Office of the Vice Chancellor and Dean | UC Davis Health

Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences and Chief Executive Officer, UC Davis Health

David Lubarsky, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.S.A., is the Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences and CEO for UC Davis Health, located in Sacramento, Calif. UC Davis Health is an integrated health system with approximately 17,000 employees, 1,000 students, 1,000 trainees, 1,300 faculty members and a large regional primary care network, providing more than 1.5 million outpatient visits every year. Since arriving in July 2018, Dr. Lubarsky has positioned UC Davis Health on the leading edge of health care’s future through investments in digital platforms, patient-focused facility growth and equity initiatives, while also achieving a #3 national ranking in medical school diversity. 

Lubarsky oversees UC Davis Health's academic, research and clinical programs. These include the following:

• UC Davis School of Medicine, ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News & World Report.
• Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News & World Report.
• UC Davis Medical Center, a 648-bed Level 1 Trauma hospital consistently ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and Becker's.

UC Davis Medical Center, in partnership with Shriners Children's Northern California, also operates a top 50 children's hospital, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. UC Davis Health includes a second hospital, the UC Davis Rehabilitation Hospital. The health system is an innovation hub for biomedical discoveries that helps advance health around the world. It is ranked in the top 35 nationally for medical research.

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In 2022, Lubarsky was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Health Care" and as "CEO of the Year" by Press Ganey. Since joining UC Davis Health in July 2018, Lubarsky has recommitted the organization to expanding care for the underserved. This includes caring for Medi-Cal patients and others with few resources while creating a sustainable financial model.

Among new initiatives, Lubarsky established a key partnership with Sacramento County Health Services as well as other initiatives with health allies. These collaborations aim to expand primary and specialty care to the underserved, reform the managed care system, and address the crisis in mental illness and homelessness. He has positioned UC Davis Health as a resource to "complete, not compete" with other health systems to improve access and care throughout the region.

A strong proponent of physicians and academic medical centers playing a leading role in shaping health care policy, Lubarsky brought all 1,000 physicians into the California Medical Association and its Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. He embraces team practice and advanced nursing practice, with the Schools of Medicine and Nursing pursuing new levels of interprofessional learning, training and practice.

UC Davis Health serves more than half of California's counties as the only academic medical center between San Francisco and Portland, Ore. To recruiting address, training and retaining doctors in rural areas throughout Northern California, Lubarsky partnered with Adventist Health and the California Medical Association. He also championed novel training programs to advance rural and inner city care now embraced by the American Medical Association (AMA) as national models. To adapt to health care's evolution and leverage UC Davis' early success in creating California's telehealth backbone, Lubarsky is creating a digital platform and virtual hospital to lead in technology and connectivity. He's doing all of this while reinforcing the values of empathy, inclusivity and a patient-centric ethic.

I believe everything we do should be about bringing greater health to the people we serve.—David Lubarsky, UC Davis Health chief executive officer

Lubarsky was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the statewide governor's Alzheimer's Disease Task Force. He's proud of UC Davis Health's nation-leading Alzheimer's research program, ranked 14th nationally in Alzheimer's research funding. UC Davis takes a public health approach to its studies and programs., The health system pays special attention to measuring the toll of the disease across the social spectrum, identifying groups that are disproportionately impacted, and researching the differences between Alzheimer's and dementia. UC Davis Health's national ranking in geriatric care — 23rd nationally by U.S. News & World Report — is another important part of supporting patients, as well as caregivers through a nationally modeled Family Caregiving Institute.

A committed academic physician, Lubarsky is a professor of anesthesiology, nursing and business at UC Davis. He is also on the faculty of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. Previously, Lubarsky was chief medical officer and systems integration officer at the University of Miami Health System. There, he pioneered the current integrated structure as the first CEO of the system's 1,100-physician practice. He was also a professor of anesthesiology and department chair in Miami's Miller School of Medicine, a professor in the Schools of Business and Nursing. Before Miami, Lubarsky was a professor and vice chair at Duke University and adjunct professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. He's one of the top 100 published anesthesiologists in America.

Lubarsky earned his Bachelor of Arts in history (1980) and medical degree (1984) at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed an anesthesia residency and a fellowship in cardiovascular anesthesia and clinical research at New York University Medical Center. He received his MBA (1999) from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, graduating at the top of his class.