2025 UHF Gala Journal - Flipbook - Page 15
the center further improved access by offering all services at no direct cost to patients
and raising the maximum patient age to 26 years old. The center now serves patients
ages 10 to 26.
This model allows the center to reach an underserved population who likely would not
have received care otherwise: 98 percent of the center’s more than 12,000 patients each
year come from low-income families; 23 percent have reported a history of childhood
sexual abuse; and many have experienced other trauma, including immigration, racism,
or homelessness.
The success stories are startling. Ninety percent of the center’s patients graduate from
high school, and more than 50 percent go to college. Plus, countless patients have
achieved exceptional academic, professional, and personal success, including becoming
Ivy League graduates, Fulbright Scholars, public health advocates, and more.
“Teenagers who probably wouldn’t have done very well, with the right intervention, at the
right time, at the right dose—they do beautifully,” Angela said.
Angela, who passed the baton as the health center’s director in 2024, in addition to her
medical training, has also built a robust career in academic research, public health work,
and psychoanalysis.
Angela is most proud of her research surrounding youth who have experienced sexual
violence or human trafficking. In addition to National Institute of Health-funded research
projects, Angela co-wrote the book Preventing Child Trafficking: A Public Health
Approach.
Her expertise has been sought across the globe. Angela has trained clinicians in how to
work best with teenagers in South America, Africa, and Asia.
She holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and an MD and PhD in
Epidemiology from Columbia University. Among just a few of her prestigious roles,
she served as a White House Fellow, a member of the Food and Drug Administration
Pediatric Advisory Committee, a member of the Board of Directors for the New York
City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and a member of the National Academy
of Medicine (NAM) governing council and chair of the NAM Board on Children, Youth,
and Families.
Currently, Angela serves as Mount Sinai’s dean of global health, social justice, and human
rights, a program she helped conceptualize in the early 2000s after traveling to her native
Dominican Republic with pediatrician Ramon Murphy, MD, MPH. She says the work is
essential to the future of public health. “Health care has become globalized in so many
ways. We must learn from each other, share knowledge, and help build a much stronger
global health care infrastructure.”
For her decades of leadership transforming health care for adolescents and young adults,
United Hospital Fund is proud to present Angela Diaz with its 2025 Special Tribute.
