"Oral Health Was The Doorway"

Following her graduation from Pacific, Jessica Scruggs DHS '09 entered the U.S. Public Health Service, where she rose to become a senior advisor to former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Submitted photo.

Since earning her dental hygiene degree from 51��, Jessica Scruggs DHS ’09 has used her healthcare expertise for the greater good.

As a clinician in the , Scruggs not only provided care for incarcerated females in federal custody, but also created programs that improved their overall health. As a senior staff member for former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, she influenced federal public health policy with a specific focus on mental health and substance use disorder. In the private sector, Scruggs now uses her expertise to help companies leverage technology to make mental health services accessible to more people.

But at her core, Scruggs is still the practitioner that she learned to be at Pacific.

“I still carry my dental hygiene background with pride because it keeps me grounded,” Scruggs said. “I did not start in a boardroom. I started chairside, with real people, in real discomfort, trying to help them feel safe. That has shaped every leadership role I have had since.”

In recognition of her leadership in healthcare, Scruggs has been named the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Alumni Award. The honor recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to their community or profession and made tremendous accomplishments toward their life goals.

Scruggs said that the award affirms the circuitous path that led her from oral care to public health to her current position as senior vice president of strategic initiatives for , an online mental health services provider.

“It says that the path does not have to look traditional to be meaningful,” she said. “It also reminds me that the work we do early in our careers matters more than we know at the time. The habits I learned as a clinician, listening closely, building trust quickly, and respecting the person in front of me, are still the habits I rely on as an executive.”

A member of the second graduating class of Pacific’s dental hygiene program, Scruggs discovered the opportunities in public health service during a clinical rotation. When her husband received orders for a Coast Guard post in California, her interest turned into a position as a health services administrator in the U.S. Department of Justice, where she provided dental care and oversaw the healthcare needs for over 1,300 federal prison inmates.

Her work attracted the attention of Murthy, who invited Scruggs to join his staff in the Office of the Surgeon General, serving as his aide-de-camp at the end of the Obama administration and as a senior advisor during the Biden administration.

“I still carry my dental hygiene background with pride because it keeps me grounded."

— Jessica Scruggs DHS '09

In between administrations, Scruggs and Murthy co-founded the Emotional Well-Being Initiative, building on the public health advocacy that Murthy promoted as Surgeon General. In 2025, Murthy awarded Scruggs the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal in recognition of her dedicated service.

Scruggs retired from the USPHS in 2022, but the lessons that she learned in public health forever shaped her views on holistic well-being.

“In the USPHS, I learned how close health is to dignity,” she said. “Working in correctional health, I saw people at rock bottom, and I saw how much humanity still exists there. That experience changed me. It made me less judgmental and more practical. It taught me that systems are made up of human beings, and human beings are messy.”

However, it was at Pacific that Scruggs first learned how intimate healthcare truly is. Practitioners sit close as patients trust them with their pain, fear, stress, habits and choices. She discovered that health is not just biological, but also behavioral, emotional, relational and social, piquing her curiosity about the big picture of healthcare.

“Why do people delay care? Why do they avoid systems meant to help them? Why do some people thrive while others with similar resources struggle?” Scruggs said. “That curiosity pulled me toward public health, and eventually toward mental health, well-being and human flourishing. But oral health was the doorway. It taught me to pay attention to the whole person.”

Today, 51�� is the top private preparer of healthcare workers in Oregon, educating the next generation of professionals in audiology, athletic training, dental hygiene, dental therapy, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, psychology, physical therapy and physician associate studies.

Scruggs believes that if today’s students can not only master the clinical skills in those professions, but master the human skills, the future of healthcare is bright.

“Healthcare is messy because people are messy. That is not a flaw in the work; that is the work,” she said. “If you can hold both excellence and humanity, if you can be skilled and humble, if you can care deeply without becoming rigid, you will have a career that matters.”

By

Blake Timm '98

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Class of 2009

Dental Hygiene

Alumni

Alumni Awards

Healthcare

51����

"Oral Health Was The Doorway"

By

51��