Name:

Erica Hattery

Board Role:

Chapter Board Member

Email:

ehattery@nalhe,org

Professional Title:

Director of Care Integration, Population Health

Organization:

Harris Health System

Bio:
Erica Gonzalez Hattery is a physician from Bogota, Colombia with more than a decade of experience in clinical research and research administration related to diabetes and diabetes programs. She currently serves as Director of Care Integration, Population Health for the Harris Health System, formerly the co-investigator and manager at Baylor College of Medicine for various nationwide clinical trials including GRADE and the first Center for Atypical Diabetes. Through her leadership and collaborative efforts, BCM has become one of the top clinical research institutions for Diabetes research. She has been instrumental in guaranteeing the inclusion of minorities and Hispanic populations in research studies. As a member of the Recruitment and Retention Committee for the GRADE study, she has been integrated into the decision-making process and trial coordination at a national level. 
Hattery has orchestrated securing government funding of $8M to $25M for research studies. She also serves the patient population in Harris Health in Houston by providing care and educating them about their health risks, disease prevention and how to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes to avoid complications. In the last 8 years she has seen the impact that opportune and timely care has in the Hispanic population and wants to continue those efforts in population health. Because of her commitment to the community she pursued a master’s in healthcare administration to become an agent of change and strengthen the Latino participation in the healthcare community.
Hattery envisions a collaborative network of Latino and multi-cultural leaders who will work together to create change and to promote diversity and inclusion at the local and national level. 
Hattery is the President of the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives (NALHE) Texas Gulf-Coast Chapter. She received her Master’s in Health Care Administration from Texas Woman’s University in Houston, a Doctor of Medicine from the University El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia, and a Bachelors in biochemistry from the University of California Riverside.

Name:

Steven Foster, FACHE

Board Role:

Founder, Chair of Membership & Sponsorship, Immediate Past-President

Email:

sfoster@nalhe.org

Professional Title:

Market President

Organization:

CHI St. Luke's Health

Bio:

Steven Foster is the Market President of CHI St. Luke's Health, formerly the South Houston Market President for St. Luke’s Health. In this role, Foster manages three of twelve hospitals with the Texas Division within Common Spirit Health which includes Patients Medical Center in Pasadena, Sugar Land Hospital and Brazosport in Lake Jackson.  Common Spirit Health formally known as Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) is the largest not-for-profit faith based system in the US.

Born in Mexico City but raised in Texas, Foster has more than 20 years of progressive hospital administration experience in California, Oklahoma, and Texas as well as internationally in Costa Rica and Mexico. His experience ranges from for-profit hospitals to large, U.S. News and World Report Ranked #1 Academic Medical Centers.

Prior to joining Common Spirit Health, Foster served as Chief Executive Officer in California and served as a council member of the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) Medi-Cal Taskforce for designing and implementing innovative delivery of care programs for the State of California.

Steven earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Master’s of Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Sam Houston State University and is board certified as a Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

He is credited for creating productive relationships with members of the medical staff, employees, and Board members in each organization he works at.  He has managed complex hospital operations and physician practices with over 50 physicians. His collaborative management style and focus on accountability at all levels produces positive results in patient safety, employee and physician satisfaction.

Foster is married to his wife, Florencia, and has three children named Marisol, Sebastian and Lucas.

Name: 

Daniel Gonzalez, PhD

Board Role:

Treasurer

Email:

dgonzalez@nalhe.org

Professional Title:

Administrator Gastroenterology, Hepatology

Organization:

Texas Children's Hospital

Bio:

Daniel Gonzalez is the Practice Administrator for the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Section at Texas Children’s Hospital. The Section has been consistently ranked in the top 5 Pediatric Gastroenterology programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report the last few years.

Born in Leeds, England and raised in Caracas, Venezuela and in Houston, Texas, Daniel has had wide and varied experiences in healthcare administration in the Houston area. These experiences include Emergency Management, implementing patient satisfaction initiatives, overseeing the installation of an EMR and outpatient clinical operations, and academic physician group management.

Daniel earned his PhD in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston. Additionally he has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Master’s of Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake and a BS in Biology from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

He is known for providing thoughtful analysis and a problem solving perspective to his staff, colleagues and physicians. He works collaboratively with an array of hospital personnel to ensure buy-in is obtained and that tasks and goals are clearly defined. He strives tirelessly to ensure the vision of his organizations are executed as efficiently as possible.

Daniel is married to his wife, Julia and has three children, Arabella, Christian and Alessandra and two step-children Lucia and Gabriel.

Name: 

Marlen J. Trujillo

Board Role:

Secretary

Email:

mtrujillo@sbchc.net

Professional Title:

Chief Executive Officer

Organization:

Spring Branch Community Health Center

Bio:

Dr. Trujillo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Spring Branch Community Health Center (SBCHC), a non-profit community health center that provides low-cost healthcare, social and educational services. Trujillo was one of the community leaders on the founding Board of the community based health center in 2003. She was a volunteer at the time serving on the Board as the Secretary while completing her undergraduate studies. Her and other community leaders spent many hours planning and fundraising to reach their objective of opening up a charity clinic to the meet the growing demand for women health services.

In May 2004, the community health center was opened in the Spring Branch area, in West Houston Texas, to target the Medically Underserved Population and help reduce healthcare disparities by increasing access to affordable quality health care. The community health center was deemed as a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2005. In recent years, the organization has experienced a population explosion which has increased the need for additional healthcare services in the West Houston area. Currently the organization has 8 locations and two mobile health clinic serving 20,000 individuals in need. In 2020, she founded the Spring Branch Leadership Institute to serve high school students interested in careers in healthcare especially adolescent women. Trujillo was born in Houston, Texas and raised in the Spring Branch Community. Her parents are from Colombia and Mexico. She has been the Chief Executive Officer of SBCHC for 14 years. She truly understands the healthcare needs of her community and is an advocate for reducing health disparities across all populations.

Prior to being the CEO of SBCHC, she held the position of Chief Financial Officer for the community health center and previously held positions at the National Hispanic Institute, YMCA of Greater Houston and the City of Houston. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from the University of Houston and also holds a Masters in Business Administration in International Business from Our Lady of the Lake University. She recently obtained her PhD in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center – School of Public Health. She is passionate about healthcare and education. She enjoys mentoring first generation Hispanic students and spending time with her family outdoors. Trujillo is fluent in English and Spanish.

Name:

Lila Fass

Board Role:

Chair of Marketing & Communications

Email:

lila.fass@commonspirit.org

Professional Title:

Vice President, Business and Workforce Development

Organization:

Dignity Health Global Education

Bio:

Lila Fass attended Our Lady of the Lake University for her Master’s in Business Management. Member of Delta Mu Delta Honor Society, Member of American College of Healthcare Executives and Board Member of The National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives. She also attended University of Houston for her undergraduate degree in Business/Marketing. Fluent and Spanish and Italian.

She has more than thirteen years’ experience in Growth and Execution of New Business Development Strategies, Practice Management and Operations, Marketing & Communication, Physician Relations/ Practice Mergers and Acquisitions for several Healthcare facilities. Lila has served as Market Director of Business Development for CommonSpirit Health for 7 Hospitals formulating financial strategies and Operations initiatives for the Texas Division. Executive Director of Business Development for Medical practices and St. Joseph Hospital. Lila is currently the Vice President, Business and Workforce Development for Dignity Health Global Education.

Lila has lived in The Woodlands, Texas for 20 years.

Name:

J Alex Habib

Board Role:

Chair of Program and Education

Email:

ahabib@nalhe.org

Professional Title:

Market Director- Marketing & Communications

Organization:

CHI St. Luke's Health

Bio:

Alex is the Market Director - Marketing & Communications leader for CHI St. Luke's Health; formerly the International Marketing Coordinator at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center he works with international physicians, patients, insurance companies, governments and media to promote healthcare education and create awareness about the services provided by Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, as well as the scientific and technological advancements created at Baylor St. Luke’s and its affiliated institutions.

Alex is also the Marketing/Management Associate at biomedent, where he works promoting Cardio Vascular and Oral preventive healthcare and education to corporations and directly to the public. For the last 10 years he has worked throughout Houston and Texas to bring healthcare and education in English and Spanish to underserved and underrepresented Hispanic communities.

Prior to working at Baylor St. Luke’s Alex worked in the Dan L Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine where he promoted the breast imaging clinic and helped navigate patients from diagnosis through treatment to post-treatment care.

Alex is originally from Colombia and has lived in the United States since 2002. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Baylor University, as well as a Master of Business Administration and Master of Healthcare Administration joint degree from the University of Houston – Clear Lake. He is an alumnus of the Greater Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Program and currently sits on the board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Medical Group Management Association, where he is the Membership Director and is in charge of the annual case study competition for graduate students.

Alex is passionate about education and healthcare, his goal is to empower people so they are able to make educated choices about their healthcare needs.

Name:

Jeronimo Cortina

Board Role:

Chapter Board Member

Email:

jcortina@nalhe.org

Professional Title:

Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies

Organization:

University of Houston

Bio:

Jeronimo Cortina is an award-winning Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Associate Director at the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston.  Dr. Cortina specializes in elections, immigration, and public opinion with an emphasis on Latinx, American Politics, and Texas. His work has been published in scholarly and policy journals, and he is the author and editor of several books. He has provided commentary on national (New York Times, Washington Post, Politico) and Texas politics (Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Texas Tribune, San Antonio News-Express) in hundreds of media outlets, and he is the co-host of Houston’s Public Media Party Politics Podcast.

Name:

Johnathan W. Leonard, MSHA, LSSGB

 

Bio:

Johnathan Leonard is the Associate Director of Affordability at UnitedHealthcare, Community Plan of Ohio. In this role, he is responsible for serving as a thought leader and strategic partner to the Ohio Medicaid health plan in identifying opportunities to manage medical costs.

Johnathan serves as the President of the National Association of Health Service Executives (NAHSE) Houston chapter, a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion board for the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) SE-Texas chapter and as a Community Advisory Board member for the UT Physicians Jensen clinic. He is a native of Tallahassee, FL, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Health Science and Master of Healthcare Administration from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and is pursuing his Doctorate of Health Administration at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.