Jimmy Santana / Board Member
Jeffrey Tew / Board Member
Jeffrey Tew is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Miami Rescue Mission.
Message: “The Miami Rescue Mission Clinic provides high quality health care at no charge and thus provides an invaluable service to our community.
Dr. Enrique S. Fernandez / Board Member
Dr. Fernandez has practiced in a number of settings, including community health centers. He is a volunteer physician and faculty at the Miami Rescue Mission Clinic. A graduate of Stanford University, Dr. Fernandez earned his MD at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson and completed his residency in Family Medicine at Santa Monica Hospital, UCLA Medical Center. He went on to earn his MSEd at the University of Southern California. Dr. Fernandez has extensive teaching and patient care experience and is committed to providing access to quality health care for under-resourced and disadvantaged communities. His academic interests include faculty development, and training for cultural competence/cultural humility.
Dr. Linda Washington-Brown / Secretary
Linda is a Board of Director’s member of the Miami Rescue Mission Caring Place Centers, Miami Rescue Mission Caring Place Clinic, and CARE Elementary. She is also chair of the National Black Nurses Association, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee and member of the DEI committee of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Linda is the past Director, South Region Florida Nurses Association. She is a national, state, and local speaker on vaccines and providing care to vulnerable populations. Linda has also received numerous local, state, and national awards for service to the community and is currently a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Linda holds a PhD in Nursing Research, completed Doctoral candidacy work in Education Psychology from the University of Miami, obtained an Executive Juris Doctorate from Concord Law School, received a Doctorate in Religious Counseling from Jacksonville Theological Seminary, an Honorary Doctorate in Religious Studies from Trinity Theological Seminary, and is a third-year Medical Student at Oceania University Medical School.
Dr. Paul W. Davies / Board Member
Dr Paul W Davies is a board-certified physician with over 30 years of leadership experience with both for and non-profit organizations. He is currently a board member of the Miami Rescue Mission Clinic where he also volunteers mentoring medical students.
Ricardo Forbes / Vice Chair
Ricardo Forbes has over 40 years in the healthcare arena. Starting as a Research Assistant in Epidemiological Studies, followed by many years as a Healthcare Administration Executive. He has a proven track record in driving the delivery of safe quality healthcare. He firmly believes in the business imperative of diversity and inclusion as an important vehicle in addressing disparities in the healthcare delivery process.
Dr. Pete Gutierrez / Chief Executive Officer
He is an affiliate of the American Heart Association to include BLS, PALS, ACLS, Past chair for the Southern region which included Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico, Director of the MDPD Training Bureau,& Doral Police Training Bureau, a member of the Florida Department of Health Emergency Response Team & is a board member at Miami Beach Community Health Center, the Florida Free Clinics Association, Miami Rescue Mission & the Miami Rescue Mission Clinic.
Dr. Gutierrez served as a Miami Police Officer in the 1980’s receiving the Officer of the Year Award for the State of Florida. He is also a US Air force veteran. Prior to serving in the Air Force Dr. Gutierrez arrived in the United States via the Pedro Pan flight’s in the early 1960’s.
Carlos Acosta / Treasurer
Carlos Acosta is a senior executive with an accomplished history across the healthcare spectrum. Mr. Acosta brings specialized expertise in providing diagnostic laboratory solutions to healthcare providers ranging from single practitioners to large medical groups and hospital systems.
Mr. Acosta currently serves as the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at BioReference Health, Inc., focusing on population health and value-based care initiatives for large medical groups such as ACOs and IPAs. During his current tenure at BioReference, Mr. Acosta has overseen the national expansion of BioReference remote lab operations, which has played a key role in positioning BioReference as the third largest clinical laboratory in the United States.
Mr. Acosta was instrumental in launching Laboratorio Buena Salud, a division of BioReference dedicated to providing underserved Spanish-speaking communities with quality diagnostic care. Laboratorio Buena Salud currently provides care and educational materials to thousands of Spanish-speaking patients in their native language, helping them understand their treatment regimens and resulting in better patient outcomes.
As an emerging leader, Mr. Acosta enjoyed a successful career establishing and owning multiple healthcare entities over the course of 25 years both in the United States and abroad, including Meridian Clinical Laboratory, which was acquired by BioReference in 2012.
