Pam Pontones, MA
Deputy Health Commissioner and State Epidemiologist
Pam Pontones has served at the Indiana Department of Health for more than 30 years. She began her career as a microbiologist in 1990 and transitioned to epidemiology in 1999, serving as the Enteric Epidemiologist, Field Epidemiology Director, and Director of Surveillance and Investigation. Since 2009, Pam has served as State Epidemiologist and as Director of the Epidemiology Resource Center, overseeing programs including infectious disease epidemiology, vector borne and zoonotic diseases, syndromic surveillance, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and public health geographics. She also serves as an agency spokesperson for infectious diseases and other health issues. In February 2017, she was appointed deputy state health commissioner, assuming oversight for the Office of Public Health Performance Management (OPHPM) and the Division of HIV, STIs, and Viral Hepatitis.
Pam is an adjunct faculty member for the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and has been a member of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists since 2010. She was a scholar in the 2010 National Public Health Leadership Institute and a fellow in the 2001 Mid-America Regional Public Health Leadership Institute. She graduated cum laude from Indiana University Bloomington with a BA in biology and minor in journalism and holds a MA in microbiology from IU.
Pam lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two sons.
