Dr. Mouhanad Hammami
Dr. Mouhanad Hammami will begin his position Monday as the public health director for Santa Barbara County.
“It is a great honor and an exciting opportunity to serve the people of Santa Barbara County in this capacity,” Dr. Hammami told the News-Press. “Santa Barbara County is a diverse community with different needs, and I look forward to working with our county team and other community members to advance health and wellness to all residents of the county. I appreciate the trust and support from the county board of supervisors and County Executive (Mona) Miyasato for the opportunity.”
Dr. Hammami spoke to his career prior to this appointment, “Before this I was serving as chief health strategist for Wayne County, Mich. Wayne County is the most populous in Michigan, serving close to 1.2 million residents across 34 municipalities. I was mainly in charge of the COVID-19 response and vaccination strategy.’
“Before that I was serving as senior vice president for community health and wellbeing at Trinity Health, a national nonprofit health system with 94 hospitals in 22 states. My role was to empower communities to improve the health and wellbeing of their residents.”
“My professional career spans from clinical research to working in health systems passing through public service; however, the common denominator was always the community,” he continued. “ In all my roles, I thrived to serve the community and to make people well. Issues such as eliminating disparities and ensuring equity were always in the forefront of everything I did.
“Being in charge of public health at Wayne County cemented my beliefs that public health should not be a ‘one size fits all’ approach and programs have to be designed based on needs and assessments,” he said. “Working at a health system that was investing in community wellness reinforced my conviction that ‘it takes a village’ and that for communities to be well, we have to engage all sectors and stakeholders and establish partnerships with and from the community.”
Dr. Hammami received his medical degree from the University of Aleppo School of Medicine in Syria. After that, he worked in clinical research in pediatrics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and Wayne State University in Detroit. He also has a certificate in the foundation of public health, and a master’s degree in health service administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The News-Press asked Dr. Hammami what his duties are in his new position,
“The director of public health is responsible for all things related to the health of the residents of the county, in addition to overseeing services such as animal services, environmental health, disease control, administration, finance, emergency medical services, primary care and family health. I will be working alongside county health officer Dr. (Henning) Ansorg and other team members in ensuring the health and wellness of our county residents.”
Dr. Hammami spoke to his goals in this new position, “While Santa Barbara County on average has good health indicators compared to the rest of the state, there are still areas that can benefit from more attention and focused programing especially when it comes to communities in the northern county and our Latino residents. We will continue to address COVID-19 and other risk factors but also focus on an integrated approach to health and wellness to ensure that all our residents have the opportunity to practice wellness. I am a firm believer in integrating social care into public health and look forward to working with community partners on addressing the social influencers of health and improving conditions across the county.”
“I would like to thank everyone at Santa Barbara County for their kindness and welcoming warmth and look forward to serving our residents. I look forward to getting to know our communities and listening to their needs and concerns,” said Dr. Hammami.
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
