Delaware County, Pennsylvania, U.S., officials announced that they had hired a family-practice physician as a medical adviser for the county.

The adviser, George K. Avetian of Radnor, will help coordinate public-health efforts in the county.

The position was added in response to a study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released last year that found the county's public-health system lacking in leadership and coordination.

Avetian has a medical practice in Upper Darby and is on staff at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. He is a Villanova University graduate and earned a medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1980.

He is a special deputy with the Delaware County Sheriff's Department and vice chairman for the Media-based Center for Resolution, a mediation and conflict-resolution organization. He also serves on the board of the Armenian Sisters Academy in Radnor.

Avetian, according to county officials, will scale back his practice to take on the full-time position with the county. The position pays $50,000 a year.

Delaware County does not have a county-based public health department. A county Department of Intercommunity Health acts as a referral center on public-health issues.

Besides hiring a leader to oversee public-health services, the Hopkins study recommended the county design a centralized system to disseminate health information to the public, provide more funding for public health, and establish a task force to oversee the county's public-health efforts.

On Monday, April 25, at 6 p.m. in the Government Center building, the county will hold a meeting to outline the plan that was developed in response to the Hopkins study, according to philly.com.