UC Merced Magazine | Commemorative Chronicle

KRISTYNN SULLIVAN, PH.D. ’15 DIRECTOR MERCED COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

For Kristynn Sullivan, Ph.D. ’15 — her rst interview for a Merced County government job did not start well. “ eir rst question was about what experience I had with surveillance data,” she recalled. “I literally did not know what they meant.” Surveillance data is information collected regularly to help spot trends or problems. It’s a common tool in public health, a eld for which Sullivan had no professional experience. e rest of the interview went well, however, and Sullivan was hired as an epidemiologist. It was July 2015, just two months a er getting her doctorate in quantitative psychology from UC Merced. ere was a long road ahead marked by challenges, successes and the wrenching impacts of a global pandemic. In March 2025, Sullivan was named director of the Department of Public Health. Her team provides education on personal health and nutrition, runs nursing services and immunization clinics, supports pregnant women and young families, and visits clients at home to check on issues such as mental health and substance abuse. ese services are crucial in Merced County, where household income is in the bottom 20% in California. More than half of its residents use social assistance such as Medi-Cal or CalFresh. “ at means it’s harder for our community to access services,” Sullivan said. “So the work we do is even more important.” Sullivan expanded epidemiology into a unit, serving as its supervisor. In 2019, she helped the department become the rst in the San Joaquin Valley to be approved by the national Public Health Accreditation Board.

In fall 2020, she became division manager for epidemiology and communicable diseases. By then, the department — and the world — were deep into the COVID crisis. Sullivan worked 41 straight days in the pandemic’s rst months. She became the media spokesperson for Merced County’s COVID response, for better and worse. “I would tell my team we’re all right because half the people are mad about us doing too much and half about doing too little.” In late 2020, she signed the label of the rst COVID vaccine to reach the county. “Just one little box. We shipped it to the hospital to vaccinate the front-line workers,” she said. “ at was just awesome.” Once a Bobcat... Sullivan grew up in northern Virginia. A er getting a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Mary Washington, she sought an advanced degree in quantitative psychology. One of the few institutions with a doctoral program in the discipline was UC Merced, which o ered her a full-ride scholarship. Professor Will Shadish, a founding faculty member, became Sullivan’s mentor.

e East Coaster headed West and stayed. “It has been rewarding to give back to a

community from which I got so much,” she said. “We work in close partnership with UC Merced. ere are only 10 communities that have a UC in their backyard. at is a huge asset.”