LBHI is dedicated to enhancing behavioral health services to the Latino community in America. We believe that education empowers consumers, families, providers, administrators and all other stakeholders of behavioral health. LBHI conducts a number of learning opportunities to those groups listed above. Collaboration with others interested in Latino behavioral health is critical to our mission.
Our Board of Directors participation in various organizations affirms this commitment. This includes:
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Ambrose Rodriguez, CEO and Founder of LBHI serves on the Board of Trustees of the ASHP. LBHI has worked closely with ASHP in organizing and hosting Hispanic Scientific Psychiatry meetings in Santa Fe, New Mexico, New Orleans, Louisiana and Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Currently, LBHI is assisting ASHP in planning its meeting in San Francisco, California. LBHI has enjoyed a wonderful collaborative relationship with the current ASHP President, Pedro Delgado, M.D., of Cleveland Ohio, and its past president, José Canive, M.D. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and other collaborative.The organizing committee of the SAMHSA sponsored “Hispanic Congreso” defined a national mental health agenda under the leadership of Rosa M. Gil, Ph.D. of New York and Josie Romero, M.S.W., of California.Ambrose was also a member of the organizing committee of the SAMHSA sponsored Hispanic congress. |
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Alex Kopelowicz, M.D., President of LBHI is Medical Director of the San Fernando Mental Health Center, a community mental health center located in Los Angeles County. He is also Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA School of Medicine. He is also on the board of the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN). The NHSN is under the leadership of Jose Szapocznik, Ph.D. of Florida, and promises to be a rich source of information on Latino behavioral health care. Dr. Kopelowicz is also a member of The Executive Board of Director’s of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (ASHP). He has written a number of articles and book chapters on biobehavioral treatment and psychiatric rehabilitation, and is a frequent lecturer on these subjects at the local, state and national levels. |
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Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Fresno. He trained both as Medical Doctor at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico (1977) and obtained a Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) in Clinical-Community Psychology at Vanderbilt University in the United States (1986). He did post doctoral studies in clinical and health services research at the University of California, San Francisco I the United Stated (1987). He is the on-site Principal Investigator of the Mexican American Prevalence and Services Survey (MAPSS), the largest mental health study conducted in the U.S. on Mexican Americans. He is also the Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Health Organization’s (WYO) World Mental Health (WMH) project that entails conducting general population epidemiologic surveys of mental, substance use, and behavioral disorders in over 20 countries worldwide. His research deals with minority mental health (e.g., prevalence of mental disorders, risk and protective factors, mental health service utilization patterns, access to care, and treatment outcome), cross-national comparative epidemiologic research on patterns and correlates of psychiatric disorders in general population samples, and applications of standardized psychiatric diagnostic instruments. He is on the Editorial Board for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). He is a member of the World Health Organization’s International, Consortium in Psychiatric Epidemiology (ICPE) and the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning (ICF, formerly called ICIDH-2) Spanish-speaking Network on Disabilities (Red de Habla y Cultura Hispana en Discapacidades; RHHD). He is also a Quality Assurance Advisor of WHO’s World Health Surveys. |
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MaJose Carrasc, MPAis the director of the Multicultural Action Center (MAC) at NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where she oversees the organization’s internal diversity and cultural competence efforts as well as its public initiatives to address disparities in mental healthcare and increase mental health awareness and education for diverse communities.Ms. Carrasco is co-author, with Dr. Annelle Primm of the American Psychiatric Association, of In Living Color: Depression Treatment in Primary Care Settings, a three-hour education program for primary healthcare providers. Additionally, she has co-authored several multicultural guides and reports.
In addition to her work at NAMI, Ms. Carrasco also serves on numerous boards and committees including the board of directors for the Latino Behavioral Health Institute (LBHI) and the National Latino Behavioral Health Association (NLBHA) where she currently serves as Secretary; the Steward Group of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Network to Eliminate Disparities (NNED), the External Workgroup of the Center for Mental Health Services’ (CMHS) Eliminating Mental Health Disparities Initiative; and the advisory boards of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research and the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health. Ms. Carrasco is the recipient of the 2007 Award for Mental Health Advocacy for the Association of Hispanic Mental Health Professionals and the 2009 Award for Excellence in Hispanic Advocacy and Leadership, National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Truman State University and her Master’s degree in Public Administration, Nonprofit Management from George Mason University. |
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Javier I. Escobar, M.D. is Professor and Chairman at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. Dr. Escobar has had a number of relevant national and international assignments.
Dr. Escobar has been an active researcher in the areas of clinical psychopharmacology, psychiatric epidemiology, psychiatric diagnosis and cross-cultural medicine and psychiatry. Currently he is the Principal Investigator of several projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health in the areas of Treatment of Somatoform Disorders, Epidemiology of Mental Disorders and development and mentoring of new psychiatric researchers. |
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Pablo Hernandez, M.D. has been the Hospital Administrator at the Wyoming State Hospital since 1995. On June 1, 1997 he was appointed as the Behavioral Health Division Administrator (now known as the Mental Health Division) for the Wyoming Department of Health, which encompasses the State Hospital and the State’s community |
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Ed Viramontes is the Executive Director of El Centro de Amistad, with over thirty-five years of service in building strong kids, strong families and strong communities throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. He has a bachelor’s degree in education and a secondary provisional teaching credential from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, where he attended school on a football scholarship. Mr. Viramonetes also attended the University of LaCross, Wisconsin where he received an Exercise Fitness Specialist Certification on behalf of the Westside Family YMCA. He was a young professional abroad for the International YMCA. His assignment was to develop fitness education and cardiac rehabilitation for the YMCA of Santiago, Chile in 1976. Upon his return Mr. Viramontes, along with his local YMCA duties, was a Western Regional Trainer for Youth and Seniors. |
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Larry Gasco, Ph.D. is currently the Project Director of the National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse’s (NAPAFASA) Problem Gambling Prevention Technical Assistance and Training project and is the Vice Chairman of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission. Prior to this he served as the Director of the Roybal Family Mental Health Center in East Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County American Indian Counseling Center (AICC). He is an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation. In addition to extensive experience in administering mental health programs, Dr. Gasco worked for ten years with the Los Angels County Drug Abuse Office specializing in drug abuse planning and contract administration and contract program monitoring. Prior to being Director of AICC, Dr. Gasco worked for ten years in the Los Angeles County Office of AIDS Program and Policy where he served in various capacities including establishing the contract monitoring system and managing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Pilot Prevention Grant. Dr. Gasco is currently a member of the Boards of Directors for the Center for Health Policy Development in San Antonio, Texas and the Alcohol and Drug Problems Association of North America in addition to serving on boards of local agencies. |
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