Ralph Alvarado, MD, FACP, joined Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s cabinet in January 2023 as the 15th commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health.

Dr. Alvarado has spent a decade in public service and in 2014 was the first Hispanic member elected to the Kentucky General Assembly where he represented Kentucky’s 28th Senate district.

During his service in the Kentucky Senate, Dr. Alvarado was Chairman of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee, led the Substance Abuse Recovery Task Force, and was a member of several committees, including the Medicaid Oversight Subcommittee, Banking & Insurance committee, and State & Local Government committee.

Dr. Alvarado has been a practicing physician for the past 29 years, working in a variety of clinical settings, as a small town primary care physician, a hospitalist and continues to see patients at skilled nursing facilities. Dr. Alvarado has served as medical director for Medicare health plan operators Stableview Health and Signature Advantage, in Lexington, Ky.; as medical director and finance chairman for Kentucky One Health Medical Group, in Louisville, Ky.; and, as vice-chairman of the board of an accountable care organization, Quality Independent Physicians, also in Louisville.

Dr. Alvarado earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif., in 1990, where he went on to receive his Doctorate in Medicine in 1994. Dr. Alvarado completed his medical residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky in 1998. Dr. Alvarado and his wife of 30 years, Dawn, have two adult children.