Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top health advisor during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic plans to step down.
The governor praised Dr. Mark Ghaly as the country’s “most transformative leader in the health space” in recent years after announcing that the secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency is leaving the cabinet position at the end of this month.
As CalMatters’ health reporters Ana B. Ibarra and Kristen Hwang explain, Ghaly has led the agency since 2019. (You might recall Ghaly as the one who administered the COVID vaccine to Newsom during a live broadcast in 2021.)
Though Newsom received pushback from some Californians for his handling of the pandemic — particularly for business lockdowns and school closures, which helped fuel an unsuccessful 2021 recall campaign — Newsom said Ghaly’s leadership during the time “saved countless lives.”
During Ghaly’s tenure, the state also undertook some notable overhauls in its public health policies, which advocates and community groups have pushed for decades. That includes revamping California’s public insurance program CalAIM; creating a framework for the state’s health care system to better serve elderly Californians; and launching CalRx to enable the state to distribute its own medications, such as insulin and naloxone.
Ghaly’s successor will be Kim Johnson, the current director of the California Department of Social Services, who will begin her new role Oct. 1. Unlike Ghaly, Johnson has no medical background; she has led the social services department since 2019.
Learn more about Ghaly’s time in office in Ana and Kristen’s story.
Reining in hemp: Ghaly also spoke alongside Newsom on Friday as the governor issued emergency regulations to restrict the sale of consumable hemp products, particularly to children and young adults.
The new rules would ban the sale of food, beverages and other industrial hemp products that have detectable levels of tetrahydrocannabinol. Informally known as THC, the compound is derived from hemp and is linked to health risks in developing brains. The regulations also limit the serving and package size of hemp products, and establish the minimum age of 21 to purchase these products.
Newsom proposed the rules after a bill to restrict the sale of hemp products stalled in the Legislature. Marijuana and hemp are two varieties of the cannabis plant, but marijuana has higher levels of THC and is highly regulated.
Back on the stump: The governor is back on the presidential campaign trail supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. He left the state Sunday to do fundraisers and media appearances in New York, then he’ll make campaign stops in Pennsylvania before returning to California on Wednesday. Newsom was among President Joe Biden’s most visible backers earlier this summer, but he took a step back after Biden withdrew. Newsom endorsed Harris in late July and only made brief remarks on Harris’s behalf at the Democratic convention last month.
