At first blush, it looks like just another bureaucratic shuffle. It isn't. In fact, the move to carve out a new state Department of Public Health reflects a shift in California's attitude toward fighting disease and confronting health emergencies--including those prompted by terrorism and fears of epidemics, such as avian flu. The department is patterned in part after the kind of agency that all 58 counties and three cities--Berkeley, Pasadena, Long Beach--already have, by law. It will be run by a medical doctor known as the state's public health officer--the state's "Top Doc" or "Papa Doc," as the position already...