About Us

The National Hispanic Health Foundation (NHHF) (501c3) was established in 1994 in Washington, DC, by Elena Rios, MD, MSPH, MACP, and a core group of physicians who met at the White House Health Care Reform Task Force meetings. The mission of the Foundation is to support educational, research activities, leadership development, and advocacy to improve the health of Hispanics. In 2003, with the support from a Congressional Earmark of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Regula, Rios developed the National Hispanic Health Professional Leadership Network (HHPLN) and the HispanicHealth.info to educate our networks. In 2005, NHHF became affiliated with and located at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, and then moved to the New York Academy of Medicine. Recently, NHHF moved its office to Washington, DC. The same group of physicians established the National Hispanic Medical Association to bring Hispanic physicians and medical students together to develop health communications with its partners.

In 2021, NHHF, with its Corporate Advisory Board, developed the National Center for Hispanic Health Research and started iDiversity in Clinical Research Symposia at the NHMA Conferences in March 2022-24 and a Webinar Series that continues with support from Amgen & EQBMED. We plan to expand to a Research Mentoring program for Latino medical students interested in clinical research for Latinos this year. We work with our Corporate Advisory Board and partners to expand our efforts to improve the health of Latinos across the nation.