Snohomish County health officer tapped for state board
Published 2:21 pm Friday, May 8, 2026
EVERETT — Gov. Bob Ferguson has appointed Snohomish County Health Officer Dr. James Lewis to the Washington State Board of Health, the Snohomish County Health Department announced in a press release Friday.
The appointment went into effect Thursday. Lewis will serve on the board until July 1, 2029. Lewis will continue serving as the county’s health officer.
Lewis’ seat represents local health officers, and he was nominated for the position by the state’s current health officers. The State Board of Health has 10 members, including Secretary of Health Dennis Worsham, the former director of the Snohomish County Health Department. The remaining nine members are appointed by a governor. The board meets eight times per year to analyze public health policies and develop rules.
“I’m honored to work with fellow board members,” Lewis said in the release. “The board works on a wide range of policies and issues – including community water fluoridation, reducing exposure to harmful environmental toxins like lead, and ensuring our ability to monitor diseases – that protect and promote the health of all Washingtonians.”
In the release, Lewis said he is looking forward to advocating for improving the process of updating the state’s notifiable conditions list. Currently, it can take more than a year to add or a remove a disease from the list. Healthcare providers are required to notify health authorities about conditions on the list, which helps local health departments track trends and detect outbreaks.
Lewis has served as Snohomish County Health Officer since 2022. Earlier this year, he led the department’s response to the measles outbreak. Before serving in Snohomish County, he was a medical epidemiologist in King County, medical director for the Surveillance of Healthcare Associated and Resistant Pathogens Patient Safety Program, and a medical epidemiologist consultant for the Vaccine Preventable Disease and Respiratory Pathogens Program in North Carolina.
Lewis holds a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He serves as an adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Dr. Lewis has shown his commitment time and again to strengthening the health of our community, and I know he will continue that in his role on the State Board of Health,” Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said in the release. “Public health is at work behind the scenes every day to help protect the people and places we love. We are fortunate to have dedicated professionals like Dr. Lewis to guide that important work.”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
