Sonia Y. Angell

Sonia Yris Angell is an American public health leader. She is an assistant clinical professor of medicine in the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 2020, after resigning as director of the California Department of Public Health, Angell was elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Sonia Y. Angell
Angell in 2019
Academic background
EducationBA, journalism and political science, Indiana University
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
MPH, University of Michigan
MD, University of California, San Francisco
Academic work
InstitutionsColumbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
California Department of Public Health
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Early life and education

Angell attended West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School in West Lafayette, Indiana.[1] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and political science from Indiana University before serving in the Peace Corps.[2] While with the Peace Corps, she became interested in community development and health.[3] Upon returning to North America, Angell received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, Diploma from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a Master's in Public Health from the University of Michigan.[4] While earning her medical degree, she was a finalist for the Gold-Headed Cane Award, the highest honor a graduating medical student could receive.[5]

Angell completed medical training residency in internal medicine, primary care at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and a health research fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Program at the University of Michigan.[4][3]

Career

Angell was a primary care physician at the Packard Community Clinic and assistant attending physician at the New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Hospital.[6] In 2004, she moved to New York and was founding Director of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control Program.[7] In this role, Angell restricted trans fats in New York City restaurants and set new food nutrition procurement standards for New York City government agencies.[8] She subsequently moved to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011 and established the Global Noncommunicable Disease Unit.[3] In this position she worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global partners to help prevent and control non-infectious diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung diseases and their risk factors.[9] In 2014, Angell returned to New York City Department of Health to serve as Deputy Commissioner overseeing the Division of Prevention and Primary Care.[8] Two years later, Angell was named to the second class of Aspen Institute's Health Innovators Fellowship.[10]

Angell was appointed the Director of the California Department of Public Health on September 13, 2019,[6] the first Latina in this role.[11] She guided the state's COVID-19 pandemic response and ensured that it recognized the disproportionate impact the virus had on communities of color and other marginalized populations.[12][13] She served until August 9, 2020. Governor Gavin Newsom indicated Angell's resignation was related to data issues with the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange (CalREDIE) system that resulted in nearly 300,000 backlogged COVID-19 test results.[14] Following her resignation, she was elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine for "her leadership in the nation’s first municipal regulation to ban transfat, launching national coalitions to reduce sodium and sugar in our food supply, working globally to improve control of hypertension, and for global leadership in modeling environmental change to sustainably reduce risk and save lives."[15] Angell was also the recipient of the American Heart Association’s 2020 Chairman's Award.[3]

References
  1. @WL_RDP (April 14, 2020). "WL grad Dr. Sonia Angell, Director of California Department of Health, being interviewed on CNN this afternoon. #RDP" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. Kleiman, Carol (October 18, 1992). "Opening new doors amid plant closings". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  3. "Doctor gave up journalism to become public health leader". heart.org. June 4, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  4. "Sonia Y. Angell, MD". genmed.columbia.edu. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  5. "At College". Journal and Courier. June 13, 1999. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  6. "Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 9.13.19". gov.ca.gov. September 13, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  7. "New York restaurants nearly all trans-fat-free". ca.reuters.com. July 20, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  8. "Sonia Angell: Alumni Profile". ihpi.umich.edu. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  9. "Sonia Angell". agln.aspeninstitute.org. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  10. "Second Cohort of Health Care Innovators Selected for Aspen Institute Fellowship". prnewswire.com. July 12, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  11. Hoeven, Emily (August 10, 2020). "CA Director of Public Health resigns". calmatters.org. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  12. Cowan, Jill (April 28, 2020). "Why Covid-19 Is Deadlier for Black and Latino Californians". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  13. Poston, Ben; Barboza, Tony; Reyes-Velarde, Alejandra (April 25, 2020). "Younger blacks and Latinos are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates in California". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  14. Yamamura, Kevin; Colliver, Veronica (August 10, 2020). "Newsom indicates California health officer's abrupt departure related to data blunder". politico.com. Politico. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  15. "Five Elected to the National Academy of Medicine". cuimc.columbia.edu. October 19, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.

Sonia Y. Angell publications indexed by Google Scholar

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