Mayor Adrian Fenty on Friday fired the director of the D.C. Department of Health in an effort to turn the $1.8 billion agency toward what he called “a more aggressive public health strategy.”

Dr. Gregg Pane, health director since mid-2004, was replaced on an interim basis by Dr. Carlos Cano, who had served as senior deputy director for the agency’s Community Health Administration. Sources said Fenty had been talking about firing Pane for weeks.