GRAY DAVIS: Appoints Two Top State Health Officials
Gov. Gray Davis (D) last Thursday named Charleen Milburn as the new deputy director of administration for the Department of Health Services. Since 1990, Milburn has served as the deputy director of legislation for the department's Legislative and Governmental Affairs Office (Office of the Governor release, 7/6). On June 21, Davis appointed David Carlisle as director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. An associate professor of medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine since 1998, Carlisle also serves as a consultant with the RAND/UCLA Center for Health Policy Studies and sits on the advisory board of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He will assume his new position pending Senate approval (Office of the Governor release, 6/21).
New Captains at the Helm
Across the state, several health-related public agencies and private companies have recently anointed new leaders. Some of the changing faces include:
- Chris Van Gorder: Van Gorder was named as the new president and CEO of the five-hospital Scripps Health system, six weeks after the embattled Dr. Stanley Pappelbaum resigned from the position. Joining Scripps last December as chief of health care operations, Van Gorder was serving as interim president and CEO after Pappelbaum's departure. He also has served as executive vice president of Memorial Health Services and CEO of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center (Fong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/11);
- Claudia Harrison: By a unanimous vote, the Ventura County Children & Families First Commission selected former Blue Cross director Harrison as its director for a three-year term. Harrison will head up the commission that will spend $11 million in tobacco taxes for early childhood development programs this year. She has worked at Blue Cross in Newbury Park for the past four years (Shepnick, Ventura County Star, 7/7);
- Steve Escoboza: Escoboza, a consultant and former San Diego County health executive, was appointed as interim director of the county's Health and Human Services Agency. During the past year, Escoboza worked as a county program manager to revamp the mental health system for children and adolescents. He also served as the county's assistant health director from 1985 to 1992 (San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/20).