The California Wellness Foundation is proud to honor its 2008 Champions of Health Professions Diversity awardees. Each will receive a $25,000 grant acknowledging his commitment to increasing diversity in the health professions.

Juanita Barrena
Since becoming a faculty member at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), in 1975, Juanita Barrena has played a pivotal role in promoting diversity in health care in California. She has helped students statewide improve access to health care in underserved communities through her advocacy efforts and her many leadership positions, including department chair and chair of the faculty senate. Barrena is currently a professor of biological sciences and director of the Science Educational Equity (SEE) program, which provides academic support in an effort to redress inequities in access to higher education and careers in health and sciences.

David Hayes-Bautista
An internationally recognized researcher on the culture and health of Latinos, David Hayes-Bautista is also a teacher and mentor to underrepresented minority students. He is currently a professor of medicine and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture (CSLAC) at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Linda Squires-Grohe
A staunch believer in the power of community-college education, Linda Squires-Grohe has led efforts to create, develop and expand 24 health-occupation programs that graduate more than 430 students each year, the majority of whom are from underrepresented minority communities. Working within the community-college system for close to 40 years in a variety of roles, she has served for more than a decade as dean of the School of Health & Physical Education and as dean of the John Adams Campus at San Francisco City College. Squires-Grohe taught at California State University, Humboldt, before joining the City College faculty.