Angie Hinojos

Executive Director, Centro Cultural Mexicano

Angie Hinojos is currently the executive director and co-founder of Centro Cultural Mexicano in Redmond. She received a degree in architecture from UC Berkeley and utilizes her experience as a public artist to strengthen community bonds. As a community organizer, Angie has focused on equity in education to increase access to higher education for underserved communities. Angie is a Trustee for Cascadia College, serves on the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs, and is a passionate advocate for social and racial justice.


Martin Valadez

Regional Director, Heritage University's Tri-Cities Campus | Interim Executive Director, Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Martin Valadez is currently the regional director for Heritage University’s Tri-Cities campus and the interim executive director of the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He was previously vice president for business development and external affairs at Tri-Cities Community Health and spent more that eight years at Columbia Basin College where he served as professor of history and intercultural studies, vice president for diversity and outreach, and CEO for the CBC Foundation. Valadez has served on a number of local and statewide boards and currently serves on the following boards: Gesa Credit Union, Mid-Columbia Libraries, ACLU of Washington, Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges and Charities Advisory Council for the Secretary of State of Washington. Valadez was born in Mexico, grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and has resided in Pasco, Washington since 2006.


Matías Valenzuela

Director of the Office of Equity and Community Partnerships for Public Health, Seattle & King County

Matías Valenzuela, PhD, is the director of the Office of Equity and Community Partnerships for Public Health – Seattle & King County. In the COVID-19 response, he directed community mitigation and recovery. He was also co-lead in the county’s team for the declaration of racism as a public health crisis in June 2020. Previously starting in 2015, he was the first director of the Office of Equity and Social Justice in King County, spearheading a countywide effort to address the root causes of inequities, especially racism, working with all county agencies and the community. Matias has worked at King County since 2000, including as a lead for equity and social justice at its inception in 2008. Previously in his career, he was a print and broadcast journalist in the United States and abroad. He has been a Fulbright professor in Nicaragua, and he is an affiliate assistant professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He currently serves on numerous local and national boards and advisory groups.


Jesús Hernández

CEO, Family Health Centers

Jesús Hernández, MPA, received his BA in business administration from Washington State University in 1992, and an MPA from the University of Washington in 2006. A first generation college graduate, Hernandez’s career has spanned three decades of progressive responsibility in areas of leadership including workforce development, education, healthcare, and finance. As CEO at Family Health Centers and previously for Community Choice Healthcare
Network, he led numerous undertakings to move the organization’s strategic priorities forward. This included reorganizing bylaws, leading network strategic planning, and serving as the lead grant writer to secure over ten million in federal grants for network development and health information technology.


Jimena Garcia

Board Member, Latino Community Fund of Washington State

Jimena Garcia is an impact-driven health equity leader with a track record of reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes of communities from historically underserved groups. She is a first-generation Mexican American and grew up in Imperial Valley, CA. Her passions include border health, mentorship, and collaborating on innovative solutions to improve the quality of healthcare delivery and access. She obtained her bachelor of science degree in neuroscience from the University of California Santa Cruz and possesses significant healthcare experience working at the intersection of health systems, payors, and federally qualified health centers.

Her curiosity leads her to constantly study and implement best practices to provide the best meaningful care for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers through digital innovation, advocacy, and capacity building. She enjoys serving the boards of the Latino Center for Health at the University of Washington and the Latino Community Fund of Washington State as well as horse riding, traveling, and cycling.


Emely Diaz Barragan

Graduate Student Intern

Emely Diaz Barragan (She/Her/Ella) was born and raised in the Yakima Valley, Washington. She graduated from the University of Washington with her BA in public health-global health, and is pursuing her MSW at the UW graduate school. Emely joins the center as her practicum placement, where she helps oversee the communication administration relations within the center. Emely practices hands-on clinical work through mentoring, experience, guidance, and training with other staff members from the Center. Previously, Emely worked with the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom as their communication specialist, where she developed her editing, designing, and writing skills in the field of public health. Emely is passionate about topics such as; mental health, helping BIPOC communities achieve health equity, public health communication, public policy, and Latinx health. Her passion for public health is reflected in her current teaching assistant role at the University of Washington School of Public Health department, where she helps public health undergrads understand the history and practice of public health.


Jennifer Rueda Verduzco

Intern

Jennifer Rueda Verduzco (She/Her/Ella) is from Vancouver, Washington but was born in California and raised in Oregon. Jennifer holds a BS in public health from the University of Washington. As the intern for the Latino Center, she supports our Adios COVID program by organizing the distribution of COVID test kits with access to telehealth services and additionally helps organize vaccine clinics. Jennifer also supported and organized our 5th Annual Latinx Faculty Recognition Event! Jennifer joins the team with past experience as a student assistant for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), where she screened over 5,000 sources and extracted data from over 150 sources for a literature review on astrovirus and saporous. Alongside this, she served as a research intern at Seattle Children’s Hospital. During her time in this role, she qualitatively coded interviews conducted with healthcare providers and vaccine clinic organizers regarding best practices for vaccinating children with COVID-19 vaccines. Her interests include improving access to healthcare in immigrant communities, improving cultural competence in healthcare, and preventing diabetes in Latinx communities

“My current goal is to get accepted into medical school. My long-term goal is to become a primary care physician who serves immigrant communities!” – Jennifer


Angela R. Rambo

Director of Operations

Angela previously worked at the University of Washington for over two decades in student services, admissions, project management, and program management. She earned her MSW from the UW School of Social Work in 2010. Angela possesses a passion for working with diverse communities; residents, and business leaders to help bring lasting changes to communities of color. In addition, she has over a decade of experience working in communities both in the Greater Seattle Area and in Eastern Washington. Angela looks forward to contributing her skills and knowledge to help advance the Latino Center for Health in its mission to promote the health of Latinx communities through community-engaged and culturally informed research that informs policy and practice. Angela is also excited about the new learning and growth that will come from being a part of the Center and contributing to its excellence.


Carolyn Bain

Executive Director, Guatemala Village Health

Carolyn Bain, MPH, received her MPH from Columbia University, has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic (’91-’93), and trained Peace Corps volunteers in the Child Survival Program. Carolyn worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights program in Santiago Chile 1999-2005. In addition to working at GVH, she coordinates an HIV clinical trial for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.