Texas Department of State Health Services
Director of Media Relations
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, TX 78756-3199
Chris Van Deusen has been the director of media relations at the Texas Department of State Health Services since 2016 after serving as an agency press officer for the previous six years. He was the primary spokesperson and media contact for the state’s COVID-19 response and has managed media relations for outbreaks, disasters and consumer protection issues from the first cases of Ebola diagnosed in the United States to hurricanes to locally-acquired Zika cases.
Chris previously served as a regional public information officer for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and worked for 10 years in radio news in Houston, Charlotte, N.C. and Syracuse, N.Y. He holds a degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
