Latino Center For Prevention & Action In Health & Welfare

MANAGEMENT

CEO/Executive Director

Dr. America Bracho

CEO/Executive Director Experience

America Bracho is the Founder and CEO of Latino Health Access. She worked as a physician in Venezuela for several years, after which she came to the U.S. to obtain a Master’s Degree in Public Health at the University of Michigan. America brings more than 40 years of experience in the health-public health field and is passionate about impacting the Structural Determinants of Health in a collective, community centered, inclusive way that will not only improve the prevention and management of diseases but eliminate the root causes of inequities and create opportunities for all to thrive. She founded Latino Health in 1993, a time when our Latinx communities in Orange County had very little in terms of resources, programs or organization to protect their wellbeing. Under her leadership LHA brought the promotor model to Orange County, California and developed its own promotor paid and volunteer work force which has been able to reach, serve, and mobilize thousands of neighborhoods in the most under-resourced areas in Orange county. America believes that data should guide the allocation of resources but not only the data from surveys but also from the voices of those living in places impacted by inequities. LHA has been able to collect data and bring voices to obtain resources and organize communities so they can use their own power to protect their rights and advocate for their families and neighborhoods. This co-learning with communities has created a very agile organization that responds in relevant ways and in real time to needs and aspirations. Currently LHA has a variety of programs and initiatives, has its own facility and was able to create the first park community center in the 92701 zip code of Santa Ana, the poorest in OC. America always shares her conviction that LHA has been guided by a collective vision with the community inside and outside and that she only plays her part. America is a current member of the Board of Trustees for Casey Family Programs and a former trustee of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. She served on the Institute of Medicine Round Table on Health Disparities and on the Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Initiative Program. She has been a consultant for the Pan American Health Organization and a valuable faculty member for several international courses in Latin America, Australia and Europe. She has received several awards for her contributions including: OC Influencer for Good, California Woman of the year, The California Leadership Award, James Irvine Foundation 2008; Doctor of Humane Letters, honorary degree from the Arizona School of Dentistry& Oral Health, May 2007; Southern California Public Health Association’s Milton Roemer Award, April 2005; She has been featured in several documentaries including the HBO Special “The Weight of the Nation” and has a TedMed Talk on the role of patients in improving health care and their communities. America is a co-author of the book “Recruiting the heart and training the brain: the work of Latino Health Access”.

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