Juan Manuel Mota, Jr.

A lifelong Tulare County resident has been appointed to the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (NACMH), where he will help oversee the organization’s operations.

Juan Manuel Mota, Jr. has been appointed to the NACMH by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, and is expected to serve a four-year term.

Mota is president and chair of the board for Tulare-based Altura Centers for Health, a health system with half a dozen clinics in and around Tulare.

He is co-Owner of Mota Insurance Agency Corp. in Visalia and Glendale, Arizona, with 20 years of experience in the insurance industry.

“ALTURA is humbled and honored to have Mr. Juan Mota Jr., our Board President, to be appointed by our Nation’s Secretary of Health and Human Services,” stated Graciela Soto Perez, CEO of Altura Centers for Health.

According to Perez, Mota’s business works closely with farmworker communities. He is the first Central Valley native to be appointed to this position, she said.

The NACMH advises, consults and makes recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) administrator about the organization, operation, selection and funding of migrant health centers.

The NACMH is governed by an authorizing statute and the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, which sets standards for the formation and use of advisory committees and meets twice a year in Washington, D.C.

During this meeting, NACMH members receive updates from federal officials on the progress of health issues pertaining to the migrant and seasonal agricultural population. Each meeting is followed by recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which are based on current knowledge of the needs and concerns of migrant and seasonal agricultural populations.