Demetria Lindsay, MD

Dr. Demetria Lindsay has been selected as the new District Health Director in Norfolk.

Demetria brings a wealth of experience to her new role in Norfolk. She has served as Director for the Portsmouth Health District since joining Virginia Department of Health (VDH) in 2002.  Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Lindsay was the recipient of the first Commissioner of Health Award for leadership in the public health investigation and response to a suspected case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.  The incident received significant state, national and international attention. She also provided local leadership for an Infant Mortality Initiative in collaboration with diverse community advocates, local government, providers, the school system and other regional health districts to reduce Portsmouth’s infant death rate from 18 per 1000 births in 2005 to 7 per 1000 births in 2007.

As Acting Western Tidewater Health District Director, she served as public health lead in emergency response efforts to a major flood in Franklin, Virginia and other areas of the district.  She is the current Chairperson for the Board of the Portsmouth General Hospital Foundation and has served on numerous community boards and sub-committees, including the regional Health Systems Agency, Elizabeth River Project, and School Health Advisory Boards.

Dr. Lindsay earned her Doctor of Medicine Degree from the Duke University School of Medicine.  She completed her internship and a residency in internal medicine at Washington University, Jewish Hospital of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.  Demetria is board certified in internal medicine.  She is a graduate of Clark University in Atlanta, Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.

Prior to joining VDH in 2002, Dr. Lindsay served first as a Bureau Chief and later as an Associate Commissioner with the Texas Department of Health (TDH).  In these positions she gained progressively greater management and leadership experience in overseeing a statewide program of primary care, health communications, public health promotion, diabetes, breast & cervical cancer programs, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), border health, minority health and cultural competency, community health nursing, and community health provider placement.

Dr. Lindsay has also gained significant clinical experience through her work as a staff physician and as the employee health physician for the Department of Veteran Affairs at facilities in San Antonio and Dallas, as well as, her tenure as a primary care physician at the Group Health Plan in St. Louis.