Primary Care and the Necessity of Leadership

Thomas Mahoney, M.D., MPH
Director of Clinical Affairs, California Primary Care Association

Thomas Mahoney, M.D., MPH was born in Massachusetts and lived there until his early adult life, receiving a Bachelors in Zoology at the University of Massachusetts in 1990 and a Medical Degree from University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1994. He completed his Internship in Family Practice through the University of Davis program in Merced and finished his residency Preventive Medicine (for which he is Board Certified) as well as receiving a Masters in Public Health from Loma Linda University.

Dr. Mahoney spent 6 ½ years working at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)- Sequoia Community Health Centers. There, his duties included running an outreach clinic at a community center, counseling patients and provided medical management for smoking cessation; he was also the Quality Medical Officer and Infectious Disease Control Officer and the Director of Health Education. He was also the Associate Medical Officer (AMO) for Sequoia and their Physician Lead in the Health Disparities. Along with another physician, he started a diabetes clinic that utilized the Chronic Care Model. He helped create and institutionalize Sequoia's Domestic Violence Prevention program (funded by End Abuse - formally known as the Family Violence Prevention Fund). Dr. Mahoney also represented Sequoia in numerous projects, including taking the lead in a regional project - CHCF's Improving Diabetes Care in California’s Central Valley . He was also the Quality Medical Officer for the local health center consortium (Central Valley Health Network - CVHN).

In July 2006, Dr. Mahoney joined California Primary Care Association (CPCA) as the Director of Clinical Affairs. In this role, he works on centralizing all the Quality Improvement Activities that have been occurring in the state in order to accelerate and spread these activities. He is also in charge of the Health Disparities Collaborative for Pacific West Cluster (Regions IX and X). In addition, he has been charged with increasing clinician representation in CPCA's policy activities and encouraging clinician leadership. CPCA is also collaborating with Kaiser Permanente and the California Association of Public Hospitals on the issue of specialty care access.