Careers & Leadership Office

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

The RISE: 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 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 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

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 wellbeing 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 Berkeley Public Health, she provided career counseling services to health professional students at UCSF, including students in joint programs with 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.

Gabriel Alejandro Garcia

Program Coordinator


gabrielgarcia@berkeley.edu

As a program coordinator Gabriel (they/them) is excited to bring their professional and lived experiences to help students achieve their professional and academic goals. Upon graduating from the University of California Berkeley in 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, they immediately began using their degree and bilingual skills to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as a Case Investigator and Contact Tracer mainly aiding the monolingual Spanish speaking community. Most recently Gabriel served as a School Health Worker Lead and Trainer with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Prior to graduating they were a part of a number of student organizations including the Student Immigration Relief Clinic and Communidad for Health Equity. Gabriel hopes to one day earn a Masters Degree in Public Health with a focus in Health Policy and the ultimate goal of increasing access to care for the trans and nonbinary community. Gabriel’s interests include public health workforce development, hiking the Berkeley fire trails, frequenting the gym, and reading.

Caitlin Green

Director of Career Services


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. She came to the School of Public Health from the UC Berkeley Career Center, where she earned a Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award with her colleagues for a large-scale technology initiative to strengthen the student experience connecting with employers and applying to opportunities. Caitlin is active in professional associations and has presented at the regional and national levels around pre-health advising and supporting underrepresented students in STEM. 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.

Megan Olivera

Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development


Schedule an appointment
(Community partners & employers)

molivera@berkeley.edu

Megan Olivera (she/her) is passionate about helping students thrive through interdisciplinary public health education and community involvement. She aims to prioritize underrepresented groups in higher education, particularly through inclusive, equity-based approaches and programming. Prior to joining the School of Public Health, Megan served students through club/organization advising and retention initiatives at the University of Oregon. She also held prior employment in optometry, working with patients on treatment plans for myopia management, a current public health pandemic.

A first-generation college graduate and alumnus of the Ronald E. McNair Scholar Program, Megan earned her master’s degree in prevention science and bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Oregon. There, her master’s research focused on suicidality among college students with a special consideration for intervention outcomes. Through her involvement with the Suicide Prevention Lab, she also supported dissemination and implementation strategies for suicide prevention effort in the community.

Kandis Rodgers

Assistant Director


Schedule an appointment
(Graduate students & alumni)

krodgers@berkeley.edu

Kandis Rodgers (she/her) is a dedicated career counselor with over 10 years of experience providing career guidance to individuals at every stage of their career.As an advocate for personal empowerment and social good since a young age, Kandis is motivated by seeing students achieve their goals and enhance their communities. Her approach to working with students is holistic, embracing the whole student during their continuous journey toward career happiness.

Before joining BerkeleyPublic Health, Kandis provided career counseling to graduate students and managed employer relations at Golden Gate University. This allowed her todevelop a unique perspective on career guidance, finding the intersection between student drive,employer need, and the workforce landscape. Kandis’s additional experiences include student leadership development and campus diversityinitiatives at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Kandis holds a master’s degree in education with a focus on higher education counseling and a bachelor’s degree in social work, both from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Kandis is also a Certified Designing Your Life Coach.

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.

Elicica Morris

Graduate Student Associate


bph_sga@berkeley.edu

Elicica Morris (they/she) is a first-generation, first-year student pursuing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree with a focus on Health Policy and Management. Elicica possesses a wide range of interests centered on the enhancement of health outcomes for marginalized communities. They hold a particular fascination with the intersections of holistic, trauma-informed research and health policy, particularly in the realm of mental health.

Originally hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Elicica brings with them a wealth of experience from their time in Los Angeles. In their prior professional roles, they excelled in program and project management across both private and public sectors. Noteworthy achievements include their contributions to initiatives aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among unhoused individuals, as well as their impactful work in HIV prevention and treatment within at-risk populations at the county level in Los Angeles. Elicica has also played a pivotal role in co-developing well-being programs in collaboration with diverse communities.

In addition to their academic and professional pursuits, Elicica dedicates their free time to various enriching activities rooted in mindfulness. They enjoy yoga, adventures in the outdoors, and getting involved in their communities. Their commitment to promoting well-being extends to their involvement in co-creating well-being programs at @uniqualcollective.

Serenidy Morua

Program Assistant


Serenidy Morua (she/her) is an undergraduate student (Class of 2024) at UC Berkeley. Currently majoring in Political Science, she is passionate about helping others and hopes to become a lawyer.