The Health & Human Services Working Group is made up of community leaders with a high level of expertise in health programming, social research and evaluation, oversees grantmaking and donor engagement strategies to meet the most critical needs of San Diego’s nonprofits and creates partnerships and initiatives to support those strategies.

Current Working Group Members
Nora M. Faine, MD, MPH - Chair	Amy Okamura, MSW, LCSW
Amethyst Cureg, MD, MPH, FAAP	Rene G. Santiago, MPH, MCP
Steve Eldred, MPH

Nora M. Faine, MD, MPH - CHAIR
Dr. Nora Faine is Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Sharp Health Plan. She joined the Health & Human Services Working Group in 2001, and was appointed to The San Diego Foundation Board of Governors in 2002.

Nora was Medical Director of Comprehensive Health Center from 1990 to 1995. She was Executive Director of Comprehensive Health Center from 1995 to May 2000, then joined Sharp Health Plan as the Medical Director in June 2000 and was named Vice President and Chief Medical Officer in September 2001. In this position, she is responsible for the quality of care and medical management of over 43,000 commercial health plan members.

Nora was a member of The San Diego Foundation Inter-group Relations Working Group and the National Medical Association. She has been recognized by the following groups: Children Having Children; Palavra Tree Inc.; Tribute to a Living African American; San Diego Black Nurses Association; Soroptimist International San Diego; Woman of Accomplishment; Soroptimist International Desert Coast Region; Women Helping Women; and The San Diego HIV Consumer Council.

Nora obtained her BS from the University of San Francisco, a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State University and has a doctor of medicine from Meharry Medical College. Back to the top

Amethyst Cureg, MD, MPH, FAAP
Dr. Amethyst “Amee” Cureg is board certified pediatrician with a subspecialty in developmental behavioral pediatrics with over 17 years of experience in the clinical, academic and public health arenas. She is currently the Director of Maternal and Child Health at the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). In this capacity, she directs children’s health programs in the HHSA Maternal Child and Family Health Services Division. She joined the Foundation’s Health & Human Services Working Group in 2005.

Amethyst is the Past Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Chapter 3 District 9 and currently serves as the AAP Chapter 3 Advisory Board’s Public Health Liaison. She is a member of various organizations and boards locally and nationally. Her mission is to improve access to quality health care services, especially to low income children in San Diego County. She has received numerous grants to advance this mission and received Vice President Al Gore’s Hammer Award for Reinventing Government.

Amethyst received her medical degree from Far Eastern University in Manila, Philippines, and masters in public health with emphasis in public health management from San Diego State University. Back to the top

Steve Eldred, MPH
Steve Eldred is a San Diego-based Program Officer for The California Endowment. The California Endowment was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for undeserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. Eldred conducts outreach to organizations to increase their awareness of funding opportunities, reviews health-related grant proposals, and helps develop programs to assist underserved communities, with an emphasis on addressing ways in which the cultural attributes and assets of individuals, families, and communities affect community health. Steve joined the Foundation’s Health & Human Services Working Group in 2001.

Steve previously served as Health Planning and Program Specialist for the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency’s Office of AIDS Coordination. While there, he was responsible for needs assessment, planning, program development, and grants management for the $14 million federal- and state-funded HIV/AIDS Program. He also served as Co-chair of the San Diego County HIV Prevention Community Planning Board.

Steve, a San Diego native, holds a BA in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master’s degree in public health (Health Services Administration & Planning) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Back to the top

Amy Okamura, MSW, LCSW
Amy Okamura, a practicing social worker and Lecturer/Administrator in the School of Social Work at San Diego State University, has served on the Foundation’s Health & Human Services Working Group since spring of 2003. She continues to help to develop community practitioners among social work students who are committed to social justice issues and to working with the poor and vulnerable, particularly affected by child maltreatment.

Amy was associated with the Union of Pan Asian Communities (UPAC), first as a volunteer in the early 70’s and for the next 18 years as a program manager, supervisor and clinician. She advocated for and developed the UPAC Counseling and Treatment Program, the Southeast Asian Developmental Disabilities Program, the Rainbow Children’s Mental Health Service at New Beginnings and the East Wind Socialization Program. Her clinical work continues to focus on work with refugees and survivors of torture.

Amy has served on the boards of the Association for the Advancement of Social Work in Groups, Inc., San Diego Chapter, and is past Chair of the Casey Family Community Resource Council. She is a member of the Statewide Education and Training Committee for the California Department of Social Services and serves as a grant reviewer for the Childrens Bureau, Administration for Youth and Family Services.

Amy received her MSW from the University of Minnesota, and her BA in sociology from the University of Hawaii. Back to the top

Rene G. Santiago, MPH, MCP
Rene Santiago is Deputy Director for the County of San Diego’s Health and Human Services Agency, where he manages over $200 million in health and human services programs employing over 1,000 professional, technical and support staff serving close to one million residents in the Central and South County regions. He is responsible for the operations of six major employment and eligibility family resource centers, two public health centers, federal refugee programs, the county general assistance program, and more than 75 community-based service partners. He also serves on the State of California’s Border Health Advisory Council and the San Diego State University College of Health & Human Services Advisory Council.

Rene previously worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and served on the County’s Regional Planning Commission and the City’s Affordable Housing Commission. He began his career managing community-based health centers serving underserved populations in East Los Angeles, near the community of Boyle Heights where he grew up. Rene graduated from University of California, Berkeley with joint masters’ degrees in city planning and public health, and completed post-graduate doctoral work at University of California, Los Angeles. He joined the San Diego Foundation’s Health & Human Services Working Group in 2005.

Back to the top