New Chief Medical Officer Has Extensive Clinical Experience and Expertise
San Francisco, CA September 30, 2014 — HealthRIGHT 360 announced today that Dr. Ana Valdés will be the nonprofit organization’s new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Valdés has built her career around providing care to the underserved and uninsured, including service as the Board Chair of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium and over a decade as the Medical Director of St. Anthony’s Medical Clinic in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Her new role will be to consider the whole health of all HealthRIGHT 360 clients throughout California, designing effective linkages to healthcare resources,even where HealthRIGHT 360 is not directly operating medical clinics. She also will lead the launch of a new primary healthcare clinic in Los Angeles, ultimately integrating the medical resources that will be offered at the Sixth Street location into the continuum of care HealthRIGHT 360 provides in that region.
“Our clients receive a wide range of treatment services from us, and we want to make sure that they are healthier people as a result,” said HealthRIGHT 360 CEO Dr. Vitka Eisen. “With Dr. Valdés in this new role, we will be able to more completely realize this vision.”
“I very much look forward to and am excited about this opportunity to work with HealthRIGHT 360,” said Dr. Valdés. “I believe that Dr. Eisen shows great foresight and vision by recognizing the opportunities the organization holds for patients of the safety net in California – traditionally marginalized individuals that are often suffering the effects of psychosocial issues, in addition to chronic medical conditions. This is a wonderful opportunity and challenge to create innovative systems for connecting patients with both medical care and behavioral health, be it education about their diabetes, support for their PTSD, or help navigating the traditionally fragmented system to access durable medical equipment or specialty care. Now is a time in US healthcare that calls us to be innovative, patient-focused, outcome-driven, collaborative, and proactive as we create visions and systems that help better our communities. I am excited to be able to meet this call in my work with HealthRIGHT 360 as the new Chief Medical Officer.”
The depth of experience that Dr. Valdés brings to the new position includes implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) systems, innovation related to Electronic Health Records (EHR) synchronization, and development of strategic models for sustainability. Her career has been characterized by a consistent focus on advocacy for low-income patients, improvements in community health education, and a deep understanding of health policy issues. Dr. Valdés graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Tufts School of Medicine, and her early career as a doctor included work in rural New Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala. During the course of her professional activities she has had engagements with the Community Advisory Committee for St. Francis Memorial Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the California Healthcare Foundation Healthcare Leadership Training Program. Her language skills include fluency in both Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as proficiency in Portuguese.
