Dr. Martha Bernadett Founder of The Molina Foundation

The 2011 Heart and Soul Award recognizes a prominent South Bay woman for outstanding contributions through activities with mentoring girls, working with children and other charitable activities. It also recognizes their success in business and dedication to service and excellence.  The Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce and the MB Women in Business Committee has chosen Dr. Martha Bernadett & The Molina Foundation as the 2011 South Bay Conference for Women Heart & Soul Recipient.

Dr. Martha Bernadett is a Family Physician and daughter of the founder of Molina Healthcare, Dr. C. David Molina. She has been actively participating in activities related to addressing health disparities and cross cultural medicine. She has focused on disparities linked to language barriers to access and written low-literacy multi-lingual communication since the mid 1980s. After several years of clinical practice at Molina Medical Centers, she assumed progressive health plan responsibilities over medical and administrative areas including cultural and linguistic services, health education, contracting, credentialing and provider relations as well as serving as the General Manager for twenty-nine of Molinas medical practices before her current post.

Since receiving two Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awards totaling $1 million to improve Access to Healthcare for Limited English-speaking populations in 2002 under the Hablamos Juntos program, Dr. Bernadett has served as the Executive Vice President of Research and Innovation at Molina Healthcare. She founded The Molina Institute for Cultural Competency to improve healthcare access for diverse populations, Book Buddies ™, to promote early childhood and family literacy, and The Molina Foundation, a non profit organization to promote access to education and healthcare to reduce disparities experienced by underserved populations.

Book Buddies has distributed nearly 1 million new or gently used books since 2003 and was the one of the reasons driving the formation of The Molina Foundation. Through this program, they have identified and distributed hundreds of thousands of books through schools, libraries, community based organizations, hospitals and health care facilities. These books are distributed where cohorts of children and adults have been identified at high risk for low literacy, primarily due to poverty or prevalence of English as a second language. Book Buddies™ has partnered with literacy programs and existing similar 501(c)3 organizations to support their projects. Book Buddies has built over 50 libraries at community based organizations and schools. She and her husband Faustino Bernadett, M.D., enjoy spending time with their three lovely daughters age 24, 19 and 10 years old.

It is with great pride and admiration that the South Bay Conference for Women recognizes Dr. Martha Bernadett for her passion, dedication, and ongoing love for literacy within our community. We are honored that she is our 2011 Heart & Soul Award Recipient.
 

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