LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With Lake County’s latest Public Health officer resigning, the Board of Supervisors has approved a contract with a physician to cover the job on a temporary basis.

Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan has resigned, effective March 31. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a temporary replacement on Tuesday.

Doohan has served as Lake County’s Public Health officer since September 2023.

She was the first non-temporary Public Health officer appointee since the resignation of her predecessor, Dr. Erik McLaughlin, in June 2022.

California state law requires counties to have Public Health officers to enforce local health orders and ordinances, as well as state regulations and statutes.

Following Doohan’s resignation, Health Services Director Anthony Arton cited the need for an interim officer to prevent service disruptions, while looking for a full-time, permanent health officer.

“Appointing a contracted temporary Public Health Officer will ensure continuity and effectiveness of LCHS operations and will avoid a lapse of coverage and services to our community,” Arton wrote in a memo to the Board of Supervisors.

“Without the appointment of a Public Health Officer, vital records and immunization services will be immediately impacted, among other services,” Arton wrote in his memo.

After a search, Arton proposed hiring Anju Goel, MD, MPH, for a temporary six-month term, from April 1 to Sep. 30.

“Dr. Goel is very qualified for this role. She brings extensive experience as an Interim Health Officer in California and has served as an independent medical doctor for the CDC,” Arton wrote in the memo, citing Goel’s “deep expertise” in public health.

Arton explained that three candidates declined the interim position due to conflicting obligations or pay concerns, while two others gave “mixed responses” before Goel was recommended to him.

“Dr. Goel was recommended by Dr. Doohan as a temporary fill-in while we conduct a search for a longer-term solution,” Health Services wrote in an email to Lake County News about the contact with Geol.

“At this time, we do not have prior experience working with Dr. Goel. However, her qualifications and expertise make her a strong candidate during this interim period,” the agency noted in the email.

Prior to this new job, Goel has worked as the interim health officer for the city of Berkeley in September 2023 for a term of 18 months through 2025, according to Berkeleyside. While she did not live in Berkeley, the hybrid role allowed in-person and remote work.

Medical Board of California records show that Goel graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1999, four years earlier than Doohan who went to the same medical school.

As Goel prepares to step in temporarily for Lake County, Doohan departs for Berkeley.

“Dr. Doohan has accepted a position as the Health Officer for the City of Berkeley, which led to her resignation from Lake County Health Services,” Health Services wrote in the email response to Lake County News’ inquiries. “We wish her the best of success in her new role.”

However, Health Services declined Lake County News’ request to see Doohan’s resignation letter: “Because this is a confidential personnel matter, no further information will be released.”

They acknowledged that “transitions in leadership can have an impact,” but noted that Arton “continues to oversee the day-to-day operations of the department and hold all administrative authority.”

While all the current and former public health officers, permanent or interim, have been reporting to the Board of Supervisors, Goel however “reports administratively to the Health Services Director,” the contract stated.

The current job post for the full-time Public Health officer does not specify if the role will be reporting to the department director or the Board of Supervisors.

It is uncertain if the reporting structure has changed temporarily or permanently.

The cost of having a Public Health officer

The county’s Health Services has reached an agreement with Dr. Goel on compensation.

Goel will be paid $165 for every hour of her service, and $10.50 an hour for on-call, Arton reported at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting.

A Berkeleyside 2023 report said that Goel’s hourly pay as city of Berkeley’s interim health officer was $131.86 to $149.79 at that time.

“We took about four to five weeks to reach reasonable terms with her,” Arton said during the board meeting. “That will allow us to have full coverage in the absence of a full time employee health officer.”

The contract states that in the event of a Board of Supervisors declaring an emergency that requires Goel to be present in-person, the county will reimburse mileage at $0.71 per mile and lodging at $110 per day.

The total combined compensation within a year — or in this case six months — shall not exceed $49,860, according to the contract.

Health Services confirmed with Lake County News that over the six-month period, Dr. Goel’s total hours would be approximately 302 hours, averaging around 50 hours per month.

They also said that they found 50 hours per month is sufficient for the temporary appointment, “given the nature of the work and Dr. Goel’s experience.”

“And perhaps less given the on-call pay we actually project about a 12–15-week projection and will use this time to find longer term solutions,” their email said.

“We will use that time to recruit a full-time health officer as an employee or reach terms with a longer term health officer,” said Arton during the supervisors’ meeting. “I do have a candidate in waiting that I'm very excited about.”

The job posting for a full-time health officer remains active, with a listed salary range of $199,824 to $242,880.

When Doohan was hired in 2023, county documents indicated she was offered an annually renewable contract not to exceed $290,000, along with a $20,000 hiring incentive.

At that time, the listed salary was $265,000 — $22,000 more than the top end of the current listed range.

Health officer turnover continues in Lake County

Since Dr. Karen Tait resigned in 2017 after nine years in the role, no Public Health officer has held the position for more than 20 months.

The longest term since Tait has been that of Dr. Gary Pace, whose service began in August 2019 and continued through the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to April 2021.

The next full-time officer after Pace was Dr. McLaughlin. He was appointed in March 2022 and quickly resigned in June.

In fact, McLaughlin's three-and-a-half month tenure has been the shortest of any permanently appointed Public Health officer in Lake County in over 20 years.

With an urgent need to cover the Public Health officer’s duty during the pandemic, the Board of Supervisors approved rehiring Pace, Mclaughlin’s predecessor, as an interim officer.

For the temporary appointment, Pace received a rate of $150 per hour for his work not to exceed $4,000 per month, with a flat rate of $500 per week for on-call. His total combined compensation shall not exceed $6,000 per month.

In the same meeting, supervisors also approved a contract that would pay up to $29,000 to Mosaic Public Partners, a recruitment consulting firm, to search for a permanent Public Health officer for Lake County.

Recruiting a full-time Public Health officer had been challenging for Lake and other counties “due to the repercussions of the COVID-10 health pandemic and the shortage of available health professionals,” County Administrative Officer Susan Parker's memo with the contract explained.

Less than three months later, on Sept. 13, 2022, the supervisors appointed Dr. Karl A. Sporer as interim officer for a six-month term, with an amount not to exceed $6,000 a month.

Still in 2022, at a Nov. 8 meeting, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a contract with Doohan for a Public Health officer “mentor program,” in response to having had few candidates for the position out of 110 potential candidates identified across the state by its recruitment contractor Mosaic Public Partners.

That mentor program contract said the county would pay Doohan a consulting rate of $250 per hour for three to six months, with a total compensation cap of $25,000.

Then in February 2023, Sporer’s interim contract was renewed for another six months, as the county still had not secured a permanent hire.

In August 2023, Doohan accepted the job as a full-time Public Health officer of Lake County and started in September.

Doohan’s 19-month tenure is close to Pace’s 20 months, but continued the pattern of short-lived appointments.

Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..