OKLAHOMA CITY -- Eat smart. Move more. Don't smoke.

It's a simple message that Dr. Terry Cline brings to his new role as Oklahoma's commissioner of health. But it's one that Cline says can improve the overall health of Oklahomans and lift the state from near the bottom of the nation's health rankings.

"We have as individuals the incredible opportunity to change all that," said Cline, 50, a psychologist who took over as the state's top health officer on June 30. "If we can attack those three issues -- how we eat, how we move and our tobacco status -- we will make huge, huge gains in the state of Oklahoma."

Convincing Oklahomans to change unhealthy behaviors will require the combined efforts of health care professionals, educators, employers and others who have a stake in promoting healthy lifestyles, Cline said during an interview with The Associated Press.

"There are simple things that we can do each and every day," Cline said. "There are many, many ways to get that message out."

Cline, an Ardmore native who has been involved in public health issues for more than 20 years, is a former state secretary of health and commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services who left those positions in 2006 to become the head of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Cline took over as state health commissioner after completing his work as health attache at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where he advised the U.S. ambassador, the Iraqi minister of health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on health-related challenges in Iraq.

Cline replaces Dr. Michael Crutcher, who retired as the state's health commissioner on Jan. 31.

Cline said there are parallels to the public health challenges that face Oklahoma and what he experienced in Iraq, where the infant mortality rate is about four times higher than in the U.S. and one of highest in the Middle East.

The Oklahoma Department of Health's 2008 State of the State's Health report card gave Oklahoma a grade of D in infant mortality rates with 8 deaths per 1,000 births compared to the national average of 6.9.

"We have overall poor health relative to other people in the United States," Cline said. "We haven't made as much progress as some of our sister states.

"It's all a matter of magnitude and degree of difference. The old adage about everything is relative is really true."

Cline said his chief focus is on unhealthy behaviors that lead to high obesity, inactivity and tobacco use rates and put Oklahoma ahead of much of the nation in deaths due to heart disease and stroke.

Chronic lower respiratory diseases continue to plague Oklahoma at higher than national average rates primarily because of Oklahoma's continued high use of cigarettes, and the state ranks among the 10 worst states in the prevalence of diabetes, according to the health report card.

"Taken in sum, these conditions result in a much higher total mortality rate for Oklahoma than the rest of the nation," the report card said.