Albert Julio Alvarez, Fahp: A Conversation with the Editor

Abstract

Al Alvarez (Figure ​(Figure11) was born in Uruguay on September 8, 1946. At age 5, he and his family moved to Texas, and after brief stays in Harlingen and Laredo, they settled in El Paso. He began college at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos and after 2 years transferred to the University of Colorado, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1972. For the next 5 years he was an executive with the Boy Scouts and then in 1977 became the first executive director of the Poudre Hospital Foundation in Fort Collins, Colorado, a position he held until 1985 when he joined the Providence Health Care System as director of the foundation at their largest hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. After 3 years he became executive director of the foundation of Northridge Hospital and then 4 years later became the executive director of the Swedish Medical Center Foundations in Seattle. The fundraising of the 3 Swedish Foundations under his direction grew from $16 million in 2000. In August 2002 he became president of the Baylor Health Care System Foundation.