April 29, 2024
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Former Kendall County Health Department director named interim IDPH director

By John Etheredge
Dr. Amaal Tokars, executive director for the Kendall County Health Department, listens during a Tuesday, Feb. 4 County Board meeting at the county office building, 111 W. Fox St. in Yorkville.

FILE PHOTO: Amaal Tokars, executive director for the Kendall County Health Department, listens during a Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 County Board meeting at the county office building, 111 W. Fox St. in Yorkville.

Gov. JB Prtizker has named Amaal Tokars, the former executive director of the Kendall County Health Department, as the interim director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Tokars will lead the state agency as a nationwide search is conducted to find a permanent director to replace Dr. Ngozi Ezike who will leave the agency March 14 after serving as its director for the past three years.

In a statement, Prtizker described Tokars as one of Ezike’s top deputies.

“Amaal Tokars has been an instrumental senior member of Dr. Ezike’s leadership team, and the people of Illinois will be lucky to have her watching out for them,” Pritzker said.

Tokars served as county public health department director for more than 15 years before departing in June 2020 to become the IDPH’s assistant director.

The Kendall County Board honored and thanked Tokars for her service to the county upon her departure from the health department about two years ago.

County Board Chairman Scott Gryder recognized Tokars for her contributions to the county, including her receiving the 2017 Illinois Public Health Association President’s Recognition Award, which is the highest award given to health leaders in the state.

Gryder said he got to interact with Tokars more closely in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as it began to impact the county in March 2020.

Then-County Board member Audra Hendrix said she believed Tokars provided the best programming she possibly could in the name of helping county residents, even with the very limited resources the health department was provided. She said she wished Tokars well and that the county was very lucky to have her for the amount of time that it did.

“So it is quite understandable that someone else has taken her from us because they know a good thing when they see it,” Hendrix said.

In addition to leading the county health department, Tokars served at the Association for Individual Development for 14 years where she managed more than 30 health and human services sites and programs.

Tokars earned a bachelor of science degree from Lewis University and a master’s degree in family systems and Ph.D. in leadership and policy from Northern Illinois University. She also is a graduate of the Navy Post Graduate School.