Office of Minority Health

Martin Mendoza, Ph.D., serves as the Chief Health Equity Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Director of the CMS Office of Minority Health (OMH). In this role, Dr. Mendoza leads OMH in its mission towards the advancement and integration of health equity in the development, evaluation, and implementation of CMS’s policies, programs, and partnerships.

Prior to CMS, Dr. Mendoza served as the first Director of Health Equity for the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) All of Us Research Program where he provided leadership and high-level expertise to improve inclusion and equity in precision medicine.

Before joining All of Us, Dr. Mendoza led extramural research for minority health in the Office of the Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He is a recognized expert in clinical trial diversity and has testified on it before Congress. He is also the primary author of the pivotal FDA guidance recommending that clinical trial sponsors submit a diversity action plan to FDA. Dr. Mendoza’s original idea and recommendation became federal public law in December 2022.

Dr. Mendoza has also served as director of the Division of Policy and Data in the Office of Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Secretary, as well as in multiple NIH Institutes including the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Human Genome Research Institute where he assisted in the genetic mapping of the Human Genome Project.

Dr. Mendoza is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and received his Ph.D. in cancer biology from Johns Hopkins University.

Pamela J. Gentry is the Deputy Director of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Gentry’s works to advance the agency’s commitment to and investment in health equity for underserved populations, including policy and program innovation to advance health equity.

Gentry led the agency’s team to plan and execute the first Annual CMS Health Equity Conference and is the champion of the long standing OMH Minority Research Grant Program. The grant program is designed to make strategic investments in health care research aimed at advancing CMS’s goal of mitigating barriers to health equity.

As senior advisor to OMH, she focused on outreach and education for minority communities and the development and execution of national education and outreach campaigns for Medicare, Medicaid, Healthcare Marketplace and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Gentry returned to federal service in 2010 after eight years as senior manager in broadcast and online media for BET Networks.  She created BET’s first online political blog in 2005, “Pamela on Politics.” In 2009 she became the networks senior political analyst responsible for the daily coverage of the White House and legislative activity on Capitol Hill.  Prior to BET she worked for C-SPAN, W*USA-TV Channel 9 in Washington, D.C., and provided political commentary for various national and international news networks and was a guest political blogger on The Huffington Post.

• Serves as the principal advisor and coordinator to the Agency for the special needs of minority and disadvantaged populations.
• Provides leadership, vision and direction to address HHS and CMS Strategic Plan goals and objectives related to improving minority health and eliminating health disparities. 
• Develops an Agency-wide data collection infrastructure for minority health activities and initiatives.
• Implements activities to increase the availability of data to monitor the impact of CMS programs in improving minority health and eliminating health disparities.
• Participates in the formulation of CMS goals, policies, legislative proposals, priorities and strategies as they affect health professional organizations and others involved in or concerned with the delivery of culturally and linguistically-appropriate, quality health services to minorities and disadvantaged populations.
• Consults with HHS Federal agencies and other public and private sector agencies and organizations to collaborate in addressing health equity.
• Establishes short-term and long-range objectives and participates in the focus of activities and objectives in assuring equity of access to resources and health careers for minorities and disadvantaged populations.

Office of Minority Health Leadership