Built to Serve
The Road Less Traveled
The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego is committed to tackling challenges, enhancing education and advancing access to public health within the San Diego community and abroad. Many of the school’s current activities link university resources and expertise with the priorities of local, regional and national communities. The school prioritizes opportunities for trainees to engage in authentic ways with community partners to ensure they place community needs and interests at the center of their work.
By honoring community wisdom, the school invites regional and global partners to co-create transformational research with global impact. The school is continuously creating a culture of service and fostering a sense of shared responsibility for the health of the San Diego region, our nation and our world.
Breana Mason (right), graduated from the Community Health Workers for Advancing Public Health within Immigrant/Refugee and Native American Communities Program
One Million Chances to Save a Life
A neighborhood health program for CPR training
Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) occurs anytime CPR is initially performed by a non-medical rescuer, such as a relative, friend or co-worker. A delay in CPR of even a few minutes significantly reduces a person’s chance for survival.
According to the American Heart Association, “about 90% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.”
To address concerns around bystander CPR, the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and the County of San Diego Emergency Medical Services convened a coalition of leaders who, together, built a bridge of public health, public safety, business, education and community organizations to lead a countywide initiative to save lives by training 1 million San Diegans in hands-only CPR.
Revive & Survive San Diego partners announce the collaborative initiative.
“Community CPR education will prepare all of us to perform a lifesaving act when someone is having cardiac arrest. San Diego is a perfect place for this bold goal of CPR training for 1 million people. No matter where people live, learn, work, play or pray, we want to increase the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest. We invite all organizations to join us in offering life-saving training,” said Cheryl A.M. Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., dean, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego and co-lead of Revive & Survive San Diego.
Since the start of the initiative in February 2024, Revive & Survive San Diego has trained more than 350,000 San Diegans and has collaborated with more than 30 regional partners.
In recent years, CPR training has transitioned to a hands-only approach. Mouth-to-mouth breathing is no longer essential for saving a life.
Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective and requires only two easy steps. First, call 911. Second, perform compressions on a bare chest at 100 to 120 beats per minute. With hands-only CPR’s simplicity and proven effectiveness, this initiative ensures that everyone can act decisively and confidently during emergencies, fostering a safer, stronger and more prepared community.
“Community CPR education will prepare all of us to perform a lifesaving act when someone is having cardiac arrest.”
– Cheryl A.M. Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., dean and co-lead of Revive & Survive San Diego
Strengthening Connection and Communication
The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health has created two councils to foster collaboration and trusted partnerships across the region that will fundamentally shift how academia engages as an agent for equitable health outcomes. These councils elevate community voices in public dialogue about community health needs and priorities.
The Community Council: Cultivating collaborations for community health initiatives
The Community Council focuses on collaborating with neighborhood-oriented organizations that are embedded in communities. Some current council members include the Global Action Research Center, Somali Family Services and Via International — collaborators with whom the school has already built strong relationships.
In summer 2024, council members coordinated a community development workshop which generated robust conversations among council members and community partners. Key takeaways included prioritizing community-identified issues and concerns; acknowledging that communities know their priorities best; working at the community’s pace, not the institution’s pace; and creating academic level consciousness regarding the difference between short-term and long-term community development.
The Community Council is intentionally a slower building effort in which the school is trying to forge a core group that helps it to advance public health efforts to align its work with community needs and priorities.
Karemi Alvarez, M.P.H., community partnerships outreach coordinator
Community Council members.
“The conversations we had with our foundational Community Council members led us to dive more deeply into learning about community development,” said Karemi Alvarez, M.P.H., community partnerships outreach coordinator. “We are in the beginning stages of identifying what the communities’ priorities are in the area of mental health and stress reduction. Our intent is to jointly identify a common area and then present it to philanthropic groups and other potential funding sources.”
One possible next step is collaborating with Community Council members to develop a training program, or a series of online learning modules led by each institutional member individually or possibly together. This potential collaboration is in the stages of discussion, and the goal would be to link community-based organizations and communities’ decades of experience, knowledge and vision for community health with UC San Diego and outside organizations.
“The conversations we had with our foundational Community Council members led us to dive more deeply into learning about community development.”
– Karemi Alvarez, M.P.H.
The Institutional Partners Council: Enabling effective communication and coordination of community-driven work
The focus of the Institutional Partners Council is to share the school’s key activities with its partners and to consult on community-focused programs.
Partners within this council will have the opportunity to collaborate on something deeper, which could include targeted topics based on shared interest.
“The Institutional Partners Council is a structure that honors the relationships that exist between the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and various institutions so that we are coordinating and building on our shared partnerships,” said Alvarez.
The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health has been actively working on following the necessary steps to provide institutional partners with school resources, such as UC San Diego library access and utilization of the school’s recharge center services.
The school is also developing pathways for partners to gain more structured access and support and utilize resources and educational offerings from the university, starting with UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies.
Current Institutional Partners Council Members
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County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency
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Live Well Center for Leadership and Innovation
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Office of Sustainability and Environmental Justice, Tribal Relations, with the County of San Diego Land Use and Environment Group
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Health Quality Partners
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UC San Diego Health
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San Diego State University School of Public Health
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UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
P ublic health is a commitment to the community where tested frameworks for prevention, sustainability and innovation are applied to serve the greater good. Building bridges and connecting with the community is of paramount importance. Diverse arrays of leaders, students and stakeholders act as support beams, pooling their experience, sharing their resources and improving outcomes. Collaboration is key.
Community Health Workers graduation celebration.
