Dr. Etsemaye P. Agonafer

Board Member

Etsemaye P. Agonafer, MD, MPH, MS is an internal medicine physician and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health System Science at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, CA who continues to practice at Los Angeles County Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Her body of work amplifies the voices of vulnerable individuals and communities through narratives, mixed methods, and community-partnered participatory research to build cross-sector partnerships that impact healthcare delivery innovations addressing social determinants of health.

Prior to her current position, Dr. Agonafer was appointed as a 2021-22 White House Fellow placed in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also was a National Clinician Scholar at UCLA where she completed a Master of Science in Health Policy & Management. Throughout her career, she participated in numerous quality improvement efforts in diverse healthcare systems, trained and mentored students, developed novel medical education curricula, and disseminated her work in national presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Agonafer completed her residency and chief residency at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center after graduating from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA/Charles Drew University, PRIME-LA dual-degree program. She earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California.

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