SCU Board Member Dr. Martin Gallegos Honored for Excellence in Teaching Health Justice

We are proud to announce that Dr. Martin Gallegos, SCU alumnus and esteemed member of our Board of Regents, has been awarded an Outstanding Teaching Award by the Keck School of Medicine at USC for his exceptional work in the Health Justice and Systems of Care (HJSC) program.

HJSC is a required, three-semester course for all second-year medical students at Keck, designed to equip future physicians with a deep understanding of the social determinants of health, healthcare disparities, and the structural barriers that impact access to care—particularly in underserved and vulnerable communities. It challenges students to look beyond clinical settings and into the broader systems shaping patient well-being.

Dr. Gallegos teaches the program’s capstone course, Envisioning and Designing a Just Healthcare System, now entering its third year under his leadership. In this course, students work in small groups to identify a real-world health justice issue, research its root causes, and develop actionable, systems-level solutions. Dr. Gallegos draws on his decades of experience as a healthcare provider, public servant, and lifelong health equity advocate to mentor students through this rigorous and rewarding process. Final projects are evaluated for feasibility, impact, and relevance to real-world challenges.

For Dr. Gallegos, this work is deeply personal. His commitment to health justice began in the 1980s—first as a chiropractor serving a working-class, Spanish-speaking community with limited access to care, and later as Chair of the California State Assembly Health Committee. His lived experience continues to fuel his passion for mentorship and systemic change.

“I thoroughly enjoy teaching this course because these issues are near and dear to my heart,” he says. “My hope is to make a lasting impact by sharing not just theory, but real stories and practical solutions drawn from a lifetime confronting health inequities.”

The Outstanding Teaching Award is particularly meaningful because recipients are selected by students themselves, based on their evaluations of instructional quality, inclusivity, fairness in assessment, and the course’s impact on their understanding of key issues.

Dr. Gallegos’s recognition resonates deeply with us at SCU, as it reflects our own core value of Health Equity—the belief that all individuals and communities deserve a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. We are committed to reducing health disparities through education, empowerment, and meaningful partnerships. Dr. Gallegos embodies this mission in both his teaching and his life’s work.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Gallegos on this well-earned honor—and in celebrating his extraordinary contribution to building a more just and equitable healthcare system.