RFHC’s Director of Health Education and Prevention Programs, Belinda Hernandez, is one of 26 emerging leaders in community health that were selected from a field of 200 to be in the inaugural class of the Clinic Leadership Institute, sponsored by the Blue Shield of California Foundation.

Belinda, born and raised in the agricultural migrant town of Salinas, California, is a first generation Mexican American. She is the first in her family to attend college. She graduated from UCLA and then went on to earn a Master’s degree from the School of Social Welfare, Management and Planning at UC Berkeley. She holds a certificate of distinction in Project Management from UC Berkely.

Over the past 10 years, Belinda has worked in the public health and social welfare sectors as well as in nonprofit community health. Her experience includes the planning and implementation of social marketing campaigns at the county and community level. In the past two years, she has created RFHC’s Health Education department which now has12 staff members. She is responsible for directing all aspects of health education, including chronic disease education and case management, breast health, prenatal, oral health education, and community outreach. She is RFHC’s primary liaison for community partnerships and collaborations such as Get Fit EPA, the East Palo Alto Community Health Roundtable, and the Get Health San Mateo County Taskforce.