Clinicians Selected for California Health Care Leadership Program

October 31, 2024
Author(s): By Mariana Torres, MSW, Senior Program Officer at the California Health Care Foundation
Date: 10-31-24

 

Cohort 22 of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program celebrate their graduation (Photo: Lisa Aliferis)

Thirty-two fellows have been selected for the next cohort of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, which helps clinicians improve the operations of safety-net institutions and the overall health care system in California.

Since this two-year, part-time fellowship began in 2000, the program has accepted up to 32 clinicians each year. The program is open to clinically trained health care professionals who live and work in California and have at least five years of leadership experience. Fellows are chosen through a competitive admission process.

The program provides fellows with the leadership and management skills to tackle complex health policy issues in collaboration with business and public policy leaders.

Cohort members participate in the program without interrupting the vital work they perform in their home organizations. Over the last two decades, more than 650 clinicians have graduated and become members of an alumni network that focuses on improving care for all Californians.

The training is led by CHCF’s longtime partners, the nationally known experts in health care and leadership development at Healthforce Center at UCSF. Each fellow’s experience culminates in the development of their own California Health Care Improvement Project envisioned to address a significant challenge or to leverage an opportunity to bring about positive changes within the health care delivery system.

The 24th cohort will begin its work in December. The fellows are diverse racially, ethnically, geographically, and professionally. More than 80% of them work for safety-net organizations, and 28% of them are behavioral health specialists.

I am proud to be an alumna of this valuable program (Cohort 17) and am delighted now to oversee CHCF’s ongoing support of it. I look forward to learning from the members of Cohort 24 as each one helps build a health care system that works for all Californians.

The Incoming Fellows of Cohort 24

Here are the new fellows (in alphabetical order) with their organizational affiliations and a link to their LinkedIn profiles, if available:

  • Shawnte Alexander, EdD, MA, Vice President of Behavioral Health NorCal, HealthRIGHT 360
  • Rosa Arzu, DDS, MBA, Senior Director of Medical and Dental Innovation, AltaMed Health Services
  • Ranjot Basram, DO, Medical Director, Bakersfield PACE
  • Chris Benitez, MD, Behavioral Health Medical Director, Outpatient Services, Riverside University Health System
  • Ana Bolaños, MSW, Assistant Deputy Director, Office of Health Equity, California Department of Public Health
  • Claudia Borzutzky, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
  • Edgar Bulloch, MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer, Neighborhood Healthcare
  • Anna Karina Celaya, MD, MPH, Specialty Care Director, Ambulatory Care Network, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
  • David Chang, MD, DrPH, Section Chief and Medical Director, Division of Primary Care and Population Health Community Partnership Program, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • Ashley Chou, MD, MAPP, Senior Medical Director and VP, Medical Management, Oak Street Health
  • Rachel Clee, MS, Assistant Director, Primary Care Behavioral Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health
  • Michelle Curioso, BSN, MPA, Director of Population Health Management, Kern Health Systems
  • Erika Flores Uribe, MD, MPH, Director of Language Access and Inclusion, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
  • Cristina Gamboa, MD, Director of Women’s Health, Salud Para La Gente
  • George Han, MD, MPH, Communicable Disease Director, San Francisco Department of Public Health
  • F. Chad Henderson, MSN, MBA, Director of Nursing and Primary Care Clinical Services, CommuniCare Health Centers
  • Mai Hoang, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, UC San Diego Health
  • Dang Huynh, PharmD, Vice President, Health Services, Santa Clara Family Health Plan
  • Rachel Lambert, MS, MBA-HCM, LMFT, Director of Behavioral Health, CenCal Health
  • Nina Loc, MA, LMFT, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Chinatown Service Center
  • Eric Mendoza, PsyD, Director of Behavioral Health, Innercare
  • Zach Meredith, MS, LCSW, Program Supervisor, Mental Health Division, City of Berkeley
  • Meena Mital, MD, Senior Director, Population Health Management Initiative, Kaiser Permanente
  • Christopher Myers, DO, Chief Clinical Officer, United Indian Health Services
  • Shreya Patel, MD, MPH, Associate Chief Medical Officer, Specialty Care and Diagnostics, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center
  • Norma Perez, MD, Director of ACEs Programs, AltaMed Health Services
  • Cristina Romero De Montero, MD, Pediatric Attending Physician and Site Medical Director, AltaMed Health Services
  • Kao Saechao, MSW, Specialty Mental Health Division Director, Asian Health Services
  • Naman Shah, MD, PhD, Director, Division of Medical and Dental Affairs, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
  • Todd Spath, MA, Director of Behavioral Health, Sonoma County Indian Health Project
  • Aaron Storms, MD, Associate Director, Palliative Care Service, and Medical Director of Patient Experience, Los Angeles General Medical Center
  • Benjamin Thomas, MD, Medical Director of Health Equity, The Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser San Leandro Medical Center)