Conrado Bárzaga, M.D.
Vice President and Chief Academic Officer @ Innercare
Conrado E. Bárzaga, MD, is a healthcare executive, academic health leader, and community health systems strategist with more than 25 years of experience advancing health equity, developing healthcare workforce pipelines, building cross-sector partnerships, and leading nonprofit and public-sector healthcare organizations. He currently serves as Vice President and Chief Academic Officer and Designated Institutional Official at Innercare, a federally qualified health center serving Imperial and Riverside Counties. In this role, he leads Graduate Medical Education, Undergraduate Medical Education, clinical research development, Area Health Education Center initiatives, and regional healthcare workforce strategy.
At Innercare, Dr. Bárzaga directs the development of the organization’s ACGME-accredited Sponsoring Institution infrastructure and advances a Teaching Health Center model focused on rural and medically underserved communities. He works with universities, health systems, and community organizations to expand physician, advanced practice provider, and student training pipelines across Eastern Riverside County and Imperial County. He also co-leads the Eastern Riverside & Imperial County Collaborative for Medical Education (ERICC), a regional initiative that aligns healthcare providers, educators, public agencies, and community partners around workforce development, training capacity, and healthcare access.
Dr. Bárzaga’s work integrates medical education, community-based research, and systems change. He supports Innercare’s research infrastructure by aligning NIMHD-supported clinical research initiatives, the Imperial County Clinical Research Network, and future GME scholarly activity around health disparities, social drivers of health, and care delivery improvement.
Before joining Innercare, Dr. Bárzaga served as Chief Executive Officer of the Desert Healthcare District & Foundation, where he led strategy, operations, grantmaking, and regional health equity initiatives. During his tenure, he helped guide long-term healthcare infrastructure planning, supported regional access-to-care investments, and built the Coachella Valley Equity Collaborative, which secured more than $5 million in external support and delivered 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in underserved communities.
Dr. Bárzaga is Adjunct Faculty at the San Diego State University School of Public Health and Doctoral Faculty for SDSU’s Doctor of Public Health programs in Executive Management and Global Health Management, where he serves on examination and dissertation committees. He is a board member of IEHP Foundation and previously served on the Board of the Association of California Healthcare Districts and the Advisory Board of the UC Riverside School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities Research.
His recognitions include the Changemaker Award from Lift to Rise, the Humanitarian Award from DAP Health, and CEO of the Year from the Association of California Healthcare Districts. Dr. Bárzaga earned his medical degree from the Instituto Superior de Ciencias Médicas at the Universidad de La Habana, completed Family Medicine residency training at Hospital General Calixto García in Cuba, and holds a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard Kennedy School