Dr. Rios serves as President & CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), representing Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics. Dr. Rios also serves as President of NHMA’s National Hispanic Health Foundation affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, to direct educational and research activities.

 

 

Dr. Rios also serves on the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and Campaign Against Obesity Boards of Directors, the American Medical Association Commission to End Health Disparities, and the GE Healthcare Advisory Board. Dr. Rios previously served on the PacifiCare-UnitedHealthcare California Investment Committee and the Partnerships for Prevention Board of Directors. Dr. Rios has lectured and published articles and has received several leadership awards, including the 2009 Top 100 Influential and Innovative Hispanics from Hispanic Business Magazine. Dr. Rios has been honored by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses, American Public Health Association Latino Caucus, Association of Hispanic Health Executives, Minority Health Month, Inc., Hispanic Magazine, Verizon’s First Pollin Community Service Award, and Amerimed. Dr. Rios was appointed to the Minority Alumni Hall of Fame of Stanford University and appointed as a Fellow to the New York Academy of Medicine.

 

Prior to her current positions, Dr. Rios served as the Advisor for Regional and Minority Women’s Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health from November 1994 to October 1998. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as Coordinator of Outreach Groups for the White House. In 1992, Dr. Rios worked for the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as a policy researcher. Dr. Rios has also served as President, Chicano/Latino Medical Association of California, Advisor to the National Network of Latin American Medical Students, member of the California Department of Health Services Cultural Competency Task Force, Stanford Alumni Association and Women’s Policy Inc. Boards of Directors, and the AMA’s Minority Affairs Consortium Steering Committee.

 

Dr. Rios earned her BA in Human Biology/Public Administration at Stanford University in 1977, MSPH at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health in 1980, her MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987, completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and the White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles in 1990, and her NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine in 1992.