Ventura County Health Care Agency Leadership

Bach Nguyen is a Chief Information Officer at Ventura County Health Care Agency and is based in Ventura, California. He has worked as Director of IS at Northwest Texas Healthcare System, Director of IS at Midwest Regional Medical Center, and Assistant VP - IT at North Oaks Health System. Bach attended West Texas A&M University and University of Oklahoma.

Fernando Medina MBA is a Chief Hospital Operations - Ambulatory Care at Ventura County Health Care Agency and is based in Los Angeles, California. He has worked as Behavioral Health Department - Facilities and Housing Manager at Ventura County Health Care Agency; Director, Santa Clara Valley Family Resource Center at Interface Children & Family Services; and Manager, Operations at Clinicas Del Camino Real Inc. Fernando attended UC Irvine between 1989 and 1993 and California Lutheran University between 1999 and 2001.

Joan Araujo is a Chief Deputy Director at Ventura County Health Care Agency and Director, Central Services at Ventura County Public Works Agency and is based in Ventura, California. She has worked as Director of Health Services at Ventura County Health Care Plan, Director of Transition Planning for New Hospital Construction at Mercy Medical Center Merced, and Customer at Cutco Cutlery. Joan attended Merced College, OLM, and University of St. Francis.

Dr. Denering oversees an array of substance use disorder services including County-operated adult, perinatal and youth treatment services, prevention services, the Ventura County Driving Under the Influence (DUI) program, and the implementation of the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS) managed care initiative. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Denering held various management and technical positions within the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control and Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Divisions. Dr. Denering also spent eight years at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior where she served as the Project Director for the Los Angeles County Evaluation System. She has more than 10 years of experience in the research, evaluation, and administration of public health and behavioral health programs.