Faustina Solís

MSW ’54

Faustina Solís was an educator and pioneer in public health. She served as deputy director for the Public Health Division of the California State Department of Health where she advocated for education, day care, housing and health care programs for migrant workers in the Imperial Valley. She was subsequently appointed director of the Farm Workers’ Health Service Program for California, collaborating with labor leader Cesar Chavez.

In 1975, she was elected president of the California Association for Maternal and Child Health, the first non-physician to lead the organization. She was directly involved in the establishment and operation of community health programs for Latinos in San Ysidro and San Diego Counties, and held consultation appointments in Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Due to her extensive background in public health, Solís was the first full professor in the School of Medicine at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) without a medical degree or doctorate. She introduced ethnic content into the medical school curriculum and established public health coursework for undergraduates and medical students based on her experience as a social worker developing health care services for California’s migrant farm workers.

She was appointed as the second provost of the Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD from 1981 to 1988, and the university’s first Latina provost. During her tenure, Solís promoted mentoring programs aimed to engage new students, particularly those from minority backgrounds. She helped solidify a mission of developing students as scholars and citizens who value social responsibility and academic excellence, and encouraged students to participate in community outreach efforts in local neighborhoods. She was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction in 2005.