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"I am pleased that these experts have agreed to share their insights with us," Secretary Shalala said. "Their advice will be invaluable in helping us achieve our goal of eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health."

The advisory committee, created by the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998, will be chaired by Louis Stokes, a lawyer, a former congressman from Ohio, and a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The 12 committee members have expertise on a wide range of health issues including the unique challenges facing minorities in rural and urban communities, children, women, elders, people with disabilities, mental illness and AIDS. The committee will meet four times a year.

The new members come from eight states, the District of Columbia and one U.S. Pacific territory. The committee includes three members each from the Black/African-American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latino communities.

The department is two years into its signature effort to address minority health through the President's plan to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities by the year 2010, starting with a focus on six key areas: infant mortality, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer screening and management, HIV/AIDS, and childhood and adult immunizations.

Advisory Committee on Minority Health

Dr. Isamu Abraham, public health official, Department of Public Health, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands;

Mr. Salvador Balcorta, social worker and chief executive officer, Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc., El Paso, Texas;

Dr. Henry Chung, physician, Chinatown Health Clinic, New York, N.Y.;

Dr. Estevan T. Flores, sociologist and journalist, Latino/a Research and Policy Center, Denver, Colo.;

Dr. Theodore Mala, physician and public health expert, Office of Village Initiatives, Southcentral Foundation, Anchorage, Alaska;

Dr. Clyde Oden, optometrist and health services executive, Watts Health Foundation, Inglewood, Calif.;

Dr. Joan Reede, physician and educator, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.;

Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, physician, president of the Association of American Indian Physicians, Tucson, Ariz.;

Ms. Delight Satter, senior public health researcher and policy manager, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, Calif.;

Mr. Louis Stokes, attorney at law and former congressman, Washington, D.C., who will chair the committee;

Dr. Ho Tran, physician and state health official, Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago, Ill.; and

Dr. Antonia Villarruel, nurse and educator, University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, Mich.

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