Meet our Co-Directors
Dr. Katherine Flores
Dr. Flores received her undergraduate degree at Stanford University and her medical degree from the University of California, Davis. Her professional career has been as a family physician in a bilingual private practice in Fresno, CA, which serves families from widely varying economic and ethnic backgrounds. Dr. Flores is an Associate Professor in Family Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and the Director of the UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research (LaCMER), in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.
For over 30 years, she has been active in developing and overseeing programs that recruit and retain underrepresented youth into the health professions. Her collaboration with multiple partners established a comprehensive health careers pathway program in California’s Central Valley, targeting culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse youth. The goal of these programs is to academically enrich, nurture and support youth in middle school, high school and throughout college to assure their academic success and ultimate acceptance into health professional schools.
Dr. Flores also worked over 15 years with the border communities of California to develop a myriad of programs to better train and educate health professionals at all levels to work with immigrant health issues. She also serves with several organizations that support health workforce development such as the California Endowment Board of Directors, the California Blue Shield Foundation Board of Directors, and the California Health Workforce and Training Council with the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
Through her work in developing health professions pipeline programs for underrepresented students, Dr. Flores and others jointly formed the California Health Professions Consortium (CHPC) to explore the development of a statewide strategy to address increasing the diversity of the healthcare workforce. CHPC has since grown to include many stakeholders with similar interests.
Jeffrey S. Oxendine
Jeff Oxendine, MBA, MPH has been a health executive, educator, author, consultant, and coach for over 35 years. Jeff is currently a leader in health workforce and diversity, the CEO of Health Career Connection, a healthcare consultant, and Director of Health Workforce and Diversity at the UC Berkeley Center for Healthcare Innovation and Organizational Research (CHOIR).
Jeff’s passion is inspiring and empowering students and health professionals to discover and achieve their authentic health career dreams, lead happy and fulling lives, and optimize their impact on the health of individuals and communities. He does this as an author, speaker, and coach, and as Founder and CEO of Health Career Connection (HCC), a national nonprofit that empowers undergraduate students throughout California, New York, New England, North Carolina, Nashville, and Washington, DC. He is the author of the new book You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor: Discover, Achieve and Enjoy Your Authentic Health Career.
Jeff recently served as Co-Director of the California Future Health Workforce Commission from 2017 to February 2019. He co-led design, planning, and support of the Commission’s work to develop an actionable statewide health workforce strategy for California. He is now engaged in efforts to advance Commission recommendations.
At UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Jeff was the Co-Faculty Director of the Undergraduate Public Health Major., He also served as Associate Dean of Public Health Practice for 12 years and as a faculty member in Health Policy and Management for 16 years. Jeff founded and directed the Center for Public Health Leadership and Practice, which provides students with comprehensive career, professional, and leadership development services.
Prior to his roles at Berkeley, Jeff was a senior executive for 20 years in leading Bay Area and Boston hospitals and medical groups. He was a Lecturer in Health Management t for five years at Harvard School of Public Health.
Paz Delsid
CHPC Coordinator
Born and raised in Fresno, California, Paz Delsid is the CHPC Coordinator. Her role is to coordinate the efforts of the California Health Professions Consortium and assist leadership. She also is the Administrative Officer for the UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Educaiton and Research. Passionate about helping students attain their educational and professional goals, she is excited to work with a multitude of programs to advance health professional careers in the Central Valley and California. She earned her Associate of Arts degree at Fresno City College and a Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration Organizational Leadership from Fresno Pacific University. Having worked in education for many years, she has had roles at a charter schools and with school libraries to consult, conduct training workshops and supporting their program goals. She loves pink and abhors squirrels. Life is sometimes too busy to cozy up with a traditional book, so she reads subtitles, articles, blogs, and picture books all the time.