Skip to main content

Social Impact at UC Berkeley Public Health

Arc Bending for Health and Justice

The UC Berkeley School of Public Health is more than an academic institution—it’s a force for transformation. With our activist roots and unwavering commitment to impact, we’re positioned to drive change in areas like pandemic preparedness, chronic illness, health equity, and beyond. Our goal? To be an unparalleled platform for beneficial change in the world.

We are doubling down on impact and equipping our students to be changemakers and innovators during their time at UC Berkeley and beyond. Under the leadership of our inaugural chief social impact officer Claudia Williams, our social impact team is dedicated to developing the programs, partnerships and supports to make change in the world.

UC Berkeley's mascot, Oski the Bear, poses in front of the Social Impact team.
The Social Impact Team was honored to receive the 2026 Oski Student Leadership Award for Outstanding Campus Partnership.

Current Programs

Bay Area Community Health Fellows

In 2026, we are launching a philanthropically funded initiative to tackle the interlocking regional challenges of homelessness, substance use, mental illness, and community violence. Each summer starting in 2027, the program will embed 25 to 35 public health graduate students into full-time paid 10-week practicums with local frontline organizations and government agencies at no cost to the host organizations.

Impact Innovators

The Impact Innovators program supports current Berkeley students to explore and establish innovative community-based projects that improve community health and equity. This program encourages students to proactively identify public health challenges, engage directly with affected communities, and devise sustainable, people-centered solutions.

Impact Fellows

Our Impact Fellows are ambitious health leaders – policymakers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners – who work closely with the UC Berkeley Public Health community to collaborate on high impact projects, share changemaker skills, and mentor students.

Social Impact Tuesdays

We host Social Impact Tuesdays to help students learn and practice changemaking skills from dynamic leaders who have led and scaled change initiatives and built organizations that are addressing public health challenges head on.

Social Impact Events

We host policy summits, career panels, innovation competitions, and retreats that bridge the gap between knowledge and action. These gatherings connect students with leaders, policymakers, and innovators to collaborate and tackle pressing public health challenges.

The Other 80 Podcast

The Other 80 podcast, hosted by UC Berkeley Public Health chief social impact officer Claudia Williams, brings you deep conversations about the things that help keep people healthy beyond traditional medical care, like housing, social connections and food, and the cutting edge policies, research and programs supporting whole person health.

Careers and Leadership Team

Our Careers and Leadership Team partners with students to define their areas of impact and help them gain significant hands-on experience and skills through projects, summer practicums and coursework. Whether it’s during their time at Berkeley or throughout their careers, we’re here to help them achieve their vision.

Join us in making a difference. Let’s create impact—right here, right now.

Connect with us!

Claudia Williams

Chief Social Impact Officer

Claudia Williams joined UC 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.

Fred Dillon

Director, Social Impact Partnerships & Strategy

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.

Kelly Horan

Manager, Social Impact Innovation Programs

Kelly Horan is a proud alumnus of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and currently serves as the Manager of Social Impact Innovation Programs for the school. She is passionate about building innovative programs to help solve the world’s biggest social problems. During her MPH, she consulted for start-ups and nonprofits across public health. She previously supported a government innovation program in New Zealand, consulted for Nike, and worked in business operations at Meraki (acquired by Cisco Systems for $1.2 billion). She has a BS in management science and engineering from Stanford University.

Liam Chavez

Program Operations Manager

Liam Chavez is the Program Operations Manager for the Social Impact Team, where he streamlines financial and administrative processes, boosts cybersecurity and accessibility, and coordinates major public events. He previously worked at UCBPH’s Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) and the College of Alameda. Passionate about sexual violence prevention, he co-chairs the BPH SVSH Prevention Committee and is a state-certified Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Advocate. A recipient of the Regent’s and Chancellor’s Scholarship, Liam earned his BA in history from UC Berkeley, focusing on the history of science and Latin America.

Grace Brown

Interim Manager, Social Impact Innovation Programs

Grace Brown is the interim Program Manager on the Social Impact team at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, where she supports students leading impact innovation projects. She enjoys working with students and brainstorming ways to maximize both their community impact and professional development. More broadly, she is passionate about addressing the root causes of health inequities and implementing innovative, people-centered solutions. She recently received her MPH from UC Berkeley and worked with the Social Impact team throughout her time in the program. Before this role, Grace held positions at Alameda County Health, Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C., and Peace Corps Zambia. She has a BA in Public Health from Franklin & Marshall College.

Subscribe to our UC Berkeley Public Health Social Impact Newsletter

The UC Berkeley Public Health Social Impact Team sends out a newsletter bi-monthly (every other month) with the latest in Social Impact at UC Berkeley Public Health.

©2026 UC Regents; all rights reserved