Lake Avenue Community Foundation STARS Program Hosts

Dr. America Bracho, president and CEO of Latino Health Access, will visit the STARS program of Pasadena-based Lake Avenue Community Foundation on Dec. 6 to meet with STARS students and parents interested in a career in health. The group will also meet Dr. Eric Walsh, director of the Pasadena Public Health Department.

Bracho was featured prominently in the four-part HBO series, “The Weight of the Nation,” made in conjunction with the Institute of Medicine, which offered an alarming look at the problem of obesity in America. Also, Latino Health Access, a center for health promotion and disease prevention in Santa Ana, California, was created under Bracho’s leadership to assist with the health needs of Latinos in Orange County.

Bracho worked as a physician in her native Venezuela for several years, then came to the U.S. to obtain a Master’s Degree in Public Health at the University of Michigan.

For four years after completing her Master’s program, she created and directed the AIDS projects for Latino family Services in Detroit. The program integrated HIV education programs, job services, parenting classes, women’s health services, drug treatment and more.

She serves as a consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization, as hostess of a daily radio talk show; she has appeared on television about health related topics and is a newspaper columnist.

For more information, visit www.lakeavefoundation.org.