Serving Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable residents has been part of our mission and vision since our founding in 1997. L.A. Care has been active in addressing health disparities and advocating for health equity long before the terms became common in health care.
With that said, there is still much for all us to do to move health equity forward.
In partnership with our members, community partners, providers and Board of Governors, L.A. Care has taken great strides toward our own health equity vision of making L.A. County a leader in ensuring that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
Under this vision, we are proud to have been an early adopter of a Chief Health Equity Officer role that is part of our executive team. We are even more proud to have someone like Dr. Alex Li fulfilling that role.
“The position of Chief Health Equity Officer is not about an individual, but is a reflection of our mission and vision,” says Dr. Li. “Having a Chief Health Equity Officer signals to the organization and to the community we serve that we recognize there are communities and people we must focus on and work together with to continue to break down the inequities that exist.”
“Since none of us have a magic wand to wipe away all the inequities and institutional biases and racism that exists, we must work hard to address the inequities within our system in an incremental manner.”
When asked about why he thought that he was chosen for this role, Dr. Li reflected and noted that he has worked in the safety net setting since he finished medical school, and that he has been addressing health disparity issues and resources needed on a community and individual level.
More recently, he served as L.A. Care's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, where he and many others were working together to address COVID-19 pandemic related disparities, and as a deputy director at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
It is also interesting to note that Dr. Li came to L.A. Care almost by accident. After moving to Los Angeles, it was recommended that he connect with Elaine Bachelor, then Chief Medical Officer at L.A. Care, as someone who could help connect him to clinics and federally qualified health centers – safety net institutions that he was interested in joining. But after meeting, Elaine hired him as L.A. Care’s first fully-employed medical director for medical management.
“It makes good sense to have a purpose in health care, including caring for people who didn’t have the same opportunities as me,” says Dr. Li. “L.A. Care has an incredible mission, and I felt connected to it.”
The medical profession and commitment to community runs deep in Dr. Li’s family.
“My grandmother was an OB-GYN in China, and my mom was both a primary care physician and oncologist in New Jersey,” says Dr. Li. “My mom was one of the few physicians who took care of Medicaid and uninsured individuals in the area where she had her practice. I had positive modeling from two incredible women that I respect. They were both highly respected by patients and the community, and this helped shape my desire to continue this great tradition.”
“In 2024, there’s still many who need care and services,” he says. “Who gets the least or left behind is now something that I and many others are thinking about more deeply now. For example, people who are experiencing homelessness lack care and attention. It pains me to have to walk around someone and feel somewhat powerless to help them. But again, it is also empowering to know that we work for an organization that has been active with tackling health equity issues of those experiencing homelessness head on.”
Prior to a recent set of CalAIM Community Support homeless programs, L.A. Care made a five-year, $20 million commitment in 2017 to support L.A. County’s Housing for Health program to move individuals into permanent supportive housing. The first person that was housed thanks to the grant was a mom who had just given birth to twins.
“We were able to house three people in one unit and provide the supportive and wrap around services this young family needed to succeed. Small steps and help can have a big impact!”
In addition to working at L.A. Care, Dr. Li volunteers extensively in the community, especially in South L.A. “Helping our under-resourced communities achieve good health is as important to me in my work here at L.A. Care as outside of L.A. Care,” says Dr. Li. “I am proud to volunteer on a regular basis to be there for those who live in economically disadvantaged and under-resourced communities, for those experiencing homelessness and for those with disabilities.”
Dr. Li volunteers at LA General Medical Center and at Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center every week – both are Designated Health Services (DHS) outpatient clinic sites. He has also volunteered regularly at CareHarbor events, which are mega-clinics of volunteer medical professionals bringing free care to thousands in various communities. He serves as a Board Member at Frank Lanterman Regional Center – a non-profit that provides social service support for those with autism and individuals with intellectual and/or physical disabilities. In addition, he was a volunteer physician at Union Rescue Mission’s Medical Isolation Unit during the pandemic.
“The volunteer work I do provides me with the opportunity to contribute my skills outside of L.A. Care, and provides me with perspective and a sense of urgency, as well as makes me feel grounded and appreciative of the work that we do here.”
In addition to homelessness, rising health care costs is a huge health equity issue that concerns Dr. Li.
“There’s a lot of incredible medicine, scientific discoveries and therapeutics coming down the pipe. Therapeutics especially will be life-saving and life-changing. But the question is, will they be affordable?”
He cites sickle cell disease as an example. Sickle cell anemia one of the most devastating and painful diseases. The Lancet reports that in the U.S alone, sickle cell disease affects approximately 100,000 individuals, primarily of African descent, and that individuals living with the disease are a socially and economically disadvantaged population with poor health outcomes. But Dr. Li says the current estimated therapy prices are around $1-3 million to treat per patient.
“How we tackle these rising issues like sickle cell therapy will indicate how we move forward as a society.”
Learn more about health equity at L.A. Care.