Dr. Lisa Hernandez named next Santa Cruz County health officer
Quick Take
Dr. Lisa Hernandez, a 25-year public health veteran, has worked throughout the Bay Area, including a three-year tenure in Santa Cruz County’s Health Services Agency. She is expected to begin serving July 5.
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Santa Cruz County announced Wednesday that it has selected Dr. Lisa Hernandez as the county’s next top health officer as Dr. Gail Newel approaches retirement.
Hernandez has worked in medicine and public health for 25 years and has held numerous high-level positions in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. She was Monterey County’s deputy health officer from 2007 to 2012 before transitioning to the health officer role from 2012 to 2013. She worked in Santa Cruz from 2013 to 2016 as county medical services director and health officer as well.
More recently, from 2016 to 2017, she was the deputy health officer and infectious disease and response branch director for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, where she led programs like the communicable disease prevention and control program, immunization and travel clinic, and the sexually transmitted disease clinic.
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Hernandez is currently health officer for the City of Berkeley, a role she has held since 2018 and in which she led the city’s pandemic response.
“I have great affection for Santa Cruz County and its residents,” said Hernandez in a news release. “I look forward to working with the community to improve the health and wellness of all county residents.”
Should the county board of supervisors approve Hernandez, she will start work July 5.