The University of California Initiative for Health Equity & Action’s advisory board provides support, advice, and guidance on projects, strategies, and program affiliations.
Executive Director, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
Dr. Seciah Aquino serves as Executive Director for the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC) — the State’s leading policy organization advocating for health equity in the Latinx community. In her role, she is passionate to advance health justice for CA Latinxs through unity. Latinxs working hand in hand with fellow siblings from Black, Native, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Indian, and other communities of color to advance a unified Health Equity Agenda. An agenda that seeks to advance sustainable systemic changes, through policy solutions that will address the acute and long-term repercussions of health inequities. She strongly believes we must as a collective — own our power and harness our resiliency to achieve true justice.
Director, California Health Benefits Review Program, Office of Research, UC Berkeley
Garen Corbett, MS, is the Director of CHBRP. Corbett joined The California Health Benefits Review Program at the University of California’s Office of the President as a Principal Analyst in early 2010, bringing with him over 13 years of policy and health care business experience. Previously, he was Deputy Director of The Health Industry Forum, which worked on reimbursement and health technology issues with leading policymakers and business executives. His ongoing consulting work has focused on federal and state health policy efforts and health care innovation.
Executive Director, Insure the Uninsured Project
Crispin Delgado currently serves as Executive Director of Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP). Prior to joining ITUP, Crispin served as Public Policy Director for Northern California Grantmakers. Over his 20-year career, Crispin has worked in academia, local government, philanthropy, and the non-profit sectors. As Program Officer at Blue Shield of California Foundation, Crispin led a robust portfolio on the Health Care and Coverage team. His work primarily focused on improving access to and quality of care for all Californians.
Project Director, CRB Nexus: Where Policy Meets Research
Dr. Tonya D. Lindsey is the founding director of CRB Nexus: Where Policy Meets Research, an initiative of the State Library’s California Research Bureau. The Bureau serves California legislative and gubernatorial staff by answering their information and research requests. CRB Nexus is a community of California researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and organizations committed to public policy solutions informed by data-driven research. This community of practice brings people together to connect, build professional relationships, and share information. Together the community translates evidence into action and fosters the next generation of public scholarship aimed at identifying and solving policy issues. A sociologist from UC Santa Barbara, Tonya’s research career spans over 20 years connecting research to policy.
Director, Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Nadereh Pourat, PhD, is currently the associate center director and the director of the Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She is also a professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry and a member of UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research. Dr. Pourat is the vice chair for cost in the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP).
Executive Director, California Black Health Network
Rhonda Smith currently serves as the Executive Director of the California Black Health Network. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Life Serve Youth Foundation and as the Interim Executive Director for Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US). Prior to this role, Rhonda served as the IM4US Board President-elect. Before her tenure with IM4US, Rhonda was the Consultant/Project Director for the LiveHealthy OC Initiative, a three-year initiative that transformed the model of care of a network of FQHCs from a disease-focused treatment model to a prevention and wellness model to provide a whole person care approach.
Director, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
Dr. Joanne Spetz is faculty at Healthforce Center at UCSF. She is director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF where she also is the Brenda and Jeffrey L. Kang Presidential Chair in Health Care Finance. She is a professor with the UCSF School of Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Spetz’s research focuses on the economics of the health care workforce. Dr. Spetz directs the federally funded UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care, which generates evidence to ensure an adequate workforce to provide patient-centered care to individuals with long-term care needs across the lifespan.
Efrain Talamantes, MD, MBA, MS
Chief Operating Officer of Health Services, AltaMed
Dr. Efrain Talamantes is the COO at AltaMed and has been critical in re-designing all of AltaMed’s Clinical Operations to improve value-based care outcomes by addressing complex social and clinical patient care needs. As COO, he led the development of AltaMed Plus a comprehensive primary care program focused on providing comprehensive senior care. In addition to his medical practices, Dr. Talamantes has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and is a recognized health equity advocate and leads initiatives throughout the country to enhance diversity in the healthcare workforce. He previously served as Associate Director for the University of California, Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities, and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program and co-directed the Center for a Diverse Healthcare Workforce (CDHW).
The Cal-IHEA team would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to former advisory board members, including: Bernadette Boden-Albala, DrPH, MPH; Claire Brindis, DrPH, MPH; Nancy J. Burke, PhD; Michael C. Lu, MD, MS, MPH; Lisa Murawski, MA; Ninez Ponce, PhD, MPP; Jeffrey Reynoso, DrPH; and Reginald Tucker-Seeley, ScD.