CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city through a huge welcome party for the new health director of the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public District.
Dr. Fauzia Khan comes from the Oklahoma State Department of Health and holds a Master's of Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
"I'm here to learn and I'm here to listen," she said. "Let's communicate and work together to make Nueces County, the Coastal Bend region and Corpus Christi a healthy community."
City leaders were excited to welcome Khan to the Sparkling City by the Sea. Corpus Christi Councilmember At-Large Mike Pusley, said that Khan's arrival marks the beginning of change for the health department.
"This is an organization that has had a management breakdown for a long long time, even when I was on commissioner's court. I know I told Loyd Neal many times and I thought this was an unattainable situation over here," he said.
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo told 3NEWS that she hopes Khan can work with community organizations to provide better health care for the poor and underserved.
"There were a lot of partnerships that were not been utilized or not being fostered, because we need one another to serve our community, especially the underserved in the best way possible," she said.
Khan said she was pleasantly surprised to know that the city would hold an event to introduce her to everyone.
"I am humbled by the warm welcome, I just don't have enough words to thank the community and all the guests who came here," she said.
Khan adds that one of the first things on her list is to meet her staff and see if there are any training gaps she needs to address. She's also going to start working on strengthening the partnerships the health department has with various organizations around town.
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