With over thirty years as a physician and attorney, Dr. Avila is an experienced health executive and public policy expert. He served as 26th Secretary of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the 9th Commissioner of Health of Orange County, New York, and the former Chief Deputy Commissioner of Health Services and Public Health Director of Suffolk County, New York. Throughout his career he has also advised legislators and co-authored more than twenty-two healthcare laws.
Dr. Avila is an innovative leader and change agent that has expanded access to health, deregulated arcane health regulations, led transformational health equity symposia, championed community engagement and partnerships, testified on national issues such as the opioid epidemic, fracking, health equity, childhood lead poisoning, tobacco 21, and mobile lab testing of infectious diseases, served as an Incident Commander during natural disasters, and has collaborated on constitutional issues with White House Counsel.
As Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer, he has overseen, licensed and regulated over 250 hospitals, 750 nursing homes, 9 family health centers, and 100's of ambulance companies. While in Pennsylvania, he was charged with establishing a healthcare plan in compliance with the Affordable Care Act and delivering such to the Secretary of the US DHHS; regulated all managed healthcare plans; served as the Governor’s clinical liaison to the Commonwealth’s health insurance plans; and chaired the Pennsylvania e-Health Collaborative Executive Council. Between 2010 and 2017, he was awarded almost $85M in grants for public health programs, community initiatives, research, and emergency preparedness.
Dr. Avila is one of approximately three hundred individuals, who is board certified by the American Board of Legal Medicine. He serves on the Board of Governors of the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM), which has advised the United States Supreme Court on health law cases via its amicus curiae briefs for over six decades. Additionally, he serves as ACLM’s National Spokesperson. Dr. Avila has taught and lectured in schools of medicine, law, and public health. He currently holds a position of Distinguished Visiting Professor in Public Health in the Institute of Public Health of the New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY.
Dr. Avila’s impeccable academic record includes an ScB in Biology from Brown University, an MD from the Brown Medical School, a JD with cum laude honors from the St. John’s University School of Law, and an MPH with high honors from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as well as graduating from the Executive Education program for State Health Officials at the Harvard School for Public Health and the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program between the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health