Elena V. Rios serves as president & CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), representing 50,000 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 to direct educational and research activities.
Dr. Rios also serves on the Better Medicare Alliance and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda Boards of Directors, Cancer Treatment Centers for America Hispanic Advisory Council, and the US Department of Health and Human Services, among many other appointments. Dr. Rios has lectured, published articles, and has received several leadership awards, including awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses; American Public Health Association Latino Caucus; and others. Dr. Rios was appointed to the Minority Alumni Hall of Fame of Stanford University in October 2006, as a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine in 2007, the Institute of Medicine Global Forum for Health Professions Education in 2014, as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 2016, and as a member of the Society of Medical Administrators in 2017.
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. From 1998-2004, Dr. Rios served as Executive Director, Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as Coordinator of Outreach Groups for the White House. From 1992-94, 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; is founder of the National Network of Latin American Medical Students; is a member of the California Department of Health Services Cultural Competency Task Force; is part of the CDC’s Health Disparities Committee; is a member of the ASU Health Futures Council; and serves on the AMA’s Disparities Commission and Minority Affairs Consortium Steering Committees.
Dr. Rios earned her bachelor’s in human biology and public administration at Stanford University in 1977, MSPH at the UCLA School of Public Health in 1980, MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987, and 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.
From the very beginning of her training in medicine, she has worked to improve the recruitment and success rates of minority students, and the Latino population at large; that and beyond has made her a great source of pride for our Latino community.
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