Carmen Foster is the Clinic Manager of TRUCHA, the HIV services department at La Clinica de la Raza, and an advocate for the Latinx LGBTQIA+ community.

Carmen is a Latina woman, she was born in Guatemala and migrated to the U.S. when she was 14 years old. Carmen started her HIV career in 2003 in Orange County California at the AIDS Services Foundation (now Radiant Health Center) as a volunteer, consequently joined the HIV team as a case manager and HIV tester. Carmen joined a team of workers and volunteers to help run a family camp for children and their families infected and affected by HIV.

In 2008, Carmen joined TRUCHA at La Clinica and moved to the Bay area. Carmen worked with the TRUCHA team and Street Level Health Center navigating day laborer workers into care. Carmen also worked at the School Based Health Centers (Roosevelt middle school, and Havenscourt) in her role as a clinical health educator.

Carmen also conducted research work with San Francisco State University, and UCSF. While working with UCSF and La Clinica, Carmen was key in creating De Colores – a safe space and Latinx youth (18-24) group that lead efforts in educating other young people about HIV prevention.

Carmen has served in the HIV planning council of Alameda County. She is a member of the UCSF CAPS community advisory board, East Bay Getting to Zero Steering Committee, Diablo Valley College CHW Advisory Board.

As a Latinx female leader, Carmen has been able to transform a dream into a reality at TRUCHA La Clinica which has benefited many Latinx people. When Carmen became the head of TRUCHA (La Clinica), she made it her personal goal to increase additional services, programs, and activities to the department. Some of the services that were added as part of her efforts at the HIV services department at La Clinica include: Linkage to HIV care and Early Intervention Services, Overdose Prevention Training and Naloxone distribution , PrEP/PEP navigation and education, La Clinica became a PrEP-AP enrollment site , HCV testing, HIV prevention/education services for youth, expansion of gender affirming care navigation, food distribution program, mobile vehicle for TRUCHA’s testing and food needs, and more recently TRUCHA became a drop-in STI testing site.