Long Beach City College graduate Dr. Joseph Mario Molina is the former longtime president and chief executive officer of Molina Healthcare Inc., a company that his father, Dr. C. David Molina, founded in 1980. In 2005, Molina was featured in Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America.
Molina has served in various capacities at Molina Healthcare since its inception. As the medical director, he worked with providers and clinics while overseeing medical and risk management issues. As vice president, he was responsible for provider contracting, member services, marketing and quality assurance. Molina in 2002 received the Ernst & Young Greater Los Angeles Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was named as an honoree of the Greater Long Beach National Conference for Community and Justice.
Molina also was inducted into the Long Beach City College Hall of Fame in 2002. He remembers his years at Long Beach fondly.
“I had a wonderful experience at Long Beach City College,” Molina said. “My classes were small in size, allowing me to get to know my professors. I also had the opportunity to participate in clubs and learn leadership skills that I might not have gotten at a larger university. When I transferred, I found that Long Beach City College had prepared me to succeed in my upper division coursework.”
Following his studies at Long Beach City College, where he earned an associate degree in physical science, Molina earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from California State University, Long Beach, and a doctor of medicine degree at the University of Southern California. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland and a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at UC San Diego.
Molina also has an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University.