retiring from public service.
Sutter will be remembered for helping to guide the Allen County community through the COVID-19 pandemic. He was appointed to replace Dr. Deb McMahan after her retirement in May 2020, and continued to provide updates on the virus during Monday's meeting.
Tuesday, July 19 will mark Gutwein's first official day as health commissioner. His responsibilities in the role include “decision-making, public education, strategic planning, presentations, department representation, consultation on certain communicable disease actions and overall direction of the department.”
