Barbara Ferrer
Barbara Ferrer. PhD, MPH, MEd, was elected to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Board of Trustees in January 2025, effective April 22, 2025.
Barbara is a nationally known public health leader with more than 40 years of professional experience as a public health director, educational leader, researcher, community advocate, and philanthropic strategist. She currently serves as director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Barbara has led a range of public health programs and built innovative partnerships to address inequities in health outcomes and support healthy communities and healthy families. She has a proven track record of working collaboratively to improve population outcomes through efforts that build health and education equity.
Born in Puerto Rico, Barbara received a PhD in social welfare from Brandeis University, a Master of Arts in Public Health from Boston University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
