ICP adds new community health development team members

The Loma Linda University Health Institute for Community Partnerships (ICP) welcomes two new members to its team. Dr. Robin D. Smith and Chintan K. Somaiya will play key roles in meeting hospitals’ community benefit requirements and keeping the Institution aligned with its mission through increased community engagement that will improve the health and well-being of our community.

Robin D. Smith, PhD, is ICP's new associate director, community health development. In addition to his new ICP position, Dr. Smith will continue his service as an assistant professor with School of Public Health Center for Community Relilience as program director for environmental and occupational health as well as program director for population medicine. Dr. Smith also holds a secondary appointment as assistant professor of preventive medicine with the School of Medicine.

Dr. Smith has been a member of the Society of Toxicology for 30 years and is the current vice president of the Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section of that organization. Dr. Smith began his public health/community health career working for the Texas Department of Agriculture in 1987, where he focused on evaluating and improving the health and environmental conditions of undocumented farmworkers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas. He has gone on to serve for more than 25 years in both the public and private sectors.

Dr. Smith earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in toxicology in 1990. He holds undergraduate degrees in biology (ecology) and psychology from the University of Oregon at Eugene.

Chintan K. Somaiya, MBA, MS, will serve as ICP program manager, community health development.

Mr. Somaiya graduated with an MBA in health care administration from Loma Linda University in 2013. He then became a project coordinator for the LLU Center for Spiritual Life and Wholeness and the School of Public Health Center for Community Resilience. He has been involved with a wide range of whole-person care programs, grant applications, financial and management activities. His most recent project was to serve as program development lead on the San Bernardino County MediCal Outreach Retention and Enrollment (SBC MORE) project, part of the School of Public Health’s Center for Leadership in Health Systems. Mr. Somaiya has worked closely with San Bernardino County departments, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and various community based organizations to develop effective public health interventions geared towards enhancing community access to quality care.

Along with his MBA, Mr. Somaiya holds an master's degree (2010) from Montclair State University and an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology (2007) from Birla Institute of Technology. It was while studying at Birla that Mr. Somaiya developed his interest in developing research-based wellness programs.