Dr. Fermin Leguen, acting chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District, has been named to the position permanently.
The Southern Nevada District Board of Health said Leguen’s leadership through the agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was key to his appointment.
“Dr. Leguen’s leadership and public health experience have been a tremendous asset to the Health District and the community as we have navigated this unprecedented response to the pandemic,” Scott Black, a North Las Vegas councilman and chairman of the Board of Health, said in a statement.
Leguen joined the Health District in 2016 as director of clinical services and chief medical officer.
“I am pleased to continue to serve my community and lead the Southern Nevada Health District,” Leguen said in a statement. “Our public health staff, partners, and the community have been working tirelessly to stop this pandemic, and I am looking forward to building on our successes and the good work that we have started.”
Before joining the Health District, Leguen held executive positions with public health agencies in Florida. He was also a primary care physician in Miami.
Leguen has served as a consultant for the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization Immunization Program in Jamaica and Peru.
He received his medical degree from Havana University in Cuba. He completed a residency and received a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.