Biographies

2005 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award Honorees

Elia V. Gallardo

As director of government affairs at the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), Elia V. Gallardo plays a critical role in advancing the interests of more than 600 California community clinics and health centers and the many patients they serve. At CPCA, Gallardo successfully advocated on behalf of a loan repayment program for culturally and linguistically competent physicians and dentists working in underserved areas and is assisting health care professionals from other countries who want to continue their work in the United States.

Before joining CPCA, Gallardo worked with the Organización en California de Líderes Campesinas, which trains women farmworkers to conduct peer-health education. Based on this experience and her personal history, Gallardo is committed to including new voices and experiences in the delivery of health care and in the formulation of policy. She has provided analysis and testimony to the California Health Manpower Policy Commission, and technical assistance on programs, policies and legislation impacting the diversity of the health professions to legislative offices, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Health Services, the Language Access Advocacy Coalition, and the Latino Health Alliance.

Born in Livermore, California, Gallardo is the daughter of monolingual Spanish-speaking farmworkers and was raised in Fremont before attending UC Berkeley and graduating from the UCLA School of Law. She currently serves on the boards of Farmworker Health Services, Inc. and the California Institute of Rural Studies and contributes to the Northern California Rural Roundtable by providing legislative and policy updates.

Sherry M. Hirota

For nearly 30 years, Sherry M. Hirota has worked to improve the health of underserved communities by diversifying the health care workforce. Chief executive officer of Asian Health Services (AHS) since 1982, Hirota has been instrumental in advancing the concepts of linguistic and cultural competence. Under her leadership, the AHS budget has increased from $100,000 with a staff of nine to $16 million with a staff of 160; 99 percent of whom speak both English and at least one additional language.

In addition to her work at AHS, Hirota helps promote the emerging professions of health care interpreters and community health workers. Nationally, she has been instrumental in the development of several organizations which promote policies and programs that improve the health status of Asians and Pacific Islanders. Hirota is a board member of the Community Health Centers Network and the Alameda Health Consortium, and is an Emeritus Member of the board of The California Endowment. Her numerous awards and commendations include Outstanding Woman of the Year in Health-Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame, Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award, and Woman of the Year for the 16th Assembly District of California.

Born in Berkeley, California, Hirota worked with different Asian ethnic communities as a community organizer in the late 1960s, and helped develop an Asian women’s center in Los Angeles before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area. Hirota lives in the East Bay near her three children and two grandchildren.

Martin Waukazoo

Martin Waukazoo’s vision of a healthier community has inspired many young Native Americans to pursue careers in the health professions. Chief executive officer of the Native American Health Center (NAHC), which serves diverse Native tribes as well as all other underserved communities, Waukazoo’s leadership helped the organization grow from a budget of $827,000 and a staff of 14 to a budget of nearly $14 million and a staff of 170. The Oakland-based organization has clinics in San Francisco and Sacramento, and has helped launch a clinic in Fresno. NAHC is now one of the country’s largest providers of health care and prevention services to the urban Indian community.

Waukazoo has created many innovative programs to increase the diversity of the health workforce. NAHC ‘s Youth Services Department encourages at-risk Native American youth to pursue secondary education and motivates young people to enter the health professions. Waukazoo has also established partnerships with a variety of educational institutions, and NAHC has hosted numerous medical residents. In addition, Waukazoo has developed a health center training certificate program that integrates the working world of the community health practice with a ladder to academic and business training.

Raised in Rapid City, South Dakota, Waukazoo, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Lakota Tribe, graduated from Black Hills State University before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area. Waukazoo currently resides in San Leandro with his wife and near his three children and two grandchildren. He serves as a cultural advisor and elder in the community health care movement.