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Charity Dean
Alma materTulane University School of Medicine and Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
OccupationCEO / Public Health Physician
OrganizationThe Public Health Company
Websitehttps://www.phc.health/

Charity Dean is an American public health physician who is known for her work as the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She is the co-founder and CEO of The Public Health Company.

Early life and education

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Dean grew up in rural Oregon and became interested in becoming a doctor and studying infectious disease as a young child.[1] She completed a B.S. in Microbiology at Oregon State University, an M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.[2] From 2008 through 2011, she was an internal medicine resident at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.[3]

Career

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As a public health official in Santa Barbara County, Dean gained experience with containment of infectious disease outbreaks, including meningitis in 2013[4] and tuberculosis in 2014.[5] From 2011 through 2014, she was the deputy public health officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department,[3] and from 2014 through 2018, she was the public health officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.[6]

In late 2018,[7] she became the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health.[4][8] In January 2020, she began to warn state officials about COVID-19,[9] based on reports from China,[10][11] and continued for months.[4] In April 2020, she was also appointed as co-chair of the California COVID-19 testing task force, which included efforts to expand access to testing.[12][13] Her work included coordination with elected officials and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[14] She left her position as the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health in July 2020,[8] after submitting her resignation on June 4,[15] and then began "tweeting news and information, some of which could be seen as a comment on California’s COVID testing and response," according to Deadline in August 2020.[16]

In July 2020, she was featured in the ABC News 20/20 investigative report American Catastrophe,[17] and in May 2021, she was featured in a 60 Minutes broadcast about the book The Premonition by Michael Lewis.[18] She is one of the experts profiled in the book,[5][10] and named by Lewis as "one of the people who saw the real danger of the virus before the rest of the country did," according to NPR.[19]

In August 2020, she co-founded The Public Health Company,[5][1] which has created software to assist the public health community and businesses with managing the risks of infectious disease.[20] She has also continued to publicly offer her expert opinion about COVID-19 responses[21][22] and responding to pandemics generally.[23]

Honors and awards

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  • 2018 Physician of the Year award from the Central Coast Medical Association[24]
  • 2018 Women of the Year recognition from Senator Jackson and Assemblywoman Limon[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Loizos, Connie (May 11, 2021). "Disease-related risk management is now a thing, and this young startup is at the forefront". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  2. ^ a b "Charity Dean MD, MPH&TM". USC Schaeffer. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  3. ^ a b Molina, Joshua (September 28, 2018). "Dr. Charity Dean of Santa Barbara County Appointed to Statewide Public Health Post". Noozhawk. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Confessore, Nicholas (2021-05-06). "Michael Lewis Chronicles the Story of Covid's Cassandras". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  5. ^ a b c Szalai, Jennifer (May 3, 2021). "The Pandemic Gets the Michael Lewis Treatment, Heroic Technocrats and All". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Dr. Charity Dean lands state leadership role". ABC3. September 29, 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  7. ^ Lewis, Michael. "America's war against Covid? This woman was at its centre". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  8. ^ a b Bollag, Sophia (August 9, 2020). "Update: California public health director leaves job 5 months into COVID-19 pandemic". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  9. ^ Brangham, William; Thoet, Alison (May 6, 2021). "The 'ignored characters' of the pandemic and why their premonitions were pushed aside". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b Dickerson, John (May 2, 2021). "Doctors, scientists who warned officials about oncoming pandemic focus of new Michael Lewis book". CBS News. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  11. ^ Delistraty, Cody (May 3, 2021). "Michael Lewis's 'The Premonition': A Closer Look at How the Pandemic Response Went Awry". The Wall Street Journal Magazine. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  12. ^ Molina, Joshua (April 9, 2020). "Santa Barbara's Dr. Charity Dean at Center of Effort to Create COVID-19 Testing Hubs". Noozhawk. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  13. ^ "'Not Out Of The Woods': Newsom Pleads For Continued Social Distancing, Launches State Testing Task Force". CBS2. April 4, 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  14. ^ Baumgaertner, Emily (July 30, 2020). "California scales back coronavirus testing task force despite long lines, new outbreaks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Public health officials are facing political pressure, threats and armed protests as states push to reopen". CNBC. Associated Press. June 12, 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  16. ^ Tapp, Tom (August 10, 2020). "California Coronavirus Update: Governor Gavin Newsom Addresses Major Data Issues Amid Resignations, New Ethics Complaint About $1B Deal: "I'm Governor, The Buck Stops With Me"". Deadline. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  17. ^ Donnelly, Jim (July 23, 2020). "Watch the 20/20 "American Catastrophe" special Tuesday". ABC. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  18. ^ Farnsworth, Beth (May 4, 2021). "Dr. Charity Dean focus of 60 Minutes "The Premonition" segment on COVID-19". ABC3. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  19. ^ Martin, Rachel (May 3, 2021). "Michael Lewis' 'The Premonition' Is A Sweeping Indictment Of The CDC". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  20. ^ Mercado, Jorge (May 28, 2021). "Public health meets private sector with Charity Dean's new venture". Pacific Coast Business Times. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  21. ^ Welsh, Nick (February 11, 2021). "Public Health Expert Says Santa Barbara COVID Doctors Are 'Doing a Fantastic Job'". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  22. ^ Morrar, Sawsan (March 11, 2021). "California to offer affordable rapid COVID tests to school districts returning to campus". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  23. ^ Ghobrial, Adrian (June 2, 2021). "Should local governments be responsible for pandemic response? Lessons learned so far". Toronto City News. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  24. ^ "CMA Doc: Charity Dean, M.D." California Medical Association. December 17, 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
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