The South Carolina Department of Public Health will move forward with new acting leadership one day after its interim director exited the position.
Gov. Henry McMaster named Dr. Brannon Traxler as DPH's acting director Friday morning. Traxler has 18 years experience in medicine and public health. She previously served as the public health agency's chief medical officer and as the deputy director of health and services.
She had also held positions at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, which dissolved in 2024. Traxler's roles before the state agency went defunct included director of public health and interim director of public health. She also served as chief medical officer during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped lead the state's emergency response.
Traxler begins as acting director Friday and will stay in the position until a new permanent director is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the South Carolina Senate. She essentially now takes over for Dr. Edward Simmer, who served as DPH's interim director until Thursday, the final day of the 2026 legislative session.
In an emailed statement, the governor's office said the General Assembly did not confirm Simmer during the legislative session, and so he could not continue in the position.
Simmer's exit had festered for a while after several moves by the legislature to essentially set-up his departure. A senate bill — S. 922 — would have changed the governor's appointment powers and included changes to declare the DPH director's office as vacant on May 14.
The bill spent the last day of regular session passing between the House and Senate. State lawmakers are now in a special session. And beyond the bill, state lawmakers had previously refused to advance Simmer's nomination. Pushback stemmed from his response to the COVID pandemic.
McMaster had in the past shared his support of Simmer on social media.
I remain resolute in my support of Dr. Ed Simmer and am hopeful that the full Senate will see through the falsehoods and mistruths being spread about his service to our state and nation.
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) April 3, 2025
Traxler took over a different agency role earlier in the year. Following state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell's March 31 retirement, Traxler began to lead the state's measles outbreak media briefings that Bell had helmed.
DPH did not provide a statement before this story was published.
Traxler is a Clemson University graduate and has a master's degree in public health from George Washington University. She earned a medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, completed a breast surgery fellowship at Emory University and completed a general surgery residency at Greenville Health System.
