Surgeon General of California
The Surgeon General of California is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health within the State of California. The Surgeon General is one of only four State Surgeons General in the United States. The office was created on January 7, 2019, by Governor Gavin Newsom and requires no confirmation from the California State Senate. The incumbent Surgeon General is Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who took office on February 11, 2019. The Surgeon General is one key component of the Governor's "California for All" agenda which includes a proposed $1.7 billion in funding for  expanded early childhood education and early interventions. Governor Newsom appointed two National Experts in Child Development to be Key Leaders in the effort to help the youngest Californians. History. The Surgeon General of California was created with the signing of Executive Order N-02-19—one of the first acts taken by Governor Gavin Newsom on his first day in office—on January 7, 2019. At the time of the office's creation, the Office of the Surgeon General was the first of its kind in California and one of only four on a state level in the United States. On  January 21, 2019, Governor Newsom appointed Dr. Nadine Burke Harris to be California's first-ever surgeon general. She took office on February 11, 2019. Shortly after the new Surgeon General was appointed, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris went on a Statewide Listening Tour. Increasing Awareness of Toxic Stress and ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences Study). Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has given many speeches and testimony to the impact of Toxic Stress on Children and how it impacts their future. A PBS NewsHour opinion piece highlighted Nadine Burke Harris experience with Toxic Stress and how it is under-diagnosed in children. A  DISTURBING Washington Post video with Nadine Burke Harris explains Toxic Stress with powerful visuals and sound added to Dr. Burke Harris' explanation. There are many websites and toolkits to better understand Toxic Stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences and their impact on health over a lifetime including ACES Too High, Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has given multiple talks and had conversations that have been made public and available to the public on Toxic Stress including a famous Ted Talk that addresses Toxic Stress from a Public Health standpoint. Trauma Informed Care and Strengthening Resilience.. Necessary  resources for medical, behavioral and educational professionals include resources to provide Trauma Informed Care. Systems that work with children and their parents and extended families will need to create Trauma-Informed Systems where the children and their families are supported by staff who are also supported while caring for survivors of trauma. A service system with a trauma-informed perspective is one in which agencies, programs, and service providers: These activities are rooted in an understanding that trauma-informed agencies, programs, and service providers: Challenges of Children Traumatized by Systems (i.e. Justice System, Border Patrol, Foster Care System, ICE, etc .). Children who come to the attention of the juvenile justice system are a challenging and under-served population, with high rates of exposure to trauma. Unaccompanied Migrant Children who may have Complex trauma prior to encounters with systems like Border Patrol or the Foster Care system. Instituting Proper funding and care for Early Childhood Development and Intervention to address Social Determinants of Health will need to be a key part of building resilience into the systems that deal with children, especially in Early Childhood may become part of the overall plan for California and be supported by the Surgeon General . In a Q&A Dr. Burke Harris was asked, "Gov. Newsom has made funding early education one of his highest priorities. How do you plan on incorporating trauma-informed teaching into the overall effort?" In response she answered, "We’re understanding more than we ever had before the role of experience and environment in early childhood in shaping lifelong health outcomes. That is the data and research we are seeing across the board. So, when you look at something that is such a huge public health issue then we must recognize that to implement public health solutions we need to be  engaging across sectors. So, in our educational system, in our health system, in our justice system — across the board — we need to have broad-scale and coordinated efforts to address the impact of early adversity on health and development. Healthcare and early education go hand-in-hand." Trauma as a Toxin or Public Health Problem. "Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years. And then realizing that tens  of millions of American children had been exposed. Nadine Burke Harris, is a leading voice in a movement trying to transform our understanding of how the traumatic experiences that affect children, can trigger serious physical and mental illness, and looking at it using epidemiology, like John Snow did in 1800s London. Decades of research that has found that children who endure sustained stresses in their day-to-day lives undergo biochemical changes to their brains and bodies that can dramatically increase their risk of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, lung cancer, asthma, and depression." Surgeon General of California