Victoria Anwuri, MPH

Victoria V. Anwuri, MPH, joined the City of St. Louis Department of Health in 2022 as Commissioner of Health. Following the Director of Health's departure in 2025, Commissioner Anwuri has helped ensure continuity of essential public health services and core public health functions while continuing to advance the department’s mission to protect and improve the health of City of St. Louis residents. She also supports the department’s ongoing public health initiatives, organizational effectiveness, and emergency response and recovery efforts.

Commissioner Anwuri brings extensive experience in public health leadership, community health, and organizational management. She has directed complex public health programs and operations while partnering with stakeholders across local, state, and national sectors to improve health outcomes. Her expertise includes strategic planning, grant writing, program evaluation, performance measurement, and the management of complex public health initiatives supported by private foundations and federal and state funding. 

Before joining the Department of Health, Commissioner Anwuri served as Associate Director of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. In that role, she advanced the institute’s strategic priorities, collaborated with leadership across its centers and initiatives, and oversaw programmatic, administrative, and operational functions.

Earlier in her career, Commissioner Anwuri served as a Public Health fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, where she researched policy, environmental, and systems-level interventions designed to improve population health.

Originally from the Los Angeles area, Commissioner Anwuri has been a longtime resident of St. Louis and remains actively engaged in advancing public health throughout the region. She earned a Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice,  where she was inducted into Delta Omega, the honorary society in public health. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Spelman College.