Natalia Cales, MPH

Principal

Health Management Associates

Atlanta, GA

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A public and private healthcare executive, Natalia Cales has over 20 years of experience building strategic partnerships, community engagement, coalition alignment, and cultural competency. Managing goals, operations, program development, policy implementation, and crisis response, she has delivered operational, financial, structural and care outcome improvements across various settings.

Natalia is a highly trained and effective leader specializing in health equity, healthcare access, maternal health, reproductive rights, behavioral health, HIV/AIDS, child welfare, homelessness, and long-term care. Her unique lived experiences in the South Carolina foster care system prepared and motivated her to be an advocate in the child welfare – human services space.  

Prior to joining Health Management Associates, Natalia worked on the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) team for over a decade, focusing on implementing national, regional, state, tribal and international policies and program initiatives. From the Office of the Secretary, she cross-collaborated with other HHS agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Indian Health Services (IHS), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Natalia has extensive experience engaging with culturally diverse public and private sector leaders, institutions, organizations, communities and other stakeholders.  During her tenure with HHS, she served in various roles and deployments, including public affairs specialist, executive officer and multiple acting regional director positions. She functioned as the principal liaison between HHS headquarters, the regional office, federal agencies, state agencies, healthcare providers, community-based organizations and funded entities.

Working abroad from the CDC’s Zambia office, Natalia supported the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. While deployed to the southern border in Fort Bliss, Texas, she provided operational assistance for the ACF Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Unaccompanied Children (UC) reunification program.

Throughout her career, Natalia has exemplified excellence as an innovative and outcomes-driven change agent. Leveraging her organizational and program management skills, she leads complex projects from concept to full operational and implementation status. She has received numerous awards for her work and her commitment to creative, collaborative, and continuous improvement within health and human services. These recognitions include the “Hubert H. Humphrey Award” for Service to America; a national spotlight article, “I Am ReImagining HHS;” and her selection as a CDC Center for Global Health IETA Ambassador. 

Natalia earned her Master of Public Health from Walden University and her bachelor’s degree in health services management from Norfolk State University. She has a project management certificate from the University of Georgia and a certificate in Meta-Leadership and Crisis Leadership Training for National Security Professionals from Harvard University.

A Charleston native and Atlanta resident, Natalia is an active member of her community and a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.