Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County deputy administrator and its chief medical officer, will be leaving his post at the beginning of next year, officials say.
Garcia will be leaving his post on Jan. 3, the county said Wednesday in a news release. He has been a deputy county administrator since 2019.
โIt has been a privilege of a lifetime to work for Pima County and I will be eternally grateful to Administrators (Jan) Lesher and (Chuck) Huckelberry for the opportunity to serve this community that I love,โ Garcia said. โThere is never a good time to make a major career transition, however as we close 2024, the time has come for me to move on to the next phase of my life.โ
Garcia was hired in 2013 as the director of the countyโs health department; in 2017, he became an assistant county administrator under former County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
Garciaโs โmost notable achievementโ was his leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic, and because of that leadership, the countyโs response was โlauded nationally by public health and infectious disease agnecies for its aggressive testing regime, extensive case investigations and tracking, expansive, innovative and equitable mitigation strategies,โ the county said in its news release.
โThere is no question that Dr. Garcia saved a lot of lives in 2020. He worked tirelessly through the pandemic to prevent suffering and death and limit as much as possible the spread of the disease,โ said County Administrator Jan Lesher. โI have the deepest respect and admiration for Dr. Garcia not only as a public health and government administrator, but as a human being.โ
Among Garciaโs other achievements cited in the release:
- Getting the Pima County Health Department accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board in 2017;
- Playing a โvital roleโ in addressing the health of asylum seekers released by federal authorities after crossing the border;
- Working with the Community Workforce Development department to provide emergency rental assistance during the pandemic;
- Spearheading a program to put public health nurses in county libraries โto serve at-risk, underserved and marginalized Pima County populations.โ
