What do you do?
I serve as the director for the Office of Family and Community Health and the Title V Maternal and Child Health director.
Describe your educational path. What was your area of study?
I studied geophysics as an undergraduate at Occidental College and then went on to the University of California, Los Angeles for my master’s degree in public health. After working in the field for about 10 years, I went to nursing school to become a registered nurse and to complete a master’s degree in nursing.
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.
Tell us about your team or the primary purpose of your group.
I serve as the director for the Office of Family and Community Health, and I'm the Title V Maternal Child Health director. As an office, we are responsible for creating and supporting policies that improve equitable access to wellness, particularly for infants, children, teens, and parents, and we invest in critical areas of health care assurance, particularly cancer screening and treatment, sexual and reproductive health, and services for children with special health care needs (including some newborn and genetic screenings).
Our office holds several critical initiatives within the agency: the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant; the Maternal Mortality Review Panel; the Community Health Worker Training Program; the Health Equity Zone Initiative; the Breast, Cervical, and Colon Cancer Program; Essentials for Childhood; and the School-Based Health Center grant program, among many other important bodies of work.
What is your typical day on the job?
Each day of my job is full of collaboration with colleagues and external partners. My days are always stimulating. I routinely participate in planning meetings with team members, discussions around business practices, and a lot of individual and collective level work to push our public heath priorities forward. On Fridays, I try to catch up on the latest in innovations or data connected to my work.
What previous experiences most helped you with this role?
I think the most helpful things for me included years of program planning, development, and evaluation connected to the wellness of pregnant and birthing people, families, children and teens, and populations that experience disparities in health combined with participating in and facilitating many coalition-type initiatives to address public health issues of importance. It helps that I have worked in the nonprofit, local public health, and state public health sectors.
What advice would you give a student pursuing career opportunities in public health? What is something you wish you knew earlier in your career?
Don't be afraid to experiment within the field. Try working for a nonprofit, for academia, and for government. Surround yourself with people smarter than you who can push your learning. Be curious about humans and what drives their health. Hold hope that we can make things more equitable with humility and persistence.
What achievements are you most proud of in your work in public health?
I'm proud of being a RWJ (Robert Wood Johnson) Breakthrough Leader in Nursing, for my current role of Title V Maternal and Child Health director, and of having a diverse career where I've worked in communities and across government. I am most proud of being a public servant.
What is something that would surprise people about your day-to-day job?
Even though it is often full of eight hours of meetings, I am almost never bored.
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?
This next generation of public health professionals is poised to address entrenched inequitable practices. Many emerging leaders are more familiar with the ways that racism, ableism, sexism, and ageism compromise the health of our communities, and of ourselves. They will be innovators in reversing these practices and hopefully point out our blind spots.
What do you enjoy about living and working in Washington state?
I always tell my family we live in the most beautiful place in the world. And in terms of public health, Washington is generally such a supportive state to try new things in our discipline and to center the well-being of people in our work.