Notable Alumni
The School's nearly 10,000 graduates can be found working throughout the world, in both the public and private sectors. Graduates hold major positions in health departments; in hospitals; in national and international organizations; in local, state, and federal government; in voluntary health organizations; in the corporate sector; and in health care and health promotion organizations.
Among the School's distinguished alumni are:
Gordon Belcourt, M.P.H.'80
Executive director, Montana/Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council; nationally recognized Indian health leader
Lisa Berkman, Dr.P.H. '77
Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and chair, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health; pioneer in the field of social epidemiology; nationally known for her research on psychosocial influences on health outcomes
Michael E. Bird, M.S.W., M.P.H '83
Past president of the American Public Health Association; received the Healthcare Hero Award from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Native American Caucus, and the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus
Adolfo Chavez, M.D., M.P.H. '59
Mexico's "father of nutrition"; developed protein-enriched tortillas as a way to deliver better nutrition to the country's poorest citizens.
Nilda Chong, M.D., Dr.P.H. '00
Former director of the Institute for Culturally Competent Care at Kaiser Permanente
Jack C. Chow M.D., M.S. '85
Assistant director general, HIV/AIDS/TB & Malaria, World Health Organization
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H. '88
President, product development, Genentech
Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. '90
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Public Health Alumna of the Year 2003
William H. Gurtner, M.P.H. '70
Vice president, clinical services development, University of California, Office of the President; coordinates the UC System's clinical enterprise activities on its five medical campuses
Judith E. Heumann, M.P.H. '75
Cofounder of the World Institute on Disability; former assistant secretary, U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; World Bank disability adviser; School of Public Health's 1981 Alumna of the Year; received the California Alumni Association's 1999 "Excellence in Achievement Award"
Richard J. Jackson, M.D., M.P.H. '79
Former director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health; former California state public health officer; and coauthor of Urban Sprawl and Public Health; Public Health Alumnus of the Year 2005
Sir Michael Marmot, Ph.D. '75, M.P.H. '72
Professor of epidemiology and public health, University College London Medical School; director of the Centre for Health and Society; knighted by Queen Elizabeth on Jan. 1, 2000, in recognition of his outstanding work in describing and explaining social inequalities in health
Sunne Wright McPeak, M.P.H. '71
California secretary of business, transportation and housing
Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H. '86
Professor and director of public health initiatives, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York University; author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health; SPH Alumna of the Year, 2004
Mary Pittman, Dr.P.H. '87
CEO, Public Health Institute; former president, Health Research and Education Trust
Venkataram Ramakrishna, M.D., M.P.H. '55
Director, South East Asia Regional Bureau for the International Union for Health Promotion and Education Bangalore, India; established anti-tobacco, community mental health, and water supply and sanitation programs in India; received the 1996 Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award
Sandra Shewry, M.S.W., M.P.H. '81
Director, California Department of Health Services
Barbara Staggers, M.D., M.P.H. '80
Director of adolescent medicine, Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland; received the 2008 Regional Public Health Hero from UC Berkeley
Peter C. van Dyck, M.D., M.P.H. '73
Associate administrator for Maternal and Child Health, Health Resources & Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
David Werdegar, M.D., M.P.H. '70
Former director of the San Francisco Health Department (1985-1990); instrumental in addressing the city's AIDS epidemic
