United States

Lourdes A. Rivera

Program Officer New York

Lourdes Rivera works on sexuality and reproductive health and rights issues. Her grant making focuses on building a more diverse and inclusive movement in the fields of reproductive justice and sexual and reproductive health and rights, that both reflects the needs of marginalized groups and helps secure legal and policy advances in the field.

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation in 2006, Lourdes was the managing attorney of the Los Angeles office of the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) where she provided policy advocacy, training, litigation and research assistance to legal services attorneys and other low-income and women's health advocates. In 1996, she created NHeLP's Initiative to Promote Access to Reproductive Health Care for Low-Income Women, which she directed for more than 10 years.

Lourdes has served on the Action Board of the American Public Health Association (APHA) as section counselor to APHA's Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section, and as a member of its Latino Caucus. She was also co-chair of the American Bar Association's Health Rights and Bioethics Committee of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IR&R) Section and a member of the IR&R Section Council.

Lourdes is a co-founder and former chair of the Advisory Board of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ), former chair of the Board of the National Women's Health Network, and was chair of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) Consumer Action Task Force.

Previously, Lourdes was a senior associate with the Children's Defense Fund, Health Division where she worked on health access issues for children. She also was a Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow with the National Women's Law Center. She has a J.D. from Yale Law School and a bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies from Yale University.