Brannon Traxler, MD, MPH, currently serves as deputy director of Health Promotion and Services & Chief Medical Officer for the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH). In this capacity, she provides strategic direction for Health Promotion and Services, leading its approximately 2,000 employees. She ensures the delivery of appropriate, timely and quality services at DPH’s 74 public health service sites, located in every county in the state. She also oversees the statewide efforts related to chronic disease and injury prevention, communicable disease prevention and control, community engagement, community nutrition, maternal and child health, vital statistics, and emergency preparedness and response, as well as the state's public health laboratory.
Prior to this role, Dr. Traxler served as deputy director of Health Promotion and Services & Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Traxler served as the Chief Medical Officer for the state’s COVID-19 response. She is trained and board certified in general surgery and previously practiced as a surgeon in South Carolina before changing her specialty focus to public health. Traxler completed residency in general surgery at Greenville Health System (now Prisma Health Upstate) in Greenville, South Carolina, and fellowship in breast surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Traxler earned her medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and her Master of Public Health degree from George Washington University. She received her undergraduate degree in microbiology at Clemson University Honors College. In spring 2022, Traxler was recognized for her leadership and dedication to public health as one of The State's 20 under 40 and became a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
Traxler is the South Carolina State Health Official (SHO) Designee for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and serves as the Vice Chair of ASTHO’s Public Health Preparedness Policy Committee, as well as participating on regional and national multidisciplinary committees focused on public health and medical preparedness for emergencies and disasters.
Traxler and her husband, Tony Roach, live in Greenville with their daughters, Lucy and Bettie, and their rescued dog, Oscar. In her spare time, she also enjoys traveling and watching baseball.