Alumni Spotlight: From OC Roots to Hazmat Hero

On a recent Saturday, Kevin Anaya was at the park with his 18-month-old son in Coronado when he got a call. Sheriff’s deputies, while executing a warrant, came across an RV being used as a lab to make explosives like fireworks and pipe bombs — just a few houses down from an elementary school. 

His job? Identify the chemicals, contain the mess, keep everyone safe.  

“That was an interesting call because there were a lot of moving parts,” said Anaya, who works on the Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) for San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health and Quality. “If we hadn’t responded when we did, who knows what could have happened.” 

Anaya, who earned his public health sciences bachelor’s degree in 2015 from the then UC Irvine Program in Public Health and now the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, never aspired to a typical desk job. The Orange County native yearned for a purpose-filled life with action and adventure. 

The first in his family to attend college, Anaya initially came to UC Irvine with an eye on medical school and a career as a pediatrician. A transformative experience with Global Brigades, a student-led movement for global health, opened his eyes to the opportunities available in the field of public health.  

“We went out to a rural town in Honduras, helped build toilets and water ditches, and put flooring in people’s homes,” Anaya said. “It was a real wake-up call seeing the world beyond the OC bubble. It showed me that there was so much in the world that we could do.” 

In his third year and deeper into his degree curriculum, he studied abroad at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, further solidifying his passion for public health. The experience ignited a travel bug, leading him to explore Japan, Vietnam, and France after graduation. 

Once he returned to California, Anaya joined AmeriCorps, the domestic version of the Peace Corps, to give back to his home state. He was placed with a nonprofit organization in Oakland that distributed school, dental, and hygiene supplies to unhoused and low-income students across the state. 

Still, he sought a more hands-on role in public health. He wanted to gain more education without incurring significant debt. This led him to pursue a career as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS), a state-certified profession with diverse opportunities in global health, local government, and environmental agencies. 

Anaya landed a position as a health inspector with San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health. He credits his UC Irvine education with giving him the confidence to help educate the public about food safety and preventative measures, especially during the pandemic. 

During the pandemic, I had never felt such a calling to help and to be a part of the solution. The broad level of education that Wen Public Health provides really prepared me for that kind of dynamic situation.”

– Alumnus Kevin Anaya, BS Class of 2015

“During the pandemic, I had never felt such a calling to help and to be a part of the solution,” he said. “The broad level of education that Wen Public Health provides really prepared me for that kind of dynamic situation.” 

Five years later, Anaya transitioned to the hazardous materials division, joining HIRT, which involves responding to chemical spills, battery fires, and other environmental emergencies. Despite the inherent dangers, he finds immense satisfaction in his work.  

“I often think I’m showing up sometimes on the worst day of someone’s life,” Anaya said. “To be able to provide a service that’s going to help them feel better and know that everything’s going to be okay makes me feel like I’m doing something that’s good.”