Elected Member
Claude A. Jacob has over two decades of experience in public health and has been a member of APHA since 1994. Jacob’s stellar track record spans across four states and reflects a seasoned administrator as well as a proven ambassador of the governmental public health enterprise.
Since July 2021, Jacob has been Public Health Director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) which covers a jurisdiction of over two million residents across the City of San Antonio and greater Bexar County, Texas. In his role, Jacob oversees more than 50 programs across Metro Health’s Communicable Disease, Community Health & Safety, and Environmental Health & Operations divisions. In April 2022, Jacob launched SA Forward which is a multi-year plan that addresses the priority areas/social conditions that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which include establishing an Office of Mental Health & Community Resilience as well as the department’s Office of Policy & Civic Engagement.
Prior to joining Metro Health, Jacob was Chief Public Health Officer for the City of Cambridge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where he led the operations of the Cambridge Public Health Department (CPHD) from 2007 to 2021. Under Jacob’s leadership, CPHD became one of the first health departments in the Commonwealth to be accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). Jacob’s previous professional experiences include serving as the Deputy Director / Office of Health Promotion at the Illinois Department of Public Health, Bureau Chief with the Baltimore City Health Department’s Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control, and Director of Community Affairs at the Sinai Community Institute affiliated with the Sinai Health System in Chicago.
Jacob has served on several local, statewide, and national boards during his career. Jacob is a past president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials and currently serves on the board of directors for PHAB and the Texas Association of City & County Health Officials. Jacob has also served as president of APHA’s Black Caucus of Health Workers and is a past chair of APHA’s Health Administration Section. Jacob completed fellowships with the W.K. Kellogg Emerging Leadership in Public Health and the CDC’s National Public Health Leadership Institute (Year 11).
In 2022, Jacob received the Hildrus A. Poindexter Award given by the APHA’s Black Caucus of Health Workers for distinguished service to the field of public health. In 2019 and 2021, he was recognized by Cambridge City Manager Louis A. DePasquale as an Outstanding City Employee for leading CPHD’s accreditation efforts and the city’s COVID-19 response. Jacob is the 2018 Curtis M. Hilliard Award recipient for outstanding achievement in public health given by the Massachusetts Health Officers Association. Jacob also received the 2009 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Health Award as recognized by the Cambridge Branch NAACP.
Jacob received a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Doctor of Public Health in health leadership at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.