Staying Agile & Solving Problems: Interview with Dr. Claude A. Jacob

Staying Agile and Solving Problems as a Local Public Health Leader: An Interview with Dr. Claude A. Jacob

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Edward L. Baker

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Leadership and Management

As a companion to a new column on the practice of public health leadership, we present an interview from late 2024 with Dr. Claude A. Jacob, a seasoned public health leader who has championed innovation at the local, regional, and national levels over more than two decades.

Dr. Jacob grew up in a family with a deep commitment to providing health care in the US and in Haiti, his parents’ native homeland. He was active as a high school student athlete and volunteer which fostered a life-long commitment to leadership and community service.

In this interview, he shares his own leadership philosophy which is characterized by:

Being Humble – Be open to learning from others especially when dealing with the “unknowns” which was the disruptive experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Being Patient – Remember that delays are not denials. Some processes may take longer to fall into place which requires patience and discipline.
Staying the Course — Maintain your focus on the future and take the long view. As illustrated in Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare: “Slow and Steady Wins the Race.”

In this interview, Dr. Jacob describes himself as a lifelong servant leader who also served as a local health director in Cambridge, MA, and San Antonio, TX, during the COVID pandemic. He is a consummate problem solver who serves as a system-level “architect” at the local, regional, and national levels. For example, he currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) and as an elected member of the Executive Board for the American Public Health Association. As he considers requests for similar volunteer opportunities, he decides whether to say “yes or no” based to the degree to which the activity aligns with his quest to serve or provides opportunities for a generative experience.

His daily routine is designed to incorporate moments for reflection and energy renewal given a fast-paced work environment and a myriad of family and volunteer commitments. In doing so, he commits to pressing the “pause button” throughout the course of the day, each week and every season.

In building and strengthening his team in San Antonio, he fosters organized leadership development activities, including the use of self-assessment tools and seminars which he champions as a lifelong learner. As he reflected on his leadership successes, he is most proud of his role in supporting the coalescence of his leadership team as they continue to grow and refine their own leadership skills and collective voice. This is a key strategy anchored to the ongoing transformation of the governmental public health enterprise.

In conclusion, we trust that you will learn much from this inspiring time with one of our nation’s most influential and exemplary public health leaders.

About Our Guest

Dr. Jacob has over two decades of senior administrative experience in public health. Since July 2021, he has served as the Public Health Director of the City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health).

In April 2022, Dr. Jacob spearheaded the launch of SA Forward, a multi-year plan that addresses the social conditions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Metro Health was recognized by CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, with a Gold designation for its effective local health policies.

Prior to this time, Dr. Jacob led the Cambridge Public Health Department to become of one of the first accredited local health departments in Massachusetts as recognized by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). The City of Cambridge also was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with the inaugural Culture of Health prize in 2013.

Dr. Jacob currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Public Health Accreditation Board as well as an elected member of the Executive Board for the American Public Health Association. Previous roles include serving as the Chief Public Health Officer, City of Cambridge (MA); Deputy Director, Office of Health Promotion, Illinois Department of Public Health; Bureau Chief, Baltimore City Health Department; and Director, Community Affairs at Sinai Health System in Chicago.

Dr. Jacob received a DrPH degree from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and an MPH degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

Recommended Reading in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice:

Managing the Post-Pandemic Pivot – A Public Health Leadership Challenge

About the Author

Edward L. Baker: Dr. Edward L. Baker currently serves as Adjunct Professor at UNC, Harvard, and Indiana University schools of public health. Previously, he served as Director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at UNC, Assistant Surgeon General in the US Public Health Service, Director of CDC’s Public Heath Practice Program Office, Deputy Director of NIOSH, and Associate Professor of Occupational Health at Harvard.