Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2023 Women of Distinction honorees daily from July 5 to Aug. 15. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.
Sophia Guel-Valenzuela’s career in healthcare is rooted in a volunteer spirit. She began volunteering in high school with a home care group for older and disabled adults, and she continued volunteering throughout her time at the University of California, Berkeley.
While at UC-Berkeley, Guel-Valenzuela coordinated an elderly companion program to foster social relationships between college students and local older adults. It was at UC-Berkeley that she first was introduced to the Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) model of care, which would guide important contributions later in her career.
In her post-graduate work, Guel-Valenzuela earned a Master’s in Public Health degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying aging issues under the late professor Steven Wallace, PhD, a pioneer in this area. In her postcollegiate career, Guel-Valenzuela worked as a business analyst for Kaiser Permanente. She was promoted numerous times and helped shape the organization’s Medicare strategy. She left Kaiser in 2000 to join AltaMed, helping to establish a PACE there and eventually expanding the organization from one to eight locations.
Guel-Valenzuela has been with WelbeHealth for four years, transitioning to director of strategy and special projects in 2022. She pioneered the use of tablets at her facility to coordinate remote work and patient care during the pandemic. During her time at WelbeHealth, she has continued to pioneer the development of PACE care models and helped institute several programs that were critical to maintaining health services throughout the COVID pandemic.
Guel-Valenzuela also is active as a coach and parent, guiding her children through pandemic homeschooling and special needs assessments all while managing more than 100 remote employees and residents.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care. PointClickCare is the Diamond sponsor of this year’s program. PharMerica is the Silver sponsor. Additional sponsors include American HealthTech, Healthcare Services Group, Omnicare, Sentrics and ShiftKey.
Visit this web page to see lists of honorees from 2023 and previous years.
