Welcome Back Initiative: Reuniting Immigrant Health Care Professionals with Their Careers

The Welcome Back Initiative (WBI) serves to diversify the health workforce to reducing health disparities. To that end, WBI assists foreign trained health professionals living in the US in reestablishing and/or advancing their careers in the health sector. To date, the WBI has served over 12,000 individuals from over 150 countries through its 10 centers across the country. The WBI successfully connects community assets with community needs. Dr. Fernández Peña will share the personal obstacles challenging immigrants professionally and the benefits of assisting them in reaching their professional goals.

Dr. Fernández Peña is a nationally celebrated scholar, advocate, and innovator in the field of immigrant professional integration. He founded the Welcome Back Initiative in 2001 in San Francisco, CA. Additional sites are now located across the U.S. including Colorado, Maryland, New York, and Texas, with a budget exceeding $10 million. Welcome Back received the E Pluribus Unum prize from the Migration Policy Institute in 2011. In 2010, it was recognized by the Maytree Foundation as one of the world's 15 most successful programs for immigrant integration. Dr. Fernández Peña has served as a consultant for various organizations including the U.S. Department of Education and the Migration Policy Institute.