New alumni affiliation co-presidents need to create alternatives to fulfill, community, and have enjoyable

The UC Berkeley Faculty of Public Well being welcomes Janet Chief, MPH ‘83, and Leslie Safier, MPH ‘10, as new co-presidents of the UC Berkeley Public Well being Alumni Affiliation (PHAA) Board of Administrators. Just lately, we requested them about their backgrounds and what’s in retailer for the alumni affiliation.

Their responses have been edited for size and readability.

Janet Chief, MPH ‘83

Janet Chief acquired her MPH in Public Well being Diet from UC Berkeley Faculty of Public Well being in 1983 and is a registered dietitian nutritionist. She is the retired vitamin technique and training director for the David Geffen Faculty of Drugs at UCLA and lecturer and affiliate director of area research within the division of Group Well being Sciences on the UCLA Fielding Faculty of Public Well being. In that capability she developed and taught lessons to undergraduate and nursing, medical, dental and public well being college students. As well as, she performed analysis in public well being vitamin packages and mentored future public well being and dietetics practitioners.

Berkeley Public Well being: As the brand new co-president of the Public Well being Alumni Affiliation (PHAA) Board of Administrators, what does your function entail?

Janet Chief: We’ll work month-to-month with the Dean of Berkeley Public Well being to remain knowledgeable of progress towards shared targets and share that with our board. As co-presidents, we’ll lead all board and govt committee conferences. We lead the planning for the PHAA strategic planning retreat. We’ll converse in any respect required talking engagements, help all subcommittees, and attend the Dean’s Advisory Board assembly 3 times/yr. We’ll work with the Vice-President to watch the finances.

BPH: What impressed you to hitch PHAA and develop into a part of the management group?

JL: After I retired, I needed to reconnect with the UC Berkeley Faculty of Public Well being and provides again to the general public well being neighborhood.

BPH: What are your targets for PHAA this yr, and going ahead?

JL: Normally, we work to advertise variety and inclusion in Public Well being, present persevering with training for our members, help for college kids by way of grants and scholarships, and supply alternatives for members to fulfill, community and have enjoyable. We may have a strategic planning retreat this summer time to plan particular methods to realize these targets.

BPH: How does your work with PHAA mirror your skilled profession?

JL: I’ve labored each in neighborhood and educational settings. Working with PHAA permits me to make use of my expertise in each areas to plan occasions for alumni and college students and help scholar grants.

BPH: What conjures up your work in public well being?

JL: I’m retired now, however I beloved working with public well being college students on the brink of enter their careers. It’s thrilling to see them uncover new concepts about the place they are going to search employment after they graduate.

BPH: What are you most enthusiastic about this yr for PHAA?

JL: Working with our nice new PHAA board!

Leslie Safier, MPH ‘10

Leslie acquired her MPH diploma in Infectious Ailments and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley Faculty of Public Well being. She is presently the director of operational enhancements at Santa Clara Valley Medical Middle. In her function, she is chargeable for value-based packages throughout the enterprise. She beforehand labored because the director of efficiency enchancment at Zuckerberg San Francisco Common Hospital and Trauma Middle. In her prior function, she partnered with hospital departments and the medical employees to develop, handle, and monitor efficiency enchancment initiatives; managed exterior high quality information reporting necessities; and supplied strategic planning, teaching, and sensible help for hospital management in efficiency enchancment. She is LEAN licensed and a graduate of the America’s Important Hospitals 2018 Important Girls’s Management Academy. Exterior of labor, her pursuits embrace climbing, tenting, studying, and succulent gardening.

Berkeley Public Well being As the brand new co-president of the PHAA Board of Administrators, what does your function entail?

Leslie Safier: We lately have been very busy planning a board retreat for August centered on defining our priorities for the 2023-2024 educational yr. Our roles entail collaborating with the PHAA govt committee to set the agenda for significant, participating month-to-month board conferences, and facilitating these conferences to information us in assembly our targets. We additionally meet with the dean of the varsity frequently to advertise alignment with the varsity’s priorities and characterize PHAA at completely different occasions all through the varsity yr.

BPH: What impressed you to hitch PHAA and develop into a part of the management group?

LS: I used to be initially impressed to hitch PHAA to deepen my engagement with the UC Berkeley Faculty of Public Well being. I had been attending completely different faculty capabilities, together with profession cafe and networking occasions, following my MPH commencement. I actually get pleasure from interacting with present, previous, and potential college students, and am dedicated to rising and diversifying the general public well being workforce.

I’m halfway by way of my second, and ultimate, time period on the PHAA board and felt prefer it was the precise time to step right into a management function. I’ve been partnering with Janet during the last two years inside the occasions and networking subcommittee, and when the chance to function co-presidents was introduced, I couldn’t flip it down.

BPH: What are your targets for PHAA this yr, and going ahead?

LS: My targets for PHAA embrace participating a broader vary of alumni, a really impactful variety scholarship crowdfunding marketing campaign, and growing scholar engagement. I need board members, alumni, and college students to proceed to seek out worth within the work performed by PHAA.

BPH: How does your work with PHAA mirror your skilled profession?

LS: My work with PHAA helps preserve me grounded and jogs my memory of why I used to be drawn to public well being 15 years in the past. It frequently exposes me to the breadth of public well being and the unimaginable changemakers within the area.

BPH: What conjures up your work in public well being?

LS: I’ve at all times been impressed by the flexibility to have such a broad, significant influence by way of public well being interventions. I’m impressed by the eagerness in college students and early careerists and the accomplishments of my colleagues and mentors.

BPH: What are you most enthusiastic about this yr for PHAA?

LS: I’m excited to get to know our new board members and companion with our present members. To me, the folks actually make PHAA!