José Ramón Fernández-Peña, MD, MPA – Is the director of Health Professions Advising at Northwestern University where he leads the university's efforts to support students interested in pursuing careers in the health sector.
  
Previously, Dr. Fernández-Peña was an Associate Professor (now Emeritus) and the Associate Chair in the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University where his work focused on health workforce diversity and cross-cultural communication in health.  Prior to this, he worked at Mission Neighborhood Health Center in San Francisco as director of Health Education, where he managed the health education programs in the HIV, Adult Medicine, Women’s, and Teen clinics. Before arriving in California, he was an associate director for quality management at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City.
 
He is the founder and executive director of the Welcome Back Initiative (WBI), a program to assist immigrant health professionals already living in the U.S. through the necessary steps to enter the U.S. health workforce. In 2010, the program was recognized by the Maytree Foundation as one of the world’s 15 most successful programs for immigrant integration. In 2011, it received the E Pluribus Unum prize from the Migration Policy Institute. He has advised the White House Domestic Policy Council on the economic integration of foreign-trained professionals and has served as an expert panelist on this topic at national and international forums.   In 2011, he received the “Champion of Change” award from the Obama White House for his work on immigrant integration, and “Champion of Health Professions Diversity” award from The California Wellness Foundation.

He is currently the President Elect of the American Public Health Association (APHA) where has also served as the chairperson of the Executive Board, the Action Board, co-chair of the Joint Policy Committee. In 2012, he received the Henry J Montes President’s Award from APHA's Latino Caucus for his work with the Latino community.
 
Dr. Fernández-Peña earned his medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and his masters’ degree in public administration from New York University.