Rocío Luna Appointed to Serve as a Deputy County Executive for the County of Santa Clara

Rocío Luna Appointed to Serve as a Deputy County Executive for the County of Santa Clara

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF.– County of Santa Clara County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, M.D., J.D., appointed Dr. Rocío Luna to the position of Deputy County Executive. Dr. Luna joined the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department in 1999. Over the past two decades, she has held increasingly demanding positions, including her current role as Deputy Director of the Public Health Department. Luna’s appointment is effective February 22, 2021.

“Rocío has a proven track record of working with diverse communities to meet their needs,” said County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith. “Under the various roles she held at the County’s Public Health Department, she acquired a level of management expertise and a deep knowledge of policy implementation that make her a key person to advance our overarching goals of diversity and inclusion.”

In her new role as a Deputy County Executive, Dr. Luna will have three major areas of focus. She will expand the County’s race and equity efforts by coordinating efforts across departments and with external partners linked to the entire County organization. She will create and launch the Office of Family’s and Children’s Policy to develop, implement, and oversee programs that improve the quality of life for mothers, families, and children throughout Santa Clara County. And Dr. Luna will also lead at the helm of the County Executive’s Division of Equity and Social Justice.

“I have dedicated my life to addressing complex societal issues that contribute to unequal opportunities and poor outcomes for many of our County’s diverse communities,” said Dr. Luna. “I look forward to lifting the experiences and collective wisdom of our many community leaders, residents, and partners as we work together to create social change that improves the lives of our residents.”

Dr. Luna started her career as a Health Program Specialist evaluating public health initiatives in the County of Santa Clara. In 2005, she was named Director of the Public Health Department’s Research, Planning and Preparedness Division, where she was tasked with developing the framework and policies related to health assessment, epidemiology, and public health disaster planning and response programs. In 2010, she was promoted to Division Director for Assessment, Planning and Health Policy, a position she held until she was named Director of the Healthy Communities Branch in 2015. In this role, Dr. Luna was responsible for the development and implementation of myriad public health initiatives and campaigns aimed at improving the health and quality of life of the 1.9 million people who live in Santa Clara County. She became Deputy Director of the Public Health Department in 2018.

Dr. Luna was born in Mexico and was brought to the U.S. when she was a baby. She is fully bilingual (English/Spanish) and bicultural. She holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a master’s degree in Public Health and Community Health Science from San José State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Physiological Sciences from UCLA.

ABOUT THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, California, making it more populous than 14 states in the U.S. The County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through the County of Santa Clara Health System, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many other public benefits.

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Dr. Rocío Luna, Deputy County Executive