DSHS Executive Team

Dr. Shuford currently serves as the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Under h​er​ leadership, the agency strives to achieve the vision of “A Healthy Texas” and fulfill the mission of improving the health, safety, and well-being of all Texans.

Dr. Shuford worked in Austin, Texas, as an infectious disease physician in private practice prior to joining Texas Department of State Health Services in 2017. Before becoming Commissioner, Dr. Shuford served DSHS as the Chief State Epidemiologist.

Dr. Shuford graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, where she served as chief resident. She completed an infectious disease fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and earned her Master of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Shuford serves on the faculty of the DSHS Preventive Medicine and Public Health Residency Program. She is a member of Travis County Medical Society, Texas Medical Association, and Infectious Disease Society of America.

Kirk is Chief Deputy Commissioner for the Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Kirk has been with DSHS since 2004 in various leadership roles, primarily focused on consumer and governmental relations and public health policy. He has also served as interim commissioner of DSHS.

Before coming to DSHS, he worked for the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in communications and government relations. Kirk received a Bachelor's degree in Health and a Master's degree in Urban Planning from Texas A&M University.

Mercy Bryant, PHD, joined DSHS in 2016 as a Process Improvement Manager, became Director of the DSHS Center for System Coordination and Innovation in 2021, and joined the DSHS Executive Team in 2024. In this role, Dr. Bryant oversees the coordination of agencywide strategic and operational planning, business process improvement, project management, as well as executive and cross-division administrative functions.

Prior to her tenure at DSHS, Dr. Bryant served in various roles within Texas state government, including at the Health and Human Services Commission, the Department of Family and Protective Services, and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Institute of Urban Studies. She has over 14 years of Texas state service, and a cumulative 20 years of public administration and strategic planning in academia, nonprofit, and other local and state governments.

Her educational background includes a doctorate in Public and Urban Administration from UT Arlington; a Master of Public Administration from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration from Moi University, Kenya. Her diverse background and experience inform her approach to planning, relationship building, and continuous improvement, which are steady pillars in her career and personal life.

Dr. Bryant has lived in Texas for over 15 years. She enjoys international and local travel; her church community; and family time exploring lakes and walking trails around the state with her husband, daughter, and parents.

Christy Havel Burton serves as chief financial officer (CFO) for the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Christy was deputy CFO for six years. During her tenure, Christy has led DSHS during critical times, including during Texas legislative sessions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before DSHS, Christy served as the federal funds manager for the Texas Health and Human Services System (HHS). At HHS she oversaw federal fund applications.

Christy worked a senior budget analyst at the Texas Legislative Budget Board for nine years, including leading the LBB workgroup on the HHS Sunset bill and subsequent consolidation.

Christy has a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Imelda Garcia serves as the senior advisor in the office of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) commissioner. In this role, she provides strategy and oversight of data modernization and public health partnerships. 

Prior to that, Ms. Garcia served for five years as Associate Commissioner of the Laboratory and Infectious Disease Services Division at DSHS. In this role, she led the agency’s overall efforts in the COVID-19 pandemic response including disease surveillance, testing, and state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts. In May 2021, she was recognized by the Texas Senate for serving as the Chair of the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel (EVAP). As the chair, she led the state in recommending the initial COVID-19 vaccines to eligible populations and the vaccine allocations. In addition to leading the COVID-19 response, she also led the agency’s response to Ebola, Zika, Mpox, and other infectious diseases.

Ms. Garcia has dedicated her professional career to public health. She began her public health service in 2004 working with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In 2007, she moved back home to Texas and resumed her public health work at DSHS. She has held various positions within DSHS with increasing leadership responsibilities working in the Family and Community Health Services Division. In 2014, she became the Director of Infectious Disease Prevention Section. In this role, she oversaw prevention and control activities related to zoonotic and emerging and acute infectious diseases, healthcare safety including healthcare acquired infections and preventable adverse events, antibiotic stewardship, tuberculosis, HIV/STD, and child and adult immunization programs.

Ms. Garcia received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Mexican American Studies with a concentration in public policy. From 2001 to 2003, Ms. Garcia attended the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University gaining her master’s in public health with a focus on health policy and management. 

David Gruber received his BA in Microbiology from Rutgers University and his Masters in Strategy from the U.S. Army Command and General Officer Staff College.

He spent twenty-one years in the U.S. Navy serving as a pilot, Intelligence Officer, and Chemical/Biological Warfare specialist. After retiring from the Navy, he was the Senior Planner for the Dallas County Health Department, followed by service with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services as Senior Assistant Commissioner for Regional and Local Health Department Oversight, Emergency Preparedness and Response, the Office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and the NJ State Public Health and Environmental Laboratories. Prior to returning to Texas, he was the Special Assistant to the NJ Director of Homeland Security and Preparedness.

Mr. Gruber is currently Deputy Commissioner for  the Regional and Local Health Operations Division. In this role he oversees DSHS regional operations, border health, emergency preparedness, and the operation of the Texas Center for Infectious Disease.

Manda Hall, MD has overseen the Community Health Improvement Division at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) since 2017. In this role, Dr. Hall provides strategic direction to four sections: Maternal and Child Health (MCH), Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries (EEDRS), Vital Statistics (VSS), and Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention (HPCDP). Prior to this role, she served as the Interim Associate Commissioner for Family and Community Health Services.

Dr. Hall began her public health career in 2012 as the Title V Children and Youth with Special Health Care Need Director at DSHS where she oversaw a team responsible for the development of family-centered, community-based, and coordinated statewide systems of care for CYSHCN and their families. In March of 2016, Dr. Hall assumed the role of Title V Maternal and Child Health Medical Director for Texas and oversaw the Title V Maternal and Child Block Grant. Dr. Hall graduated with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Lamar University and her Medical Degree from Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine. She completed her residency and fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Allergy and Immunology.

Dr. Hall previously served as the President of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and served as the AMCHP Region VI Director from 2017 to 2020. She graduated in May of 2014 as a fellow in the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Texas Health and Human Services Executive Leadership Academy in 2017. She is a faculty member of the DSHS Preventative Medicine and Public Health Residency Program.

Rachael Hendrickson is Chief of Staff for the Department of State Health Services. In that role, she oversees the areas of Communications, Government Affairs, and Media.

Rachael has been with the Department since 2012.  Prior to that, she worked in the Texas House of Representatives.

Rachael is a native of Houston, Texas, and studied history at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She earned a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Cynthia Hernandez has served as the Texas Department of State Health Services’ General Counsel since November 2021. She came to DSHS as an Administrative Law Judge and Assistant General Counsel for the Food and Drug Division in November 2016.

Before coming to DSHS and HHSC, she served as an administrative hearings attorney and litigation attorney for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Cynthia received a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from the University of Texas at El Paso, a Master of Science in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center.

Joshua Hutchison, MBA, serves as Deputy Commissioner for the Infectious Disease Prevention Services Division in the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).  Prior to that, Josh most recently served as the HIV/STD Section Director. In that role, he focused on making operations more efficient. He reorganized the section's positions and responsibilities, including creating and overseeing a financial team to ensure program budget stability. Josh’s efforts reduced staff vacancy rates from more than 46% to less than 19%.

Josh has overseen significant technology projects during his time at DSHS, including the STD/TB/HIV/AIDS Reporting and Response System project, and the Take Charge Texas enhancement project. Josh has also worked as a vaccine finance manager and financial analyst within the Immunizations Section.

Josh has worked in various capacities previous to his time at DSHS.  His previous experience in the Texas Health and Human Services system includes time at the Office of the Texas Veterans and Family Alliance Program, and the Aging and Disability Resource Center program.

Before working for the state of Texas, Josh worked in production management for private companies. He also served as an all-source intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army. 

Josh has a Master of Business Administration from Western Governor's University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas State University.

Barbara L. Klein has served the State of Texas since 2003. She began as an extern with the Texas Attorney General’s Office in the Tort Litigation Division and served as an Assistant Attorney General there for three years. She worked as legal counsel at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and as Chief Legal Officer at the State Office of Risk Management before joining the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) as Deputy General Counsel in May 2015. After serving as the General Counsel for four years, Ms. Klein joined the Office of the Commissioner as Senior Advisor in August of 2021 where she continues to serve the Commissioner and the people of Texas.

Ms. Klein graduated summa cum laude from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas with a Bachelors of Liberal Studies. She earned her Master of Public Affairs, Executive Master in Public Leadership from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, in Austin, Texas, and her juris doctorate from the University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire.

Grace Kubin, Ph.D., has overseen laboratory operations for the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) since 2011.

Dr. Kubin has led the laboratory response for outbreaks, including 2012 West Nile Virus, 2014 Ebola, 2016 Zika, and 2020 COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kubin served as an executive board member and president of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

She has overseen the addition of many testing technologies and methodologies to address the needs of DSHS health care and response partners. Dr. Kubin has also participated in many national committees, advisory groups, and workgroups, and is a member of the CDC Advisory Committee to the Director Laboratory Workgroup.

Dr. Kubin studied immunology, focusing on gene regulation, at the University of Texas, Austin, where she received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. She is board certified as a CLIA High Complexity Laboratory Director and as a Clinical Consultant for clinical laboratory testing.

Stephen Pont, MD, MPH is passionate about working towards good health for all through clinical care, education, policy, and research.

Since returning to Austin 14 years ago, Dr. Pont has worked to improve the health of children, families, and communities with a focus on underserved and Spanish speaking populations. Through working in Federally Qualified Health Centers in East Austin and by serving as the medical director for Austin Independent School District, he and colleagues recognized the need for clinical and community-based childhood obesity programs in Central Texas. Dr. Pont then co-founded and served as the medical director for Dell Children’s Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity, which grew to include nationally recognized multidisciplinary individual and group family-based programs for children. Nationally, he co-founded and served as the inaugural chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Obesity. He has been an investigator or center director on more than $75 million of philanthropic, CDC, NIH, and Medicaid 1115 Waiver funding. Federal grants have included the CDC Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration Project that tested a systems-based childhood obesity intervention that linked primary care offices, schools, YMCAs, and community-based interventions in Austin and Houston.

Dr. Pont completed a BA in Biology with a concentration in Spanish from UT Austin, MD from UT Southwestern, pediatric residency at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and a research fellowship and Master of Public Health at Vanderbilt. Dr. Pont is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Population Health with the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and Adjunct Associate Professor with Texas A&M College of Medicine. In 2017 he joined the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) executive team and began serving as the Medical Director for the Office of Science and Population Health. For the 2020 DSHS COVID response Dr. Pont served as the Acting State Epidemiologist from February through December of 2020 and continues as a member of Texas’ Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel. Dr. Pont recently transitioned to lead the newly formed DSHS Center for Public Health Policy and Practice, which includes the preventive medicine residency program, DSHS Public Health Library, Continuing Education and Continuing Medical Education Programs, the DSHS Institutional Review Board, Policy Analyses, Health Disparities, Health Economics, and Performance Management.

In his free time, Dr. Pont enjoys playing the guitar, learning martial arts with his sons and wife, and an annual mission trip to Guatemala with his church where he and his wife collaborate with a Mayan community development non-profit to teach a lay midwife training program.  

Dr. Varun Shetty is the Chief State Epidemiologist for the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).  In this role, he provides leadership and expertise for the department on disease monitoring and prevention. Dr. Shetty leads the Chief State Epidemiologist Division, which oversees health statistics and infectious disease epidemiology and he represents Texas on the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

Dr. Shetty is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Political Science. He is an alumnus of the AmeriCorps national service program. He received an MBA in Healthcare Management from Union Graduate College (now Clarkson University), and an MS in Biomedical Sciences from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. He was selected to serve as a chief resident for Pediatrics.

Dr. Shetty joined the CDC in 2019 where he was assigned to support DSHS, first as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer and then as a Career Epidemiology Field Officer (CEFO). He has advised on a number of Texas public health responses, including the E-cigarette, or vaping product, use associated lung injury (EVALI) epidemic, the Mpox outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also contributed to the state’s public health emergency preparedness and data analysis efforts.

Dr. Stevenson has served DSHS since 2018, first as the Assistant Director of Meat Safety Assurance, and now in his current role. Prior to joining DSHS, Dr. Stevenson served in the Army Veterinary Corps for 29 years, retiring at the rank of Colonel. He has a broad range of experience in health and public health programs in the Army. He developed and implemented programs, inspection systems and laboratory support to ensure a safe food supply for the Department of Defense worldwide. He also served as the commander of a military public health region from Texas to Florida, responsible for the health of military working dogs and other animals, industrial and environmental hygiene, entomology and public health.  

Dr. Stevenson is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and holds a PhD in Food Science and Technology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the National War College. He is a diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Microbiology and the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine-Epidemiology Specialty.