Kentucky GOP Senator Appointed As New Commissioner For The Tennessee Dept Of Health

Image Credit: Ralph Alvarado / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

Governor Bill Lee has announced the appointment of the new commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health.

Dr. Ralph Alvarado, MD, FACP will succeed Interim Health Commissioner Dr. Morgan McDonald, MD, FACP, FAAP.  He will be the first permanent commissioner since Dr. Lisa Piercey stepped down from the position in May of this year.

Alvarado, a Republican from Winchester, Kentucky, is the Chief Executive Officer of Alvarado Medical Services, PLLC, a healthcare organization serving Kentucky communities.

Alvarado has served in the Kentucky State Senate since 2015 and has led the Senate Health and Welfare Committee as chairman since 2019. Alvarado is currently co-chairman of the National Coalition of Physician Legislators.

He is well-known in the Kentucky GOP and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2016 and was selected by Governor Matt Bevin as his running mate in his failed 2019 gubernatorial reelection bid.

In Kentucky, Alvarado has been a vocal proponent of the GOP-backed trigger ban both in the Senate and in the Kentucky Medical Association.  

In 2017, he sponsored a bill that would have required individuals to submit medical malpractice claims to a medical review panel before being allowed to file a lawsuit.  Governor Bevin signed the bill into law, but the state Supreme Court struck the law down when they determined it unduly obstructed patient’s access to the courts.

Alvarado will start his new role on January 16th, 2023.