February 5, 2021
(Austin) – Two new members are joining the all-volunteer, nine-member Central Health Board of Managers, Travis County’s healthcare district.
Dr. Cynthia Brinson is an Austin City Council appointee, while Amit Motwani is a joint appointment of the Austin City Council and Travis County Commissioners Court. Both were sworn in Jan. 22, 2021.
About Dr. Cynthia Brinson
Dr. Cynthia C. Brinson has deep roots in Austin, and a long history of providing health care to vulnerable populations in Travis County. She earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and her medical doctorate at Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Lubbock.
She completed her family practice residency at Brackenridge Hospital in 1993, serving as the chief resident her final year. In addition to being a private physician at Red River Family Practice, Dr. Brinson has been the medical director of Central Texas Clinical Research, LLC since 1999.
Dr. Brinson has spent her entire professional career addressing the HIV epidemic through clinical research and evidence-based clinical care, including prevention, screening, and treatment. In the late 1980s she was asked to join the American Foundation for AIDS Research where she continues today, participating in research, providing care, advocating for patients, and sharing her knowledge and passion with the next generation of health care providers. Dr. Brinson was instrumental in forming the HIV Study Group at Blackstock Family Health Center in 1992 as a resident. The group, now known as Central Texas Clinical Research, continues to be a productive community-based clinical research organization.
In 2017, she helped open Kind Clinic with Texas Health Action after years of operating part-time out of her own clinic. It is the first full-service non-profit clinic in Central Texas to provide access to free STI screening and treatment and HIV pre- and post-exposure medication for those at risk of contracting HIV.
She has received multiple awards for her service to improve the health of the community including the 2018 John P. McGovern Champion of Health Award, the 2013 Bryon E. Cox Spirit of Caring Award, and the Family Medicine Weinberg Award for Teaching.
“I have always felt that affordable health care should be a human right for everyone,” Dr. Brinson said. “I have a great appreciation for Central Health’s ability and record for giving care to the underserved population in Travis County.”
About Amit Motwani
Amit Motwani’s executive leadership spans the arenas of strategy, operations, technology, and analytics. He came to Austin 25 years ago to attend The University of Texas at Austin, and later joined the software startup team of CTK (now Social Solutions Global), where he served as chief technology officer. Motwani led the launch of CTK’s United Kingdom branch in London and later returned to Austin, where he began his journey in nonprofit direct services with an early focus on adult literacy. In Austin he launched a 15-year professional trajectory bridging hands-on understanding of human service programming with a commercially, data-driven executive mindset.
Motwani currently serves as chief operating officer at El Buen Samaritano, an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas committed to helping Latino and other families in Central Texas lead healthy, productive, and secure lives through high-quality and affordable health-care, education, and food assistance services. He was previously the chief information officer at United Way for Greater Austin where he helped transform the organization’s approach to data and analytics. There, he also led the creation of Austin’s “2-Gen” Coalition, uniting public and private funders and service providers around the same table to improve economic and social mobility. Motwani served as lead adviser to the United Way and Dr. Chris King’s Policy Research Project cohort on related anti-poverty strategies at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
Motwani is passionate about civil rights and universal equitable access to basic needs for all, and his commitment is reflected in his extensive service on nonprofit, commercial, and municipal boards and commissions. Motwani is a proud graduate of Central Health’s Community Health Champions Program (class of 2017), which reinforced his belief that individual, family, and community outcomes health outcomes are inextricable.
“When I first moved to Austin, I was a Central Health Medical Access Program (MAP) member, and the process of enrolling to quickly see a doctor was excruciatingly arduous,“ Motwani said. “Fast forward through many years of working alongside and connecting hundreds families to services, culminating with my participation in the Central Health Community Health Champions program, I’ve witnessed how dramatically MAP enrollment had been streamlined and access to care had improved. Not only did this reflect Central Health’s intrinsic and intentional drive to be person-centered while continuously improving in its mission to provide equitable access to quality health care, but it also reflects how much it aligns with my personal mission to be involved in its stewardship.”
About Central Health’s Board of Managers
The Central Health Board of Managers is composed of four appointees from the Austin City Council, four appointees from the Travis County Commissioners Court and one joint appointee. Board members are appointed to four-year terms.