Health Officer/Administrator
Florida Deptment of Health
Miami, FL
Health Officer/Administrator of the Miami-Dade County Health Department in Miami, Florida, where she is responsible for the oversight and supervision of public health programs throughout the county. She is charged with the administration of an $70 million budget and nearly 800 employees. Previously, Dr. Rivera held the positions of Executive Community Health Nursing Director for the Miami-Dade County Health Department, Director of Nursing at the Public Health Trust for Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, as well as Nursing Director for the Department of Health in Puerto Rico. Dr. Rivera is a certified Health Care Risk Manager, a graduate of the Executive Institute for Community Health Nurses at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a fellow of the Nurse Executive Program/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Public Health Leadership Institute.
In recognition of her leadership and commitment to public health, Dr. Rivera was featured in Miami Today as Best of Miami 2011. She received the 2011 Outstanding Professional Performance & Community Service Award from the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women and was named one of the most influential Latinos in Miami by an international organization 100 Latinos Miami. Dr. Rivera is the recipient of the Miami Children’s Hospital 2010 Champion for Children Award; the 2009 Community Service Award from the Florida Health Care Executive Forum; the Florida International University, Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work’s Annual Paths of Public Health Award; and the 2008 University of South Florida College of Public Health’s Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health award.
Dr. Rivera earned BSN and MSN degrees from the University of Puerto Rico and holds a PhD in Health Administration from Warren National University. She is past President and a member of the Florida Sterling Council. Dr. Rivera is an active and contributing member of many groups including an advisory Workgroup for the Office of State Tribal Local & Territorial Support of the Centers for Disease Control; Florida Public Health Association; External Advisory Committee of the Florida International University, Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work; and a founding board member of the Florida Public Health Institute also a honorary member of the Alpha Omega Chapter of the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society Under her leadership the Miami-Dade County Health Department has earned three Florida Governor's Sterling Awards.