Click here to reserve tickets for our 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Health Action NM has worked for 20 years to bring organizations, consumers and decision-makers together to impact health policy and to advance access to quality, affordable and accountable health and dental care for all.  Now, it is time to celebrate those achievements and look forward to the next 20 years of advocacy.  We are excited to announce that tickets and tables are now available for Health Action NM’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on September 26th at the Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown.  Be sure to reserve your tickets before they run out! If you can’t make it to the event, you can click here to donate to Health Action NM. Our celebration, which will feature Nicole Brady as the MC, will include live music and a dinner.  

The keynote address will be presented by a national leader in consumer health advocacy, Mr. Ron Pollack, Founder and Executive Director of Families USA.  Mr. Pollack has been recognized for many achievements, which include being appointed by President Clinton as the sole consumer representative on the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, successfully arguing two cases on the same day in the U.S. Supreme Court to secure food aid for low-income Americans, and the successful federal litigation that resulted in the creation of the WIC program for malnourished mothers and infants.  He was also instrumental in the creation of Health Action NM.

We are equally excited to announce that we will be honoring 20 individuals who have made major contributions to improving health care in New Mexico over the past 20 years. Sitting members of the state legislature were not included in our consideration, though many have played key roles in advancing the health care system in New Mexico.

Health Action NM’s 20-for-20 Honorees

Charlie Alfero

Director of the Center of Health Innovations, Founder of Hidalgo Medical Services 

Sanjeev Arora, MD

Founder and Director of Project ECHO, a telemedicine model that has been utilized worldwide

Pat Bartels

Co-Founder Health Action New Mexico, Former President of the New Mexico Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association

Notah Begay III

4-time PGA TOUR winner, Founder NB3 Foundation, the only national Native American nonprofit organization solely dedicated to reversing Native American childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes.

J.R. Damron, MD

Board Chair, New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange and healthcare reform visionary

Hon. Dede Feldman

Retired New Mexico State Senator, Former Co-Chair of the New Mexico Legislative Health and Human Services Committee

Teresa Gomez

Director, NM Futures for Children, Chair of the Gynecological Cancer Awareness Project, Board Member, New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, Board Member New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool

Jerry Harrison, PhD

Director, New Mexico Health Resources and the New Mexico Health Policy Commission

Ruth Hoffman

Director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry New Mexico

Jim Jackson

Director of New Mexico Disability Rights, Former Health Action New Mexico Board Chair

Bill Jordan

Policy Director, New Mexico Voices for Children

Richard Kozoll, MD
Primary care physician and community leader in Cuba, New Mexico and White House Champion of Change awardee

Ellen Leitzer, JD

Co-Founder of the Senior Citizens Law Office, Co-Founder Health Action New Mexico

Patricia Montoya, MPA, BSN

Executive Director of the Albuquerque Coalition for Healthcare Value, Government Relations for Health Insight New Mexico, Former New Mexico Secretary of Health

Ellen Pinnes, JD

Former HANM Staff Member and Advocate with New Mexico Disability Coalition

Harriet “Mandy” Pino

Co-Founder Health Action New Mexico, Former Manager of Senior Information Services at the Albuquerque Office of Senior Affairs

Kim Posich, JD

Executive Director, New Mexico Center on Law & Poverty

Patsy Romero

COO of Easter Seals, Board Member, New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange

Dolores E. Roybal

Executive Director, Con Alma Health Foundation

Silvia Sierra, MS

President of Cultivating Communities, Former Director Doña Ana County Health and Human Services

Posthumous Awardees

Patricia “Patty” K. Jennings

Founder, New Mexico Medical Insurance High-Risk Pool

June Werner, RN

Former Health Action New Mexico Board Chairman