Awardees

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Jose Alberto Arevalo, M.D., FAAFP

2024 Robert D. Sparks, M.D., Leadership Award

The Robert D. Sparks, M.D., Leadership Award was established in 1997 in honor of Robert D. Sparks, M.D., PHC’s first President and CEO. The award honors an individual or organization that has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the health of communities in a manner consistent with PHC’s mission to champion community health, health equity, and diversity in the physician workforce in partnership with leaders in medicine, related health professions and the community.

José Alberto Arévalo, M.D., FAAFP, (he/him/él) is the Chief Medical Executive for Sutter Independent Physicians (SIP), a 600+ physicians multi-specialty IPA located in the Greater Sacramento Region. Dr. Arévalo is a board-certified family physician with a long and prominent reputation as a teacher, researcher and administrator. A graduate of Stanford Medical School, he completed his residency and clinical research fellowship in family medicine at University of California San Francisco in 1987. As a full-time faculty member at UC Davis from 1987 to 1994, his research focused on reproductive health, perinatal infectious disease, gestational diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes. His work led to numerous publications, most notably a 1988 Journal of the American Medical Association paper that helped revise national policy in screening for Hepatitis B in Pregnancy. He was also the director of the Department’s Medical Student Education Program and was named the recipient of the 1994 UC Davis Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Arévalo has also been a consultant to the Department of Corporations as the lead physician for the Perinatal Outreach Unit for Electronic Data Systems, the Medi-Cal fiscal intermediary. As a member of the statewide Board of the American Diabetes Association California Affiliate, he worked with the Department of Health Service’s Diabetes Control Program as one of the original members of the California Diabetes Steering Committee that created the Diabetes Coalition of California. As the first chair of the Guidelines Committee, he led the effort to establish and promulgate Consensus Basic Diabetes Care Guidelines through CCHRI that gained widespread acceptance across California. Dr. Arévalo has served as the Northern California medical director for Prudential Health Care, United Health Care, Blue Cross and Turtle Health Plan. Prior to his role at Sutter, Dr. Arevalo was the Senior Vice-President for Medical Services for Health Plan of the Redwoods, a 80,000-member non-profit community health plan in Sonoma County.

He completed the California Healthcare Foundation/UCSF Center for Health Professionals Leadership Program in 2005. In addition to serving as the Founding President and Chair of the Latinx Physicians of California (LPOC), he is the Founder and Immediate President and Chair of the Sacramento Latino Medical Association (SaLMA). He was the first winner of the California Latino Medical Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Latino Health Issues in 1992. He is the past recipient of the California Wellness Foundation's Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award in 2006. In 2008 he was the National Hispanic Health Foundation's First Leadership Award winner and again was also the 5th Awardee in 2013 for continued leadership in Latino Health. He was also awarded the CMA Foundation Ethnic Physician of the Year in 2013. He is the recipient of the Pioneer Award from the National Medical Foundation for 2017 for his lifelong commitment to improving health care to underserved communities.

He is married and has 7 children and 9 grandchildren.

Marco Angulo, M.D., MSS

2024 Adarsh S. Mahal, M.D., Access to Health Care and Disparities Award

The Adarsh S. Mahal, M.D., Access to Health Care and Disparities Award was established by 2007 CMA President Anmol S. Mahal, M.D., and his wife, Surjit K. Mahal, M.D., in honor of Dr. Mahal’s father, Adarsh S. Mahal, M.D., who spent his career working to improve access to mental health care in India. The purpose of the award is to honor an individual or organization that has shown extraordinary interest and demonstrated efforts leading to a significant contribution toward improving access to health care or reducing disparities in health care in California.

Marco Angulo, M.D., MSS, (he/him) is the Medical Director for Medical Education and Interim Medical Director for AltaMed's Institute for Health Equity, Dr.Angulo brings an invaluable combination of experience and perspective, thanks to his extensive background in training, teaching, and leadership in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) setting. Dr. Angulo is committed to training the next generation's workforce to serve the medically vulnerable areas of Southern California and throughout the nation.

Dr. Angulo's passion for mentoring and training is personal. Born in East Los Angeles, CA, to the parents of Mexican immigrants, the future Dr. Angulo knew his life's work was to serve. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Chicano Studies and entered medical school at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where he was selected to the prestigious Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC), a program created to develop physician leaders to address Latinx health disparities in the United States and beyond. Dr. Angulo stayed on as a faculty member at the UCI Family Medicine Department and as Director of the PRIME-LC Residency Program. In addition, he served as the UCI Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the entire medical school. Before joining AltaMed, Dr. Angulo also served as Chief Medical Officer of a FQHC located in Santa Ana, CA.

In 2016, UCI Health awarded Dr. Angulo the prestigious ARIISE Award for creating an innovative pipeline program emphasizing patient health navigation focused on the needs of FQHCs. As a resident, he was awarded the AAFP/Bristol-Meyer Squibb Award for Excellence for Graduate Medical Education for his leadership in training the next generation of California's health care workforce. Dr. Angulo was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honors Society as both a medical student and faculty member.

Throughout his career, Dr. Angulo has challenged the next generation of physician leaders to chip away at health disparities and develop solutions to lower barriers to patient care. Since joining AltaMed in 2018, Dr. Angulo has been instrumental in building a Medical Education Department, including a new Family Residency Program, a Physician and Nurse Practitioner Fellowship, a leadership course for AltaMed physicians, and a nursing workforce pipeline from Licensed Vocational Nurse to Registered Nurse. In 2021, Dr. Angulo was awarded the California Medical Association's Gary S. Nye Award to honor a physician who has made a significant contribution to physician wellness and the Clinician of the Year Award from the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.

Seomaritan Initiative

2024 Frank E. Staggers, Sr., M.D., Outstanding Ethnic Physician Organization Award

The Seomaritan Initiative is a nonprofit organization founded by siblings David and Sarah Seo, both medical students dedicated to addressing health care disparities in central and southern California. David, an osteopathic medical student, and Sarah, a podiatric medical student, launched the initiative with a vision to provide underserved communities with access to comprehensive health care services. Their passion for community health was fueled by their observations of significant gaps in health care accessibility and quality in these regions. The Seomaritan Initiative focuses on delivering essential medical services, health education, and preventive care, aiming to improve overall health outcomes and foster a healthier community.

Beyond addressing immediate health care needs, the Seomaritan Initiative is committed to shaping the future of health care by engaging and inspiring the next generation of health care professionals. The organization actively involves aspiring students in pre-health professions, providing mentorship and opportunities to explore careers in podiatry and osteopathic medicine. Through workshops, volunteer opportunities, and educational programs, David and Sarah Seo aim to cultivate a diverse and compassionate workforce that is well-equipped to continue their mission of reducing health care disparities. Their dedication to both community service and professional development ensures that the Seomaritan Initiative not only meets current health care challenges but also builds a sustainable foundation for future improvements.

Angela Tambunting Echiverri, M.D., MPH

2024 Diverse Physician Leadership Award

Angela Tambunting Echiverri, M.D., MPH, (she/they) is a first generation, queer person of color raised in Inglewood, CA, where her spirit of advocacy and roots in equity originated from witnessing her parents' sacrifices as Filipino immigrants. She is a family and community medicine physician practicing at the North Richmond Center for Health in Richmond, CA, and a core faculty member of the Contra Costa Family Medicine Residency Program, an affiliate of UC San Francisco, where she leads the program's work focused on diversity, equity, inclusion & anti-racism (DEIA). She has worked on addressing health inequities in historically marginalized and systemically excluded communities in various capacities, including developing pediatric literacy programs at the Venice Family Clinic, conducting research on health inequities at Charles R. Drew University, creating policy briefs and coalition-building around health workforce diversity at The Greenlining Institute and the California Health Professions Consortium, and mentoring young people as part of health career pathway programs.

Dr. Echiverri went to UCLA for college with a double major in Latin American Studies and Psychobiology, and completed a Master of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins focused on social behavioral sciences. Angela is an alumnus of the UCSF School of Medicine's Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US), and completed her residency training in Family and Community Medicine at UCSF / San Francisco General Hospital. After residency, she completed a two year service commitment as a National Health Service Corps Scholar and stayed on to provide primary care at the federally qualified health center (FQHC) where she loves to work with and for patients, families and communities at the margins in Contra Costa County.

Dr. Echiverri is passionate about providing quality and comprehensive care; addressing health inequities and achieving optimal health outcomes; strengthening health career pathways that expand opportunities for young people; recruiting and retaining a diverse health workforce, engaging in the critical learning and unlearning as part of our collective journey towards anti-racism; and cultivating spaces of belonging. She enjoys exploring neighborhoods and their local arts and food scene; works to disrupt racism and advocates for equity and justice; supports local artists and independent bookstores; loves ice cream; and finds joy in spending time with her partner and two-year old son.

Zainub Dhanani, M.S.

2024 California Medical Student Health Equity Leadership Award

Zainub Dhanani (she/her) is the Founder, President, and Board Chairwoman of Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MDSCI), a national nonprofit organization focused on disability advocacy and community within health care. Zainub is a medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she also received her Masters of Science in Health Policy. She has also completed training and scholarly work in health education, receiving an Honors Certificate in Health Professions Education and Scholarship from Stanford School of Medicine Teaching and Mentoring Academy. She will be graduating medical school in 2025.

Zainub is the founder of the annual Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine and has keen interest equitable design of health systems as well as wellness and belonging amongst health care professionals and trainees. Her research focuses on disability inclusion in medical education, bias mitigation in medical education and assessment systems, health care experiences and access for people with disabilities, the use of digital and telehealth interventions in improving access to care for vulnerable populations, and health equity in radiology education and imaging practices. Zainub was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2022, was a 2022 AAAS SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholar and a 2020 BNGAP Academic Medicine Writing Fellow. Most recently, she was selected as a recipient of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award for her work with MSDCI. She is deeply passionate about addressing health disparities for people with disabilities and underrepresentation of disability in health care professions. Outside of academia, Zainub is an avid baker and reader, and loves exploring in nature.

Bria L. Pettway, M.D.

2024 California Resident Health Equity Leadership Award

Bria Pettway, MD (she/her) is a fourth year Obstetrics & Gynecology resident at Kaiser Permanente- Oakland Medical Center. She is a Southern California native and received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of California, Riverside in Riverside, CA. She obtained her medical degree from the Charles R. Drew/ UCLA Medical Education Program in Los Angeles, CA. While in medical school, she found an unanticipated passion for women's health through various experiences that confirmed her desire to pursue obstetrics/gynecology as her field of choice. She started her residency at Kaiser Oakland in 2020 and has made Oakland her second home. She will be returning back to Southern California following residency to serve as an obstetrics/gynecology generalist in Fontana, CA (the very same hospital she was born in!) When not working in the hospital, she enjoys baking, trying new foods and activities, and making lifelong memories with families and friends.

Lynnea Morm, D.O.

2024 California young Physician Health Equity Leadership Award

Lynnea Morm, D.O. (she/her) is one of the core faculty in the AltaMed Family Medicine Residency Program and serves as the Faculty Lead for inpatient care. She is passionate about working with underserved communities, and continuity of care between the hospital and the clinic setting. Dr. Morm completed her medical education at Western University of Health Sciences, where she obtained her degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. She was at Harbor-UCLA for her Residency, where she also served as Chief Resident, she also completed a Fellowship in Faculty Development at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and has been working as a hospitalist.

Dr. Morm's special interests are in Street Medicine, pipeline programs and community outreach, including Refugee Health. She also serves as co-director for Refugee Health Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to migrants and refugees at the US-Mexico border. She has also spent time working in free clinics in Southern California and pipeline programs. Dr. Morm believes that health care is a basic human right and is committed to working towards health equity. She is passionate about community medicine and mentoring the next generation of health care professionals.