Thirty-two clinical leaders have been selected to participate in the California Health Care Foundation’s Health Care Leadership Program to expand their management skills and meet the challenges facing our state’s health care system.

The leadership program is a part-time fellowship that offers clinically trained health care professionals hands-on opportunities to develop the decisionmaking, strategic planning, and executive skills they need to excel as multifaceted leaders.

During the two-year program, fellows attend six multiday seminars and participate in ongoing learning activities. Graduates gain insights into the trends and challenges facing health care and leave prepared for new levels of leadership within their organizations.

“Fellows in the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program are agents of change transforming and modernizing the state’s health care system,” said Sandra R. Hernández, MD, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation. “Long after they complete their fellowships, our alumni apply their leadership skills in safety-net institutions, county and state governments, and all types of health care systems. The leadership fellows are a tremendous resource, and they bring us closer to a health care system that works for all Californians.”

More than 450 doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care professionals have participated in the program since its inception in 2001. Nationally recognized health care and leadership development experts from Healthforce Center at UCSF teach the curriculum. Alumni become part of a network across California that continues to collaborate and share skills.

“Activated, passionate leaders are driving needed changes throughout the health care system,” said Healthforce Center at UCSF Director Sunita Mutha, MD, FACP. “I am so proud of the hundreds of CHCF Health Care Leadership Program alumni who are improving care in their communities, and I can’t wait to see the impact this new cohort will have on their organizations and throughout California.”

CHCF Health Care Leadership Program Cohort 18 (Class of 2018–20)

• Barbara Ackerman, PhD, Psychologist — Manager Riverside University Health System – Medical Center
• Beatrisa Bannister, PharmD, Pharmacy Service Chief II, LAC+USC Medical Center
• Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, MD Pediatrician, Medical Director Santa Rosa Community
• Health Michael Changaris, PsyD, Chief Training Officer, Integrated Health Psychology Training Program, Contra Costa County Health
• Shari Chevez, MD, Pediatrician Kaiser Permanente – Southern California
• Chase Coffey, MD, MS, Associate Chief Medical Officer, LAC+USC Medical Center
• Noemi Doohan, MD, PhD, Family Medicine Residency Program Director Adventist Health Ukiah Valley
• Blake Gregory, MD Medical Director, Highland Wellness Primary Care Clinics, Alameda Health System
• Vanessa Grubbs, MD, MPH Associate Professor UCSF
• Neha Gupta, MD Medical Director, PRIME and Ambulatory Transformation; Medical Director QIP Alameda Health System
• Tracy Peck Holcomb, AuD Director of Clinical Services Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California
• Elizabeth Horevitz, PhD, LCSW Director of Behavioral Health Marin Community Clinics
• Malcolm John, MD, MPH Clinical Professor of Medicine Director of HIV Health Equity UCSF
• Kelly Jones, MD Chief Medical Officer Kedren Health Primary Care Clinic
• Hemal Kanzaria, MD, MSc Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (UCSF), Director of Complex Care Analytics (SFHN), Codirector of Emergency Department Lean Improvement (ZSFG) UCSF, San Francisco Health Network, and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center
• Mercedes Kwiatkowski, MD Child Psychiatry Department Head, Palo Alto Palo Alto Medical Foundation
• Panna Lossy, MD, Women’s Health Coordinator, Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency
• James Marcin, MD, MPH Professor of Pediatrics, UC Davis Health
• Alice Moughamian, RN, CNS Program Director Medical Respite and Sobering Center, San Francisco Department of Public Health
• Deborah Murr, RN, HCM Administrative Director of Health Services, Kern Health Systems
• John Okemah, MD Chief Medical Officer, Native American Health Center
• Gary Pace, MD, MPH Public Health Officer, Mendocino County Health Department
• Barnard Palmer, MD Attending Physican, UCSF-Alameda Health System
• Ellen Piernot, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, Golden Valley Health Centers
• Pauline Preciado, RN, MPA Clinical Strategy Execution, Gold Coast Health Plan
• Tyler Seto, MD Director of Clinical Quality, Los Angeles Department of Health Services
• Rina Shah, MD, Physician, Board Member Community Health Fund, John Muir
• Miriam Sheinbein, MD Associate Medical Director, Primary Care Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
• Shannon Smith-Bernardin, PhD, RN, CNL, Director of Clinical Services, LA DHS Housing for Health
• Efrain Talamantes, MD, MBA, MSc Associate Director, University of California, Davis, Center for Reducing Health Disparities
• Tricia Tayama, MD, MPH Medical Director Keller Center, San Mateo Medical Center
• Winifred Teuteberg, MD Clinical Associate Professor, Stanford Medicine