California HEAL Program

Araceli Garcia (she/her) is a behavioral health specialist and case manager rooted in the Eastern Coachella Valley, where she was born and raised. Growing up in a community shaped by economic and environmental injustice, Araceli witnessed firsthand how barriers like language, limited resources, and systemic inequities impact health. These experiences continue to guide her work today. 

A native Spanish speaker, Araceli is deeply committed to building trust with her patients by meeting them where they are and ensuring they feel seen, heard, and understood. In her work at a county clinic, she supports patients navigating complex challenges, including mental health needs and housing insecurity, while advocating for care that reflects the full realities of their lives. 

Araceli joined the California HEAL Program to strengthen her skills in serving resource-denied communities and to grow as a leader in community-based care. She is passionate about expanding access to culturally responsive mental health services and empowering patients to take an active role in their health and well-being in the Inland Empire and beyond. To do so, Araceli is committed to building her capacity to support her patients through HEAL and, in the future, pursuing a Master of Social Work. 

Cristina Musch, DMSc (she/her), is a physician assistant and Doctor of Medical Science serving rural California, where she provides care to immigrant and farmworker communities navigating significant barriers to health, including language access and a system that often overlooks their needs. Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, Cristina brings this firsthand experience to her work to connect culturally and linguistically with the communities she serves. For example, understanding that mental health is taboo in many immigrant communities, Cristina keeps an eye out for unreported mental health needs and thoughtfully offers services to support her patients. This has led to patients coming in with back pain and leaving with tools to address that and their undiagnosed anxiety.  

Cristina’s approach is rooted in trust, cultural humility, and meeting patients where they are. She also takes time to ensure patients understand their care and options, which includes walking them through treatment plans in Spanish or connecting individuals to resources they may not know exist. For Cristina, care doesn’t stop at an office visit; it’s about building relationships and advocating for patients for the long term. 

She joined the California HEAL Program to strengthen her ability to address the root causes of health inequities and to learn alongside a community committed to justice and community partnerships. Cristina is passionate about creating sustainable, community-driven solutions and mentoring the next generation of providers from underrepresented backgrounds. Cristina notes, “I envision a future where my patients don’t have to fight to be heard, where culturally competent care is the norm, not the exception.”

Growing up in San Diego and training across California, Dani Weiss, DO (they/them), witnessed how structural inequities and policy barriers can limit access to safe, dignified perinatal care, even in regions with plenty of healthcare resources. Their clinical interests include advancing prenatal safety, reproductive justice, autonomy, and equity for historically excluded communities, particularly migrant and farmworker communities in the Central Valley, where they will be working during their fellowship. 

Dani joined the California HEAL Fellowship to strengthen their skills as a clinician and advocate while helping build systems in which all birthing people can thrive. They are especially excited to partner with community leads and interdisciplinary teams in Fresno. In the future, Dani hopes to train physicians while providing full-spectrum obstetric care in low-resource settings across California.  

Edgar Geronimo Yap Jr., MD (he/him), is a second-generation Filipino-American dedicated to advancing health equity through the California HEAL Fellowship. He draws from a rich background of lived experiences—from his upbringing across California to his time living in Kuwait—to inform his clinical and advocacy work. While in undergrad at UC Berkeley, Edgar worked to empower youth from historically marginalized backgrounds, focusing on retention and success in higher education. He entered medical school with a clear vision for primary care and subsequently fell in love with Family Medicine. During medical school, he held several regional and national leadership roles, representing Filipino and Asian-Pacific American students and advocating for first-generation, low-income students. 

Edgar completed his residency at the University of California, San Diego, where he connected with the region’s large Filipino population through shared language and cultural understanding. A committed advocate for institutional change, he also served as a co-resident leader of the Diversity and Anti-Racism Committee. Throughout his residency, Edgar provided care across San Diego’s diverse landscapes, working with patients facing significant barriers to preventative care. 

As a California HEAL Fellow, Edgar is eager to continue his work in San Diego, collaborating with community partners to build healthcare systems that go beyond treating illness to actively support community resilience. Through this program, he aims to refine his skills in advocacy, leadership, and medical education to help patients and families navigate a healthcare system that remains foreign to many.

Inspired by her grandmother, a certified nurse-midwife and longtime advocate for maternal health, Indigo Gill, MD (she/her), became a doctor with a mission to advance Black birth equity and improve outcomes for Black birthing people, parents, and neonates/children. During residency, Indigo developed a strong foundation in primary care while cultivating her interest in high-risk peripartum care and intrapartum obstetrics. Her early training in public health and human nutrition continues to shape her approach to medicine, grounding her clinical work in community partnership, reflection, and justice.

Indigo joined the California HEAL Fellowship to gain dedicated mentorship and protected space to deepen her work in birth equity while serving resource-denied communities. Completing her residency at the University of California, San Francisco, Indigo is excited to continue caring for underserved populations in California and to grow as a clinician-advocate, committed to building more equitable and sustainable systems of care.

Lourdes Lopez (she/her) is a community health worker supervisor dedicated to ensuring families have access to the information, resources, and support they need to thrive. For more than 13 years, she has worked as a community health worker and home visitor, building trusted relationships with families and helping them navigate barriers to care through education, advocacy, and connection to services. 

Now serving as a supervisor for a team of community health and education workers, Lourdes continues this work by mentoring staff and strengthening the program to better meet community needs. Her approach is grounded in culturally responsive care, whether through health education, translation, or community outreach, always focused on empowering people to make informed decisions about their health. 

Lourdes joined the California HEAL Program to grow as a leader and expand her impact in community-based public health. She is especially passionate about advancing health equity and scaling community health and education worker programs to reach more communities, while building sustainable systems that support long-term care.

Misty Maggiore (she/her) has spent the past decade working in the substance use field, learning directly from the communities she served across rural California. Starting as a monitor and now a substance use navigator, Misty has seen firsthand how barriers to care in resource-denied communities impact individuals facing addiction, trauma, and mental health challenges. Her work with a mobile crisis team has been especially formative, meeting people in their most vulnerable moments and reinforcing her belief in compassionate, trauma-informed, and community-based care. 

She hopes to bring those lessons to the HEAL community. Additionally, Misty joined the California HEAL Program to gain leadership skills and pick up practical tools to create services that are more responsive to community needs. Currently pursuing her Master’s of Social Work, Misty is committed to honing her skills to expand accessible mental health and substance use care to underserved Fresno communities.

Nivedita Kar, MD, MS (she/her), is a pediatric global health physician dedicated to advancing health equity through compassionate, culturally responsive, and community-centered care. Grounded in both lived experience and clinical training, she believes excellent care begins with listening deeply, communicating clearly, and partnering with patients, communities, and families with humility, respect, and advocacy.

Dr. Kar completed her pediatric residency at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, where she graduated with distinction on the Global Health track. She earned her MD from California Northstate University College of Medicine, holds an MS in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from Northwestern University, and studied Statistics and Anthropology at UCLA.

Her work bridges clinical medicine, global health, advocacy, and policy. She has contributed to HIV policy and strategy efforts with UNAIDS in Geneva, represented pediatrics in government relations and health equity initiatives at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles, and held leadership roles throughout medical school and residency. Her experiences caring for Indigenous patients in Peru and working with Karen communities in Northern Thailand further strengthened her commitment to equitable care across diverse cultural and resource settings.

Dr. Kar is passionate about global health emergency response, child health equity, and the use of innovation and technology to strengthen care delivery across diverse settings. As a UCSF fellow, she hopes to continue growing as a physician-leader at the intersection of frontline care, systems change, and global equity.

Pavan Anand, MD (he/him), is a physician who believes health is not merely the absence of disease, but whether people have what they need physically, mentally, and socially to live well. Throughout his medical training, Pavan saw how poverty, lack of transportation, food insecurity, and other systemic barriers show up in exam rooms every day, shaping patients’ health long before they see a doctor. 

With a background in technology and computer science, Pavan is especially interested in systems-level solutions that connect people to care and essential services. He joined the California HEAL Fellowship to learn from mentors and community partners already tackling systemic challenges head-on, and to contribute his skills to initiatives that sustainably reduce health disparities. 

Pavan is committed to staying in the Inland Empire long after his fellowship and helping strengthen local systems of care so that everyone, regardless of background, has a fair chance at health and well-being.

From Irvine to Folsom to Berkeley and San Diego, Saba Rahman, MD’s (she/her), journey through California has given her a deep understanding of both the state’s rich diversity and the persistent disparities that define access to care. During her residency at UC San Diego, Saba witnessed firsthand how structural violence and resource denial impact patients and clinicians alike. These experiences solidified her dedication to practicing social medicine, pairing excellent clinical care with advocacy, systems change, and community partnership.

Saba joined the California HEAL Fellowship to work alongside clinicians who view advocacy as central to medicine, not optional. As a Fellow in the Inland Empire, she is eager to engage at the intersection of clinical care and public health, partnering with community organizations and local systems to help build sustainable, equity-driven models of care. She looks forward to contributing to a collective response driven by those most proximate to injustice in the state that shaped her.

Valerie Comeaux (she/her) is a Program Coordinator with more than 24 years of public health experience serving communities across the Inland Empire. Throughout her career with the Riverside University Health System – Public Health, she has worked on a variety of programs centered on expanding access to healthier foods for underserved communities, including CalFresh Healthy Living and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Programs.

Valerie’s passion for health equity began during her undergraduate studies, as an intern with the Black Infant Health Program (BIH) in Riverside County, which provides support for prenatal and postpartum care for Black women to improve birth outcomes and reduce maternal deaths. During the COVID -19 pandemic in 2021, she partnered with Feeding America, Riverside, and San Bernardino to implement the Food as Medicine Initiative, which provides low-income patients with food boxes at the Riverside University Health System (RUHS) Community Health Center in Moreno Valley. In her new role as the Program Coordinator with the Mindful Body and Recovery Program, an innovation grant housed within RUHS’s Behavioral Health Department. Valerie is working towards increasing program referrals by improving the electronic medical record referral pathway within the RUHS network, which includes Behavioral Health, Community Health Centers, Public Health, and the Medical Center.  

Valerie joined the California HEAL Program to build new skills and strengthen her impact as a healthcare systems leader. She is especially interested in advancing innovative, community-centered approaches to healthcare. Valerie hopes to advance to a senior leadership role within healthcare administration, either at the RUHS Medical Center or the Community Health Centers, to continue improving healthcare access and outcomes across underserved communities in the Inland Empire.

Veronica Maldonado (she/her) is a certified healthcare interpreter whose commitment to patient advocacy began at home as the daughter of immigrants. From a young age, Veronica served as her mother’s interpreter, navigating medical appointments, paperwork, and complex systems. This experience shaped her lifelong dedication to helping others feel seen, heard, and understood, and never taking “No” for an answer while advocating for her patients. 

With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare—including her background as a registered dental assistant—Veronica has centered her work on bridging language and cultural gaps in patient care. She has observed that patients tend to feel more at ease and communicate more openly during appointments when she provides in-person interpretation. This not only allows providers to better understand patients’ concerns, but also ensures patients receive the care they need. Beyond translation, Veronica goes above and beyond in her role. She has earned the trust of colleagues and management through her strong decision-making skills and consistently professional collaboration with clinical staff and residents. Her extensive experience is clearly reflected in the quality and effectiveness of her medical interpretation.

Veronica joined the California HEAL Program to grow alongside other mission-driven professionals and deepen her impact beyond the exam room. She is committed to strengthening communication, trust, and equity in healthcare, ensuring that, regardless of language, all patients can access care with dignity and confidence.

Born and raised in Fresno, California, Annie Chang’s passion for healthcare began in high school, where she volunteered over 200 hours at a medical center. Though she initially set out to follow in the footsteps of her sister-in-law and become a nurse, her experiences led her to public health, where she could address the root causes of health inequities and support communities through education and advocacy. 

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Health Science from Fresno State, she joined the Fresno County Department of Public Health, where she supported the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health division, particularly Fresno County’s Perinatal Equity Initiative. Now, as a lead in the county’s doula workforce expansion project, Annie is working to replicate HealthConnect One’s Community-Based Doula program to increase access to culturally responsive birth support services in underserved communities. 

As a California HEAL Fellow, Annie looks forward to learning from a community of like-minded leaders committed to advancing health equity. She hopes to strengthen her skills and deepen her impact, particularly in expanding access to doula services for Black and Brown birthing people in Fresno. Rediscovering her “why” in public health, Annie is committed to transforming maternal and infant health outcomes by bridging gaps between hospital providers and patients in the very community that shaped her. 

Chaia Vang was born in Thailand and immigrated to Fresno, California, with her family at the age of two. Raised in the Central Valley, Chaia understands the barriers that stand between many community members from accessing quality healthcare like language, transportation, stigma, and a complex insurance system. 

Chaia is a Substance Use Navigator at Community Regional Medical Center, where she began as a substance use navigator through the California Bridge program, supporting patients struggling with addiction during hospital visits and linking them to community treatment options. Her work quickly evolved as she became a mentor for other navigators and eventually served as the Navigator Engagement Coordinator with California Bridge, helping to expand and strengthen hospital-based substance use programs across the state. 

Through these roles, Chaia has built strong partnerships with treatment providers and community organizations while continuing to advocate for patients navigating complex health and social systems. As a California HEAL Fellow, she looks forward to connecting with a community of like-minded leaders, learning from their experiences, and growing into a more effective advocate for the Central Valley communities she serves.

Delia Silva, PsyD, MA, LMFT, LPCC, LAADC, was born and raised in California’s rural San Joaquin Valley, where she witnessed firsthand the stark health disparities that impact underserved communities there. Inspired by a deep desire to become a health care professional to give back to the communities that cared for her,  Dr. Silva became a licensed clinical psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed professional clinical counselor, and licensed advanced alcohol and drug clinician. She also holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, a master’s degree in psychology, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

Across clinical, community, and integrated care settings, she has dedicated her career to trauma-informed, culturally responsive care for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use challenges. Her doctoral research focused on disparities in diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias among Latinx adults in rural areas. She wishes to continue this work to promote equity at the intersection of behavioral health and primary care. 

Grounded in the belief that healing is rooted in relationship, narrative, and community, Dr. Silva hopes to use her HEAL experience to amplify the voices of historically underserved populations and drive innovative, community-based models of care.

Jackie Moreira was born and raised in Fontana, California, just outside Riverside County, to Latinx immigrants. Through first-hand experience and years of grassroots work with low-income Latinx and Indigenous Mexican immigrant communities in Riverside, Jackie witnessed systemic barriers that have led to historically poor health outcomes in these communities. As a community engagement project coordinator, Jackie has worked on initiatives addressing childhood obesity, Indigenous mental health, and culturally tailored nutrition education. Throughout her work, Jackie focuses on empowering communities to navigate and transform the systems that shape their health. 

Through leadership roles with the Coachella Valley Free Clinic and California CareForce, Jackie advocated for free dental and vision services in rural communities, organized community-led healthcare planning efforts, and encouraged clinical institutions to recognize and address systemic biases.

Jackie joins the California HEAL Program to grow as a leader who brings together communities and institutions to deepen their ability to co-create solutions with those most impacted by health problems. Her current work with Unidas por Salud, a partnership focused on community-driven health interventions in the Eastern Coachella Valley, continues to inform her commitment to culturally responsive and community-centered care. She looks forward to bringing together her community health experience and tools she gains from the program to build health systems that center justice and dignity for all patients.

Jennifer Romo, MD, witnessed her grandmother struggle to get quality care for her breast cancer because of her lack of health literacy and English proficiency. After her grandmother passed from her cancer, Jennifer dedicated her work to ensure no patient is left behind because of those same barriers. 

Now a Spanish-speaking family medicine physician at UCSF Fresno, Jennifer often hears from patients that, for the first time, they truly understand their chronic conditions, because they can discuss their health without a language barrier. She chose family medicine because it’s a specialty that never turns anyone away and has the power to offer care that is equitable, inclusive, and deeply human. 

During residency at Valley Health Team in Fresno, Jennifer cared for communities across the Central Valley that were drastically affected by physician shortages. Jennifer became a California HEAL Fellow to deepen her understanding of how to best care for underserved communities in low-resource settings. She plans to continue to deliver compassionate care while developing her ability to drive change at the health system level. 

For Jennifer, access to healthcare is a human right. With years of service and enduring relationships in the Central Valley, she is ready to expand her impact by helping build a healthcare system where no one is left behind. 

Raised in South Gate, CA and later in the rural town of Desert Shores, CA, Jesus Pacheco has always been surrounded by communities often overlooked by the healthcare system. At the age of 15, he began to follow his family tradition of community healing by studying natural healing practices including Reiki, Biomagnetic Therapy, and message. That early passion evolved into a career in health advocacy grounded in both cultural wisdom and community engagement. 

As a bilingual Community Health Worker (CHW) with Riverside University Health System, Jesus helps patients navigate the complex healthcare system, builds trust with Spanish-speaking families, and leads outreach programs focused on chronic disease prevention, mental health, and nutrition. His deep connection with his community allows him to bridge longstanding barriers to care such as language, misinformation, and systemic mistrust. 

Jesus joined the California HEAL Fellowship to grow as a leader and deepen his impact. He believes that the role of a CHW is about building trust, fostering empowerment, and advocating for meaningful change. He’s committed to mentoring the next generation of CHWs and championing healthcare access in the rural regions of California, where disparities are greatest and resources are scarce. 

Through his fellowship, Jesus hopes to expand mobile health services, dismantle stigma around healthcare, and promote culturally rooted, people-centered care. Jesus envisions a system where no one is afraid to seek care and every community, no matter how remote, has trusted guides to health and healing. 

John “Milo” Dover, MD, was born in Harbor City and raised in the High Desert communities of Adelanto and Apple Valley, California. Growing up in places where there are high barriers to health care, Milo knew that he wanted to become a doctor–one who not only treated patients well but also helped change the systems that consistently failed them. 

He earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees at UC Riverside, where he worked closely with programs to expand access to quality, culturally competent care, and health education. He also learned Spanish to deepen his ability to care for his predominantly Spanish-speaking community and to honor his own family’s roots in Mexico. 

Now a Family Medicine physician at Riverside University Health System, Milo works with a Free Clinic to deliver free medical care and connect patients with essential resources. Milo joined the California HEAL Program to learn how to best engage local communities and support them through public health projects tailored to their needs. He finds joy in discovering new ways to connect with the people he serves, whether through mapping out community resources or learning about an up-and-coming local artist. 

At just five years old, Esmeralda Martinez’s journey into healthcare began after a hospital visit sparked a lifelong interest in healing and helping. Growing up in a family who utilized one of the only free clinics in San Diego at the time, Esmeralda understands firsthand the barriers marginalized communities face in navigating the healthcare system. As a young adult, Esmeralda continued to explore her interest in healthcare by volunteering at the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic, where she witnessed care defined not by time limits but by compassion and dignity. Here, Esmeralda discovered social work and its power to advocate for patients beyond the exam room.

Currently pursuing a master’s in social work, Esmeralda is passionate about bridging the gap in mental health access, particularly for low-income and immigrant communities. Her goal is to become a licensed clinical social worker, offering therapy to those often left out of traditional care models while advocating for policy change that integrates mental health into broader healthcare systems.

Esmeralda joined the California HEAL Program to grow as a leader and advocate alongside a community of peers equally committed to equity. She is especially drawn to HEAL’s mission of transforming health care through service, solidarity, and structural change. In the future, Esmeralda envisions working at both the clinical and policy levels–providing direct care while helping shape a system where mental health is treated with the same urgency, accessibility, and respect as physical health.

Rosana Cobos was born and raised in Los Angeles, California growing up in the working-class city of Cudahy—a community shaped by resilience and Latinx culture. Rosana entered the workforce early, often putting the survival of her and her family ahead of school. But her want to grow her career never faded. When the COVID-19 Pandemic left her without a job, she saw a chance to invest in herself. With resources like financial aid, she returned to school, earned her AA in Human Services/Social Work, and began pursuing certification as an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Counselor.

Today, Rosana works on the Enhanced Care Management Team at Riverside University Health System, where she helps patients navigate the complex healthcare system and connects them to critical community and state resources. Rosana experienced firsthand the barriers that patients in SoCal face—language, access, bureaucracy—and is more compassionate and encouraging to her patients because of it. 

As a California HEAL Fellow, Rosana is eager to strengthen her interpersonal skills and build deeper, more trusting relationships with her patients. She also wants to continue to grow professionally, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree. Ultimately in her work, Rosana wants the communities she serves in Riverside County, no matter their background, to have the tools to lead healthier, more self-reliant lives.

Ruth Wang, MD is a first-generation Taiwanese American from San Diego, California, where she grew up in a multilingual immigrant household. Witnessing the health inequities in her hometown—from high rates of homelessness to the struggles faced by immigrant and border communities—inspired her to pursue a career in medicine.

She studied biology, neuroscience, and Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh, then taught high school biology in Las Vegas through Teach For America while earning her master’s in education. She went on to attend medical school at UC San Diego and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Throughout her training, Ruth pursued work aligned with her commitment to equity, including global health experiences in Mexico, South Africa, and Peru, leadership in civic engagement and voter registration projects, and advocacy for language-concordant care. She is particularly interested in tropical medicine, border health, and immigrant health.

Ruth joined the HEAL fellowship to continue serving resource-denied communities while growing as a clinician-advocate and systems-level thinker. She is especially looking forward to returning home to San Diego, working alongside interdisciplinary colleagues, and building lasting partnerships through HEAL’s immersive and justice-driven model.