Two biology alumni shine at Kern County Public Health

Amy Rutledge and Jeffrey Marshall take on new roles at county department

By California State University, Bakersfield

March 17^th, 2021

Amy Rutledge and Jeffrey Marshall are thriving in their jobs at Kern County Public Health Services, both recently earning promotions within the department that, among other things, is currently guiding the community through a major public health crisis. Though their roles at the department are different, both got their start in the field after graduating from California State University, Bakersfield.

Earlier this year, Rutledge was named assistant director of the department when her predecessor Brynn Carrigan took over as director following the retirement of Matt Constantine; Marshall has taken over Rutledge’s previous role of director of the Environmental Health Division. Both Rutledge and Marshall earned their Bachelor of Science in Biology from CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering (NSME), in 2006 and 2004, respectively.

“I will always appreciate the time I spent at CSUB,” Marshall said. “I had an opportunity to develop lifelong friendships, experience new things and obtain an education that flourished into the career I have today.”

Rutledge similarly credits her time at CSUB to providing useful skills that she’s used in her 15 years at Kern County Public Health, first as an environmental health specialist in training with Kern County Environmental Health soon after graduation before working her way up to director of environmental health, which became a part of Kern County Public Health in 2009.

“My time at CSUB really helped me to be flexible, especially as a transfer student,” Rutledge said, adding that she also worked in the tutoring center. “That experience taught me patience and time management as we worked with a variety of students in different subjects, sometimes helping multiple people at once. Those skills have been invaluable in my current and former positions with the KCPHD.”

Two biology alumni shine at Kern County Public Health

Originally from the Long Beach area, Rutledge has lived in Bakersfield since she was in sixth grade. Following her graduation from North High School, she first attended UC Irvine before transferring to CSUB.

“Having ventured out to the larger UC system, I can say without a doubt that transferring to CSUB was the best decision for me,” she said. “I enjoyed that at CSUB I was able to get to know my professors and classmates without feeling lost in the sea of students. It allowed me to better apply myself and overall be much happier. I was able to improve my grades, take more courses without feeling overwhelmed and focus on my core course of study much sooner than if I would have stayed at UCI.”

In her previous roles at Kern County Public Health, Rutledge helped to usher in programs that seek to improve the department’s community outreach and helped in local disasters like the Erskine Fire in 2016, the Ridgecrest earthquake in 2019 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As assistant director, Rutledge is currently running the Department Operations Center for its pandemic response.

“When the pandemic is over my duties will shift back to normal operations and we will continue our work in bettering the quality of life for Kern residents,” Rutledge said. “This means tackling issues such as high chronic disease rates and STD infection rates with innovative programs which were in progress before the pandemic hit.”

Stepping into Rutledge’s previous role of director of environmental health is fellow NSME alum Marshall, who went onto earn his Master of Science in Administration from CSUB after receiving his bachelor’s degree. He’s been working at Kern County Environmental Health (KCEH) since 2007.

“Once I received my first position, my science background helped me better understand the importance of my role in KCEH,” Marshall said. “Many of the laws and regulations associated with public and environmental safety are supported by science. As a new director, my education from my administration master’s degree will allow me to understand the importance of each person’s role in KCEH and better guide the division as a whole.”

A Foothill High School graduate who has lived in Bakersfield most his life, Marshall later received his state certification as a registered environmental health specialist while working for the department and has served as an inspector for the Food, Solid Waste and Hazardous Material programs. Before taking on his new role earlier this year, he had been serving as division chief since 2016.

“As director, I will be overseeing four main programs that inspect facilities ranging from restaurants to refineries to tattoo shops,” Marshall said. “KCEH consists of over 60 dedicated people who strive to promote our mission statement of protecting public health and the environment.”

Both Rutledge and Marshall emphasized the importance of public health, not just during the pandemic but before and beyond it too.

“The state is in dire need of public health professionals, and not just the traditional ones that people think of, like nurses and doctors,” Rutledge said. “We need public health professionals who have the scientific background needed to understand our community’s health demographics as well as the knowledge needed to effect change in those demographics outside of normal channels. As the state continues to focus more on health and equity, the need for individuals to fill these public health roles will become even more important.”

CSUB has also seen this need in Kern County and is developing a new public health degree program to address it. Students will be able to earn a degree that prepares them for an in-demand field, and the community will benefit from homegrown public health experts able to serve them and the region’s unique needs.

“With my 13 years in KCEH, I have seen a dramatic evolution in the field of public and environmental health and safety in California,” Marshall said. “I believe with this evolution, comes the need for more specialized degrees. The addition of a public health degrees is one of those degrees that will be essential in this evolution.”