The CHCF Health Care Leadership Program has selected 32 fellows for its 25th cohort, continuing its mission to equip clinician leaders with the skills needed to strengthen California’s safety-net institutions and advance the state’s health care system.
Established in 2000, this two-year, part-time fellowship annually chooses up to 32 clinically trained health care professionals through a rigorous, competitive admissions process. Applicants must live and work in California and have at least five years of leadership experience.
With the guidance of experts from the business and public policy sectors, fellows gain critical leadership and management capabilities to address complex health policy challenges.
Participants continue working at their home organizations throughout the fellowship. To date, the program has graduated nearly 700 clinicians, and they remain connected through an active alumni network dedicated to improving care for all Californians.
Healthforce Center at UCSF, CHCF’s longtime partner, leads the training with support from nationally recognized experts in health care and leadership development. Healthforce has just published a look at the program (PDF) since its inception. The fellowship experience culminates with each participant developing a health care improvement project designed to address a critical challenge or seize an opportunity for positive transformation in health care delivery in California.
Cohort 25 will launch in December. The fellows reflect rich diversity across race, ethnicity, geography, and professional disciplines. More than 80% serve in safety-net organizations.
As an alumna of Cohort 17, I am honored to guide CHCF’s continuing support of this fellowship. I anticipate learning much from the members of Cohort 25 as they contribute to building a health care system that serves all Californians.
The Incoming Fellows of Cohort 25
Here are the new fellows (in alphabetical order) with their organizational affiliations and a link to their LinkedIn profile, if available:
Hakeem Adeniyi, MD, Chief Clinical Officer, Sacramento Native American Health Center
Michelle Aguilar, MD, Associate Medical Director and Director of Pediatrics, Venice Family Clinic
Ashrith Amarnath, MD, MS-SHCD, Chief Health Officer, California Health Care Safety Net Institute
Rachel Amerault, MS, LMFT, Alcohol and Other Drugs Administrator and Behavioral Health Services Manager on the Monterey County Behavioral Health Services substance use disorder team
Vincent Anthony, MD, MPH, President and CEO, Kidney Care Institute
Janeen Burlison, MSN, MPH, Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest
Kevin Burns, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director for Harm Reduction and Prevention, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Jennifer Chen, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Regina Chinsio-Kwong, DO, County Health Officer, Orange County Health Care Agency
Triveni Defries, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, UCSF and Executive Director, UCSF Health & Human Rights Initiative
Armond Esmaili, MD, Director of Quality and Safety for the Department of Neurological Surgery, UCSF Health
Seth Gomez, PharmD, Senior Pharmacist, Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless
Emily Johnson, MD, MPH, Vice Chief of Service, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles General Medical Center
Rebecca Katz, MD, Interim Chief Medical Officer, Petaluma Health Center
Fan Li, MSW, LCSW, Behavioral Health Manager, North East Medical Services
Scott Lynch, MD, Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program, Alameda Health System
Cozzette Lyons-Jones, MD, MPH, Interim Chief Medical Officer, Watts Healthcare Corporation
Anna Naify, PsyD, Consulting Psychologist, California Department of Health Care Services
Cory Nelson, PharmD, Ambulatory Pharmacy Manager, Kaweah Health
Dipa Patolia, PharmD, Senior Director of Population Health and Clinical Operations, Health Net
Jason Prasso, MD, Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency, and Associate Medical Director, Intensive Care Unit, MLK Community Healthcare
Siddarth Puri, MD, Behavioral Health Medical Director, County of San Luis Obispo
Javay Ross, MD, Medical Director, Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center; Medical Co-Director, BLOOM Clinic; and Associate Program Director, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Pediatric Residency Program
Shamsher Samra, MD, MPhil, Project Implementation Expert, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Leland Soiefer, MD, Acting Branch Chief, Quality & Health Equity Transformation at the California Department of Health Care Services
Alinea Stevens, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Chapa-De Indian Health
Chelsea Stoner, MSW, LCSW, Assistant Deputy Director of Behavioral Health, Napa County Health and Human Services Agency
Pramod Theetha Kariyanna, MD, MBA, Interventional Cardiologist, and Co-Founder, Fift Health
Jonathan Weiner, MD, Medical Director for Primary Care, Cedars Sinai Medical Network
Kathryn Wilbur, MSW, Executive Director, RH Community Builders
Andrea Wu, MD, MMM, Associate Chief Medical Officer for Acute Care Services, Alameda Health System
Lily Yip, PharmD, MBA, Director of Pharmacy, Gold Coast Health Plan
Authors & Contributors
Mariana Torres
Senior Program Officer, People-Centered Care , California Health Care Foundation
