Featuring Dr. Chris Palkowski
Dr. Chris Palkowski is more than a physician. Through his practice, he serves as an advocate and leader for health in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Palkowski, who is a General Internist and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, recently retired after 25 years at The Permanent Medical Group. He continues to share his skills and service to ensure healthy communities.
Dr. Palkowski received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. After realizing that further study in that field was not his calling, he attended medical school at UCLA and stayed on for his residency in General Internal Medicine. After residency, he shifted from urban Los Angeles to rural Humboldt County. For 5 years, he served as a country doctor.
Thereafter Dr. Palkowski joined The Permanente Medical Group and the medical staff of Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in 1994. He joined TPMG for the practice environment, the camaraderie of group practice, and the excitement of impacting what was then a soon to open medical center in Roseville.
Dr. Palkowski has served in a variety of leadership roles at TPMG. He has served as the Medical Director of the Folsom Medical Offices, helping to open the facility in 2002; as a two term Short-Term Director from Roseville to the TPMG Board of Directors; and as an Assistant Physician-in-Chief. Dr. Palkowski served as Physician-in-Chief at the Roseville Medical Center from December 2005 to May 2019. While Physician-in-Chief, Roseville opened Kaiser Permanente’s first Women & Children’s Center. He served on the Board of Directors of TPMG for 20 years, and served as TPMG’s Chair of the Retirement Program Committee before being elected as Chair of the TPMG Board in 2014, serving 5 years in that role.
In addition to Dr. Palkowski’s extensive medical and leadership experiences, he also has served in many other contexts, including at his church and in medical missions work, particularly in Nigeria. He recently joined the Board of Directors of Agape International Missions, an organization dedicated to rescuing, restoring and reintegrating victims of human trafficking in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. He brings his expertise, focused mind, and dedicated spirit to serving these communities.
Dr. Chris Palkowski’s career has been exemplary, but more importantly, his life has been a testimony to how a physician can impact not only each patient but the community and the world.