HHS Adds Seven New Members to The Advisory Committee on Minority Health

Seven new members have been appointed to serve on the Advisory Committee on Minority Health, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, Garth Graham, M.D., has announced.

The committee will advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on improving the health of racial and ethnic minority groups and on the development of goals and specific program activities for the department's Office of Minority Health.

"Our goal is to eliminate health disparities and improve health outcomes for all Americans," Dr. Graham said. "The expertise this group brings will go a long way toward helping us meet that goal."

HHS and OMH officials selected committee members based on nominations received from across the Nation.

Rubens J. Pamies, M.D. FACP, vice chancellor for academic affairs, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, has been chosen as committee chairperson.

Dr. Pamies is dean for graduate studies, professor of internal medicine. Dr. Pamies served as chief of services at Nashville General Hospital, Edward S. Harkness Professor of Medicine, Chairman of Internal Medicine at Meharry Medical College and professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 2000 to 2003. He published more than 40 articles in medical journals and recently co-authored Multicultural Medicine and Health Disparities with former Surgeon General David Satcher.

Other new committee members are:

Olveen Carrasquillo, M.D. M.P.H. assistant professor of medicine and health policy, Columbia University.

Dr. Carrasquillo is a Puerto Rican-born physician who was raised in the Bronx in New York City. He obtained his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine and obtained a master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He joined the faculty at Columbia University in 1997. Dr. Carrasquillo remains a practicing internal medicine physician and sees patients in the predominately Latino community of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan.

Gale Dine-Chacon, M.D., associate professor, family and community medicine and director, Center for Native American Health and associate vice president for Native American health, University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque.

Dr. Dine-Chacon, originally from Chinle, Ariz., owned her own business on the Navajo reservation before entering medical school to become a physician. After a family medicine residency, she worked in rural New Mexico providing health care for the Dine People of the Checkerboard area in eastern Navajo Nation and for the Pueblo of Sandia. She is founder and director of the Center for Native American Health and continues to develop the Center to meet the health priority needs of New Mexico's 22 tribes and off-reservation population.

Edward L. Martinez, M.S., senior consultant, National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, Viroqua, Wisconsin.

Mr. Martinez has almost 30 years experience as an executive and administrative leader in the public health sector. He consults in the areas of health care executive management and operations with a focus on organizations serving diverse populations. In addition, Mr. Martinez served for more than 27 years with the county of Los Angeles, where he specialized in hospital administration and human resources management.

Kelly Moore, M.D., visiting associate professor, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver.

Dr. Moore, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, has spent the last five years with the Indian Health Service (IHS) as a clinical consultant with the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention in Albuquerque, N.M.. She also serves as the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Native American Child Health and chair of the American Indian/Alaska Native Work Group of the National Diabetes Education Program. She is a retired captain, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Marguerite J. Ro, Dr. P.H., deputy director, policy and programs, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, San Francisco.

Dr. Ro overseas the health programming and the policy advocacy work of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. Formerly an assistant professor at Columbia University, she held appointments in the College of Dental Medicine, the Mailman School of Public Health and the Center for Community Health Partnerships. Dr. Ro is dedicated to working with underserved communities across the United States. on improving access to health care and reducing disparities. Dr. Ro received her masters and doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Oreta Mapu Togafau, Dr. P.A., senior policy advisor to the Governor, American Samoa.

Dr. Togafau has extensive fieldwork and experience in the areas of substance abuse, family counseling, justice-involved youth, and counseling first generation Pacific Islander college-bound students and their parents. Dr. Togafau has more than 20 years of community volunteer work that includes leadership roles in the Board of Higher Education, the Alcoholism Cottage Program, women's groups, and children/parent groups.

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