Leadership

Ché L. Abram

Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

A Berkeley Public Health strategy is to cultivate arc-bending via social impact: advancing anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice, strengthening community engagement, and building an ecosystem for social impact.

There are many facets to my role that aid in our arc-bending strategy: leadership support for the DREAM Office; development, implementation and assessment of data that improve teaching and learning, belonging, infrastructure, and social impact; addressing experiences of bias and harm; partnering to facilitate educational and community building opportunities; support enhancements to curriculum; and much, much more.

My work is centered in knowledge, empathy, practice, vision, and holistic wellness, thereby, engaging with our race and equity frameworks, programming, and practices, we are guided to strengthen relationships with the self, community, and our environment. Leading us to cultivate a restorative environment that promotes healing from adversity and foster communities centered in accountability.

Additional Links:

• 2023–2024 Annual DEIB Update
• ARC4JSTC: Becoming an antiracist school of public health
• Diversity and Inclusion: Dream Office

Fred Dillon

Director of Social Impact Strategy and Partnerships

Fred Dillon is a public health advocate and leader with three decades of experience in strategy, advocacy, and coalition-building. He is currently the Director of Social Impact Partnerships and Strategy at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, where he develops initiatives to expand and amplify the school’s social impact. This role involves managing an Impact Fellowship program that brings together ambitious public health leaders, policymakers, advocates, and practitioners. These fellows collaborate with the Berkeley Public Health community to develop innovative projects and initiatives, shape the school’s social impact strategy, and share their expertise with both students and faculty.

Previously, Fred served as Head of Advisory Services and Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation at Hopelab, a social innovation lab and impact investor focused on improving adolescent and young adult health. His leadership resulted in the creation of over a dozen digital products that enhanced youth health outcomes. Before Hopelab, Fred was the Director of Public Policy and Communications at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, where he successfully advocated for the legalization of needle exchange programs in California and secured tens of millions of dollars in federal and state funding for HIV care and prevention services.

Fred holds a BA in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. Fred is passionate about LGBTQ+ equality and serves on the board of The OUTWORDS Archive, which captures and shares the stories of LGBTQIA+ elders.

Claudia Williams

Chief Social Impact Officer

Claudia Williams joined Berkeley Public Health as the inaugural Chief Social Impact Officer in January 2024. She is passionate about creating the partnerships, platforms, infrastructure and policies that support health beyond medicine. She has a deep understanding of new opportunities in the Medicaid space, proven experience building and scaling social impact initiatives and expertise creating and cultivating large-scale cross-sector collaborations. Claudia founded and hosts The Other 80 podcast, a platform for thought-provoking discussions around health equity and whole person health. Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the California nonprofit Manifest MedEx, one of the nation’s largest health data sharing initiatives, served as Health Innovation Advisor in the Obama White House and led the interoperability portfolio at the US Department of Health and Human Services. Claudia received her master’s degree from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and bachelor’s degree from Duke University. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana and as a maternal and child health advisor in Burkina Faso and Indonesia. Claudia is a native of Boston, long-time resident of the DC area and loves her adopted home of the East Bay.