NHHF/NHMA 30th Anniversary Leadership Summit
January 03, 2024
In 1994, with doctors I met while working at the White House in 1993, especially Mark Diaz (CA), Conchita Paz (NM), Ciro Sumaya (TX), and our lawyer and consultants, we developed 2 organizations: the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and the NHMA Foundation with Bylaws and Boards of Directors. We decided to start a volunteer effort (I worked at the HHS Office on Women's Health) and received support from HRSA Administrator Dr. Ciro Sumaya and OMH Director and Latino Advisor (Guadalupe Pacheco) to start an advisory meeting with HRSA on health workforce diversity, a national advisory committee, 5 regional meetings and 2 national conferences from 1995 - 1998. Then we received our first $1M in Government Funding to start Leadership training of physicians, residents, and medical students. Thanks to Jo Ivey Boufford and Susana Morales of NY to serving as core faculty...I left HHS to work part-time with NHMA/NHHF.
We changed the Foundation name to the National Hispanic Health Foundation (NHHF) when we decided to start a National Hispanic Health Professional Student Scholarship and the HispanicHealth.info with an earmark from Congresswoman Hilda Solis with our networks sharing of Latino health information/calendar--- we formalized the Council of Medical Societies in 2005 and the National Hispanic Health Professional Leadership Network in 2004.
We think it is the right time to reimagine our priority functions with your input and those interested in the future of our organizations - NHMA and NHHF and you over the next 5 years.
We invite you to our 30th Anniversary Leadership Summit -- Friday, April 12 - Capitol Hill visits, meetings, White House Briefing (planned) and Reception; Saturday, April 13 - Roundtables to develop strategies to improve our efforts in Medical Education/Health Workforce, Policy, Media, Research and Leadership Development ----at the national, state and local levels over the next 5-10 years as Latinos become 25% of the US population; and a Gala. Our expert speakers include Joe Greer, MD; Fernando Mendoza, MD (med ed); Mauricio Gonzalez, MD; Cesar Padilla, MD (media influencers); Congressmembers (invited) and Leo Seoane, MD (advocacy) and more --- as well as our founders above. We end the event with a Gala.
We must collaborate with emerging leaders to strengthen our organizations and optimize our impact on the nation through sustainable efforts. We hope to see you at Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, April 12-13, 2024. Go to nhmamd.org to register today!