Information provided by the County of San Benito
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include comment from Dr. Gellert about moving to San Benito County. Last update on Oct. 6 at 9:40 a.m.
San Benito County announced that the Board of Supervisors appointed Dr. George Gellert as the new county health officer at their Sept. 28 meeting. Gellert has been serving as the San Benito County deputy health officer since December 2020 alongside Interim Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci.
“Over the last 10 months, it has been my privilege to serve as Deputy Health Officer in San Benito County. Over that time, I have been highly impressed with the public health excellence, skills and dedication of the Health and Human Services Agency leadership and the entire Public Health team,” Gellert said in the release. “I look forward to working with the team and our many community partners to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us as soon as possible. And then, to returning to the advancement of the most innovative and high impact disease prevention initiatives which our county very much needs to reduce the risk and incidence of deadly chronic diseases, avoidable injuries, preventable maternal and child health issues, substance abuse and other causes of suffering and ill health in our community.”
San Benito County Information Officer David Westrick said Gellert was hired at step G, placing his salary at $126,000.
Gellert is a graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine (MD), Yale University’s School of Public Health (MPH), the UCLA School of Public Health Preventive Medicine Program (FABPM), and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (MPA).
According to the Sept. 28 agenda, the county has been recruiting a full-time health officer since the departure of Dr. Gail Newel in June 2019.
In appointing him, the Board of Supervisors also waived a requirement that he be a registered voter of the county. Supervisor Peter Hernandez was the sole no vote.
“Waiving the residency requirement would prevent an interruption of essential services ands serve the bests interests of the county,” the staff report states.
Gellert said at the meeting that he desires to live in San Benito County but that there are logistical barriers such as housing.
“Until that happens I can’t permanently relocate,” Gellert said. “My intent is to be here regularly and to be in the state 50% of the time and to be working closely with the team, as I have these 10-12 months.”
According to the release, Gellert is a physician executive and epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience, including serving as a communicable disease control epidemiologist with Los Angeles County Department of Health and as deputy health officer/county epidemiologist with the Orange County Health Care Agency.
He also worked in non-profit international health at Project HOPE and with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna building an interagency coalition to address the epidemic of cancer in low-income nations.
Additionally, Gellert served as the Chief Medical Information Officer of CHRISTUS Health, one of the nation’s largest non-profit hospital systems, focused on the adoption of the electronic health record by its 15,000 physicians in advancing the practice of evidence-based medicine to improve patient care outcomes and reduce medical errors.
Furthermore, the release states Gellert has delivered over 250 presentations at national/international public health and health information technology conferences, is a scientific peer reviewer for 22 leading public health and biomedical journals and has over 150 public health journal/book publications.
“Dr. Gellert is an experienced physician who brings to San Benito County a record of integrity and wisdom coupled with a commitment to community. We are fortunate to have him as our Health Officer,” said Tracey Belton, Health and Human Services Agency Director.