Carmen Nevarez, MD, MPH, is PHI's Senior Vice President for External Relations and Preventive Medicine Advisor and the Director of the Center for Health Leadership and Practice. A long-standing voice for the public's health, Nevarez is responsible for developing relationships with health and public health organizations and interests, advocating for public health, and incubating new project areas at the PHI. She positions the organization for further partnerships and initiatives both domestically and internationally.

Nevarez is also the creator of Dialogue4Health, a web-based conferencing center that uses webinars, a social network, and other resources to encourage collaboration between the prevention community and those communities whose work impacts health.

Dr. Nevarez has also served in numerous appointed and elected leadership positions. She has served as Director of Health and Human Services Department and Health Officer for the City of Berkeley, medical director of La Clinica de la Raza, an Oakland-based Federally Qualified Health Center, and medical director of the San Diego based Beach Area Community Clinic. She also was elected President of the American Public Health Association in 2009, and has served as Chair of the Board of Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, President of California Public Health Association – North, and founding chair of the Center for Public Health Advocacy. Her areas of expertise include teenage pregnancy prevention, health disparities, Latino health, chronic disease prevention, and health reform.