Curtis Chan MD, MPH ’04 is Deputy Health Officer and Medical Director of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He also served as Assistant Health Officer at the San Mateo County Health Department and as a pediatrician at UC San Francisco. Chan has learned from many communities, organizations, and institutions in identifying problems, then jointly developing the policies and systems that advance social and health equity.

Secrets for success

A broad, well-rounded education helps Berkeley graduates assess problems, develop strategies, and implement policies through the appropriate systematic processes. The common mission of social justice and health equity shared among Berkeley faculty and students has encouraged me through difficult obstacles and complex barriers.

“Berkeley moment”

While I was reading a tobacco-control research abstract posted on a SPH bulletin board in 1993, a professor interrupted to ask for my thoughts. Dr. Thomas Novotny introduced himself and soon after, introduced me to broad spectrum of public health practice and my first job addressing second-hand smoke in workplaces.

Public health dream team

John, Jane, Juanita, Jung, Johannes … The people in our community are best-positioned to understand and solve our most pressing public health problems. How do we share the wealth of tools for information-gathering and policy-making with the dream teams already in our communities?