Menu

In the News

Glowing Story on Dr. Magana and FACES for the Future on NBC’s ‘Bay Area Proud’

Disease is a doctor's No. 1 enemy, right? Not so fast, says Dr. Tomas Magana. Dr. Magana says, like most physicians, he began his career believing that treating illnesses would be the way he would save his patients lives. But then Dr. Magana, a pediatrician, began practicing medicine in inner-city Oakland.

Disease is a doctor’s No. 1 enemy, right?

Not so fast, says Dr. Tomas Magana.

Dr. Magana says, like most physicians, he began his career believing that treating illnesses would be the way he would save his patients lives. But then Dr. Magana, a pediatrician, began practicing medicine in inner-city Oakland.

“The leading cause of death for adolescents is trauma, followed by homicide, followed by suicide,” Dr. Magana says. “That’s very hard for a pediatrician, because I’m trained for pathology.”

Dr. Magana soon realized if he was going to save lives, he would have to broaden the ways he did it. So in 2000 he started what is now the Faces For The Future Coalition.

To see what Faces does, and how Dr. Magana uses his own personal story to inspire young, at-risk teens, watch Garvin Thomas’ story.

Originally published by NBC Bay Area


More Updates

Work With Us

You change the world. We do the rest. Explore fiscal sponsorship at PHI.

Bring Your Work to PHI

Support Us

Together, we can accelerate our response to public health’s most critical issues.

Donate

Find Employment

Begin your career at the Public Health Institute.

See Jobs

Mural and kids' paintings hanging on a fence at a playground

Close

New Public Health Primer: Engaging Community Development for Health Equity

How can the public health and community development sectors to work together to advance health and racial equity? A new primer from PHI’s Build Healthy Places Network and partners provides a roadmap for forging upstream partnerships, with recommendations, strategies and lessons-learned from national, state and local leaders.

Explore the primer

Continue to PHI.org