Luisa M. Lucero, Ph.D., has built a career around helping organizations and the people within them succeed. Whether leading complex operations for a national health insurance company or strengthening organizational processes, she finds satisfaction in creating systems that help people work more effectively.

"To me, a well-functioning organization starts with culture," Lucero said. "It is a culture where people feel valued, and because they feel valued, they want to be accountable for making a system better."

Now, as the new executive director for administration and business operations at the School of Public Health, she's applying that philosophy to support a growing academic and research community.

Finding her place in public health

Lucero's path to public health wasn't entirely planned.

After earning her doctorate in public administration and policy, with a concentration in health policy, from Old Dominion University, a professor connected her with an opportunity to teach in the university's School of Community and Environmental Health. She spent three years as a lecturer and internship coordinator, discovering an interest in public health that extended beyond the classroom.

"I think there's probably the equity part of it, where I just find it very interesting that not everybody has the same access to health," she said.

That interest in health equity stayed with her as she transitioned into the corporate health care sector, where she spent five years leading technology and operational initiatives, including teams responsible for claims processing for government health programs.

In one leadership assignment, she improved operational performance significantly within six weeks by examining workflows, clarifying expectations and identifying opportunities to make processes more efficient.

"If we can make it easier for people to follow processes and understand what they need to do, everything works better," she said.

At Nevada, Lucero oversees administrative functions spanning finance, research administration, human resources, technology and operational planning. As the School develops new academic programs, research initiatives and community partnerships, her work helps ensure faculty and staff have the systems and support they need to succeed.

A return to higher education

Returning to a university setting appealed to Lucero for both professional and personal reasons. Higher education had always been part of her life. Her father taught special education and elementary classes, and was an administrator before becoming a college professor focusing on special education and multicultural education.

When the opportunity arose at Nevada, it offered a chance to combine her experience in organizational leadership with her academic background while moving closer to family on the West Coast. It also meant reuniting with Dean Muge Akpinar-Elci, M.D., MPH, whom she had worked with earlier in her career and remained close to over the years.

“As our School continues to grow in academic programs, research and statewide responsibilities, including the integration of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, we are intentionally strengthening the administrative infrastructure needed to support our expanding mission,” Akpinar-Elci said. “This executive leadership position represents an important step toward building a more integrated, efficient and accountable organization.

“Luisa brings a unique combination of academic public health experience and executive leadership in large-scale healthcare operations, with demonstrated expertise in organizational performance improvement. Her ability to translate strategy into measurable results will be invaluable as we shape the next chapter of our School.” 

Working alongside Akpinar-Elci again has helped make Lucero’s return to higher education a welcoming one.

"It's really amazing to me that you could have so many kind people, like really smart, kind people in the same place," Lucero said. "Everyone's so helpful."

That sense of belonging has special meaning for Lucero, whose own experiences growing up shaped her understanding of identity, community and what it means to feel accepted.

Finding strength in her heritage

Lucero's connection to her Mexican American heritage has evolved throughout her life. While her family's roots in Arizona date back to before it became a state, her childhood took a different path when her family moved to rural Pennsylvania at age 5. Growing up in a community with little racial and ethnic diversity shaped how she understood and embraced her identity.

As a child, she sometimes struggled to embrace the parts of her background that made her different. It wasn't until college and adulthood that she began to appreciate the significance of her family's history and traditions.

"The older I got, the more I realized how special it was and how important it was," she said.

Education was another important part of her upbringing. Her father, the first in his family to attend college, became a professor and began pursuing a doctorate before a cancer diagnosis interrupted his studies. Although he eventually recovered, he chose to focus on raising his family rather than completing the degree.

Lucero became the first in her family to earn a doctorate, an accomplishment she credits in part to the example her father set.

"Really, my dad is the trailblazer," she said.

Reflecting on her experiences during Hispanic Heritage Month, Lucero hopes students and young professionals recognize that identity doesn't have to fit a particular definition.

"I think maybe that's the takeaway. It's OK to have that level of complexity in who you are as an individual and embrace it," she said.

"Regardless of who you are, be it," she said. "Life's too short to try to be something you're not."

Home now means Nevada

For Lucero, joining the School of Public Health has brought together her professional experience, commitment to education and desire to contribute to an organization where people share a common purpose.

After years of living and working in Virginia, she's also discovering that Reno may offer something she hadn't anticipated: a place to put down roots.

"Being here at the University has taken all of the things I've worked really hard for and just tied it up in a really nice, pretty box," she said.

And with a welcoming community, meaningful work and opportunities to help the School grow, Lucero is looking forward to what comes next.