Pictured: The 32 members of cohort 23 of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program at their first seminar together in December 2023 (photo credit: Melissa Lucas).
More than 600 clinicians have participated in the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program since it was established in 2000. This two-year, part-time fellowship provides clinically trained health care professionals with the leadership and management skills needed to tackle health policy issues in collaboration with health care leaders. Most of the alumni continue their work today and are part of an extraordinary and growing community.
Following a competitive admission process, 32 fellows have been selected for the program’s next round. While participating in the program, they will continue to work in their home organizations. The fellows are diverse in many ways — racially, ethnically, geographically, and professionally. This year’s cohort has the highest representation so far of Black and Latino/x fellows, and more than 70% are from safety-net organizations.
The training is led by national experts in health care and leadership development from Healthforce Center at UCSF. Each fellow’s experience culminates in a California Health Care Improvement Project that showcases what they have learned and how it benefits their sponsoring organizations.
I’m proud to oversee CHCF’s support for this important program, and I look forward to learning from members of the newest cohort as they create and realize their visions for making California’s health care system work better for all of us.
The fellowship program’s 23rd cohort begins its work in December.
CHCF Health Care Leadership Program Cohort 23
Here are the new fellows (in alphabetical order) with their organizational affiliations and a link to their LinkedIn profile, if available:
Iliniza (Nisa) Baty, MSW, Director of Behavioral Health, Venice Family Clinic
Kim Bower, MD, Medical Director, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan
Mai Bui-Duy, MD, Director of Health Information and Population Health, Salud Para La Gente
Anna Chodos, MD, MPH, Director, Whole Person Geriatrics, San Francisco Health Network
Jonathon Diulio, MD, Medical Director, San Joaquin Health Centers
Magdalen Edmunds, MD, MPH, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, LifeLong Medical Care
Alex Edwards, MD, Assistant Physician in Chief, The Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser San Francisco)
Alissa Erogbogbo, MD, Chair of the Maternal Child Health Department, El Camino Health
Shellena Eskridge, MSW, LCSW, Executive Director, Homeless Prenatal Program
Meredith Evans, MS, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Peach Tree Health
Eric Fein, MD, MS, Director of Outpatient Pediatrics Quality Improvement, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center/LA County Department of Health Services
Christopher Hiromura, MD, Associate Medical Director, Family Care Specialists Medical Group
Daniel Kozman, MD, MPH, Director of Health Equity Partnerships and Assistant Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Yoshi Laing, MD, MPH, Medical Consultant in the Division of Quality and Population Health Management, California Department of Health Care Services
Albert Lam, MD, Medical Director for Geriatric Medicine, Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group
Rob Larcina, MSN, Deputy Director of Nursing Inpatient Services, San Mateo Medical Center
Sefanit Mekuria, MD, MPH, Medical Director and Contra Costa Deputy Health Officer, Contra Costa Health Services
Tegwin Millard, MPA, LMFT, Director of Community Mental Health, CommuniCare Health Centers
Priya Motz, DO, MPH, Quality & Health Equity Transformation Branch Chief, California Department of Health Care Services
Mychi Nguyen, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Asian Health Services
Andrew Oh, MD, MBA, Medical Director of the Emergency Department, Los Angeles General Medical Center
Jorge Otañez, MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer, TrueCare
Alison Pachynski, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Executive, San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Ryan Pedigo, MD, MHPE , Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center/LA County Department of Health Services
Katie Penninga, MSW, Director of Behavioral Health Operations, San Ysidro Health
Liz Renteria, MSW, MS, Chief Clinical Officer, Tri-City Mental Health Authority
Lorin Scher, MD, Director, Integrated Behavioral Health Services, UC Davis Health
Trinidad Solis, MD, MPH, Deputy Health Officer, Fresno County Department of Public Health
Rachel Stern, MD, Ambulatory Care Chief Quality Medical Officer, Ventura County Health Care Agency
Lello Tesema, MD, MS, Unit Chief, Food and Waterborne Disease, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Alison Wu, MD, Director of OB/GYN Hospitalist Program, Hoag Hospital Irvine