High-ranking SC health official departs state agency

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A top South Carolina health official has stepped down not long after a new head of her department took over.

The State newspaper in Columbia (http://bit.ly/1Hu9x4K ) reports that Jamie Shuster’s departure from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control was announced to staff in an email Friday afternoon. Shuster had been the head of the agency’s public health division. Her departure is effective July 15.

Department director Catherine Heigel, who took office less than six weeks ago, wished Shuster well in the email and thanked her for her work at the department since 2012.

DHEC is one of the state’s largest agencies with 3,400 employees. Its two main divisions are a health division and an environmental division.