Biography
Claude A. Jacob, DrPH, MPH
Metro Health Director
Dr. Claude A. Jacob has over two decades of administrative experience in public health. Since July 2021, Dr. Jacob has been the Public Health Director of the nationally accredited San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health).
In his role, Dr. Jacob directs over 50 programs and initiatives across Metro Health’s Communicable Disease, Community Health & Safety, and Environmental Health & Operations divisions and oversees a $100 million budget aimed at modernizing the work of the department.
In April 2022, Dr. Jacob spearheaded the launch of SA Forward, which is a multi-year plan that addresses the priority areas and social conditions that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial SA Forward milestones include the establishment of Metro Health’s Office of Mental Health & Community Resilience as well as the Policy & Civic Engagement Office.
Prior to joining Metro Health, Dr. Jacob was Chief Public Health Officer for the City of Cambridge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Jacob’s previous professional experiences also include serving as the Deputy Director for the 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.
Dr. Jacob currently serves on the board of directors for the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Public Health Accreditation Board, and the Texas Association of City and County Health Officials. He is a past president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and past president of APHA’s Black Caucus of Health Workers, which awarded Dr. Jacob the 2022 Dr. Hildrus A. Poindexter Award for distinguished service in the field of public health. Jacob also completed fellowships with the W.K. Kellogg Emerging Leadership in Public Health and CDC’s National Public Health Leadership Institute.
Jacob received a Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.