The new director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency is Mónica Morales, who comes from the California Department of Public Health, where she has been deputy director of the Center for Healthy Communities. Her first day will be Jan. 17
Mónica Morales
“There is much to be done to ensure we are moving forward equitable public health policies in our county,” Morales said. “I look forward to working with the community and dedicated staff in the Health Services Agency to assure that all members of our community are healthy, safe and resilient.”
She succeeds Mimi Hall, who left after three years and became a director at Manifest MedEx, a nonprofit health information network, and obtained an agreement for a new nonprofit health district to buy Watsonville Community Hospital from the corporate operator, which filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 5.
Another issue she will face is that county employees who are members of Services Employees International Union Local 521 have voted to strike over contract negotiations. SEIU 521 is one of the county’s largest bargaining units; SEIU members employed by Monterey County in October agreed to 7 percent wage increases over three years, Juneteenth as a paid holiday, controls over rising healthcare costs and a committee to resolve 600 vacancies.
Raised in Watsonville, Morales graduated from Watsonville High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Santa Cruz. After receiving a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Columbia University, she was a senior research analyst at Applied Survey Research, then joined the Nevada State Health Division, where she advanced to director of the Chronic Disease Prevention Section.
She returned to California as the deputy director of CDPH’s Fusion Center for Strategic Development before moving to the Center for Healthy Communities, overseeing programs to address environmental and occupational health, violence, addiction and prevention of chronic disease and suicide.
Morales is a planning member of the California Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative, and a representative on the UC Merced Farmworker Research project and the California Health and Human Services Alzheimer’s Advisory Committee.
She is a board member of the National Association of Chronic Disease directors, and served as president during 2019-20.
“As we engaged in a national search for our next HSA director, it became clear that the best candidate was raised in Watsonville and knows our community well,” said County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios. “I’m pleased to welcome Mónica and her family back home, and look forward working with her to protect the health and well-being of our residents.”
Morales said, “There is much to be done to ensure we are moving forward equitable public health policies in our county. I look forward to working with the community and dedicated staff in the Health Services Agency to assure that all members of our community are healthy, safe and resilient.”
Morales enjoys outdoor activities with her family: daughter Isa, 7, and Nico, 4, her spouse Adriana, and her dog Choco.