Chief Executive Officer, UC Davis Health System
UC Davis Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences
Dean, School of Medicine

Claire Pomeroy is an expert in infectious diseases and a professor of internal medicine and microbiology and immunology. She oversees UC Davis Health System and all of its academic, research and clinical programs, including the School of Medicine, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, the 800-member physician practice group and the 631-bed acute-care hospital known as UC Davis Medical Center. With nearly 10,000 employees, over 850 students, an operating budget of more than $1.7 billion, $200 million in outside research funding and 900,000 outpatient visits each year, UC Davis Health System is a major contributor to the health care and economy of the Sacramento region.

Pomeroy joined UC Davis in 2003 as executive associate dean of the School of Medicine. In that role, she guided the development of a new strategic plan, enhanced the infrastructure for research and educational programs, and integrated the operations of the medical school and teaching hospital. She was appointed vice chancellor and dean in 2005.

With an emphasis on academic excellence and social responsibility, Pomeroy fosters an institutional commitment to address the social determinants of health. She founded the Center for Reducing Health Disparities and led the establishment of Rural-PRIME, a program specifically designed to prepare physicians to practice in underserved rural communities. Addressing disparities in gender medicine, Pomeroy is principal investigator for the NIH-funded Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program. She is principal investigator for the NSF-funded Partners in Innovation grant, which is dedicated to collaborative initiatives to advance scientific discoveries to the marketplace.

Pomeroy leads an active research team studying host responses to viral infections. As a clinician, she is a long-time advocate for patients with HIV/AIDS. She has a special interest in health-care policy, and has led efforts to advance electronic health records to improve health care. She has published more than 100 articles and book chapters and edited three books.

She is a member of the Independent Citizens Oversight Commission that governs the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the stem-cell initiative approved by California voters in November 2004. Active in the national arena, she was elected in 2011 to the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. She is chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers, chair of the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges, on the Board of Directors for the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health Advisory Committee, on the Board of Governors for the Foundation for Biomedical Research and member-at-large of the medical sciences section for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Pomeroy received bachelor's and medical degrees from the University of Michigan, then completed her residency and fellowship training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota. She earned an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky. She held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota and the University of Kentucky prior to her move to UC Davis. At the University of Kentucky, she served as associate dean for research and informatics and as a member of the University Board of Trustees. She lives in Sacramento with her husband, William Preston Robertson, a filmmaker and author.