Juana has spent most of her career working in Chicago’s Latino communities addressing health disparities such as HIV/AIDS, prenatal and postnatal health, mental health, obesity, diabetes, and asthma. She currently works for Alivio Medical Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center where she coordinates the Peers for Progress project “My Health Comes First/Mi Salud es Primero. Mi Salud es Primero is a multi-year demonstration project that includes a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, medical assistants, dieticians, diabetes educators and includes the integration of community health workers into this team. Community health workers are at the core of the project and offer direct diabetes education and peer support to patients. The aim of the project is to improve clinical indicators, diabetes management behaviors and quality of life for Alivio’s over 4000 diabetic patients.