Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, the state's chief health official since 2001, announced this week that he is stepping down in October to spend more time with his family.

• Since he took the helm, Sanchez has overseen a massive legislation-mandated overhaul that included consolidating the Texas Department of Health with agencies on substance abuse and mental health, forming the Texas Department of State Health Services.

That agency, with 11,500 employees and a $2.4 billion annual budget, oversees public health programs, immunizations, state hospitals, bio- terrorism preparedness and other programs in a state where a quarter of the population is uninsured.

Texas spends about $20 billion on health and human services programs annually, about 30 percent of all state spending. Forty-four states spend more per capita on public health, and 45 spend more per capita on mental health services.

"First and foremost, I want to make clear that this has been a difficult decision to make," Sanchez wrote his department's employees Monday. "However, it's made with my responsibilities to my family as my first priority. I have to give more of my time and of myself to my wife and children."

Sanchez, who is married to Katherine Sanchez, has four children.

Colleagues described Sanchez as a visionary leader who fought the state's childhood obesity problem and helped increase Texas' child immunization rate from 69.5 percent in 2000 to 75.4 percent in 2004.

"I think it's a real loss for Texas, a real loss for the system in transition, not to have him at the helm," said King Davis, executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin.

The state's next commissioner will be charged with continuing to implement changes mandated by the 2003 legislation that revamped the state's health and human services agencies. And with the next session of the Legislature beginning in January, the new chief will need to immediately delve into the state's most pressing public health issues, such as obesity, immunization rates and border health issues.

Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday commended Sanchez's efforts to lead the public health response to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina last year, when nearly 400,000 evacuees sought refuge in Texas.

Sanchez was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
"Resigning for family reasons is sometimes looked at as suspicious, but in this case, it's true," department spokesman Doug McBride said. The job involves "a lot of travel, a lot of hours away from family."

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, credited Sanchez's sincere testimony to lawmakers with the 2005 passage of an HIV medication program that she said would save the lives of 20,000 Texans.

"Sometimes, as he testified, I sensed that he was in pain. . . . It pained him to talk about the health care needs of the people of Texas," Zaffirini said. "He truly, deeply cared."

Sanchez, a certified family-practice physician, was the health authority and chief medical officer for the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department from 1994-98 and lead physician of the Seton Topfer Community Health Center in Austin from 2000-01.

Diana Resnik, senior vice president for community care at Seton, who has known Sanchez for two decades, said he has a particular passion for the uninsured.
"I'm shocked" he is leaving, she said. "He's made a huge contribution, and he was great in that role."

Sanchez replaced William "Reyn" Archer III, who resigned in 2000 after complaints of racially charged comments about Hispanics and inappropriate comments to an African American employee.

State officials said they will conduct a nationwide search for Sanchez's replacement and hope to be finished by the time Sanchez's resignation becomes effective Oct. 6.
"We'd like to see a clone of Dr. Sanchez," said Dr. Ladon Homer, president of the Texas Medical Association.

Age: 46
Education: M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; master's degree in public health, UT School of Public Health; master's degree in biomedical engineering, Duke University; bachelor's degrees in biomedical engineering and chemistry, Boston University.

Family: wife Katherine; one son, age 14; three daughters, ages 12, 6 and 3
Hometown: Grew up in Corpus Christi.
Notable: Received the 2005 Public Health Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Dr. Sanchez's message to Department of State Health Services employees
Dear Colleagues,
It's with some regret that I find myself letting you know about my formal notice to Gov. Rick Perry that I intend to resign as commissioner of DSHS, effective Oct. 6, 2006.
First and foremost, I want to make clear that this has been a difficult decision to make. However, it's made with my responsibilities to my family as my first priority. I have to give more of my time and of myself to my wife and children.

I am so very grateful to have served as the first commissioner of DSHS. I'm so proud to have worked with all of you, and I will miss the sense of satisfaction that I feel every day because of the work you do that I get to brag about.

You may be asking yourselves why I'm making this announcement four months in advance. My rationale is to openly and transparently focus on transition and on preparing for next year's legislative session.

I am humbled by you, the DSHS employees. I am energized by your public service. I thank you for all that you do.

Regards,
Eduardo