The Board of the Central Nevada Health District has appointed Dr. Antonina Capurro to serve as its first permanent administrator. During a special meeting held on March 2, 2023, the board voted to approve Dr. Capurro’s contract to lead the new district. She will officially begin on March 20, 2023.
Capurro currently serves as a deputy administrator at the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Health Care Financing and Policy. She was raised in Nevada and calls the state home. She earned a Doctor of Dental Medicine, Master of Public Health with a concentration in health care administration and policy, and Master of Business Administration with a focus on mass communication and public affairs from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Additionally, Capurro completed a Master of Public Health with a dental emphasis and Dental Public Health Residency Program at A.T. Still University.
“Dr. Capurro has exactly the experience, education, and relationships necessary to lead our new health district,” said Caleb Cage, interim administrator of the Central Nevada Health District. “County and city leaders have delivered an incredibly important opportunity to provide public health services to rural Nevadans through the establishment of the Central Nevada Health District and I am excited to see how the opportunity grows under Dr. Capurro’s leadership.”
“I am pleased with the Board’s confidence in my abilities to lead Nevada’s newest health district,” said Dr. Antonina Capurro. “I have worked hard throughout my career to build knowledge and experience about the systems and services that aim to improve public health and I am excited to apply those lessons in this new role.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the communities of Churchill, Eureka, Mineral and Pershing Counties, as well as the City of Fallon, agreed to form the Central Nevada Health District to serve the small, dispersed, and diverse populations in rural communities by leveraging existing resources to reduce gaps and expand services to the communities. The establishment of the Central Nevada Health District was approved by the State of Nevada Board of Health on December 2, 2022, in accordance with NRS 439.370. It is the third Health District approved in the State of Nevada, the first to include multiple communities, and the first to serve rural communities.