A new department tasked with preventing violence, injuries and deaths has a new leader.

On Monday, Health and Human Services Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes named Jamie Bourque director of the Office of Injury and Violence Prevention.

Bourque, who started work at her new post on Monday, said her office’s work will help “keep Maine people and families healthier and safer.”

The office will also bolster risk assessment and youth suicide awareness campaigns, according to DHHS.

Bourque has worked with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention since 2006, focusing on infectious disease prevention.

She led the agency’s work on prevention and response to chronic diseases, including injury and suicide prevention.

Legislation creating the Office of Injury and Violence Prevention was signed into law in April. 

“With this new office, injury and violence prevention work will now have its own focus within the Maine CDC, helping us better track the data and advance data driven violence prevention work across Maine,” Gagné-Holmes said in a news release.