Richard Aguilar, MD, received his medical degree from the University of California Irvine-California College of Medicine in Irvine, California. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California Irvine Medical Center and the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center, respectively. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine. He is also a current member of the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Aguilar has been in private practice (general Internal Medicine) in the Los Angeles area since 1988.

Throughout his career, Dr. Aguilar has held numerous positions including the Chief of Medicine and Chief of ICU at various hospitals and has chaired numerous hospital committees. Dr. Aguilar has been lecturing on the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus and hypertension for more than 16 years and has been a guest speaker in over forty states across America. Dr. Aguilar has been invited to teach internationally and regularly presents before hospital Grand Rounds and CME programs. He has given Public Service Announcements in Spanish both on radio and television for the National Stroke Association across the United States.

In 2003, he was asked to sit on an Advisory Board to the American Diabetes Association. For the next three years he assisted in the development of Continuing Medical Education material for the Latino Health Care Provider. In 2006, Dr. Aguilar was named the Director of Diabetes Care for High Lakes Health Care in Bend, Oregon. As its director, Dr. Aguilar provides the central network of diabetes prevention, treatment and education for many patients at High Lakes Health Care. While working closely with all of their providers, HLHC has developed a reputation of excellence in diabetes management. By the first quarter of 2008, under the direction of Dr. Aguilar, HLHC helped over 60% of their patients with diabetes reach the HgA1C target set by the American Diabetes Association thereby helping each one of these patients reduce the risk of complications from diabetes. Dr. Aguilar also continues to practice primary care internal medicine in his offices in Downey and Huntington Park, California within predominantly Hispanic communities.

Dr. Aguilar is one of the lead authors of the recent Abstract accepted for publication by the ADA in 2009. The Abstract reviews the data compiled by Diabetes Nation of over 1,000 diabetic patients seen at High Lakes Health Care involving a three year retrospective chart review of care involving the DIME Program^TM Care Model.

Dr. Aguilar believes that the management of diabetes begins with a close and open relationship with his patients. This relationship allows him to explain the "Simplicity of Diabetes", in a personal one-on-one approach. His passion continues to be the education and preventative management of the complications from diabetes and the love for his family.

In 2009, Dr. Aguilar was recognized by the American Diabetes Association for achieving the Diabetes Physicians Recognition Award. The designed of this award is to recognize physicians who use evidence-based measures and provide excellent care to their patients with diabetes using standards set by The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The NCQA is an independent 501(c) (3) non-profit organization in the United States and has been a central figure in driving improvement throughout the health care system, helping to elevate the issue of health care quality to the top of the national agenda.