Although she’s been the public face of Orange County’s pandemic response efforts for months, Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong will likely get a new title to better reflect her recent role: county health officer.

Chinsio-Kwong (known as Dr. C-K) is currently deputy health officer at the OC Health Care Agency, and on March 8 the Board of Supervisors will consider county CEO Frank Kim’s recommendation to promote her. The move would allow Dr. Clayton Chau, who is HCA’s director but also has been serving as health officer for about 18 months, to focus on a statewide healthcare reform initiative and “build(ing) a local public health system that is tailored to the needs of Orange County residents,” according to a report to supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors appointed Chau to the health officer role when the previous health officer resigned early in the pandemic after receiving threats over a mask mandate.

The health agency declined to make Chau and Chinsio-Kwong available for interviews and instead directed inquiries to Kim, who on Thursday praised Chinsio-Kwong’s strength of character and dedication to the community, and said over the past year she’s “worked tirelessly in a really difficult situation in the middle of a pandemic.”

Since last summer, Chinsio-Kwong has been representing the OC Health Care Agency on calls with the media and at press conferences. She’s been a licenses physician since 2009 and worked for the U.S Navy and in the private health care sector before the county hired her in 2020, the county report said.

In her role at the health agency, Kim said Chinsio-Kwong helped stand up the county’s COVID-19 vaccination network and the program allowing people to get test kits mailed to them at home.

Kim said if the board approves his recommendation, Chau can return to overseeing the health agency, which has been grappling with a large number of vacancies in recent months. Since Chau has been filling two positions, he “hasn’t had a week where he’s worked less than 60 hours,” Kim said.

And while Kim said he never wants to see his staff come under fire from the public, he said Chinsio-Kwong “is a tough lady and somebody who is absolutely dedicated to the best health care outcomes for our county residents.”