Utah native confirmed as state health chief

Dr. David Sundwall, a Utah native with a long history of service in the public and private health care fields, was confirmed Monday as the new executive director of the state Department of Health.

Sundwall, one many fresh faces in Gov. Jon Huntsman's Cabinet, was the only one to face a committee of state senators for a confirmation hearing.

Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Confirmation Committee, said he felt a hearing was appropriate, given the importance of public health in the lives of Utahns and the size of the department's budget — $1.6 billion.

A Utah native, Sundwall was director of the Family Practice Residency Program at the University of Utah and had teaching posts at the U. and at the University of California at San Francisco.

In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R- Utah, picked Sundwall to be the physician adviser to the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

Sundwall spent 23 years in Washington, D.C., and is current chairman of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee for the Centers for Disease Control.

Citing his blend of work in both the public and private sector, Sundwall said he is honored to lead the department's 1,300 employees.

"In some strange way, I've been working all my life for this," he said. "The more I learn about the health department, the more pleased I am."