April 2, 2021
St. Charles County, Missouri - St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann today announced that Director of Public Health Demetrius Cianci-Chapman will be leaving the County effective May 21. Cianci-Chapman is reuniting with his family out of state.
“My husband lives and works in Indiana,” Cianci-Chapman explains, “and throughout this pandemic, we have been mostly apart. Our youngest son, who will soon graduate from high school, has chosen to attend college there. It is best for me and my entire family that I resign my position and move there.
“This has been an extremely difficult decision,” he continues, “because I love my job and I love living in St. Charles County. Although I have only been in this position for 18 months, I hope that my contributions to the county’s health needs during this exceptional time have been beneficial. This has certainly been a remarkable time in my career.”
Cianci-Chapman started in his position Nov. 14, 2019, about two months before the first positive COVID-19 case was documented in the United States. By March, he was leading his team of 75 employees and hundreds of volunteers through a pandemic that has required the constant, arduous responsibilities of investigating, contact tracing, testing, quarantining, isolating, educating and now, vaccinating.
“Demetrius has been an extraordinary leader for the County throughout this pandemic,” Ehlmann says. “The better I got to know him the last year, I came to realize how important his family was to him. So, when I learned of his decision, I was extremely disappointed, but not surprised. Demetri’s expertise, experience, and knowledge of the field of Public Health will be extremely difficult to replace.”
Cianci-Chapman, who has two master’s degrees and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Saint Louis University, plans to finish his Ph.D. The County will immediately begin a search for a new director.