Mimi Khin Hall was born in Myanmar to parents who were determined to provide a future of freedom for their three children, escaping the decades of military rule, human rights abuses, and violence against ethnic minorities they had endured. As U.S. immigrants, her family held tight to the belief that their uniquely American privileges were also an opportunity to be of service. The values of equity, humanity, and courage were doctrines instilled in her through her parents’ sacrifices and have been the guideposts leading her through many years as a public servant.
Hall began her early public health career in the mid-‘90s, working to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since 1999, she has worked continuously in California county public health departments. The last 16 years of her public health service have been as the local public health official in a handful of frontier and rural counties, before she joined the County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency in 2018. She served small, under-resourced local county public health departments with limited capacity and infrastructure during an era of the H1N1 pandemic, Ebola, the Affordable Care Act, and California’s rural expansion of managed care for Medicaid beneficiaries.
The fiercely independent and politially conservative nature of rural counties demanded that she work with courage and conviction to bring all voices together for a common goal—better health for everyone. She was driven to do all she could to close the equity gaps in California’s public health system, serving as longtime officer and past president of the County Health Executives Association of California, which provided access to statewide policy and decision-makers. Her love for humanity and the belief that every life matters have driven her relationship-building with other counties and her involvement at the state and national levels to advocate for investments in public health. It has also provided the clarity of purpose that has brought her immense fulfillment and carried her through the difficult days of being a public health official during the pandemic.