Helen DuPlessis, M.D., MPH

Dr. Helen DuPlessis is an accomplished physician executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience in health management, program and policy development, practice transformation, public health, maternal and child health, community systems development, medical training, performance improvement, and managed care.

She is currently a principal with Health Management Associates, bringing her broad expertise to health plans and systems, state and local governments, national health organizations and programs, community clinics and provider groups, community-based and other health and human services programs.

Previously, DuPlessis was the chief medical officer for a large network federally qualified health center (FQHC) in south Los Angeles, where she built their quality improvement infrastructure, enhanced their performance improvement revenues, instituted and certified their patient-centered medical home model, and significantly expanded staffing and service scope including a creation of a transgender health program, HIV and hepatitis C program, and a clinic for children and youth with autism and other developmental disorders. She served as senior advisor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, a nationally recognized health services research, training, and policy center, and was the first permanent chief medical officer of L.A. Care Health Plan, where she built their foundational programs and health plan infrastructure, created new insurance products for children, and provided guidance to the initial state oversight and quality approaches. She also served as administrator of community pediatrics and children’s medical services for the Los Angeles County Department of Health, and directed student medical services for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

She has served on numerous local, state, and national committees and boards including professional organizations (AAP, NASBHC, APHA), quality improvement organizations (NCQA, NICHQ, Center for Healthcare Strategies), various local and state commissions and committees (Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital Health Care Options Task Force, Governors Blue Ribbon Commission on Medi-Cal Managed Care Performance Improvement, analytic support to the Governor’s Future Health Workforce Commission), the National Children’s Study National Advisory Committees, nonprofit school health partnerships (L.A. Trust for Children’s Health), and local and statewide health programs (CalKids, the LA Urban League Healthy Neighborhood Collaborative).

Dr. DuPlessis received her Master of Public Health degree from UCLA, doctor of medicine degree from University of California, San Francisco, and bachelor’s degree from University of Southern California.