Jan. 23, 2008 — Former V.I. Health Commissioner Darlene A. Carty Baptiste has been appointed to serve as chief executive officer of the Health Authority of Anguilla by Board Chairman Franklin Lloyd.
The appointment was effective Jan. 15 and Baptiste will be responsible for the management of the authority, which entails providing technical advice and guidance to the board on matters of policy. The position is a combination of the positions of Commissioner of Public Health — which oversees five community health clinics — and chief executive officer of the island's sole hospital, according to Carty.
"The system is similar to that of the BVI, where the services are provided by the authority and we partner with the ministry (government) on monitoring and regulatory affairs," she said.
Baptiste, who is married to St. Croix business owner and former gubernatorial candidate Samuel Baptiste, served as health commissioner under the Turnbull Administration from 2003 until 2006, and was the first full-time non-physician and youngest female to hold the position.
Her new position will allow her to split residency between Anguilla and the Virgin Islands.
"I will be traveling significantly to oversee the operations of Dynamic with my husband," Baptiste said.
Before accepting her new post, Baptiste served as vice president of Dynamic Management and Consultants. Her husband, who is program coordinator in the Office of Government Affairs and Community Relations at Hovensa, serves as Dynamic's president. Together the two own and manage the consulting company as well as the V.I. Training and Assessment Institute and the St. Croix franchise of H&R Block Tax Preparation Services, H&R Block Business Services and Money Gram International in Estate Ville LaReine.
Until her venture into private entrepreneurship, much of Baptiste's career had been with the V.I. Health Department starting at then-St. Thomas Hospital as its financial accounts manager and various positions at Health before being named to head the agency. As the territory's lead health official, she was responsible for one of the territory's largest agencies and advised the governor and the public on health matters. As health commissioner, she served on several boards and commissions in addition to administering the agency's $67 million budget and managing more than 500 employees.
Before her tenure with the V.I. Health Department, she worked in Durham, N.C., at Duke University Medical Center's Department of Radiation Technology and later as the technical training manager of Northrop Gruman IT Health Solutions and Services, conducting training and participating in peer reviews that addressed priority populations. Baptiste graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor of science degree in 1992 in radiologic medicine with a minor in business administration. She received a masters of art in education with a concentration in guidance and counseling form the University of the Virgin Islands in 1998.