Alumni Achievements

Alana Acuna, MPH has been named a 2024-2025 Kaiser Permanente Northern California Administrative Fellow, where she will complete a 12-18 month program, gaining hands-on experience in health care operations through two dynamic 6-month rotations at different medical centers. Acuna received her MPH in Health Policy and Management from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. At UC Berkeley, she served as Co-President of the School of Public Health Student Government and Graduate Student Instructor for Health Care Management, Organizational Behavior, and Biology Laboratory.

Michael E. Bird, MPH has worked in public health, specifically within medical social work, healthcare administration, and public health policy for more than 25 years. He is the first American Indian and social worker to serve as president of the American Public Health Association (APHA), and is dedicated to closing gaps in the healthcare system for Native Americans. He will be moderating a panel about the historical determinants of health for Indigenous People on October 27 at this year’s APHA Meeting and Expo in Minneapolis.

Claire Boone received her PhD in Health Policy and Health Economics, as well as her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from UC Berkeley. She works as a health economist studying healthcare decisions from the scope of machine learning and behavioral science. She has been named an assistant professor in the Economics and Equity, Ethics and Policy Department at McGill University.

Laura Emily Cotter, MPH ’06 has recently been awarded the palliative medicine leadership development award and named a Sojourn Scholar from the Cambia Health Foundation. Cambia Health has funded more than $127 million in grants to promote family and patient-centered care, while expanding behavioral healthcare through a public health approach.

Dr. Do-Reynoso holds a PhD in Public Health from UC Merced, an MPH from UC Berkeley, and a BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz. She has spearheaded healthcare centers and homeless programs within Santa Barbara County in regards to the combat of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Thomas Fire, and Montecito debris flow. She has worked within public health at the Madera County Department of Public Health, Oakland’s Asian Health Services, and Kaiser Permanente in Northern California

Isaac Ergas, PhD, MPH completed his masters degree at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a Masters of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production at University of Southern California. He has found passion in both filmmaking and research, as both require working with a team to produce results to unanswered questions and ideas. He now works as a Department of Research Staff Scientist at Kaiser Permanente, in which he assesses the quality of health for breast and prostate cancer patients.

Thomas Goetz is an impact fund donor and a graduate of the Berkeley School of Public Health’s interdisciplinary program. He is a co-founder of Building H, a nonprofit research group that keeps products of companies accountable for human health, Iodine, a digital health company, and Flip the Clinic, a project to reimagine the practitioner-patient encounter. Goetz has also worked in journalism through the Wall Street Journal and WIRED, in which he won awards for his books that wrote about personalized medicine.

Assistant Professor of Medicine Erica Heiman has been spotlighted for Yale School of Medicine’s, “Meet Yale Internal Medicine” series. She has facilitated international research at the National Institute of Health, volunteered for the Peace Corps in Mozambique, and pursued her Master of Science at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She currently works with patients with substance use disorders as an addiction medicine physician.

Anthony Iton, MD, JD, MPH is a Lecturer and Social Impact Fellow at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. He has led The California Endowment to expand accessible healthcare for underserved communities, as well directed at the Alameda County Public health Department to manage the county’s preparedness for biological terrorism.

Shruti Kothari is a healthcare transformation advocate who has worked for the American Cancer Society, Stanford, Honor, and Kaiser Permanente. She currently leads Industry Initiatives for Blue Shield of California in which she focuses on healthcare transformation through policy work. She has founded Women of Community, an organization that increases representation of women of color in healthcare leadership roles, and Crown-Society, a company that supports the young caregiver community. She is one of Business Insider’s top 30 under 40 leaders in healthcare and Rock Health’s top 50 in Digital Health.

Jing Li received her PhD in Health Policy and MS in Economics at UC Berkeley. She is a health economist with research interests in factors affecting provider and patient decision making in healthcare, and the impact of policies that improve patient outcomes and market efficiency. She currently studies the social preferences of physicians and their relationship with patient outcomes.

Tracy Lieu, MD, MPH, Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research director, has transitioned from her position after 12 years of transformative leadership within the health services research sector. After gaining her Masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley, Dr. Lieu has overseen and improved research-enhanced quality initiatives such as the Rapid Analytics Unit and Targeted Analysis Program, as well as the Delivery Science Fellowship program. Her collaboration and mentorship has allowed urgent matters to be quickly addressed, allowing for operations to run more efficiently. She continues to work as a pediatrician, research advisor, and support Kaiser’s Virtual Care team.

Stella Ling was the recipient of a 2024 Alumnae Association of Barnard College Award (AABC), receiving an Award of Distinction. Stella and the awardees will be celebrated this fall at the 2024 Leadership Assembly, the annual meeting of volunteers from across the AABC.

Damen Haile Marian is the dean of the School of Public Health at Addis Ababa University (AAU). He received his PhD at UC Berkeley School of Public Health and has research interests about the gaps in the healthcare market, and its effects on family support in Ethiopia, as well as HIV/AIDS on social institutions. He started a doctoral program in Public Health at AAU, has served as president of the Ethiopian Public Health Association, and is the editor-in-chief of the Ethiopian Journal of Health and Development.

Kavya Nambiar has received a San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility Emerging Health-Activist Award. Nambiar is a current third year medical student at UCSF by way of the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program. Nambiar has worked in health policy as a senate intern in Washington, DC, and with the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. She hopes to become a future family medicine physician who continues to explore the intersections of human rights, social sciences, and medicine from a global perspective, using her privilege and training to create spaces where equity and justice are not just ideals but lived realities.

Aryn Phillips earned her PhD in Health Policy, specifically Organizations & Management, at UC Berkeley. She is a healthcare management researcher studying how alcohol use is addressed among adults with chronic medical conditions. She pursues her work through the scope of equitable access and quality of care. She is currently an assistant professor in Health Policy and Administration at University of Illinois, Chicago

Rainbow Rubin received her Masters in Environmental Health from Berkeley’s School of Public Health and PhD in Nutritional Biology from UC Davis. She currently researches the health impacts with chemical exposure and prevention of chronic disease during vulnerable life stages. She is passionate about public health and strategizing individual chronic disease prevention practices.

Cynthia Sanchez, MPH has been named a 2024-2025 Kaiser Permanente Northern California Administrative Fellow where she will complete a 12-18 month program, gaining hands-on experience in health care operations through two dynamic six-month rotations at different medical centers. Sanchez earned her Master of Public Health in Health and Social Behavior at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She worked as a community implementation coordinator at San Diego State University

Colby Takeda, MPH received his Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He is the co-founder and CEO of Pear Suite, a digital health company working to address social determinants of health for workers in community and population health. He was recently named one of Rock Health’s Top 50 in Digital Health.

Ruth Thomas-Squance, PhD, MPH is co-executive director at the Build Healthy Places Network, a national center of partnerships from healthcare sectors to address health and racial equity. She has served as founding executive director of a Bay Area nonprofit in which she provided emotional intelligence skill training and development to low-income and minority populations.

Aaron Tierney received his PhD in Health Policy from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and works as a staff scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. He currently uses mixed methods and qualitative research methods to measure how to improve quality, access, and utilization of health information technologies for disadvantaged populations.

Megan Vanneman earned her PhD in Health Services and Policy Analysis from UC Berkeley, and works as a health services researcher specializing in health policy, economics, and organizational behavior. She utilizes a mixed-methods approach in her current research in healthcare policy systems, policy change, mental health, and health equity. She is an associate professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine and loves to teach health policy and research methods

Christopher Whaley, PhD has been named an associate professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health and recently received tenure. He received his PhD in Health Economics at UC Berkeley. His research revolves around healthcare price transparency and market structure. His work has been published and covered in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and CNN.

Justin White is an associate professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management at Boston University School of Public Health who completed his PhD in Health Policy at UC Berkeley. He currently researches the effects of interventions and policies on behavioral risk factors for chronic disease in underserved communities. He has recently worked on the taxation of unhealthy products, cash and food assistance programs, and poverty alleviation programs.

Rachel Berkowitzv, DrPH, is an assistant professor of public health at San Jose State University, where she leads their MPH program evaluation efforts. Berkowitz was recently selected as an American Evaluation Association Minority Serving Institution Fellow, highlighting her achievements and commitment to expanding community-based participatory research methods and health equity.

Michael Bird, MPH, a former president of the American Public Health Association and member of the Kewa Pueblo tribe has been working with Native Americans and public health throughout his career, has continued this during the pandemic and was cited in the New York Times as an expert addressing the racial inequities that the pandemic further highlighted.

Ayanna Bennett, MD, a pediatrician, Berkeley Public Health alum, MS, 1999, and health equity officer in San Francisco, was named acting director of the Washington D.C. health department, known informally as “D.C.'s doctor”.

Trula Breuninger, MPH, has spent over 20 years in the healthcare and social services industry, and recently became CEO of Native American Connections, a Native American–operated nonprofit organization. She recently sat down for a conversation with Berkeley Public Health to discuss Native American healthcare and the issues and inequities within.

Kelsey Kamanani Conklin, MPH, has been named a 2023–2024 Public Health Fellow, as part of the Kaiser Permanente and the American Public Health Association award, which supports 13 annual paid fellowships.Conklin has been placed at the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy where she hopes to continue her work in food systems to help Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other Indigenous populations.

Hiba Elkhatib, BA, MPH, has been named a 2023–2024 Public Health Fellow, as part of the Kaiser Permanente and the American Public Health Association award, which supports 13 annual paid fellowships. Elkhatib has been placed at the Kaiser Permanente’s National Office of Community Health, where she aims to continue advancing health equity, social justice, and the representation of locally and globally marginalized groups. Truly continuing her legacy as a Berkeley Public Health Changemaker.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, MPH, is a board-certified infectious diseases physician and a medical epidemiologist who has recently founded Grapevine Health, where she serves as CEO. Grapevine Health, digital health media company, works to establish trust and improve patient engagement, utilizing health literacy as a social driver of health throughout the community.

Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH ’91 has been named the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Chief Scientific Officer. While Dr. Fuentes-Afflick currently serves as professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and vice dean for the UCSF School of Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, she will join the AAMC in this role on July 16.

Harpreet Ghotra, BDS, MPH ‘23, DPH recently received an honorable mention for the prestigious Leverett Award from the American Association of Public Health Dentistry for her research project. This project focused on community engagement, aimed at improving oral health care access across California.

Noah Hawthorne, MPH, has been named as the chief medical officer of the Mee Memorial Healthcare System in King City, CA. Hawthorne has long held an interest in underserved medicine and community health and is honored to continue serving a community he cares deeply about and to increase the patient quality of care.

Lisa Hernandez, MPH, 2006, has been appointed as a Public Health Officer for Santa Cruz County. Hernandez has worked in the field of medicine and public health for 25 years. She most recently served as Public Health Officer for the City of Berkeley.

Paul Hoffman, DrPH, 1994, has received the 2023 Lifetime Service Award from ACHE for his work in advancing ethical standards for the profession. He has also been honored with the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award, the American Hospital Association’s Award of Honor, and the Distinguished Leadership Award from our own Graduate Program in Health Management Alumni Association.

Hubbard, MPH, has been named the new executive vice president and chief commercial officer of BioMarin Pharmaceutical. Hubbard completed the Graduate Program of Health Management at the University of California, Berkeley, earning an MBA from the Haas School of Business and an MPH from the School of Public Health.

Mariah Jiles, MPH, has been named a 2023–2024 Public Health Fellow, as part of the Kaiser Permanente and the American Public Health Association award, which supports 13 annual paid fellowships. Jiles has been placed at the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom, where she will continue her work on improving the health and well-being of underserved populations, with a focus on Black and African American communities.

Margae J. Knox, PhD, MPH has recently been chosen as one of Kaiser Permanente's early career research fellows for their Northern California Division of Research (DOR). Knox, a triple Bear, is excited to apply her interests in investigating health policy and the social determinants of health to work alongside Kaiser's goals in holistically improving member and local health outcomes.

Shruti Kothari MPH, who currently serves as Director of Industry Initiatives for Blue Shield of California, was recently selected as one of the Top 50 in Digital Health Honorees. Specifically, Kothari was named as a Luminary who is “leading lights advancing novel ideas and new approaches that improve health for humanity.”

Nancy Krieger, PhD, 1989, Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard University and one of the School’s most world renowned alums, just learned that she’ll be receiving APHA’s highest honor, the Sedgwick Medal, at APHA’s Atlanta meeting this November.

Ai Kubo, MPH, PhD, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, recently published the first study to analyze pubertal onset by Asian ethnicity. With the goal of helping explain these early life variations could potentially help explain disparities in chronic health conditions that are seen in Asian adults.

Berkeley Public Health alumna and UC Berkeley Foundation Emeritus Trustee, Kathy Kwan ’87, MB. ’93, MPH ’93 is this year’s recipient of the Berkeley Founders Award, which celebrates an alum or friend who has given long-term distinguished leadership and service to a broad range of academic, athletic, philanthropic, and other programs across the university

Through her philanthropy and longtime service to Berkeley, Kwan is guided by a singular mission: ensuring that students have the opportunities and resources necessary to thrive. Since 2006, the Eustace-Kwan Family Foundation, of which Kwan is president, has granted more than $60 million to UC Berkeley, funding summer internships and programs in Student Affairs and other Bay Area causes. Underlying her altruism is a belief that all students should have the access, opportunities, and resources that they need to thrive.

Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH, has been appointed as the new chair of the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice for Brown University’s School of Public Health starting July 1, 2024. In addition to this leadership role, Mehrotra will also serve as a professor of health services, policy and practice within the school. Read more about his upcoming position and his work as an accomplished physician and public health change-maker here.

James Meyers, DrPH, 2001, was appointed as Public Health Commissioner for District 3 in Alameda County. His voluntary work has included past appointments as an Alameda County Public Health Commissioner and as an elected Alameda Health Care District Director.

Triple Bear Marion Nestle, BA ‘59, MPH ‘86, PhD ‘68 recently published a piece, Harmful Microplastics And Chemicals Are In Our Food And Water Supply on Food Politics. Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, which she chaired from 1988–2003 and from which she officially retired in September 2017. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She earned a PhD in molecular biology and an MPH in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD, 2004, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health (DGPH), School of Population and Global Health, McGill University.

Tyra Parrish, MPH, has been named a 2023–2024 Public Health Fellow, as part of the Kaiser Permanente and the American Public Health Association award, which supports 13 annual paid fellowships. Parrish, whose student activism at UC Berkeley led to her receiving the Leadership in Graduate Diversity Award and the Henrik L. Blum Award for Distinguished Social Action, has been placed at Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, where she hopes to continue this working towards eliminating health disparities within communities of color.

Mary Pittman, MPH, 1980, has been named, by the Public Health Institute, in NonProfit Times as Top 50 Executive. Pittman was recognized for her innovation, impact, influence and leadership in responding to change and challenges facing the nonprofit sector over the past year.

Martha Ryan, MPH ‘89 has been named the 2024 Peter E. Haas Public Service Award recipient. This award recognizes distinguished Berkeley alums and honors those who exemplifies the university’s mission to serve the public good. Ryan, a former nurse practitioner, is the founder and former executive director of the Homeless Prenatal Program, a nationally recognized family resource center in San Francisco. Her other awards include alumna of the year at Berkeley’s School of Public Health, a CNN Hero Award, and the James Irvine Leadership Award.

Baljeet Sangha, MPH, 2010, has received the 2023 Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Heathcare Executives from the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) at their recent national meeting in Chicago. He was cited for, among other things, his leadership as chief operating officer of the San Francisco Health Network in meeting the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized people particularly during the pandemic and natural disasters.

Marc Sapir, MD, MPH, is a physician, writer, and activist who has recently published a new fiction novel, <em?Deja Vu with Quixotic Delusions of Grandeur. Available through Barnes & Noble.

Laura Stachel, DrPH, 2020, of We Care Solar in Berkeley, has been named the 2024 AARP Purpose Prize winner! We Care Solar produces portable solar suitcases to bring electricity to obstetric facilities in low-income countries.

Melissa Stafford Jones, MPH, has been named the new CEO and president of the Public Health Institute. Stafford Jones’s lifelong commitment to advancing healthcare for all and her over 30 years of experience has positioned her to lead PHI into its next phase of transformative public health.

Aaron A. Tierney, PhD has recently been chosen as one of Kaiser Permanente's early career research fellows for their Northern California Division of Research (DOR). Tierney completed his PhD in Health Policy at UCB School of Public Health, whose research focuses on equitable design and healthcare that serves disadvantaged populations.

Anthony (Tony) Tran MPH, DrPH ’13, was recently highlighted by the American Society for Microbiology for his commitment to improving public health. Tran joined Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program at University of California, Berkeley in 2010, as part of the Lab Aspire program, which aimed to train the next generation of public health laboratory directors. He now serves as the director of the State Public Health Laboratory for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

Rob Tufel, MPH/MSW, recently participated in the MPH student practicum program, where he partnered with a current MPH student on a community report, "Addressing Health Equity in Supportive Cancer Care for Black Cancer Patients and their Families." This report is the result of a collaborative effort between UC Berkeley Public Health graduate student Ayaka Nakaji, LCSW and Rob Tufel & Cancer Support Community.

Diane Uzarski, DNP, MPH ’93, RN has been named the inaugural dean of Saint Anselm College’s Nursing School. Uzarski’s career in nursing and public health spans more than three decades and includes practical, academic, research and administrative experience. Before coming to St. Anselm’s, she spent 20 years at Duke in teaching, research and administration, including five years as chief of staff to the dean of the School of Nursing. Uzarski earned her master’s of public health at the University of California, Berkeley and doctor of nursing practice at Duke University.

Katharina “KC” Whitsett MPH ’22 recently joined the Nutrition Policy Institute at the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, as a project policy analyst. KC also holds a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley, with an interdisciplinary concentration on research and evaluation methods for food access and nutrition programs.