Dr. Jeffery P. Engel has been named state health director.

N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler announced he was promoting the current state epidemiologist today.

"North Carolina has an ambitious public health agenda before it," Engel said in a statement. "We face tough economic times. It is in times such as these that we must be most vigilant to maintain our successes and find new strategies to make us a healthier state."

Engel replaces State Health Director Leah Devlin, who retired in January but will serve in an interim capacity through March 2.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Engel served on the faculty of East Carolina University from 1988 to 2002, including a stint as director of hospital infection control for Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

He has served as state epidemiologist since 2002.

Update: Engel will make $211,251 a year in the post. 

Beverly Perdue is holding a discussion on rural development today.

The governor-elect will hold the roundtable at the Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville at 10 a.m.

It is part of a series of issue-oriented "listening" events she is holding. Previous roundtables on the economy and other topics in the Triad, the Triangle and Charlotte.