Vega’s 30+ years in behavioral health and human services include positions at nearly every level and setting, including crisis programs, housing, suicide prevention, and state and federal policy. A former Fulbright Fellow, California Mental Health Services Oversight Commissioner and CEO of Mental Health Association of San Francisco (MHASF), he has developed crisis programs and training, peer support services, managed over US $50M in grants, founded the groundbreaking Center for Dignity, Recovery and Empowerment, contributed as PI and Co-I to multiple research programs, and consulted with the technology and labor sectors including Meta/Facebook, Alphabet/Google and more.

Uniquely bridging professional expertise and personal experience as a suicide survivor and person of lived experience, Vega’s expert roles include Advisory Faculty to Yale University, the National Academies of Science, and the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry. He has served on the Steering Committee of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Executive Committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Vega has been recognized by the Office of the White House of President Obama, World Health Organization, the United States Senate, the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership, the US Surgeon General and more.