Schwarzenegger appoints Dean Shortell to California’s Public Health Advisory Committee
Dean Stephen Shortell of UC Berkeley's School of Public Health was appointed to California’s new Public Health Advisory Committee by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on February 14, 2008.
The committee consists of nine members appointed by the governor, three members appointed by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and three appointed by California's Senate Rules Committee. Shortell will serve for four years on the committee and advise Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health—recommending policies, identifying emerging public health issues, and recommending strategies to enhance the department's effectiveness.
In 2006, Schwarzenegger signed SB 162, which created a separate Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 2007. The department’s goals are to decrease illness, injury, and death rates, provide greater protection for California residents in the event of a public health emergency, and improve program effectiveness for the public health.
"Establishing the Department of Public Health was an important step forward in improving our state’s emergency readiness and ensuring the health and safety of all Californians is protected," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I am confident that with the combined experience of the members appointed today to the Public Health Advisory Committee, the department will continue to provide our state with the best public health infrastructure."
Shortell said he has high hopes for the committee's ambitious agenda.
"Our goal should be nothing less than helping to make California one of the healthiest states in the nation. We face many challenges with real resource constraints, but these can also be the ingredients for the creative and innovative solutions for which the state is well known. Most importantly, we need to engage all sectors of the state—business, labor, education, transportation and housing—in addition to the health sector, if we are to improve the health of all Californians over the coming decades."
Shortell brings expertise in linking public health and the health care delivery system, particularly around issues of chronic illness, and experience in strategic planning and continuous quality improvement. He has been a professor at the School since 1998, serving as Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and professor of organization behavior. He has served as the dean since 2002.
