If you were creating a shortlist of luminaries in the field of public health, you wouldn’t think that someone named Michelle Lujan Grisham would appear on it. At no point in her life did Grisham receive any training in medicine or science. Instead, she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in something called “university studies.” For the uninitiated, a degree in “university studies” is what people get when they don’t want to study in a university. Then Grisham earned a law degree, which of course, also has nothing to do with public health. Afterwards, for several years, Grisham worked at a state department dealing with aging and long-term services. She eventually directed the department.
Those were Michelle Lujan Grisham’s credentials when, in 2004, she became the highest-ranking public health official in the state of New Mexico. Presumably, the fact she came from a prominent political family in the state didn’t hurt her chances of getting the job. Whatever the case, Grisham’s tenure as the state’s Secretary of Health was unremarkable. She only had the post for a couple of years before moving on.
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