Public health leader, Oregon State alumnus Dr. Charity Dean to give commencement address on June 17

By Sean Nealon, 541-737-0787, [email protected]

Source: Steve Clark, 541-737-3808, [email protected]

This news release is available online: https://beav.es/S36

Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzUaTq (2022 commencement) and https://flic.kr/p/2ogNqes (Dr. Charity Dean)

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Dr. Charity Dean, who helped guide the state of California’s strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an Oregon State University alumnus, will deliver the commencement address at the university’s 154th graduation ceremony.

The ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. June 17 at Reser Stadium on the Corvallis campus.

“We are honored that Dr. Dean will give OSU’s 2023 commencement address,” said Jayathi Murthy, Oregon State’s president. “She is passionate about public service and has dedicated her life’s work to public health. These are attributes that will inspire and motivate graduates as they begin their lives beyond OSU.”

Dean is the CEO and co-founder of The Public Health Company, which has created a platform for businesses, health care providers and public health systems that combines real-time public health data, containment best practices and genomic epidemiology to prevent, detect and contain costly disease outbreaks. The company combines this platform with its public health expertise to give organizations easy-to-understand recommendations to strike the critical balance between the continuity of operations and the safety of employees and clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Dean served as the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health and part of the executive leadership team helping guide California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She served as co-chair of the California Testing Task Force, which executed a strategy to rapidly scale up COVID-19 testing. In that position, she also provided strategic direction and oversight for the Center for Health Care Quality and led public health and health care policy development and implementation for Californians.

Her work and leadership during the pandemic features prominently in Michael Lewis’ latest book “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story,” which confronts the federal government’s response to the spread and impact of COVID-19.

Before joining the California Department of Public Health, Dean served as the public health officer for Santa Barbara County, where she directed communicable disease outbreak response, public health disaster response and served as an attending physician, overseeing the county tuberculosis clinic, HIV medicine, homeless medicine and primary care.

Dean simultaneously earned a doctorate of medicine from Tulane University School of Medicine and a master of public health and tropical medicine degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2005. She graduated cum laude from Oregon State University’s Honors College in 2000, earning a bachelor’s degree in microbiology with minors in chemistry and French.

About Oregon State University: As one of only three universities in the nation designated as a land, sea, space and sun grant institution, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today’s most pressing issues. Our more than 35,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county. Oregon State receives more research funding than all of the state’s comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, marine research center in Newport and top-ranked Ecampus online degree programs, we excel at shaping today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.

On-campus TV and radio services: Oregon State University is equipped with on-campus television and radio studios/services that can be used by journalists. Live or live-to-tape broadcast television and radio interviews can be conducted using Vyvx, Zoom, Webex or Comrex (IP Audio). Oregon State staff can also gather b-roll and coordinate live-to-tape interviews on locations throughout campus. For radio, Oregon State’s Comrex (IP Audio) provides a broadcast-quality audio feed.