Welcoming New Members to the LPOC Board of Directors

LatinX Physicians of California is proud to announce two new additions to our Board of Directors: Kelvin Alvarez and Frank Sierra. Both are current medical students and leaders within the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), and both join the LPOC Board as part of our annual partnership with the LMSA West Region.

Each year, the LMSA West Co-Directors are welcomed onto the LPOC Board for the duration of their LMSA West term. It is a board governance commitment, ensuring that the experiences and priorities of LatinX medical students are represented at the table where LPOC makes decisions. Kelvin and Frank are this year's Co-Directors, and we could not be more excited to have them.

Kelvin Alvarez

Fourth-Year Medical Student, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

Kelvin Alvarez is the proud son of Salvadoran immigrants and a fourth-year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Kelvin is passionate about primary care, integrated behavioral health, social determinants of health, and culturally considerate care, especially within immigrant and Spanish-speaking populations. He aspires to promote health and wellbeing by providing quality and comprehensive care in the clinic, supporting health initiatives within his local community, and advocating for progressive policy surrounding health access and equity.

Throughout medical school, Kelvin has been enthusiastically involved with the Keck Primary Care Program and USC Street Medicine. He has held various leadership positions within LMSA and in the local, state, and national chapters of the Academy of Family Physicians, with the goal of promoting mentorship and pathways to medical education. In his free time, Kelvin loves volunteering for local nonprofits serving homeless populations, cooking and baking, and singing karaoke with his friends.

Frank Sierra

Medical Student, UC Davis Health School of Medicine | Co-Director, LMSA Western Region

Frank Sierra is a medical student at UC Davis Health School of Medicine and Co-Director for the Latino Medical Student Association, Western Region. He was raised in the East Bay city of Pittsburg, California, as the product of a single mother and incarcerated father. His ambition to break his family's cycle of intergenerational incarceration led him to become a first-generation college graduate and eventual medical student.

Before medical school, Frank worked in clinical and research settings and served as an advocate for his grandfather's health. These experiences deepened his understanding of how social determinants of health and language barriers shape patient outcomes and access to care.

As a medical student, Frank has been involved in student-run organizations such as LMSA and Clinica Tepati, focusing on Latino representation in medicine, mentorship, health equity, and improving care for underserved communities.