Thirty-two fellows have been selected for the next round of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, which helps clinicians develop and disseminate techniques to improve the operations of California’s safety-net institutions and the state’s overall health care system.

Since its inception in 2000, the program has accepted 32 clinicians each year to participate in a two-year, part-time fellowship. The program provides clinically trained health care professionals with the leadership and management skills to tackle health policy issues in collaboration with leaders in business and health policy.

The fellows are selected in a competitive admission process, and they participate in the program while continuing to work in their home organizations. The program is open to professionals who live and work in California. Over the past two decades, more than 600 clinicians have graduated from the program and have become members of an alumni network that focuses on improving care for all Californians.

The training is led by national experts in health care and leadership development at Healthforce Center at UCSF. Each fellow’s experience culminates in the development of a California Health Care Improvement Project, created to address a challenge — or an opportunity — in health care.

The fellowship program’s 22nd cohort begins its work in December. The fellows are diverse racially, ethnically, geographically, and professionally. More than 75% are from safety-net organizations, and nearly 25% are behavioral health specialists.

I’m proud to oversee CHCF’s support of this valuable program, which shares the foundation’s dedication to building the health care delivery system’s capacity to serve Californians with low incomes. I look forward to learning from the members of Cohort 22 as they create and realize their visions for a state health care system that works for everyone.

Incoming Fellows of CHCF Health Care Leadership Program Cohort 22

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

Pouya Afshar, MD, MBA, cofounder and CEO, Presidium Health/Presidium Medical Group (San Diego County)

Aislinn Bird, MD, MPH, director of integrated care, Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless

Bradley Chappell, DO, MHA, medical director, Emergency Department, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH, medical director, UCSF Division of Citywide Case Management Programs

Tri Do, MD, MPH, chief medical officer, Community Health Center Network (Alameda County)

Dana Edgull, MSW, behavioral health services manager, Monterey County Health Department

Tonya Fancher, MD, MPH, associate dean for workforce innovation and education quality improvement, University of California, Davis

Pranav Garimella, MD, MPH, director of acute dialysis services, University of California, San Diego

Amy Garlin, MD, medical director, Communicable Disease Control, San Francisco Department of Public Health

Malia Honda, MD, MS, site medical director, Eureka Community Health Center, Open Door Community Health Centers (Humboldt County)

Kara James, MSN, FNP-C, clinician, Black Health Initiative Leadership Team, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles

Tiffany Jimenez, RN, MSN, chief operating officer, Petaluma Health Center

Helen Lee, PharmD, MBA, senior director, Pharmacy Services, Alameda Alliance for Health

John Ludlow, MD MBA, clinical lead, Emergency Department Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Initiatives, The Permanente Medical Group (Stanislaus County)

Roberto Madrid, MD, MBA, vice president of medical group operations, PIH Health (Los Angeles County)

Lucy Marrero, MA, LMFT, director of behavioral health and social programs, Gold Coast Health Plan (Los Angeles County)

William Martinez, PhD, director of child and adolescent services, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Gaurav Mishra, MD, MBA, chief behavioral health officer, San Ysidro Health (San Diego County)

Katina Murray, MD, vice chair of clinical affairs, Department of Family Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (Los Angeles County)

Rita Nguyen, MD, assistant health officer, population health, California Department of Public Health

Manish Patel, MD, regional assistant medical director for Medicare strategy, Kaiser Permanente (Los Angeles County)

Raymond Perry, MD, MS, director, South Los Angeles Health Center Group, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

Evan Raff, MD, MHA, director of specialty care, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

Jesse Rokicki-Parashar, MD, MSc, medical director, Employer Based Primary Care Quality, Stanford School of Medicine

Richard Sarpong, RN, MSN, assistant hospital administrator — quality and patient safety, Kaiser Permanente (San Bernardino County)

Jessica Schumer, MD, MPH, deputy director, Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services

Rosalba Serrano Rivera, MSW, LCSW, director of behavioral health, Camarena Health (Fresno County)

Sural Shah, MD, MPH, primary care division chief, Olive View — UCLA Medical Center

Saba Shahid, PsyD, director of primary care behavioral health, San Francisco Department of Public Health

Monica Smart, MSN, FNP, associate medical director, La Clinica Alta Vista (Alameda County)

Dagim Taddesse, PharmD, pharmacy director, K’ima:w Medical Center (Humboldt County)

Menbere Tequame, MSN, director of nursing services, Alameda Health System

Michelle Schneidermann

Michelle Schneidermann, MD, is director of CHCF’s People-Centered Care team, which works to ensure that Californians — particularly those enrolled in Medi-Cal — receive responsive, comprehensive, and coordinated care that supports their health and well-being. She leads CHCF’s efforts in maternity care, end-of-life care, and the care of populations with complex behavioral health and medical conditions. Read More

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Harrison Hill

Harrison Hill is a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. His work focuses on social justice issues centered around communities of color in the US.