Carmen Rita Nevarez, MD, MPH

Carmen Nevarez’s service at Public Health Institute (PHI) spanned 25 years during which she served as senior vice president, external relations and preventive medicine, a senior executive position she held from 1998 to 2021. Nevarez directed PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact (CHLI) from 2011 to 2023. She currently acts as senior advisor. She is also the founder of Dialogue4Health.org (D4H). 

Nevarez is a public health practice thought leader with over 40 years of experience currently working on collaborative leadership development for solving complex problems. As senior advisor at CHLI, she supports its Overdose Prevention Network (OPN) and California Accelerator programs that advance best practices in overdose prevention and response among local coalitions, building their capacity to function as learning and accountable organizations. She also advises CHLI’s National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH), and strives to advance health equity by increasing the capacity of leaders (1,627 globally to date) to transcend boundaries, work collaboratively, and transform their communities. 

Nevarez has experience across a broad variety of positions including public health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, community health, clinical services, advocacy and national organizations, serving as clinician administrator, director, consultant, and practitioner. Her content expertise ranges from Latinx and women’s health issues, prevention of chronic disease, and advocacy strategies.   

Nevarez has worked in both non-profit and government sectors. She is an innovator and founder of Dialogue4Health.org, an online platform for conversations and skills building on a broad range of health topics, considered from multiple perspectives, with a national subscriber base of over 24,000. As past-president of the American Public Health Association, past-chair of the Langeloth Foundation, and current advisor of the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health, she contributes broadly to the national conversation about health. For 40 years, she practiced medicine part-time, providing services in low-income diverse settings. 

Nevarez is currently the principal of CRN Health Consulting LLC and an avid phtographer.