HEALTH

NEW CASTLE - Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Walker announced two appointments of directors to lead the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services.

Elizabeth Romero, who formerly served as senior director for Health Improvement with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Arlington, Va., was appointed to lead the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Ms. Romero, who lives in Middletown, started in her new position on Nov. 27.

Secretary Walker also announced the appointment of Damaris Piliro, who most recently served as chief operating officer of SERV Behavioral Health, which has overall responsibility for intellectual and developmental disabilities division services for all counties in New Jersey, as the new Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services. Ms. Piliro will begin her new duties Jan. 29.

At SERV Behavioral Health, Piliro led and directed a division with a $30 million annual budget that serves adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities across New Jersey in group homes, day habilitation programs, through in-home supports and in adult foster care. Besides her experience at SERV Behavioral Health, Piliro also served for two years at Chief Operating Officer of Generations Home Care in New Castle, where she was in charge of the organization's overall planning, development, administration and evaluation. Previously, she worked in various director roles at Loving Care Agency, New Jersey Mentor, Bayada Nurses and the Brain Injury Program at Beechwood-New Jersey.