Castulo de la Rocha arrived in Los Angeles from rural Mexico at age ten having never attended school. He didn't speak English. He couldn't read or write it. And … a few years later, he was elected student body president. Twice. What followed was just as unlikely. Fresh out of law school at Berkeley, Castulo thought he'd spend a few months helping a small East Los Angeles community clinic before moving on to whatever came next. He never left. Nearly fifty years later, AltaMed has grown into the largest federally qualified health center in the United States, serving more than 700,000 patients every year through 80 locations across Southern California. In this episode, we talk about growing up on a ranch with no electricity, no cars, and no schools, how a young lawyer became one of the most influential healthcare leaders in California, and why he believed so strongly that art belonged alongside medicine that he wrote it into AltaMed's bylaws. Most of all, this is a conversation about finding the work you were meant to do... even when you had no idea you were looking for it.
Castulo de la Rocha arrived in Los Angeles from rural Mexico at age ten having never attended school. He didn't speak English. He couldn't read or write it. And … a few years later, he was elected student body president. Twice.
What followed was just as unlikely.
Fresh out of law school at Berkeley, Castulo thought he'd spend a few months helping a small East Los Angeles community clinic before moving on to whatever came next.
He never left.
Nearly fifty years later, AltaMed has grown into the largest federally qualified health center in the United States, serving more than 700,000 patients every year through 80 locations across Southern California.
In this episode, we talk about growing up on a ranch with no electricity, no cars, and no schools, how a young lawyer became one of the most influential healthcare leaders in California, and why he believed so strongly that art belonged alongside medicine that he wrote it into AltaMed's bylaws.
Most of all, this is a conversation about finding the work you were meant to do... even when you had no idea you were looking for it.