Wilma J. Wooten, MD, MPH

Wilma J. Wooten, MD, MPH is the Public Health Officer of the Public Health Services department, in the County of San Diego (County) Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). She received her professional degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and then completed residency training at the Georgetown/Providence Hospital Family Practice Residency Program in Washington, DC. In 1989, she completed the joint San Diego State University (SDSU), Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH)/University of California San Diego (UCSD) Preventive Medicine Residency, with an emphasis in Sports Medicine. Dr. Wooten practiced medicine as a faculty member in the UCSD Department of Family and Preventive Medicine from 1990 to 2001. She remains a UCSD volunteer Associate Clinical Professor and is an Adjunct Professor at SDSU/GSPH.  

She has been with San Diego County since 2001, initially serving as the Deputy Health Officer, from 2001–2007; then as the Director and Public Health Officer from 2007–2021; and now as the Public Health Officer, since July 2021. She has a profound dedication to health disparities and health equity. This interest led to the development of a Health Equity Framework, in 2010, for local health departments to integrate equity into their organizations, which supports the principles of the national public health accreditation process.  

Dr. Wooten is a member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers (CCLHO) and the Big Cities Health Coalition and has served as Chair for both organizations. She is a member of the national Public Health Accreditation Board and served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the, from July 2022–June 2023, and is past Chair of the PHAB Accreditation Committee.  She is a past member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015-2019). In 2020, Dr. Wooten was named by the San Diego Union Tribune as the 2020 San Diegan of the Year.