Manuel Martin, M.D. is a family medicine doctor practicing in Austin. He was appointed by the Austin City Council to replace departing Central Health Board of Managers Treasurer Julie Zuniga. Martin received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, where he was named the Ida Green Scholar, and has been in practice for more than 30 years, affiliated with St. David’s Medical Center and St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.
Martin began his career in emergency medicine at Seton Medical Center in Austin and assumed a faculty position with the Central Texas Medical Foundation, where he was given the Weinberg Award for excellence in post graduate medical education. He was also invited to the founding board of Project Access by the Travis County Medical Society. He returned to family medicine this year, opening his own solo practice focusing on the Hispanic community.
“I’m honored and excited to join Central Health,” Martin said. “My 30-plus years as a medical practitioner in public, charity care, and private settings have afforded me tremendous opportunities to understand systems of medical delivery. My direct experience, and insight into shortcomings I have seen as an active member of the medical community, will inform my work as a board member. It is my hope to be able to increase our ability to provide care to a greater number of Central Texans and to do so in a cost-efficient, humane, and equitable manner that recognizes and respects the diversity of our community.”
- Appointed by City of Austin
- Term ends: December 31, 2026
Ann Kitchen, an attorney and healthcare consultant, was appointed by the Travis County Commissioners Court to replace outgoing Central Health Board Manager and Past Chairperson Sherri Greenberg.
Kitchen has served on the Austin City Council since 2015 and will step down on Jan 5. She currently chairs the Mobility Committee and serves on the Austin Energy Committee, Public Utilities Committee, and vice chairs the Housing & Community Development Committee.
Kitchen also serves on several intergovernmental committees including the Regional Affordability Committee, the Psychiatric Services Stakeholder Committee, the Capital Metro Policy Board, and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), the regional transportation planning body for Central Texas. She is a former assistant attorney general in the consumer protection division and a former Texas state representative.
“The opportunity to access healthcare is fundamental to staying healthy, holding a job, and raising a family,” Kitchen said. “I am excited about helping Central Health transparently improve healthcare in Austin – with attention to equity and social factors that impact health like housing and transportation.”
- Appointed by Travis County
- Term ends: December 31, 2026
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.
Amit currently serves as chief executive officer for the Rupani Foundation, an organization improving children’s school readiness and empowering marginalized communities in South Asia, Central Asia and the United States. Prior to this role, Amit was the chief operating officer at El Buen Samaritano, an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Earlier in his career he was 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.
- Joint Travis County/City of Austin Appointment
- Appointed: November 10, 2020 (Travis County) December 10, 2020 (City of Austin)
- Term ends: December 31, 2024
Dr. Cynthia C. Brinson earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and obtained her medical doctorate at Texas Tech University, Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas. 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 and 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. Many medications that are now the standard of care for the treatment of HIV, Hepatitis B and C were studied by the group prior to approval for use. She is a prolific researcher with participation in over 150 HIV clinical trials and over 50 studies involving other health issues. She has presented her research findings locally, nationally, and internationally including at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, International AIDS Conference, ID Week, and TexMed.
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 and her colleagues have provided risk reduction service for approximately 25,000 members of the community. There is now a second Kind Clinic in Austin, one in San Antonio, and a third Austin location in development.
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. She is an inspirational role model for physicians, residents, students, and community leaders.
- City of Austin Appointment
- Appointed: December 10, 2020
- Oath of Office: January 22, 2021
- Term ends: December 31, 2024
Julie Zuniga is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Zuniga received her BA from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, her MSN and PhD from The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, during which times she worked in infectious disease/internal medicine unit at the county hospital. She completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Emory, in Atlanta Georgia. In 2019, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was also awarded the Early Science Investigator Award, by Southern Nursing Research Society in 2018 and the Young Researcher Award, American Public Health Association – Public Health Nursing Section.
Dr. Zuniga’s area of research is self-management of people with multiple morbidities with an emphasis on people living with the dual diagnoses of HIV and diabetes. She is currently funded by the National Institute of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research. Dr. Zuniga’s work has widely disseminated with over 33 published manuscripts in peer-reviewed nursing and multidisciplinary journals.
- City of Austin Appointment
- Appointed: April 25, 2019
- Oath of Office: April 30, 2019
- Term ends: December 31, 2022
Dr. Guadalupe Zamora, M.D. was appointed to the Board of Managers in January 2013 by the Travis County Commissioners Court.
Dr. Zamora has 24 years of experience as a practicing physician, and when not on staff at St. David’s Medical Center, he works out of his own family medicine clinic in East Austin alongside his niece Dr. Belda Zamora.
He has served as President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Travis County Medical Society and served on the advisory board for the Medical Access Program (MAP) prior to the existence of Central Health. Most recently he served as treasurer of Healthy ATX, a local organization that supports the improvement of the local healthcare system.
- Travis County Appointment
- Appointment: January 15, 2013
- Reappointed: December 15, 2016
- Reappointed: December 15, 2020
- Term ends: December 31, 2024
Maram Museitif is a public health and health care professional with more than 10 years of experience working in large research, academic, and government health settings, and has a solid understanding of the challenges facing health care delivery in the United States and globally.
Ms. Museitif holds a master’s degree in public health and is certified in public health and clinical research. She is the chair of the Legislative, Policy and Advocacy Committee for the Texas Public Health Association where she prioritizes and advocates for statewide policies, programming, and funding to address public health issues.
Ms. Museitif also served on Central Health’s Health Equity Council, whose efforts led to the amendment of the Smoking in Public Places Ordinance (SIPPO) to include e-cigarettes. In addition, she was a member of Central Health’s inaugural Community Health Champions class in 2016 where she was presented an appreciation award and was nominated alumni president by her classmates. The Texas Public Health Association recognized her advocacy work for health equity in 2016 with the presentation of the Jessie A. Yoas Memorial Advocacy Award.
Prior to her role at the Texas Public Health Association she worked for Yale University, UT Southwestern, Department of State Health Services, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Dallas. In addition to her professional career, she sits on several health committees working to empower patients, students, and providers. She is also a recent graduate of Leadership Austin and a founding member of The Society of Health Communication.
In her free time, Ms. Museitif enjoys cooking, reading, and chatting with her #Pinksocks tribe.
- City of Austin Appointment
- Appointed: May 18, 2017
- Reappointed: October 31, 2019
- Term ends: December 31, 2023
Shannon Jones, III served as the Director of Austin Public Health with the City of Austin for two years before his retirement in April, 2017. Under his oversight, the department achieved accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), and was one of the first five accredited public health agencies in the State of Texas. He was previously Deputy Director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department from August 2011 to April 2015, and had served on the department’s staff since July 1999.
The Central Texas African American Family Support Conference awarded Mr. Jones the 2015 Garnet F. Coleman “Eternal Flame” award, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a strong commitment in their careers and everyday lives to raising awareness about mental health and health disparities.
The Obama Administration appointed Mr. Jones to serve as chairperson of the national Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from January 2011 until January 2014. He also served as member of the CDC’s National Study of Determinants of Early Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) in the African-American Community.
Mr. Jones served as the Chair of the Austin/Travis County Community Health Assessment and Improvement Planning (CHA/CHIP). In this role, he coordinated and organized the collaboration of the major local health care and public health agencies along with many of the social services, transportation and various other public/private agencies in the region. The CHA/CHIP will serve as the first major comprehensive planning effort to address the key identified social determinants of health that impact the Austin/Travis community.
Mr. Jones might be best known in the community as founder of the local radio talk show “Health Talk” on KAZI FM 88.7, which for more than 11 years has focused on improving the health of residents of Austin and Travis County.
Mr. Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, and has completed course work towards the PhD in Management and Policy from The University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. In addition he is a Woodrow Wilson Administrative Fellow and an Associate in the American College of Healthcare Executives.
- Travis County Appointment
- Appointed: December 12, 2017
- Oath of Office: January 24, 2018
- Reappointed: December 14, 2021
- Term ends: December 31, 2025
Cynthia Valadez is currently a consultant and health care advocate for Travis and Williamson Counties, and has been since 1995. She has provided health care services for clients in both counties, while also working to provide health care training and systems navigation education to community organizations and neighborhood groups.
Cynthia has also been a community health care worker since 2010. She previously worked with Latino Healthcare Forum, an Austin-based nonprofit organization concerned with reducing racial and ethnic health disparities.
Prior to this, Ms. Valadez was an Austin Fair Housing Project Coordinator at Urban Center and was responsible for the recruitment, hiring, education, and assignments for a study that proved existing discriminatory practices in Travis County, and was ultimately used as the foundation for changes to the Fair Housing Act.
Early in her professional career, Ms. Valadez was a community coordinator for the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project in 1982, as well as a paralegal with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General, from 1977 to 1978.
Cynthia Valadez was appointed to the Board of Managers by Travis County Commissioners Court to a second four-year term in February, 2019.
- Travis County Appointment
- Appointed: February 3, 2015
- Oath of Office: February 6, 2015
- Reappointed: September 29, 2015, Agenda item 35
- Reappointed: September 17, 2019
- Term ends: December 31, 2023
Charles E. Bell, M.D, M.S. is currently semi-retired and works part-time with Texas A&M Health Science Center as a medical advisor of the KSTAR physician assessment program and as a part-time medical director for LeFleur Transportation.
Most recently, he served as the President of the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute in Dallas, Texas from January 2013 to March 2016. He also served as Deputy Executive Commissioner at Texas Health and Human Services Commission from March 2003 to August 2011. During his career in state service he has served as the Interim Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services in 2006 and as the Interim Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health in 2001.
He has also held the following positions: Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health (TDH), Regional Medical Director of TDH Public Health Region 1 in Lubbock, Texas, Chief of the Bureau of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, and Medical Director of the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
Dr. Bell received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, his medical degree from UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, completed a one-year residency in Internal Medicine at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut and received his masters degree in healthcare administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Bell is a native Texan born in Port Arthur, Texas.
- City of Austin Appointment
- Appointed: June 23, 2016
- Oath of Office: July 27, 2016
- Reappointed: February 1, 2018
- Reappointed: December 14, 2021
- Term ends: December 31, 2025
