Chancellor Julio Frenk honored with Hispanic Health Leadership Award

The National Hispanic Health Foundation has honored UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk with a Hispanic Health Leadership Award. The award recognizes a distinguished leader who is an inspiration to students, families and health care professionals.

In honoring Frenk, the foundation acknowledged his background, his distinction as the first Hispanic chancellor at UCLA, and his support of their mission to transform health care systems, particularly through leadership, research and education to improve health equity for Hispanic communities.

Dr. Elena Rios, who serves as the foundation's president and is a Bruin alumnus, also cited his work as the former secretary of health in Mexico, where he spearheaded Seguro Popular, a program of comprehensive universal coverage.

"Julio Frenk is a global health leader with a track record of expanding health care access through policy reform, advancing public health education and research, and now guiding UCLA's public health and health system strategy as chancellor," said Rios.

In accepting the honor, the chancellor emphasized the reasoning behind UCLA for Life, a core initiative of the university that focuses on education that lasts an entire lifetime and one that prepares students for life.

"We must advance higher education that enables students - like you - to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives as vital members of your communities," he said. "This education will ensure you are fully prepared - and fully included - in shaping what comes next."

The award was bestowed as part of the foundation's 2025 National Health Professional Student Scholarship Gala. The event, which took place Nov. 21 in downtown Los Angeles, also celebrated the academic achievements and aspirations of student scholars, such as scholarship recipient Giuliana Perini Villanueva, a medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.