Staff Profiles

What is your typical day on the job?

Right now my job is 100% remote. So a typical day includes driving my youngest to school, then opening up my laptop to respond to messages from my team. Then I jump into my work, which includes either using Tableau to work on or update a data visualization, or programming in R to access, clean, re-structure, and prepare data for visualization.

With that said, I am not coding and visualizing data all day. Other steps in the process include brainstorming ideas with my team, discussing how racial equity and justice could be more supported through our work, meeting with others to understand their data visualization needs, preparing presentations, and working through issues as they arise.

Describe your educational path. What was your area of study?

I was the first in my family to even want to attempt to go to college, and because of that I needed to figure out a way to pay for college and make sure my decisions were not creating an undue financial burden on my family.

I enlisted in the Army National Guard when I was 17 and after completing one tour of duty in Iraq and my six years of service, I was able to attend Central Washington University where I majored in public health with a specialization in community health education.

From there I spent five years working in asthma education with the Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic. My time there made me realize I had a passion for clinic management, and I decided to attend the University of Washington for a master's in health administration.

What is your typical day on the job?

Most of my days are really fun. I get to hang out with teens and young adults during Youth Advisory Council meetings where we talk about challenges and barriers in health care and youth-friendly solutions. I meet with our Youth Voice volunteers and interns to plan for social media posts on Instagram that are focused on teen and young adult health issues.

I also collaborate with my colleagues in adolescent and young adult health, other Washington State Department of Health (DOH) programs, and other state agencies to explore opportunities to improve health care, conduct community engagement and gather qualitative data, plan for cool projects like our new Teen Health Hub WA, and weigh in on policy and legislation that impacts young people's health.

How did you enter your career in public health?

I was drawn to public health as a discipline when I was working as a hydrologist in Southern California. I was looking for a career that would combine my interests in science, health, and justice.

At that point, I had participated in various service projects in the United States and abroad and was aware of the health challenges created by poverty and injustice. After working for a few years in geology, I decided to formally pursue training in public health, initially believing I would pursue environmental public health. I realized soon in my program that maternal, child and family health were particularly interesting to me.

Describe your educational path. What was your area of study?

I have a Bachelor of Art in social and global studies with a focus in economics. After a couple years working, I went to law school.

After my first semester in law school, I really considered dropping out, but ended up finding my people and really thriving in the Housing Justice Project and other pro bono legal services for people in need. I was drawn to public service to continue helping others and chose to work at DOH in health regulatory work.

After a couple years, I found I didn't have the right skill set to expand beyond legal work and went to Evergreen State College for a Master of Public Administration. This degree helped me move beyond legal regulatory work into broader policy work.

Describe your educational path. What was your area of study?

I have always had an interest in being the health care or public health realm of work since I always have wanted to help others, but I did not ever have my mind set on one path over the other. I started out studying dental hygiene and did a lot of health care administration work throughout my prerequisites to gain knowledge on the dental side of our health care system.

After being in the program, I decided being a clinician was not meant for me and decided to pursue the administration side of health care instead. This led to me graduating from Eastern Washington University with a bachelor's degree in health services administration, followed by a master's degree in public health.

Do you see any bright spots or opportunities as you look to the future of public health for the next generation of public health professionals?

The next generation of professionals is the bright spot in the future of public health. To solve the complex challenges we face, we need leaders who can understand and navigate systemic barriers, work within resource-constrained environments, break down silos by building relationships, and use evidence-based decision-making to ensure approaches that first, do no harm.

I am continually inspired when working with the next generation of public health professionals by their equity and innovative mindset they bring that is sure to benefit us all.

What is your typical day on the job?

There really isn't such a thing as a typical day, which is one reason I really love this job.

Some days may be focused on grant writing or data analysis, but there are always unpredictable elements like disease outbreaks, unusual cases of disease, field investigations, or new One Health problems. I am constantly learning, even after more than a decade in the field.

How did you enter your career in public health?

After my undergraduate studies, I was still considering a path to a medical profession, either as a doctor or physician assistant. I worked in a physical therapy clinic and then a primary care clinic for a few years as a community health worker.

At that point, I bore witness to a lot of the systemic barriers that patients face to accessing health care and improving their health, so I decided I wanted to engage in work at the state or county level where I could contribute to something with a wider impact.

I applied for a job in the Office of Newborn Screening at DOH and applied for graduate school to get my Master of Public Health. I started at DOH in May 2018.

What achievements are you most proud of in your work in public health?

The thing I find most rewarding is working with people committed to helping Washington achieve its health equity goals. Relationships, data, research, and equity. What else could a sociologist ask for?

Two of my proudest achievements are:

• Co-authoring the DOH Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act implementation plan that is focused on eliminating environmental harms and equitably distributing environmental benefits for overburdened communities and vulnerable populations.
• Being asked to lead the evaluation unit's efforts to build capacity for evaluative thinking and data-driven decision-making.

What is your typical day on the job?

In my role, I provide planning, budgeting, and programmatic guidance to nine regional youth commercial tobacco and cannabis prevention contractors covering the entire state. This means I am consistently meeting with and responding to requests from these contractors.

My role is to ensure they have the support, resources, and training needed to carry out prevention efforts, while also adhering to contractually agreed upon work plans and budgets.