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Compassionate Organizer Consuelo Diaz ’66 likes to say she was “born again” at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center.
She was actually born at LAC+USC’s General Hospital, then returned in 1972 to embark on a career devoted to health care in Los Angeles County agencies, first at LAC+USC Medical Center, later in the Department of Health Services, and today with Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center, an affiliate of the USC School of Medicine in Downey, Calif.
“USC has been in the fabric of my life for 35 years,” says Diaz, who graduated with a B.S. in 1966, returned for a Master’s of Public Administration degree in 1989, and has risen to the position of chief executive officer at Rancho, an internationally known treatment and research center in physical rehabilitation.
Hers is a career motivated by giving back to the community, says Diaz, who grew up in East Los Angeles. “There’s a part of me that likes to organize, build, teach and motivate,” she explains. “There’s another part that sees human need. I just try to use my talent – the organized part – to make people’s lives better.”
In no part of the system has the competence and commitment of Consuelo Diaz been better demonstrated than at Rancho Los Amigos. The medical center rehabilitates patients who have suffered catastrophic spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, strokes and other disabling conditions.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Rancho as one of the 10 best rehabilitation centers in the United States and the only top-rated center in California. Statistically it’s the national leader in rehabilitation outcomes for patients with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and strokes.
“Our focus is not solely on rehabilitating the body. We work with the psychological part as well, helping patients and their families adapt to their old environment with new disabilities and constraints,” she says.
“We want to help them come to the conclusion that there is life after their tragedy.”
In addition to carrying on the 100-year tradition of groundbreaking rehabilitation at Rancho, Diaz is a member of USC President Steven B. Sample’s Community Advisory Council and the Residency Advisory Committee of the School of Public Policy, Planning, and Development.
Last October, she celebrated 30 years of service with the county. Diaz’s impressive resume is dominated by top executive positions: chief of staff to the CEO at the Medical Center for five years; two-and-a-half years as chief of staff to the director of hospitals; and four-plus years as administrator of Women’s Hospital.
“We’ve kept the county healthcare system going during incredibly difficult times for the health field in general and hospitals in particular,” she says.
“I’m too insignificant to fix the world, but I can help fix pieces of it.”
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