50 Most Influential Clinical Executives - 2020

Ghaly spent 15 years in public health roles in Los Angeles and San Francisco before joining Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic thrust him into the spotlight, with California on March 4 becoming the first state to issue sweeping stay-at-home orders. Ghaly has been part of the policy team developing the state’s phased reopening. In May, he put in place efforts to ramp up testing in nursing homes, where roughly 40% of the state’s COVID-19 patients died.