Board

Magdaleno Manzanárez, President

Magdaleno Manzanárez – President. He is currently Vice President of External Affairs at Western New Mexico University where he previously served as  professor of political science and Chair of the Department of Social Sciences. In his current position Magdaleno oversees several areas including the Department of Community & Workforce Development, International Initiatives, Adult Education Services, among others. In addition to his position on the CHI Board of Directors, Magdaleno also serves on the boards of the National Center for Frontier Communities, Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico and Aldo Charter School Foundation.  He also served for 15 years on the board of directors of Hidalgo Medical Services. Magdaleno holds a Doctorate degree in Political Science.

Frank Chaires

Frank Chaires – Vice-President, is the Executive Vice President for Western Bank. He resides in Lordsburg, NM. He is a graduate of New Mexico State University (Accounting/ Economics) and Louisiana State University (Masters of Banking). Charies was formerly employed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. He was elected to the Western Bank Board of Directors in 1998.

Katy Estrada, Secretary/Treasurer

Katy Estrada – Secretary/Treasurer, has owned and operated her own Certified Public Accounting business since 2004. Previously, Estrada worked as a Tax Senior specialized in preparing business and individual tax returns, a Business Office Manager, and an Accountant. Estrada has a talent for providing bookkeeping services and completing complex bookkeeping and payroll issues for separate companies that share employees, supplies, and clients. She holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from New Mexico State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Dr. John Andazola, MD, FAAFP

John Andazola, MD, FAAFP is Program Director for the Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency Program in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He received his M.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He completed his Family Medicine residency at the Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency Program, a fellowship in Advanced Hospital Training for Family Physicians in Phoenix, and a Faculty Development Fellowship at the University of Arizona.  Dr. Andazola has been involved in academic medicine his entire career and has presented at numerous local, state, and national conferences. He has authored several book chapters and peer reviewed publications.  He is President of the board for New Mexico Primary Care Training Consortium and Past President of the New Mexico Academy of Family Physicians.  He is also an inaugural member of National Physician Advisory Board for LifePoint Health.  His major interests include health equity, inter-professional training, and medical education reform.  Dr. Andazola has numerous state, and national awards that recognize his contributions to public service, and to the community.

A. Manuela McDonough

A. Manuela McDonough joined the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, in 2007, and is currently Associate Director of the Institute for Hispanic Health. In this capacity, Manuela oversees NCLR’s efforts to improve the health status and outcomes of Latinos through grassroots initiatives and collaboration with Latino-serving community-based organizations. Her work focuses on eliminating injustices in health care for Latinos by increasing access to culturally competent and linguistically appropriate health care and services. Manuela holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health behavior and health education from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2011, she was selected by the White House as a Champion of Change for her work in public health as a returned Peace Corps volunteer, where she served in Panama from 2003-2005.

Joaquin Baca

Joaquin Baca is an educator and a public health professional. He is a Senior Health Equity Policy Analyst for the Center for Health Equity at the American Medical Association (AMA). He served dually as the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) Deputy Director of the Office of Policy and Accountability and Director of the Office of Health Equity, overseeing the department’s Office of the Tribal Liaison and Office of Border Health from 2015-2019. He worked at the UNM Health Sciences Center for 15 years which included serving at the UNM HSC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Health as a Program Director, as the Director of Diversity and Institutional Ethnic Research at the UNM HSC Office of Diversity, and as Student Navigator for the UNM HSC Center of Native American Health. Baca is a Lecturer III in the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine. He facilitated cultural competency courses for medical school students at the School of Medicine and developed a course on Advancing Health Equity for the UNM Master of Public Health program. Baca has been on the leadership team for the New Mexico Public Health Institute (Center for Health Innovation), the Scientific Advisory Board for a Pacific Institute Research and Evaluation project on developing an LGBTQ Primary Care Toolkit, and participates on the New Mexico Birth Equity Collaborative, and Baca earned his MS in public health with a concentration in community health, a BA in liberal arts through St. John’s College’s Great Books Program, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Organization, Information, and Learning Sciences (OILS) at the University of New Mexico.

John E. Kutinac

John E. Kutinac MPH, MBA, is Health Promotion Program Manager for the New Mexico Department of Health in the Southwest Region based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He received his MPH from New Mexico State University and his MBA from Texas Tech University, Rawls College of Business. John has been active in community health and healthcare his entire career and has a broad range of experience and expertise.  He has been an active board member for the Southern Area Health Education Center, New Mexico Health Resources, and the New Mexico State University Alumni Association. His major interests include workforce development, community health education, capacity building, access to primary care and social determinants of health. In his spare time, he enjoys camping, spending time with family and cheering on the New Mexico State University Aggies.