Doctor Nominated as County Health Officer : Medicine: If approved by supervisors, Gary Feldman of Ventura says his goal will be to improve child immunizations.

A 51-year-old pediatrician, nominated to become the county’s chief physician, says he plans to improve the county’s poor record of immunization for toddlers.

Dr. Gary Feldman, a Ventura pediatrician for 17 years, will take over as health officer for the Ventura County Health Care Agency on Oct. 10 if his appointment is approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

As public health officer, Feldman will lead the 235-employee Public Health Department, which is responsible for preventing medical catastrophes and responding to outbreaks of serious illness.

In addition, Feldman said he wants to use the position as a soap box to publicize health issues.

“One of the problems with public health care right now is that we’re invisible,” Feldman said Friday. “Something we need to do is pick some priorities. My personal leaning is to the issue of immunization.”

Feldman said fewer than half of Ventura County’s children under age 3 have been properly immunized. Many children are not adequately protected from disease until they begin school, where vaccinations are publicly monitored, he said.

The head of a county medical advisory group agreed.

“Compliance to immunization in California has been miserable,” Barbara Thorpe said.

On the first day of the county’s outreach immunization program in February, for example, no clients showed up.

“This is something we have the capability to improve,” Feldman said. County medical personnel perform more than 65,000 health screenings each year, he said, and have opportunities to spread the word about vaccinations.

“Right now a child will go to a clinic with a cold and the issue of immunization never surfaces,” he said. “We have a tremendous opportunity to touch a lot of families by raising this issue.”

The position Feldman will fill has been vacant since July, when Lawrence Dodds resigned. Dodds was both health officer--a medical post--and director of the Public Health Department, an administrative position.

In August, Phillipp Wessels, director of the Health Care Agency, appointed Paul Lorenz to the administrative position. Wessels nominated Feldman to the medical post this week.

Lorenz said he was excited about working with Feldman, who has been a medical consultant to the county.

“He is a highly qualified professional, and I think the two of us will make for a great combination,” Lorenz said Friday. “I’ll worry about the administrative functions and free him up to take care of the numerous medical functions he’ll be responsible for.”

In addition to immunization, Feldman will be in charge of more than two dozen programs ranging from family planning to processing HIV tests.

“The real asset in Dr. Feldman is his ability to work with multidisciplines,” Thorpe said. “He has superb qualifications in a number of areas.”

Feldman received his medical degree from Stanford University, but also holds a degree in mathematics from MIT and a master’s in computer science from Stanford. His field of expertise is genetics.

In community affairs he has been active in programs dealing with child abuse, maternal and child health and AIDS.

Although the $104,000-a-year post is a full-time position, Feldman said he would not be vacating his post as chief of medical services for Tri-Counties Regional Services, a five-office social service and medical agency that serves the developmentally disabled.

Feldman acknowledged that juggling the jobs will require flexibility, but said he would be able to devote a full work week to the county.

“I’ll have to give up most of my clinical duties (at Tri-Counties Regional Services) to take this on, but it should be manageable.”

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said she expects Feldman to work full time. “That sounds like a full-time salary to me,” she said.