Philip DeChavez, MD, MPH

Dr. Philip M. DeChavez, a Chicano born in Albuquerque and schooled in San Antonio, TX, served in Operation Desert Storm as a medic, completed his BS at Morgan State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude as valedictorian. He developed and researched educational programs aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in higher education throughout his career. He was a board member of the Center of Excellence at U. Pennsylvania, and an advisor for an umbrella organization for Latino student groups at Harvard. After completion of the CFHU fellowship, he worked at the Boston Public Health Commission focusing on the Mayor’s effort to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the city of Boston. Subsequently, Phil served as the medical director of MCI-Framingham, a medium-security correctional facility for female offenders in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. He was also on faculty at the University of Massachusetts Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

In 1999, Dr. DeChavez completed his medical degree and his internship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Hospital, where he received the Helen O. Dickens Award for service to the minority community. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at South Side Hospital, Stony Brook University in 2003, and his M.P.H. at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2004.

Sadly, Phil DeChavez passed away on June 4, 2012.  All those who knew him recall his amazing passion for health equity and the recruitment and retention of minority students at the college and medical school levels.  He was an inspiration to all for his energy, drive, and sense of humor – and he will always be missed.