Carrie L. Byington, MD

Dr. Carrie L. Byington started as executive vice president and head of University of California Health on October 31, 2019.

About Dr. Byington
Executive Vice President, University of California Health 

Carrie L. Byington, MD, as executive vice president for University of California Health, leads the University of California’s health enterprise and is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.

University of California Health is the country’s largest public academic health care system. UC’s health delivery and education system comprises six academic health centers, which include 12 hospitals and 20 health science schools. University of California Health’s academic health centers and schools are ranked among the country’s best.

Since joining the University at the end of October 2019, she has led the COVID-19 response for the UC system including preparing hospitals for surges of cases, addressing the needs of approximately 100,000 health care workers, and developing health and safety guidelines for UC’s 600,000 students and employees on 10 campuses. Under Dr. Byington’s guidance, UC’s health system across the state has made COVID-19 vaccines accessible starting at the earliest days of vaccine availability and delivering more than 1.5 million doses. She is an active partner with the state of California providing expertise for pandemic response.

Dr. Byington also is an academic physician-scientist. As a clinician, she has worked to support health equity and to eliminate health disparities, especially for infants and children. Her research spans the translational spectrum and has focused primarily on bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens in children. She has mentored more than 100 students, trainees and faculty members, the majority from backgrounds under-represented in medicine. She is board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Byington's career accomplishments include awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and Drexel University College of Medicine’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Inventors. She was the chair of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Group for the US Olympic Committee, responsible for protecting Team USA athletes and staff from Zika Virus during the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

Dr. Byington joined UC after holding significant leadership roles at Texas A&M University System and the University of Utah. She received her bachelor of science in biology from Texas A&M University and doctor of medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, both with honors. She trained in pediatrics at Texas Children's Hospital and in pediatric infectious diseases at UCSF.