Amy Acton  Amy Acton, M.D., M.P.H. (born Amy Leigh Stearns ) is an American physician and public-health researcher who served the director of the Ohio Department of Health from 2019–2020. She became known for her leading role in Ohio's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Acton was born Amy Stearns and raised on the north side of Youngstown, Ohio, living "in 18 different places in a 12-year period, including in a tent when she was homeless." She described in a 2020 interview with Youngstown's WKBN having random neighbors give her and her brother breakfast "because they knew we were hungry" and also "people looking the other way, not wanting their kids to play with me because we were dirty and smelly." She described in a 2019 interview being neglected and abused while she lived with her mother following her parents' divorce. By 7th grade she was living with her father in a more stable environment, and at Liberty High School was a member of the National Honor Society and Homecoming queen. She attended Youngstown State University and earned a medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 1990, working to pay her way through college. She completed her residency in pediatrics and preventive medicine. She earned a master's in public health from Ohio State University. She completed her residencies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Acton taught at Ohio State University as an associate professor of public health. She worked at the Columbus Foundation as a grants manager. She was director of Project LOVE (Love Our kids, Vaccinate Early). In 2008, while known as Amy Beech, she served as a volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign by creating an email group on my.BarackObama.com called "Bexley, Yes We Can!" and publicized campaign events using Facebook. In February 2019, Ohio governor Mike DeWine made her his final cabinet pick as director of the Department of Health. The search process was lengthy, as DeWine had been determined to have the right person in charge in a crisis. Acton was the first woman in the post. The two previous incumbents were a lawyer and a marketing director; DeWine mentioned wanting to "rethink how we approach this department". On June 11, 2020, she resigned from her position and became a chief health advisor for DeWine's administration. She was succeeded by Lance Himes as interim director. In 2020, prior to and during the coronavirus pandemic, Acton advised Governor Mike DeWine, who became the first U.S. governor to close schools and limit gatherings to no more than 100 people, despite that Ohio, at the time, had only three confirmed cases.