Dr. Richard J. Jackson is a professor and the chairman of environmental health sciences at UCLA's School of Public Health. Previously, he was an adjunct professor of environmental health services at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He also served as state public health officer for the California Department of Health Services. His responsibilities included direct leadership and oversight of the department's public health-related activities. His major priorities were emergency preparedness (especially related to terrorism), reversing the obesity epidemic in California, and revitalizing the state's public health workforce. Jackson is a graduate of UC San Francisco's School of Medicine, where he began his residency in pediatrics. However, he took time off for a stint with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service. That was the beginning of a long career in public service. Jackson obtained a master's in public health from UC Berkeley and began work as a public health medical officer with the California Department of Health Services. Selected to be director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health in 1994, Jackson worked to study and address issues such as cancer, asthma, radiation effects, pesticide exposure, and toxicology, especially lead poisoning in children. In August 2003, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding asked Jackson to serve as her senior advisor. In March 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Jackson state public health officer. He held that post until mid-2005.