About our Health Officer

Health Officer’s Message

Gayle Guidash
Interim Administrator
Florida Department of Health in Citrus County

Ms. Gayle Guidash was named the Interim Administrator for the Health Department in Citrus County on August 2, 2024.

She previously was the Assistant Director for the Health Department in Pinellas County since August of 2015. There she oversaw Disease Control, Environmental Health, Communications, the Office of Public Health Preparedness, and the Office of Overdose Prevention.

These Divisions and Sections consist of programs such as Immunizations, Epidemiology, HIV/STD Prevention, Community Environmental Public Health, Water & Septic Programs, Childcare Licensing as well as Special Need Sheltering. She also assists the Pinellas County Opioid Task Force whose goal is to reduce the opioid deaths in the community.

Gayle started her career in Public Health in 1991 as an Environmental Specialist, conducting regulatory inspections and investigations. She went on to become a Public Health Preparedness Planner in 2002 and conducted planning, training, and preparedness response operations for the Department. She completed her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Tampa in 1990 and her master’s degree in Epidemiology at the University of South Florida, Tampa in 1997.

She earned her Certification as a Registered Environmental Health Sanitarian from the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) in 2011 and her Certification in Infection Control in 2021 from the Association for Professionals of Infection Control (APIC).

Finally, she graduated from the Public Health Leadership Institute of Florida, Class Nine; CDC’s Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute; and the Florida Emergency Management Academy, Class Three.