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Tanie Chantara
Health Policy Fellow
wchantara@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)
Tanie Chantara is a second-year MPH student in Health Policy & Management at UC Berkeley, and earned her BA in Human Biology & Society at UCLA. Tanie is interested in researching data interoperability to improve care coordination and control health care costs. She previously worked at a safety net clinic in San Francisco, and collaborated with clinical and non-clinical teams to design, implement, and evaluate quality improvement efforts. Past projects include piloting tailored interventions to improve hypertension equity, and stratifying data to identify and prioritize outreach to high-risk patients with complex conditions.
Jesus Chavarin-Rivas
Health Policy Fellow
jchavarin5@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Jesus Chavarin-Rivas is a second-year MPP student at the Goldman School of Public Policy. He earned his B.A at UC Berkeley, where he majored in Political Science and minored in Education. Upon graduating, he pursued his interests in civil service and health policy by joining the California Department of Health Care Services. As an Associate Governmental Program Analyst, he became a lead policy analyst within the Medi-Cal Dental Services Division, where he worked to directly address health disparities for California’s most marginalized communities. In this position, he directed provider and beneficiary communications, health policy assessments, program evaluation, and bill analysis for the division. Jesus’s work was critical in the development and implementation of the Dental Transformation Initiative, a five-year waiver project aimed at improving the dental health of approximately 6 million Medi-Cal enrolled children.
His main interest include Medicaid policy, improving access to care for underserved
communities, and health policy impacting immigrant communities.
Camille Cooley
Health Policy Fellow
Camille Cooley is a first-year MPH student in Health Policy and Management. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University, where she studied Human Development and Psychological Services, with a minor in Global Health studies. Camille has experience conducting health services research focused on delivery system transformation. Prior to graduate school, Camille spent time at Northshore University Health Systems’ Research Institute where she focused on research aimed at optimizing disease diagnosis and care management. She later transitioned into a role at NORC at the University of Chicago where she spent two years working as a research analyst in their healthcare department, supporting federal and state evaluations for agencies like CMS and PCORI. Her interests include disability policy, particularly for adults and their aging caregivers, improving access to care for low-income populations and immigrant communities, accountable care organizations, alternative payment models, and Medicaid policy.
Luis Garay
Undergraduate Assistant
Luis Garay is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Merced studying Public Health and completing his pre-requisites for medical school. He is currently involved with the Health Promotion department on campus as a Peer Health Educator where he can connect, educate, and advocate for student wellbeing. His interests include learning about community health and how social factors such as health determinants, health disparities and many other factors contribute to the lack of quality healthcare for Latinx communities, specifically in the Central Valley.
Alein Y. Haro, MPH
Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow
aleinharo@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Alein Y. Haro, MPH is a doctoral student in the Health Policy PhD program, University of California, Berkeley, who aims to develop avenues for change in health policy and healthcare practice to improve equity. Alein is a UCLA MPH and BA graduate whose area of study focuses on the manner in which immigrants navigate through the health sector despite federal laws that limit their healthcare access. Most recently, she conducted immigrant health research at the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. She also worked with the General Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles to explore how local agencies collaborated along with the consulate’s Ventanillas de Salud to integrate and facilitate the access of health services for low-income Latino populations. Her research interests include legal status as a social determinant, health policy, and structural racism, and seeks to use her training to effectively address health inequalities and enable structural change across the nation.
Camila Hurtado, MS
Research Fellow
churtado@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Camila Hurtado, MS is a medical and graduate student of the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program and PRIME-US program. Her graduate work is focused on developing policy solutions to increase the affordability of insulin for low-income populations across California. Camila also serves as the Vice President of Policy for the northwest region of the Latino Medical Student Association, and is a founding member and grant writer of the White Coats for Black Lives chapter at UC Berkeley. She became dedicated to working towards equity through health administration and policy after working at a Federally Qualified Health Center and earning an MS from UCSF in Global Health Sciences. Her interests include addressing social determinants of health through medicine, health administration, and health policy.
Martin Kyalwazi
Health Policy Analyst
mkyalwazi@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)
Martin Kyalwazi is a health policy analyst for the California Initiative for Health Equity and Action (Cal-IHEA) and a recent graduate from Columbia University, having received his B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior in May 2019. Originally from Sacramento, California, Martin is an aspiring physician-researcher who aims to study how state and national policy can incentivize innovative healthcare delivery systems that are well-positioned to drive improved health outcomes and meet the holistic needs of marginalized communities. Prior to joining Cal-IHEA, Martin had wide range of health care and research experiences, including but not limited to work with the NYC Department of Health, Ariadne Labs of Harvard University’s School of Public Health , and ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Dora L. Mairena
Administrative Assistant
dluzm@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
510-664-7515
Dora Mairena is the administrative assistant for both the California Initiative for Health Equity & Action (Cal-IHEA). Previously Mairena worked for the University of California Office of the President, where she handled administrative duties ranging from academic planning and retirement administration to research grants and the University of California’s health-benefits system.
Madelyn Olmos-Rodriguez
Undergraduate Assistant
maddy2700@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Ms. Olmos-Rodriguez is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently pursuing a degree in Public Health and Social Welfare as a double-major and a Child Development in Psychology minor in hopes of combining ethnographic knowledge and a humanistic approach to the array of preventable healthcare disparities that are faced along low-income communities.
Teja Pattabhiraman
Program Policy Analyst
tejaraman@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Teja Pattabhiraman is a policy analyst with Cal-IHEA, responsible for evidence briefings and project management. Teja is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Neurobiology. She is interested in environmental justice and environmental health policy, and aims to drive change in this domain by engaging in research and policy.
Denise D. Payán, PhD, MPP
Deputy Director and Assistant Professor of Health Policy
Dr. Denise D. Payán is Cal-IHEA’s Deputy Director and is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Public Health at UC Merced. Her research interests include examining the health policymaking process; evaluating interventions to address obesity and nutrition-related health disparities; and understanding how policy impacts health behavior. She also conducts state and local policy surveillance research and is committed to advancing community health and policy research to address existing health inequities.
Dr. Payán obtained a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and an M.P.P. from Harvard Kennedy School. She received a B.A. in History and Science from Harvard College. She was also a Health Services Research post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the RAND Corporation.
Morrise Richardson
Health Policy Fellow
mrich009@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)
Morrise Richardson is currently a graduate student in the Health Policy and Management program, UC Berkeley, who seeks to promote policies that address social determinants within California's healthcare system. Morrise is a graduate of UC Riverside with a double major in Public Policy and Ethnic Studies. The majority of his policy experience was accumulated in policy positions, such as Legislative Fellow through the Capitol Fellows Program and Lobbyist within the California Hospital Association. His areas of focus have been social determinants, behavioral health, and labor.
Hector P. Rodriguez, PhD, MPH
Faculty Director and Professor of Health Policy and Management
hrod@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
(510) 642-4578
Dr. Hector P. Rodriguez is Cal-IHEA's Faculty Director and the Henry J. Kaiser Endowed Chair in Organized Health Systems, Professor of Health Policy and Management, and co-Director of the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. His expertise is in organizational analysis and performance measurement in health care delivery and local public health systems. He has published extensively on the measurement of patient care experiences, the impact of delivery system interventions on patient outcomes, and health care disparities among U.S. Latinos. He received is BA in Urban Studies and Planning from UC San Diego, MPH in Health Policy and Administration from UC Berkeley, and PhD in Health Policy/ Medical Sociology from Harvard University. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and recipient of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration’s Prize.
Karen Shore, PhD
Policy and Evaluation Consultant
karen@goldenstatehealthpolicy.com(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
(510) 384-2509
Karen Shore, PhD, is a Cal-IHEA consultant and has over 25 years of experience in health policy and health services research. Prior to her work with Cal-IHEA, she led the California Health Policy Forum, which provided an independent platform for education, idea sharing, and conversations among legislative and executive branch staff on health policy issues. She previously directed a project supporting 24 communities across the U.S. working to improve health care quality and manage costs. Dr. Shore was also previously a principal research scientist with the American Institutes for Research's Health Program, a consultant at Reden & Anders, a senior project manager at the Pacific Business Group on Health, and a health policy analyst for the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission in Washington, DC. Dr. Shore has a master's degree in health services.
Denzel Tongue
Health Policy Fellow
denzel_tongue@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail)
Denzel Tongue is an Oakland native and a first-year MPP student at the Goldman School of Public Policy. He graduated Cum Laude from Occidental College with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Public Health. Following graduation, he returned to his hometown to work on health equity initiatives in Alameda County. While serving as the Health Equity Fellow at The Greenlining Institute he led Greenlining's workforce development and Boys and Men of Color portfolios. Following the completion of his fellowship, he transitioned into a role with The California Immigrant Policy center where he spent two years helping lead a statewide campaign focused on expanding Medi-Cal access to undocumented immigrants. Denzel is a dogged health equity advocate who aspires to improve health outcomes for BIPOC and low-income communities in the East Bay Area. He currently serves as an opinion columnist with The California Health Report. Denzel's interests include eliminating structural health inequities through health policy and racial equity initiatives.