Class Notes
80s
JULIO FRENK, MPH ’81, PhD ’83, Child and Family Health and Medical Care Organization, respectively, was appointed UCLA’s seventh chancellor on June 12 by the University of California Board of Regents. He will begin his role as the campus’s seventh chancellor on Jan. 1. Since 2015, Frenk has served as president of the University of Miami. He previously served as dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A native of Mexico, Frenk served from 2000 to 2006 as Mexico’s secretary of health, during which he worked to reform the nation’s health system and launched Seguro Popular, an ambitious program to provide universal comprehensive health insurance. His efforts helped expand access to healthcare for more than 55 million uninsured people. He was the founding director of Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, one of the leading institutions of health education and research in the developing world. Outside of government, Frenk worked as an executive director at the World Health Organization in charge of developing the scientific foundation for health policies around the globe and was executive vice president at the nonprofit Mexican Health Foundation.
JUDITH BAKER, MHSA ’83, Medical Care Organization, received the National Hemophilia Foundation’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award for her regional and national impact building clinical and surveillance services, conducting research and advocacy. She launched her “retirement” by hiking more than 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and visited the South Dakota Badlands. This year, she hiked over 350 miles of the Arizona Trail. She currently serves as senior policy advisor to California’s Sickle Cell Data Collection Project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
VALERIE POWELL-STAFFORD, MHSA ’89, Health Management and Policy, was named president of Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, in May. Previously, Powell-Stafford served as president and CEO of HCA Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, since 2019. In her new role, which she started in June, Powell-Stafford also oversees Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford. While she was at Northside, the hospital earned a spot on Healthgrades’ America’s Best 250 Hospitals list and earned the Patient Safety Excellence Award for 2024, ranking among the top 5% of all hospitals for clinical performance and patient safety.
90s
RANDEL RICHNER, MPH ’90, Health Management and Policy, a dedicated professional with a 30-year career at the nexus of healthcare, policy and patient advocacy, was honored with the 2024 Outstanding Alumnus Award by the Michigan Community College Association in August.
SUE CHANDLER, MPH/SW ’97, Health Policy, recently was named the chief external relations officer for Rosie’s Place in Boston, after having served over 13 years as executive director of a nonprofit providing domestic violence response and prevention. At Rosie’s, the first women’s shelter in the United States, she will oversee development, communications, community engagement and public policy.
ALEX ORTEGA, PhD ’98, Epidemiologic Science, recently was named dean of the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ortega, a native of Hawaii, is a nationally regarded health policy and healthcare equity researcher. He previously served as professor and director of the Center for Population Health and Community Impact in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia and served in various faculty and leadership roles at UCLA and Yale University.
00s
ELIZABETH “BUFFY” HIGGINS-BEARD, MPH ’00, Health Behavior and Health Education, was recognized in June for her work as CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award USA from 2017 to 2024. During her tenure, 3,500 diverse people ages 14-24 in 34 states began this global youth accreditation. The award enhances leadership skills, outdoor adventure as well as physical and mental wellness. Higgins-Beard was commended by the British American Business Council Chicago with an Impact Award for affecting local, national and international communities.
HSING-FANG HSIEH, MPH ’06, PhD ’12, Health Behavior and Health Education, was one of three University of Michigan faculty to receive the Research Faculty Recognition Award from the Office of the Vice President for Research for significant contributions and leadership in fields, ranging from firearm injury prevention and multi-scale computation to Earth remote sensing and molecular imaging. She was recognized at the President’s Faculty Awards event this fall. Hsieh joined the university’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention as a research assistant professor in 2022, and her work focuses on exploring health disparities in firearm injury outcomes, particularly those resulting from structural racism and exposure to violence among Asian Americans.
ROHAN JEREMIAH, MPH ’06, Health Behavior and Health Education, was promoted to professor of Human Development and Nursing Science at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing in July.
LAUREN (MUSKOVITZ) RANALLI, MPH ’06, Health Behavior and Health Education, recently founded Public Health Content Consulting to create and leverage high-impact public health marketing and communications assets. She works with values-aligned organizations to help close the gap between their communications capacity and their strategic goals.
BOB ROBKE, MPH ’08, Environmental Health Sciences, recently joined global medical device manufacturer Medtronic at their new location in Dexter, Michigan. In this role as principal EHS specialist, he is responsible for implementation of policies, programs and systems to comply with federal, state and local EHS regulations as well as company policies, strategies, initiatives and goals at the site. Previously, Robke, a certified industrial hygienist and certified safety professional, served as senior EHS representative and chemical hygiene officer for the Environment, Health & Safety department at the University of Michigan.
10s
JOYCE PATTERSON, MPH ’12, Human Nutrition, published the book “Think Like a Dietitian: A Nutrition Counseling Starter Kit” (CRC Press) in March. Patterson is a diabetes care and education specialist at Michigan Medicine’s Metabolism, Endocrinology and Diabetes clinic in Ann Arbor. She also serves as a preceptor for the Michigan Public Health Dietetic Internship program.
20s
MAITE ZAPATA, MPH ’23, Health Behavior and Health Education, is pursuing a Doctor in Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Maite, in her second year, is working under the supervision of Olayinka Shiyanbola, associate professor and researcher of Social and Administrative Sciences in Pharmacy. Together, they are trying to understand strategies on how to reduce type 2 diabetes disparities among Blacks and Hispanics via pharmacy-based care in combination with community health workers to address health behaviors, perceptions and social determinants of health in Milwaukee.