Blanca Meléndrez is Executive Director for the Center for Community Health at UC San Diego under the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, and Co-Chair of the Antiracism Health Disparities and Inequities Workstream for UC San Diego Health.  Each of these positions reflect her efforts to create collective community-wide impact aimed at improving social determinants of health through a racial equity lens. Blanca provides administrative oversight for numerous contracts and programs funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Education Program, USDA, CDC, Office of Minority Health and local and state foundations.. Her large-scale nutrition education and obesity prevention expertise includes her work for the Southern California Nutrition Incentive Program (known as ¡Más Fresco! More Fresh), the CalFresh Healthy Living program, San Diego County Obesity Initiative, Refugee Health Unit and Advancing Health Literacy, among others. During her time as Executive Director, Blanca has secured over 80 million dollars in grant funding. As a result, her team of over 20 program directors, managers, and staff continue to develop dynamic community-driven programs and significantly expand the reach of existing programs to support the right of low-income Californians to live healthy lifestyles.