Our Leadership

As Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer and President of the AltaMed Foundation, Zoila D. Escobar oversees corporate communications, branding, development, patient experience, culture and language, human resources, facilities management & development, government relations, and strategic planning and execution at AltaMed Health Services. A prolific fundraiser, her fund development experience dates back to 1984 at the American Cancer Society (ACS) as Director of Development for Special Populations. While at ACS, Ms. Escobar also helped develop national policy in uterine and breast cancer screening, smoking cessation, and HIV/AIDS for Spanish-speaking populations. Some of her most important contributions include helping change attitudes around philanthropic giving in the Latino community and steering an employee giving effort to engage 100% of the AltaMed workforce.

Ms. Escobar has a long and illustrious history focusing on AIDS awareness and prevention, with positions including Program Director of the first Latinas and AIDS program in Los Angeles County, with AIDS Project Los Angeles; and Clinic Administrator for HIV Services at the UCLA Family Planning Clinic. Ms. Escobar was also involved in policy work that led to the Ryan White Act's development and played a role in the inclusion of HIV/AIDS in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Additionally, Ms. Escobar also has HIV International experience working with the World Hemophilia Federation and the World Health Organization.

Ms. Escobar currently sits on the University of La Verne board of trustees, the California Health Care Foundation board, and the American Nurses Foundation.

A graduate of the University of La Verne, Ms. Escobar holds an Ed.D., MBA, and B.S. in Health Services Administration.

Education:
Ed.D., University of La Verne
MBA, University of La Verne
B.S. Health Services Administration, University of La Verne

In July 2020, Dr. Cristian Rico was named Chief Medical Officer of Health Services at AltaMed. In this role, he oversees AltaMed’s medical leadership, encompassing areas such as telehealth, women’s health, quality and population health, and complex care. Dr. Rico previously served as AltaMed’s Vice President of Medical Groups, overseeing the recruitment and performance of providers at all primary clinics, dental services, and HIV services. Dr. Rico also serves as an AltaMed media spokesperson, often offering subject matter expertise on a variety of topics, including the Affordable Care Act, culturally competent care, medically underserved areas and community needs. He joined AltaMed’s Executive Governance Leadership Committee in August 2019.

A native of Southern California, Dr. Rico has dedicated his career to the underserved communities of East Los Angeles by improving quality, patient experience and satisfaction, and access to care. He joined AltaMed Health Services as a staff physician in 2004, served as Medical Director for AltaMed Medical and Dental Group — El Monte from 2005 to 2010, and served as Regional Medical Director (RMD) for Los Angeles County from 2010 to 2015.

As an RMD, Dr. Rico’s first task was to improve medical provider recruitment. He was able to create an efficient and sustainable process to recruit competent providers with desirable attributes, and identify emerging leaders who have gone on to become medical and regional medical directors. He has also worked with several medical, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant schools to provide students with firsthand experience in community medicine at AltaMed.

Education:
M.D., Charles R. Drew/UCLA School of Medicine 
B.S., Biology, University of California, Riverside

In July 2020, Dr. Efrain Talamantes was named Chief Operations Officer of Health Services at AltaMed. For the two years prior, he served as Medical Director for the AltaMed Institute for Health Equity (AIHE) and Medical Education, leading health services and community-partnered research and training to advance health equity and medical education at AltaMed. Under Dr. Talamantes’ leadership, the Institute received Patient Centered Outcomes Research funding, enabling a community partnership that has informed AltaMed’s research priorities. Dr. Talamantes also serves as the inaugural Designated Institutional Officer (DIO) for the AltaMed Graduate Medical Education Committee and as a member of AltaMed’s Executive Governance Leadership Committee.

Dr. Talamantes has been critical in re-designing all of AltaMed’s Medical Education programs, including the Health Resource Services Administration Health Careers Opportunity Program. As DIO, he led the application process for Accreditation Council or Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation. He is also involved in curriculum design and faculty training for AltaMed’s Family Medicine Residency Program. In addition, he is focused on developing methods to best support evidence-based practice, including the use of an electronic medical records system (Epic) implemented in 2019. Dr. Talamantes, the Institute, and AltaMed’s Medical Education teams are dedicated to creating various provider training tools, workshops, and modules to eliminate health disparities.

Dr. Talamantes previously served as Associate Director for the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. He also co-directed the Center for a Diverse Healthcare Workforce (CDHW), is the co-founder of MiMentor.org, and leads initiatives throughout the country to enhance leadership and diversity in the health care workforce.

Education:
MSc. David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles
MBA. Emory University Goizueta Business School
B.S. Psychobiology, University of California, Los Angeles

Raymond Lowe joined AltaMed Health Services in January 2018 as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. He is an accomplished healthcare Information Systems (IS) & Information Technology (IT) executive with extensive experience in complex system delivery and operations. At AltaMed, he is responsible for all aspects of IS and IT for the organization, including strategy, innovation, delivery, operations, cybersecurity, data reporting, health plan and clinical applications, and merger and acquisition activities.

Among his many accomplishments at AltaMed, Mr. Lowe has been integral in the organization’s clinical systems transformation from the legacy system to EPIC, implementing the new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) platform system-wide, while meeting strict timeline and budgetary parameters. He also spearheaded the establishment of foundational infrastructure, cybersecurity enhancements, and application stabilization required to support the enterprise organization.

Prior to joining AltaMed, Mr. Lowe spent several years with Dignity Health as their Senior Director of Technology and Infrastructure. There he was responsible for the strategic design and delivery of IT transformation and optimization, including their Data Center, Network Consolidation, Unified Communication, and application rationalization. He also served as the Senior Director of Clinical Applications and Implementations for the Cerner EMR at seven Dignity Health hospitals.

Mr. Lowe has more than 20 years of knowledge and experience in healthcare IS/IT leadership including roles with Providence Health Services’ California Region and as Chief Information Officer for Kaiser Permanente Information Technology – Los Angeles Metro Area. Throughout his career, Mr. Lowe has been recognized with such distinguished honors as Becker’s 100 Top CIOs to Watch in 2019 and 2020, and BT150’s Most Transformational Leaders in 2019 among other noted recognitions.

Education:
M.S. Engineering Management, University of Southern California
B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California

Berenice Núñez Constant is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Civic Engagement at AltaMed Health Services Corporation. In 2017, she joined AltaMed as Vice President of Government Relations, leading legislative and policy advocacy strategies to advance state initiatives to eliminate disparities in health care access and outcomes. Ms. Núñez Constant also helped spearhead the formation of AltaMed’s Civic Engagement Program, inclusive of the My Vote. My Health. campaign, as well as a campaign to boost Census 2020 participation. In her current role, Ms. Núñez Constant continues to lead policy and civic engagement initiatives aimed at impacting the social determinants affecting many of AltaMed’s patients and communities, and engaging communities in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the electoral process.

Collectively, Ms. Núñez Constant has nearly 20 years of experience in the health care sector, working at both federal and state levels to support the health care needs of underserved populations. Prior to joining AltaMed, she worked with Molina Healthcare, Inc., one of our nation’s largest health plans. There, she served as Associate Vice President of Government Contracts, leading regulatory and advocacy strategies to initiate and advance state and federal initiatives to support the health care needs of underserved populations enrolled or eligible to enroll in government sponsored programs. She also supported new business development expansion opportunities in current and prospective markets nationally. Further, she established the company’s Latino legislative advocacy strategy to promote and advance policies for Latinos within Molina’s national advocacy agenda.

In 2010, Ms. Núñez Constant was a recipient of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Health Policy Graduate Fellowship. She also serves on various boards, coalitions, and committees, including the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, and the SELA Collaborative, and was appointed to the State of California’s Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee in 2019.

Education:
B.A., Sociology, California State University, Long Beach
MPH, University of California, Los Angeles

Seema Kamal serves as AltaMed’s General Counsel, advising AltaMed executive leadership on the company’s strategic initiatives and providing legal counsel to the AltaMed Board of Directors. Ms. Kamal joined AltaMed in December 2018, as Vice President, Corporate Counsel. In this role, she provided support to AltaMed’s Human Resources and Compliance and Risk Management departments, as well as the AltaMed Health Network and Altura Management Services.

Seema Kamal serves as AltaMed’s General Counsel, advising AltaMed executive leadership on the company’s strategic initiatives and providing legal counsel to the AltaMed Board of Directors. Ms. Kamal joined AltaMed in December 2018, as Vice President, Corporate Counsel. In this role, she provided support to AltaMed’s Human Resources and Compliance and Risk Management departments, as well as the AltaMed Health Network and Altura Management Services.

Ms. Kamal has more than 20 years of advisory experience in health care, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and board governance, and more. Prior to joining AltaMed, she served as Director of Litigation with a southern California law firm, managing a team that provided regulatory and strategic guidance to clients like Tenet Healthcare, Dignity Health, Prime Healthcare, USC, and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center. Previously, she spent six years as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer with Avanti Hospitals (now Pipeline Health), a hospital network with 500 beds, and served as a health care attorney in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Phoenix, Arizona before moving to Los Angeles in 2008.

Ms. Kamal serves as the Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Healthcare Law Executive Committee. Before launching her legal career, she was a collegiate national champion, provincial record holder, and a sponsored member of the Canadian National Track and Field Team, competing internationally for over a decade.

Education:
J.D. University of Saskatchewan, Canada
B.Sc. Adv., Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Bihu Sandhir was appointed Chief Quality Control Officer for AltaMed in October 2022. Dr. Sandhir is a Physician Executive with more than 25 years of health care experience. She brings a proven track record in leading medical teams in care transformation towards Value Based Care and Population health. As a national expert in Medicare, quality, healthcare optimization, innovation, and population health, she has earned multiple honors and frequently served as a distinguished speaker. What sets her apart is her ability to transform vision into reality and bridge the gap between practicing providers and executive leadership in medical groups. She has successfully built external partnerships and advanced efficient internal team-based care, all while providing outstanding care for complex high risk geriatric patients in a population health model.

Education:
Doctor of Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery (MBBS), MS Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore, India