Marin County has appointed a new public health officer to be confirmed at the next Board of Supervisors meeting, the county said this week.  

Dr. Lisa Santora, a physician who has served as deputy public health officer in Marin County for 9 years, will replace outgoing Public Health Officer Matt Willis, who is retiring in September. Willis led the county through the COVID-19 pandemic and has been director for 11 years, according to the county.

Santora has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in public health. She earned her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and is licensed to practice in California and Florida. She also belongs to American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Public Health Association, the county said.  

As deputy public health officer, Santora has helped develop the county’s response to homelessness, severe weather, wildfires and the pandemic. She secured funding for a five-year, $10 million whole person care pilot initiative in Marin, which integrates the county’s approach to homelessness with Medi-Cal. 

Santora said health equity is also a priority for her. Though Marin regularly tops the list of the state’s — and even the country’s — healthiest counties, there are wide disparities among health outcomes depending on the community. 

In 2021, Marin County ranked first in clinical care, according to the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report, an influential annual study released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. But these benefits differed among racial groups. For example, mammography rates for Black women were less than half of the rates among white women in that same year.  

“I am deeply honored to be appointed as Marin County’s new public health officer,” said Santora in a statement released by the county Thursday. “I look forward to continuing to serve our community in this new role, with a dedicated focus on achieving health equity for all residents of Marin.” 

Santora’s appointment will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for confirmation at Tuesday’s meeting and she is scheduled to begin her new role on Sept. 3.  

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.