Biographies

2008 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award Honorees

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.

She co-authored the proposal that established the SEE program in 1986 and has been its director since its inception. Barrena is also the lead project director for the California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP), a statewide effort funded by the National Science Foundation and dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented minority students graduating from CSU campuses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Born in New York, Barrena received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Long Island University, Brooklyn, and has a master’s degree and a doctorate in zoology (physiology) from Iowa State University, Ames. She received her JD from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and was admitted to the California State Bar in 2001. She has received numerous awards, including the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics’ Outstanding Teacher and Outstanding Service awards, the CSUS Chicano/Latino Alumni Association’s Outstanding Faculty Member, and CSUS’s Livingston Lecturer Award.

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).

Hayes-Bautista established CSLAC, which houses his research and provides an important resource for medical students, health care providers and public health officials working to care for Latino patients. He is also the director of Drew Center, which is dedicated to increasing the number of minority physicians in clinical and academic careers. He serves as a faculty advisor for the UCLA/Drew chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association and Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine. Hayes-Bautista created the Medicos Para El Pueblo/Medical Professional Education Program (MedPEP), which works with community colleges from Fresno to Cerritos. He is also senior advisor to the California Latino Medical Association.

Hayes-Bautista received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree and a doctorate in medical sociology from the University of California, San Francisco. He has produced more than 80 publications, including books, monographs, peer-reviewed articles and editorials. He has received more than 50 commendations for his work, including the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Health Sciences Eagle Award, the Surgeon General’s Hispanic/Latino Health Initiative Certificate, and the Gallagher Lecturer award from the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

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.

With a strong commitment to increasing diversity in the health workforce, Squires-Grohe started programs ranging in fields from radiologic technology and diagnostic imaging to phlebotomy and certified nursing assistant. She believes community colleges reach their potential only when they collaborate with other partners such as community-based organizations, educational and governmental organizations, health care employers, unions and high schools. She helped develop Community Health Works, a partnership between City College and San Francisco State University, which aims to eliminate health inequalities through education, training, research and advocacy. She has also been instrumental in the development of the Welcome Back Program, which helps foreign-born health professionals find new careers and employment in U.S. health care fields.

Squires-Grohe received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech communications from California State University, San Jose. A native San Franciscan, she serves on the Stonestown Family YMCA Board of Managers, the program committee of the WIB/Private Industry Council, and the Mayor’s Office of Community Development’s Citizens Committee on Community Development.