Local brief
Los Angeles County: Whittier psychiatrist named medical director of Metropolitan State Hospital
Dr. Johnnie Chi of Whittier was appointed Medical Director of Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk on Oct. 9, 2026. The post pays $456,072 a year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, appointed Dr. Johnnie Chi of Whittier as Medical Director of Metropolitan State Hospital, the Department of State Hospitals facility in Norwalk.
Chi has been a senior psychiatrist supervisor at Department of State Hospitals – Coalinga since 2022 and a staff psychiatrist there since 2017. He trained at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and taught psychiatry at UC Riverside.
The position pays $456,072 a year and does not need Senate confirmation.
Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom press release, Oct. 9, 2026 (https://www.gov.ca.gov/newsroom/). Notice Nearby wrote this brief in its own words. Full list of all eight appointments: https://noticenearby.com/papers/california-governor-newsom-appointments-oct-9-2026
More notices: https://noticenearby.com/ca/los-angeles · California hub: https://noticenearby.com/ca · Local businesses: ZOST.app (https://zost.app)
Source: the public notice on this register NN-GOVMAIL-20261009R-04 · Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.
This is a Notice Nearby local brief — an in-house explainer written from a government-posted notice on this register. It is not official minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication.