Alissa L. Shaw, faculty member in the Public Health & Recreation Department at San Jose State University and public health academic and faculty coordinator for VET Connect, presents an analysis of past policies and current challenges through a women's health and equity lens.
Speaker Biography:
Alissa Shaw was born and raised in Sonoma County, California. She started her career with The Tides Foundation and KPIX TV in San Francisco for their news program titled “Brian’s Kids” which featured foster children in need of permanent homes. Concurrently, she garnered media exposure on the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the Nobel Prize for environmentalists. Alissa then served as Communications Director for a candidate for sought and won a seat in the California State Assembly.
Alissa then took a post with the United States Peace Corps, on the border of Nepal and India, where she worked with the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime, in an area been identified as a primary trafficking route of young girls and women between the two countries.
After returning to the United States after the two and a half years abroad, Alissa took a position with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM), headquartered in San José, where she was responsible for political and health policy advocacy on behalf of the organization’s 1000 employees and 300,000 clients. She was then promoted to Associate Vice President of Campaigns and Director of the organization’s 501 c 4 organization, and was responsible for legislative, policy, media, and electoral campaigns the affiliate engaged in, including, during her tenure, two presidential elections, three statewide ballot initiatives, and family planning funding and access to care for low-income women, men, and children in California.
Alissa then took a position as the Director of Programs for the Pacific Stroke Association, based at the Veteran’s Administration in Palo Alto. She was responsible for all aspects of community education, fundraising, media, and post-stroke support services of the organization.
Alissa has been a faculty member of the Public Health and Recreation Department at San José State University since 2014. She is also a Public Health Academic Advisor and the faculty coordinator for VET (Veterans Embracing Transition) Connect, a project of the Center for Community Learning and Leadership. She teaches through a lens of policy, politics, women's health and access centered equity.
Alissa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Political Science from University of California at Davis and a Master of Liberal Arts from Stanford University. She lives in San José with her son and rescue dog. When she is not working at SJSU, she enjoys teaching ballet, boxing, and barre to children and adults, writing and reading fiction.
