Sherry M. Hirota
Founding Executive and Former CEO, Asian Health Services
For the last 50 years, Sherry M. Hirota has championed underserved communities and has made an impact fighting for health care as a right, not a privilege, most recently as CEO of Asian Health Services (AHS), which she founded and from where she retired at the end of 2023. As a leader of movements to expand health access, educate and advocate for linguistic and cultural competency, and lift the voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hirota has created change locally, in California, and throughout the nation.
In 1998, AHS and La Clinica were awarded a grant from Kellogg focused on under- and uninsured immigrants and health disparities. At a convening, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) founder Rick Brown said there were no data breaking down immigrants’ documentation status.
“My hopes were dashed,” recalls Hirota. “How can we make policy and project actuarial when you don’t have information on the large immigrant population, especially in California?”
In the years that followed, Hirota and AHS worked closely with the CHPR.
“The center was an important ally and resource,” says Hirota. “We could always get very detailed information about the population trends within our community and were able to respond more effectively to COVID-19, ‘public charge,’ and what universal health care can mean in our community.”
“The leadership of CHPR have lived experiences in the struggle for health care access and health equity. This enables the Center to carry out its mission and stay in the forefront of relevance and impact,” adds Hirota.
Since its founding in 1974, Asian Health Services has grown to provide high-quality care in 14 languages, serving more than 50,000 patients each year, and operating a $65 million budget that supports 12 clinic sites; 11 clinical, advocacy, and educational programs; and a professional staff of nearly 500, 99% of whom are bilingual.
As an advocate and pioneer in the Asian American and Pacific Islander health movement, Hirota’s leadership helped establish national and statewide language and cultural competence standards in managed care. She has advised Congressional leaders on a wide range of health issues.
In 2023, the City of Oakland named a street Sherry Hirota Way to honor Asian Health
Services’ impact on community health and the woman who helped to lead it for almost a half century.