Ramon Tallaj, MD
Dr. Ramon Tallaj is a board-certified internist and the founder and chairman of the board of directors of SOMOS Community Care, which has been operating since 2015. SOMOS Community Care is the only physician-led network within the Provider System operating under the New York State Delivery System Incentive Payment Reform (DSRIP) scheme.
Born in Santiago de Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, on January 25, 1956, Tallaj is the oldest of six children. He studied medicine at the Pedro Enriquez Ureña National University (UNPHU). He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1981.
Among his many positions in the Dominican Republic, Tallaj served as Sub-secretary of Public Health and Social Services for three different terms, beginning in 1986, serving as a liaison between the Dominican government and the Catholic Church in New York City, represented at the time by Cardinal John O’Connor, in the development of social programs.
From 1986 to 1990, Dr. Tallaj served as a member of the Dominican-Haitian Border Affairs Commission, assisting with the organization and operation of the institution in charge of matters concerning the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Tallaj also served as Medical Director of the Dominican Republic’s Social Security and Welfare Institute (from 1989 to 1990). In this position, Dr. Tallaj worked closely with members of Congress, successfully amending and improving the Health Administration Regulation Act.
His career in the U.S. began in 1993 with an internship at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, where he graduated with a degree in Internal Medicine in 1996 and earned his Board Certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine that same year.
Later, at St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital, Dr. Tallaj served as a member of the active staff and vice president of the medical staff. He also served as associate medical director of the outpatient department. Dr. Tallaj established his private practice in Washington Heights in 1997 and continues to serve his community by providing a wide range of medical services.
Throughout his career, Dr. Tallaj has championed various health initiatives focused on reducing health care disparities in low-income immigrant and minority communities in both New York and the Caribbean.
As founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of SOMOS Community Care, Dr. Tallaj oversees the network of more than 2,500 culturally diverse physicians who, in turn, serve more than one million Medicaid and Medicare patients from highly underserved communities throughout New York City, nearly all of whom are African American, Hispanic, and Asian American, and who, as a result, face unique healthcare challenges.
Dr. Tallaj also successfully implemented the pay-for-performance model in New York State, which aims to improve population health indicators by optimizing preventive care for chronic diseases. Under his leadership, SOMOS generated $336 million in savings for the New York City government through the state Medicaid program in 2018.
During the first wave of the pandemic, Dr. Tallaj and his network of physicians established call centers in five languages and distributed informational materials throughout New York City. Through partnerships with city and state officials, as well as church and community sponsorships, SOMOS was able to establish 70 trilingual coronavirus testing centers, where its staff performed more than one million tests and distributed more than two million food rations to the city’s most vulnerable population.
Dr. Tallaj was also appointed to the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Implementation Team in New York State, tasked with implementing and prioritizing a fair and equitable vaccine distribution plan, a vaccine that had previously been inequitable and mistrustful. SOMOS became the first healthcare network to receive batches of vaccine doses to administer directly in its offices. Thus, from Yankee Stadium to pop-up centers in low-income communities, thanks to Dr. Tallaj’s leadership, it was possible to vaccinate more than one million residents of the highest-risk population.
