Originally published in the Daily Breeze – July 6, 2022

BY TYLER SHAUN EVAINS

A Manhattan Beach native has become the new chief medical officer for Venice Family Clinic, a nonprofit community health center that recently merged with South Bay Family Health Care.

Dr. Anjali Mahoney, who grew up in Manhattan Beach and is now raising her two children there, officially assumed the position earlier this year.

Venice Family Clinic, with the November merger, now serves 45,000 people, from Santa Monica to the South Bay.

“Being a part of Venice Family Clinic makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger,” Mahoney said in a press release. “I’m looking forward to helping meet the needs of our patients so they can live healthier lives.”

Mahoney previously served as vice chair of clinical affairs for the Department of Family Medicine, and as associate professor of family medicine at Keck Medicine of USC. She oversaw the primary care program, faculty practice, and the geriatric and street medicine programs at USC.

Before that, her career spanned the state, from Orange County to the Central Valley.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree at UCLA, Mahoney worked as a research assistant for the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health, where she learned how government creates public health policy.

She earned her medical degree at the University of Vermont. Mahoney, who became Venice Family Clinic’s CMO in March, also has a master’s degree in public health from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

She completed her family medicine residency and obstetrician-gynecologists fellowship at Ventura County Medical Center. Before medical school, Mahoney also served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a health and sanitation volunteer in Morocco.

“That’s where I came face to face with how poverty, food insecurity and lack of education negatively impact people’s health,” Mahoney said in a press release. “I became a huge proponent of addressing the social determinants of health; ensuring health equity and preventing disease starts with an equal playing field.”