Dr. Francisco Garcia, a top lieutenant in Pima County administration, is leaving his position on January 3, officials announced.
Garcia is the chief medical officer and a deputy county administrator, overseeing a portfolio of responsibilities that include the Health Department.
Garcia’s tenure at the county began in 2013 when he was hired as director of the Health Department. In 2017, Garcia was promoted to assistant county administrator, then to deputy county administrator in 2019, serving under County Administrators Chuck Huckelberry and Jan Lesher and managing eight county health and human services departments.
“It has been a privilege of a lifetime to work for Pima County and I will be eternally grateful to Administrators Lesher and Huckelberry for the opportunity to serve this community that I love,” Garcia said in a press release. “There 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.”
Garcia’s future plans are not yet public, though the county statement said he will be leaving Pima County to “explore the next chapter of his life.”
As chief medical officer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia advocated for “robust and innovative prevention and mitigation strategies,” officials said, recognizing the threat of an infectious disease in late 2019. Pima County took the lead in COVID testing, mitigation, and prevention across the state in 2020 and achieved one of the nation's highest vaccination rates among urban counties, administering vaccines to 800,000 people within a few months.
Under Garcia’s leadership, the county said, Pima County had lower rates of infection and death during the height of the pandemic than any of Arizona's most populated counties, including Maricopa.
“There is no question that Dr. Garcia saved a lot of lives in 2020,” Lesher said in the release. “He worked tirelessly through the pandemic to prevent suffering and death and limit as much as possible the spread of the disease. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Dr. Garcia not only as a public health and government administrator, but as a human being. He is one of the kindest, most caring persons I’ve ever known.”
Garcia’s other notable achievements at the county include leading efforts in Pima County to provide emergency rental assistance to businesses during the pandemic and humanitarian aid to asylum seekers, officials said. He oversaw the construction of new facilities at Pima Animal Care Center and implemented the Pima Early Education Program to fund childcare and education for children across the county.
Lesher said she will provide information on Garcia’s interim successors in the coming days.
Garcia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.