Executive Biographies

Cynthia A. Telles, PhD

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan Board of Directors

Cynthia A. Telles, PhD has served on the boards of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. since April 2003. She serves as chair of the Community Benefit Committee and also is a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee and Executive Committee, and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc. Telles is the director of the Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic of the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, and an associate clinical professor with the UCLA School of Medicine. The SSPC provides training in the provision of socio-culturally competent, comprehensive mental-health services to the rapidly growing and underserved Latino community.

Telles serves on the boards of General Motors, the Pacific Council on International Policy, a non-partisan international affairs organization, the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, the California Community Foundation and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. She previously served on the boards of the California Endowment, serving as board chair from 2004 to 2006, Sanwa Bank, California Americas United Bank and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

Telles was appointed by President Obama to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. She formerly served on the Mental Health Task Force for the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., on the National Advisory Council to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Department of Health and Human Services) during the Clinton administration, and as chair of the board of the National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human Service Organizations in Washington, D.C. In addition, Telles served for 13 years as Commissioner of the City of Los Angeles, and also served as vice president of the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission and the Los Angeles Board of Library Commissioners, as president of the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, and as a member of the Los Angeles Commission on Children, Youth and Families.

Telles received a bachelor of arts degree from Smith College and a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Boston University. She has published extensively in the area of mental health, particularly with respect to the assessment and treatment of Hispanic populations.

Updated 3.24.11