Lourdes Rivera joined the Ford Foundation in 2006 as the Program Officer for Sexuality, Reproductive Health and Rights. Her grant making supports building a more diverse and inclusive sexual and reproductive health and rights movement, with a focus on marginalized groups, and securing legal and policy advances in the field. Before joining the Ford Foundation, Lourdes was the Managing Attorney of the Los Angeles office of the National Health Law Program. While there, she provided policy advocacy, training, technical assistance, litigation and research assistance to legal services attorneys and other low-income and women's health advocates nationwide. Prior to her role at the National Health Law Program, Lourdes was a Senior Associate with the Children's Defense Fund, Health Division, where she worked on issues of health access for children. Additionally, she was a Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow with the National Women's Law Center. Lourdes has a J.D. from Yale Law School and a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Yale University and has bar membership in California, New York and Washington, D.C.