Carissa Avalos is a Senior Population Health Specialist at the Center for Advancing Dyadic Care in Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. With a deep commitment to health equity and systemic innovation, Carissa focuses on the strategic implementation of California’s Medicaid Dyadic Care Services benefit- with the goal of expanding access to integrated pediatric and behavioral health services for over 5 million children and families statewide.

Prior to this role, Carissa served as Regional Program Manager for Special Programs Medicaid at Anthem Blue Cross, where she oversaw key CalAIM initiatives including Enhanced Care Management, Community Supports, and Street Medicine. With extensive experience in cross-sector collaboration, Medicaid policy, and data-driven program design, Carissa continues to drive sustainable, scalable solutions to improve outcomes for California’s most vulnerable populations.