David M. Souleles, MPH, has been appointed Chief of Staff for Health Affairs.
Souleles currently serves as the Administrative Director of Occupational Health at UC Irvine where he is overseeing an expansion of the program to cover employees across the entire university. Effective Jan. 22, Souleles will become a member of the Health Affairs cabinet focusing on development and implementation of enterprise-wide strategies, and engagement with health leadership across the University of California, the region, and at the national level.
Souleles brings 36 years of experience to improving public health. He previously served UCI as the Public Health Response Team Director managing the campus response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as the MPH Program and Practice Director for the UCI Program in Public Health.
Prior to UCI, Souleles served as Deputy Agency Director, Public Health Services with the Orange County Health Care Agency leading public health programs for the more than 3 million people in the County while successfully guiding agency accreditation. Other senior positions he has filled include appointment by Governor Gray Davis as Chief Deputy Director for the California Department of Health Services overseeing a $32 billion annual budget, and Preventive Health Bureau Manager and AIDS Program Manager for the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services. He began his career as an HIV/AIDS health educator with UCI.
Souleles has served as President of the County Health Executives Association of California and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Health Accreditation Board, the national accrediting body for state, local and tribal public health departments.
He holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles and an undergraduate degree in psychology from UCI.
Souleles will advance the distinctive UCI Health Affairs ONE HEALTH vision for education, research and service dedicated to creating a diverse future healthcare workforce offering accessible, team-based, equitable, top-tier precision care for individuals and communities.
