SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:
Valerie Davis, 38, of Arroyo Grande, has been appointed Medical Director at Atascadero State Hospital, where she has been acting Medical Director since 2022, a psychiatrist since 2016 and Department of Psychiatry Chair at Atascadero State Hospital from 2021 to 2022. Davis has been a psychiatrist and the Chief Executive Officer at Valerie Davis MD PC since 2014. She was a psychiatrist at South Coast Psychiatry from 2014 to 2016. Davis was a psychiatrist at Telecare STEPS from 2014 to 2015. She was Resident Physician at the University of California Los Angeles from 2010 to 2014. Davis is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha – Delta Chapter and the American Psychiatric Association. She earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $400,728. Davis is a Democrat.
Luzmin Inderias, 64, of Loma Linda, has been appointed Chief of Primary Care Services at Patton State Hospital, where she has held several positions since 2008 including, Staff Physician, Acting Chief Physician and Chief Physician and Surgeon. Inderias was a Staff Internist at Southern California Kaiser Permanente from 2005 to 2008. She is Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American Medical Association. Inderias earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from southwestern University, Matias H. Aznar Memorial, School of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $308,976. Inderias is a Democrat.
Zakaria Boshra, 72, of Downey, has been appointed Chief of Primary Care Services at Metropolitan State Hospital, where he has served as Chief Physician and Surgeon since 2008. Boshra was a Physician Specialist at Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Care Center from 2003 to 2008. He was the Family Medicine Residency Program Director at the Drew University of California Las Angeles from 1995 to 2003. Boshra is a member of the American Medical Association. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Assiut School of Medicine, Egypt. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $339,876. Boshra is a Republican.
Oliver Fiehn, 55, of Davis, has been reappointed to the Biomonitoring California Scientific Guidance Panel, where he has served since 2013. Fiehn has served in several positions at the University of California, Davis since 2004, including Professor and Associate Professor of Metabolomics, Director of the Genome Center and Faculty Lead at the Metabolomics Core in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He was a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology from 1998 to 2004 and a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Washington in 1999. Fiehn was a Research Scientist at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Water Quality Control from 1994 to 1997. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in analytical toxicology from the Technical University of Berlin and a Master of Science degree in analytical chemistry from the Free University of Berlin. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Fiehn is not registered to vote.
Penelope Quintana, 63, of Solana Beach, has been reappointed to the Biomonitoring California Scientific Guidance Panel, where she has served since 2013. Quintana has been a Professor of Public Health in the division of Environmental Health at the San Diego State University School of Public Health since 2014, where she has held several positions since 1995, including Graduate Advisor for the Master of Public Health and Global Health Doctor of Philosophy degree programs and Associate and Assistant Professor. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia from 1992 to 1994 and a Staff Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Indoor Environment Program from 1991 to 1992. She is a member of the International Society of Exposure Science, Southwest Utah Wilderness Association, Sierra Club and ACLU. Quintana earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Health degree in occupational and environmental health from San Diego State University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Quintana is a Democrat.
Jose Suarez, 43, of Encinitas, has been reappointed to the Biomonitoring California Scientific Guidance Panel, where he has served since 2017. Suarez has been an Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego since 2020, where he was an Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2020. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota from 2010 to 2013, where he was a Research Assistant from 2006 to 2013. He is a member of the International Society for Children’s Health and the Environment and the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology. Suarez earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of San Francisco, Quito and Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Public Health degrees in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Suarez is a Democrat.
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