Dr. Valdez is Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Professor Emeritus, Family and Community Medicine and Economics. He was the Founding Executive Director at the RWJF Center for Health Policy at UNM after serving as Founding Dean at the Drexel University School of Public Health. Previously, he was a Professor at the UCLA School of Public Health. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Valdez served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of Interagency Health Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also served as a Special Senior Advisor on health care reform to the Clinton White House.