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Careers & Leadership Office

The RISE Office logo, an illustration of the Golden Gate Bridge superimposed on the sun.

The RISE: UC Berkeley Public Health Careers & Leadership Office is deeply committed to bridging the gap between students’ academic education and their professional interests and goals in collaboration with community partners and employers. Our mission is to elevate public health professionals to lead from where they are and effect positive change in communities locally and globally.

The RISE Office goals are to help students:

  • Discern and refine what they want to do;
  • Develop practical skills, experience, and connections to achieve their goals;
  • Be inspired, get a meaningful job, and take action to make a difference in public health.

We fulfill our mission through the following offerings:

Practicum: We provide wraparound support to MPH and DrPH students for the required applied practice experience. Dedicated staff members and Field Consultants help students find and select a practicum opportunity that best matches their professional interests, skill needs, and objectives.

Career Services: We offer a full range of resources designed to support students and alumni at all points along the employment path, from their first days at UC Berkeley Public Health and throughout their careers. We offer career counseling, workshops, programs, and other events.

Leadership Development: In order to develop diverse leaders in public health, we offer programs that provide action-based learning and promote diversity in the public health workforce, including leadership development courses, Leadership Boot Camps, support for registered student organizations, a Leadership Toolkit, the Blue Shield of California Health Equity Fellowship Program, and the Advocacy Initiative.

Are you interested in extending an employment / practicum opportunity to students? Go to the PHLEX: Public Health Leadership and Experience Exchange page.

Connect with us!

Students / General Inquiries: Please reach out to our team at rise.bph@berkeley.edu.

Community Partners / Employers: Are you looking to recruit UC Berkeley Public Health students or promote opportunities at your organization? Please contact publichealthcareers@berkeley.edu to share professional opportunities and explore options for connecting with students/alumni (including through a practicum).

Sara Ayazi

Senior Career and Practicum Specialist

Schedule an appointment
(Graduate students & alumni)

ayazi@berkeley.edu

Sara Ayazi (she/her) is passionate about helping students and alumni navigate their careers successfully and enjoys connecting them with opportunities and resources that will further enhance their professional growth. She has a particular interest in increasing resilience and well-being in the workplace and has presented on this topic to staff and health professionals in the UC system.

Sara has over 10 years of experience in combined roles in higher education and career counseling. Prior to joining UC Berkeley Public Health, she provided career counseling services to health professional students at UCSF, including students in joint programs with UC Berkeley Public Health.

Sara’s additional career services experiences include supporting the career and professional development of junior corporate attorneys at Wilson Sonsini and providing career counseling to students in the Colleges of Engineering and Chemistry at the UC Berkeley Career Center. Before her transition into the career services field, Sara served as an attorney for the University of Connecticut.

Sara holds a master’s degree in counseling with a specialization in career counseling from San Francisco State University. In addition, she earned her law degree from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Vassar College.

Liam Chavez

Program Operations Manager

lmchavez4@berkeley.edu

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 UCBPH 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.

Samantha Giordano

Manager of Special Programs

samanthagiordano@berkeley.edu

Samantha Giordano (she/her) has over 12 years of experience collaborating with students, community organizations, and higher education institutions to foster equity and justice. She believes that immersive, experiential, and community-based learning is essential for preparing students to create meaningful and successful careers after graduation. Samantha designs, implements, and evaluates programming that equally supports student learning and community-driven systemic change. She is committed to professional networks and collaborations that lead higher education institutions and community partners to deconstruct systems of oppression.

Samantha’s additional higher education experience includes curriculum design, teaching, and group facilitation. Samantha’s pedagogical approach is informed by frameworks such as adaptive leadership theory, restorative justice, and liberatory design for equity. Samantha holds a master’s degree in leadership studies and a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Caitlin Green

Director

Schedule an appointment
(Graduate students & alumni)

cgreen@berkeley.edu

Caitlin Green (she/her) is driven by the opportunity to develop potential, identify new insights, and facilitate meaningful connections for Berkeley Public Health students. She enjoys dynamically serving students, alumni, and employers/community partners to advance the public health workforce.

Caitlin has over a decade of professional service at UC Berkeley, having previously worked at Berkeley Career Engagement, where she earned a Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award with her colleagues for a large-scale technology initiative to enhance the student experience. Caitlin is active in professional associations and has presented at the regional and national levels. A first-generation college student, she earned her master’s in higher education administration from Boston College and her bachelor’s in sociology from UC Berkeley.

Kandis Morris

Assistant Director

Schedule an appointment
(Graduate students & alumni)

kmorris@berkeley.edu

For over 10 years, Kandis Morris has served as a dedicated career counselor helping individuals uncover their purpose and find genuine career happiness. From the start of her career, she has been deeply motivated by the principles of personal empowerment and social good, striving to see students succeed and make a positive impact on their communities.
Kandis believes in embracing the “whole student”—offering a holistic approach that guides students through their journey, rather than simply matching them to a job.

Her perspective is informed by her diverse experiences, including providing specialized counseling at Berkeley Public Health and graduate-level career services at Golden Gate University. This has led her to develop a unique focus on the intersection of student passion, real-world employer needs, and the evolving job market. Her professional toolkit also includes extensive work in student leadership and campus diversity initiatives.

Kandis holds a master’s degree in Education (Higher Education Counseling) and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She is also a Certified Designing Your Life Coach and demonstrates her commitment to the field by serving as a Member-at-Large of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) Career Counseling Assembly.

Megan Olivera

Manager of Community Partnerships

Schedule an appointment
(Community partners & employers)

molivera@berkeley.edu

Megan Olivera (she/her) places the student experience at the heart of her work, helping students thrive through interdisciplinary public health education and meaningful community involvement. She strives to uplift underrepresented groups in higher education, particularly through inclusive, equity-driven approaches and programming. Megan is especially committed to collaborative relationship-building, working with students to understand their public health interests and goals while engaging community partners to identify their pressing student work needs. She uses these insights to help shape mutually beneficial experiential learning opportunities, such as practicum, that both support student development and advance the vital work of community partners.

Megan joined the School of Public Health in 2021, initially supporting both the Joint Medical Program and RISE before transitioning to RISE full-time in 2022. Prior to her work at UCBPH, she served students at the University of Oregon through club and organization advising and student retention initiatives. She also brings experience from the field of optometry, where she worked with patients on treatment plans for myopia management, a pressing public health concern.

A first-generation college graduate and alumnus of the McNair Scholar Program, Megan holds a master’s degree in prevention science and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Oregon. Her graduate research focused on suicidality among college students, with particular attention to intervention outcomes.

Lily Eros

Program Assistant

Lily Eros (she/her) is an undergraduate student (Class of 2026) at UC Berkeley. She is majoring in Psychology and is taking the pre-med track in hopes of becoming a doctor. Lily has a passion for dance and performs in UC Berkeley’s Danceworx and Ballet Company at Berkeley.

Beyond the stage, Lily serves as a peer counselor on campus. Additionally, she directs the Berkeley Chapter of Ballet and Books, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting youth literacy and dance.

Caitlin Nguyen

Program Assistant

Caitlin Nguyen (she/her) is a first-generation undergraduate student (Class of 2027) at UC Berkeley. She is majoring in Integrative Biology and is taking a Pre-Physician Assistant track to become a Physician Assistant emphasizing in Pediatrics. Caitlin serves as one of the Outreach Chairs for UC Berkeley’s Vietnamese Student Association to create programs for high school students to gain the necessary tools to harness their leadership potential both for mentees and mentors.

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