Clarita santos, Mph | board president

Clarita Santos is one of five founding and legacy board members of the Asian Health Coalition. She is Executive Director of Corporate and Civic Partnerships at Health Care Service Corporation. She drives Community & Corporate initiatives focused on population health, leveraging expertise in strategy execution, relationship cultivation, team building, mentorship and needs assessment to support mission and critical goals. She has provided guidance and recommendations on the allocation of grant funds in support of the goals of increasing access to care and decreasing health disparities among the uninsured and under-insured in Illinois. Clarita coordinated “Be Covered Illinois”, a grass-roots initiative to inform and educate Illinois residents about the Affordable Care Act, in partnership with community organizations.

Prior to joining BCBSIL, Clarita was the Director of Program Funding at the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. Clarita has been in the field of public health since 1992, with a particular focus on Asian American health issues. Previous roles include Executive Director of the Asian American AIDS Services, Co-Vice President of the Asian American Institute, board member of the Leadership Center for Asian Pacific Americans, member of the Chicago Department of Public Health HIV Prevention Planning Group, FilCRA (Filipino Civil Rights Advocates), and the Filipino American Network. In 1998, Clarita was appointed by Mayor Richard Daley to serve on the Chicago Commission on Human Relation’s Advisory Council on Asian Affairs and in 2012, Clarita was honored with a Breaking Barriers Award by the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Asian American Leadership Council, which recognizes Asian and Asian American women leaders in the metropolitan Chicago area who have made an outstanding and lasting impact in the fields of health and wellness. Clarita has served on the State Health Improvement Plan Implementation Coordination Council as appointed by Governor Quinn.