Claude-Alix Jacob

Claude-Alix Jacob recently became the new chief public health officer for the City of Cambridge and director of the Cambridge Public Health Department. He previously served as deputy director of the Office of Health Promotion at the Illinois Department of Public Health.

In his prior role, Jacob administered a variety of health promotion activities related to chronic disease programming, oral health education, screening efforts targeting children and injury prevention initiatives. Jacob also managed specific program areas such as men’s health education, asthma education and awareness, heart disease and stroke prevention, tobacco cessation and control, suicide education and rape prevention activities.

That wide array of experience makes Jacob “a good fit for Cambridge,” according to Dennis D. Keefe, the city’s commissioner of health and the chief executive officer of Cambridge Health Alliance.

“His background in disease prevention, community advocacy, oral health, children’s health and youth violence made him a very appealing choice for this role. He has worked with so many constituents including every age group, men’s and women’s health programs and immigrant populations too,” said Keefe.

In accepting his new positions, Jacob praised Cambridge Health Alliance’s reputation for “thinking outside the box.”

“I’m excited to be here,” said Jacob. “In terms of improving health outcomes in the community, I see a lot of advantages to being part of a broader health care system.”

Jacob served as chief of the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control at the Baltimore, Md., City Health Department, and as director of community affairs at the Sinai Community Institute in Chicago. His community advocacy includes participation in initiatives intended to serve Haitian immigrants, and he is the national chair of the Black Caucus of Health Workers of the American Public Health Association.

Jacob earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has completed the W.K. Kellogg Fellowship for Emerging Leadership in Public Health, as well as a National Public Health Leadership Institute fellowship.