About The Health Officer
Thank you for visiting the Jefferson County Department of Health website!
On this website, you will find up-to-date health information related to our county, as well as links to other well-respected websites for additional health information.
We want you to be well informed about health issues. We also want to partner with you to make our community a healthier place to live, and to help all of our citizens lead healthier lives.
I hope you find our website useful, and recommend it to your family and friends. If you have comments about the site or recommendations for making it better, please contact us.
Mark E. Wilson, MD
Health Officer, Jefferson County Department of Health
Mark E. Wilson
Dr. Mark Wilson became Health Officer of Jefferson County, Alabama in 2011, overseeing the various programs of the Jefferson County Department of Health. Before taking this position he served on the Jefferson County Board of Health for three years and worked for over 20 years as a general internist in indigent health care at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in Birmingham, including several years as outpatient medical director and then chief of staff.
He earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineeering degree from Georgia Tech and his medical degree from University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Since coming to the Jefferson County Department of Health and prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, his priorities have included advancing health equity, improving birth outcomes, addressing the drug addiction crisis, advocating for tobacco-free policy, supporting the development of a trails and greenway system to facilitate outdoor activity, and more recently, establishing a strategy to address violence as a public health problem. He has also worked to expand partnerships between the health department and other community organizations to pursue common goals related to public health.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he co-led the Jefferson County Unified Command pandemic response along with the county Emergency Management Agency director. On several occasions he issued countywide public health orders and recommendations to help reduce community spread of the coronavirus.