Sandra Shewry
![Sandra Shewry[image]](images/SandraShewry-TN.jpg)
Sandra Shewry was appointed Director of the California Department of Health Services by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in March 2004. The California Department of Health Services is one of the largest departments within state government with a budget of $36 billion and 6,000 employees. The mission of the California Department of Health Services is to protect and improve the health of all Californians. The programs under Ms. Shewry’s leadership include public health, education, disease-prevention, and health protection programs; licensing of health facilities; and the State’s Medicaid Program (Medi-Cal).
Prior to joining CDHS in 2004, Sandra Shewry was the Director of Health at the National Governor’s Association’s Center for Best Practices where she worked on a broad range of health financing, service delivery, and policy issues.
Ms. Shewry served as the Executive Director of the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and was responsible for development and implementation of California’s high risk pool (MRMIP), a subsidized pregnancy coverage program (AIM), a small employer purchasing cooperative (The HIPC), and the state’s S-CHIP (Healthy Families).
Ms. Shewry has over 20 years experience in California State government. She began her state career with the California Department of Health Services as a health planning analyst and later served as an assistant secretary at the Health and Welfare Agency.
Ms. Shewry earned graduate degrees in Public Health and Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley.