Our Team

Ashrith Amarnath, MD

David Hopkins

David S. P. Hopkins is Research Advisor at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center and Senior Advisor, Pacific Business Group on Health, where he served for many years as Director of Quality Measurement and Improvement. Earlier in his career he was Director of Corporate Affiliations and Policy at Stanford University Hospital. David received his M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford.

Libby Hoy

As the mother of three sons living with mitochondrial disease, Libby has over 25 years of experience navigating the healthcare system. Libby began volunteering as a Parent Mentor in 1995 and has been working to improve health systems and empower patients and families to be active partners in care ever since. Libby strives to build the infrastructure and capacity for healthcare organizations to engage all patients and families, from the bedside to the boardroom.

In 2010, Libby founded PFCCpartners to create a community of patients, families, providers and health care organizations committed to the shared learning of Patient & Family Centered Care practice. PFCCpartners also supports the PFANetwork, inclusive of more than 600 Patient Family Advisors working in healthcare settings across the country to partner for improvement in the quality, safety, experience and
the design of healthcare.

Robert Imhoff

Christopher Krawczyk, PhD

Dr. Christopher Krawczyk is Chief Analytics Officer with the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). In this role, Dr. Krawczyk provides overall strategic direction for analyses of healthcare quality, outcomes, and utilization; for data services that facilitate stakeholder access to using data in their own analyses and work; and engagement of stakeholders to increase the usefulness and impact of HCAI data and analytic products.

Julia Logan, MD

Helen Macfie

Helen Macfie, Pharm.D., F.A.B.C., is Chief Transformation Officer for MemorialCare, a four-hospital, 1,300 bed nonprofit health system including a Medical Foundation and over 2600 affiliated physicians, located in Southern California. She also serves as the Executive Administrator for MemorialCare’s Clinically Integrated Network. Her passion is the attainment of the safest and highest quality care for every patient and family, in pursuit of the Triple Aim for health care.

Helen has executive responsibility for facilitation of system level transformation and performance improvement for MemorialCare’s population health, clinical quality, patient safety, risk management, utilization, Lean and patient and family experience initiatives. Additional areas of responsibility include coordination of system-wide strategic planning activities, operational Value Added Teams and executive sponsorship of the system’s Physician Society Board and clinical Best Practice Teams.

Helen was recently re-named as one of the Top 50 Patient Safety Experts Leading the Field by Becker’s Hospital Review (2016, 2017, 2018), and sits on the Joint Commission Pioneers in Quality Advisory Panel. She speaks nationally at forums focused on improving health care strategy, physician partnerships to drive quality, integration of lean principles, and performance improvement and patient safety. She serves as faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Change, Patient Safety Executive and other courses, has been active on the Board of the California Hospital Association’s Hospital Quality Institute and state Quality Committee, is a member of the Board for California Hospital Assessment and Reporting (CHART), and several California statewide advisory boards (CQC). Most recently she has been serving as part of IHI’s Leadership Alliance, leading a workstream on “Big Waste” and serving on the Equity workstream. In addition, she is a MemorialCare Certified Lean Leader.

Helen earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at UCSF School of Pharmacy, San Francisco, followed by post-graduate residencies in clinical pharmacy at UCSD and in pharmacy administration at Long Beach Memorial. Her FABC – Fellow of the Advisory Board Company – was earned for completing a two-year fellowship in Leadership of the Healthcare Enterprise for the 21st Century. She practiced as an acute care pharmacist for 13 years prior to moving into her organizational improvement work spanning the last 20+ years.

For fun, Helen loves travel, baseball, and movies. Go Dodgers!

Joan Maxwell

Bruce Spurlock, MD

Bruce Spurlock, MD is the Executive Director for Cal Healthcare Compare. He is also President and CEO of Cynosure Health, a healthcare improvement organization whose vision is to create the day when suboptimal care is eliminated; when safe, reliable, and affordable healthcare is a reality for every patient. He leads and advises large improvement collaboratives at the regional, state, and national level designed to accelerate the implementation of evidence-based practices. He is a nationally known speaker on a broad range of health care topics including translating policy into practice, health care trends, and effectively engaging every stakeholder to drive improvement.

Kristof Stremikis

Kristof Stremikis is director of CHCF’s Market Analysis and Insight team, which promotes greater transparency and accountability in California’s health care system.

He oversees the foundation’s work to provide research and analysis to policymakers and other health leaders across the state to give a market-wide view of the complex health care ecosystem and to support informed decisions about California’s health care landscape. Previously, Kristof served as associate director for policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health, where he also oversaw the Purchaser Value Network. Prior to that, he spent six years at the Commonwealth Fund as senior researcher to the president. Kristof received a bachelor’s degree in economics, political science, and history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; a master’s of public policy from the University of California, Berkeley; and a master’s of health policy and management from Columbia University.

Ken Stuart

Ken has over 45 years of experience in administration and consulting for employee group benefit plans. He served as the administrative manager of the San Diego Electrical Health & Welfare Trust, San Diego Electrical Pension Trust and the NECA/IBEW Drug-Free Workforce Program. He was previously, employed for 16 1/2 years by one of the largest third-party administration and consulting firms in the US servicing numerous Taft-Hartley, single employer and municipal employee group benefit plans. Ken was recently appointed Chairman of the Healthcare Payments Data Review Committee pursuant to California Assembly Bill 1810, works for the California Health Care Coalition, and is the Chair for the Cal Hospital Board of Directors.

Kevin Worth

Kevin is a seasoned Healthcare Executive with more than 20 years’ experience in leadership positions in community, academic and integrated delivery healthcare settings.

In March 2019 Kevin was promoted to the Executive Director role for Kaiser Permanente for Risk Management, Patient Safety, and Patient and Family Centered Care.

Kevin joined Kaiser Permanente in 2003 as the Quality and Compliance Director for the Oakland and Richmond medical centers, from UCSF Medical Center where he held a similar position.

Kevin joined the Redwood City team in 2004, as the Area Quality Leader.  In 2007, Kevin transitioned to the role of Continuum Administrator.  In 2010, Kevin assumed an expanded role as the Area Quality Leader for Redwood City and South San Francisco, a position he held through 2013.  In 2013, Kevin accepted an assignment as Chief Operating Officer of the Richmond Medical Center.  Kevin returned to the Area Quality Leader position for Redwood City and South San Francisco in 2015.  Kevin was promoted to the position of Area Quality Leader for Kaiser Permanente Greater South San Francisco and San Francisco Area in 2016.

Gretchen E. Alkema, PhD

Gretchen E. Alkema is Vice President of Policy and Communications at The SCAN Foundation. In this role, Gretchen oversees the Foundation’s communications and policy strategy development and execution, championing a world where all people – regardless of age, life circumstance, or ability – live well in the place they call home. Prior, Gretchen served in the office of Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) as a Heinz/Health and Aging Policy Fellow where she advised on aging, health, mental health, and long-term care policy. She also worked in a variety of community-based care settings in both the public and private sectors.

Gretchen holds a PhD from the University of Southern California (Gerontology) and completed post-doctoral training at the VA Greater Los Angeles. She earned a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan, and bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado. Gretchen enjoys hiking, 19^th century Russian novels, and a great cup of coffee.

Jamie Chan, Pharm.D.

Jamie Chan is the Vice President, Clinical Quality for Blue Shield of California. In this role, Jamie is responsible for the development and execution of the organization’s clinical quality strategy and operations.

Previously she has served as Senior Director, Clinical Quality at Blue Shield of California responsible for overseeing the Medicare Stars and Member Experience strategy. Prior to joining Blue Shield of California, Jamie worked at Kaiser Permanente as their National Executive Director for Pharmacy Quality and Medication Safety. She has managed Kaiser Permanente’s California Drug Information and Professional Services Department, was the California Pharmacy Benefits Leader, and the Drug Use Management Leader for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Region.

Jamie attended undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley then earned her PharmD degree from the University of California, San Francisco. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program from the University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School. Jamie currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.

Terry Hill, MD, FACP

Terry Hill, MD, FACP, is a board-certified internist and geriatrician who served as COVID-19 Medical Director for the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association.  He has served as chair of the California Medical Association’s Administrative Medicine Forum since 2016.  Past roles include president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, board chair of HealthImpact, and co-chair of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California.  Formerly in private practice geriatrics, his career has included executive positions at Hill Physicians Medical Group, Laguna Honda Hospital, California’s Quality Improvement Organization, and the California Prison Receivership.  His writing has addressed the epidemiology of COVID-19 in long-term care, quality improvement, professional self-regulation, palliative care, and the dynamics of moral judgment in clinical practice.  He received his MD from UCSF and his fellowship training at Stanford.

Alexandria Smith Davis

Barbara Kivowitz

Barbara is a clinician, consultant, and author specializing in health care innovation with
the goal of helping organizations shift to more relationship-based models of care. She is
the coauthor of Love in the Time of Chronic Illness: How to Fight the Sickness, Not Each
Other, a guide for patient-caregiver partners and for the clinicians who help them. She
has delivered programs based on her book at UCSF, Stanford HealthCare, Sutter Health,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Center, the Beryl Institute, and
elsewhere. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences for patient-caregiver groups and
for clinicians.

Barbara is currently on the Board of Directors of Sutter Health DCE which oversees care
for all Medicare and Medicaid patients, and she is also on Board of Directors of San
Francisco Village, an intentional community for older San Franciscans. She was previously
on the Board of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. She is on the Honorary Board of
Well Spouse Organization, on the Advisory Board of Patient and Family Centered Care
Partners, and on the Technical Advisory Committee for California Hospital Compares. She
participates in national patient/family focused initiatives through the American College of
Physicians, the National Institute on Aging, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS). She serves as a Patient Family Advisor at Sutter Health.

She previously led the innovation practice for an R&D group within Lotus/IBM, provided
innovation consulting to large healthcare organizations and to the State of Vermont, and
worked as a clinical social worker in community based settings. She has graduate degrees
from Harvard and Simmons Universities, has worked as an advocate with refugee
populations, and speaks five languages

Barb Averyt

Colleen Murphey

Colleen Murphey serves as the Network and Strategy Officer for the Health Plan of San Mateo (HPSM), a County Organized Health System that covers one in five residents of San Mateo County. She joined HPSM in 2017 as the Director of Provider Services and has served in her current role since 2019. Colleen has been working in the health care sector since 2007 in strategic consulting and entrepreneurial roles.

Before joining HPSM, Colleen was a Director at the Health IT company Kyruus where she led work with large health systems for the company’s West Coast market. Prior to this, Colleen was a consultant for McKinsey & Company (2012 to 2015) serving healthcare clients on a variety of topics. She consulted for the Wharton Small Business Development Center from 2010-2012, helping early-stage health care startups develop business plans and secure funding, and briefly dabbled in launching her own startup. From 2007-2010, Colleen worked as an Analyst and Senior Analyst for The Advisory Board Company in Washington DC with a focus on Health IT. Prior to her career in health care, Colleen worked in public education in Chicago.

Colleen has published and co-published papers in several forums, and is a regular speaker on podcasts and at conferences. She is passionate about healthcare strategy and serving the safety net. She received her bachelor’s degree from The University of Chicago and her M.B.A. in Healthcare Management from The Wharton School of Business.

Craig Cornett

Dana Mukamel, PhD

Dana Mukamel is Professor at the Department of Medicine with joint appointments in Public Health and Nursing at the University of California, Irvine.  She is also Director of the iTEQC Research Program (Translational Technology Enhancing High Quality Care).  Her research focuses on quality of care, development of quality measures, quality report cards, and studies of market incentives and government policies and regulations leading to high quality of care.  She is an expert in quality measurement using big data and quality report cards.  Much of her work focuses on long-term-care settings and care for the elderly.  She also develops mHealth apps to improve care in general, and patient decision making in particular, emphasizing the importance of preferences and personal choice in medical decision making.  Dr. Mukamel’s extensive research, with over 200 peer reviewed publications, is funded by NIH, AHRQ, PCORI and private foundations.  She serves on many national advisory and review boards, including CMS, AHRQ and MedPAC expert panels as well as journals’ editorial boards.  Her work has been recognized by a large number of awards, including a Life Time Achievement Award from the APHA.

Professor Mukamel holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Tel-Aviv University, Israel, an M.S. degree in Technology & Policy from MIT, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester.

DeAnn Walters

DeAnn Walters is Director of Clinical Affairs and Quality Improvement for the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF). Ms. Walters provides membership support and policy guidance for providers of skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for developmentally disabled individuals.

Ms. Walters has 18 years of experience in operations as a nursing home administrator.  Her experience includes overseeing short-term rehabilitation, Alzheimer’s care, and mental health programs. During that time, she attained both AHCA National Quality Bronze and Silver awards at multiple facilities.

Ms. Walters has been recognized with the Del Callaway Administrative Excellence Award from the California Association of Health Facilities in 2013. She is a current member of the Laguna Sunrise Rotary.

Debra Saliba MD, MPH, AGSF

Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, AGSF holds the UCLA Anna and Harry Borun Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and is Director of the UCLA/Los Angeles Jewish Home Borun Center.  She also is a Senior Natural Scientist at RAND and a physician scientist at the Los Angeles VA Geriatrics Research and Clinical Center (GRECC).  Dr. Saliba is a nationally recognized leader in geriatrics and long-term care quality. She served as principal investigator for CMS national revision and testing of MDS 3.0 for nursing homes, introducing items that captured resident self-report of health needs.  Item development and testing engaged a national consortium of community and VA investigators, stakeholders and nursing homes.  Her research has engaged interprofessional teams in addressing a range of post-acute and long-term care quality challenges including: inappropriate re-hospitalizations; disaster response and emergency preparedness; resident safety; pressure ulcer care and fall prevention; quality measurement; staffing models; culture change; ethical resource allocation; and the implementation of training and quality improvement initiatives within nursing homes.

In addition to her current service on the National Academy of Science Committee on Nursing Home Quality, Dr. Saliba serves on the CMS Nursing Home 5-Star Technical Advisory Panel, the National Quality Forum (NQF) Committee on Person and Family Centered Care and the NQF committee on Post-acute and Long-term care. Dr. Saliba is past President and past Board Chair of the American Geriatrics Society. She serves on the Editorial Boards of three leading journals in aging, including serving as Deputy Editor for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Edward Mariscal

Ed Mariscal is the Director of Public Programs & Long Term Services & Supports with Health Net.  A licensed Nursing Home Administrator since 2010, and Residential Care Facility for Elderly Administrator since 2021, he has worked in Southern California his entire career as an Administrator, Regional Administrator and Regulatory Compliance Specialist.  In his current role, he is responsible for the planning, implementation and oversight of Health Net’s current State Health Program services, Long Term Services and Supports Program, homeless services programs as well as driving Health Net’s Public Programs overall strategy.  Ed received his Bachelor’s degree at UCLA, and Master’s degrees at the University of Arizona.

Eric Carlson

Eric Carlson is a Directing Attorney at Justice in Aging.  Mr. Carlson has thirty years of experience in long-term services and supports (LTSS), including home and community-based services, nursing facility care, and assisted living facilities.  Mr. Carlson counsels attorneys from across the country, co-counsels impact litigation that protects LTSS consumers, and is author of the legal treatise Long-Term Care Advocacy (Lexis Publishing) and the advocacy guide 25 Common Nursing Home Problems — and How to Resolve Them.  Mr. Carlson recently served on the federal Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.

Gretchen E. Alkema, PhD

Jeannee Parker Martin

Jeannee Parker Martin, President & CEO of LeadingAge California, and Vice Chairman of The Corridor Group Holdings, is a leader in the strategic development of healthcare programs. Jeannee served as TCG’s CEO, President and Co-Owner from 1995-2014. Active in health service planning, development and delivery of care for 30 years, Jeannee has assisted organizations around the world ─ spanning the U.S., Central and South America, Thailand, and Turkey, and for the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Department of State. Jeannee founded the first AIDS Home Care & Hospice Program in the US and is internationally recognized as an early pioneer in AIDS care and service delivery. In 2019, she was appointed to the California Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee to chart the roadmap for California’s older adult population, and in 2020 to the federal CMS Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes to help identify strategies and recommendations to the US response in nursing homes.

Jeannee is highly valued by boards and executive teams for her leadership and understanding of strategic, financial and governance matters, integrated health care delivery systems, and the impact of changes in health care delivery and payment initiatives on payers and providers.

Jeannee received her Master’s in Public Health from Yale University School of Medicine, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University. Jeannee has received numerous awards at the local, state and national level including induction into the National Association for Home Care & Hospice Hall of Fame, the Georgetown University School of Nursing
Alumna Award, the California Lillian O’Brien Award, and nomination to MedPac, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

Jennifer Lloyd

Jennifer Wieckowski, MSG

Kevin Worth, RN, MS, CNS

Leza Coleman

Leza Coleman was introduced into the world of senior advocacy in 2006 as a field LTC ombudsman. In that role she responded to requests for advocacy assistance from residents living in Elk Grove and South Sacramento’s licensed long-term care facilities on issues impacting residents’ quality of life and quality of care issues. In 2012 Leza became the Executive Director of the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association. “CLTCOA” is the statewide professional association, that provides leadership, and program assistance for the 35 local Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs, their staff, and volunteers. She is responsible for leading the association’s policy and advocacy efforts.

Leza is excited to be afforded the opportunity to work on statewide systemic advocacy focused on changing the way we view “aging” in California.

Marty Lynch, PhD, MPA

Marty Lynch, PhD, MPA is CEO Emeritus, of LifeLong Medical Care where he served as CEO for 40 years.  Dr. Lynch co-founded the Elderly Sub-Committee of NACHC and is past Chair of California Primary Carae Association. Dr. Lynch served on the California Master Plan on Aging Stakeholder Advisory Group and has served on the Medi-Cal Stakeholder group. He is interested in aging and community health and the effects of Climate Change on health center communities. Dr. Lynch received his Ph.D. from UCSF, and an MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard.

Mary Schramke, MBA, PhD

Neil Wenger

Ramon Castellblanch

Ramón Castellblanch is Professor Emeritus, Public Health, at San Francisco State University.  In 2019-20, he served on California’s Master Plan for Aging Research Subcommittee where he participated in the MPA workgroup developing measures for its data dashboard.  That dashboard will publicly track Master Plan progress.  Starting in 2021, he serves on the advisory board of the UCLA Elder Index.

Tony Chicotel

Tony Chicotel is from Huron, Ohio and a graduate of Muskingum University (B.A.) The Ohio State University College of Law (J.D.) and the University of California School of Public Policy (MPP).  Since 2006, Tony has worked for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, also known as CANHR.  His primary work is to promote the rights of residents in long term care facilities – through litigation, legislation, regulatory policy, and consumer education.  Tony’s focus areas include: civil rights, eviction defense, dementia care, incapacity and decision making, conservatorship, and end-of-life care.

Likes: burritos, baseball, beaches, and milkshakes

Dislikes: flat pillows, Costco parking lots, and tucking in shirts

Ashrith Amarnath, MD

Dr. Ashrith Amarnath is a strong physician leader with a focus on healthcare quality, patient safety, and delivery reform. He is trained in General Surgery with a background in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. He is well regarded for his skills in performance improvement, cultural transformation, and high reliability in healthcare with a demonstrated history of working in health policy, innovation, as well as within hospital and healthcare systems. He is currently serving as the Medical Director, Plan Management for Covered California, the health benefits exchange for the State of California. In this role he acts as a technical advisor on all medical policy and standards issues for health plan contracting, oversees the medical, behavioral health, and clinical programs on quality and effective care delivery for insurance services, and drives continuous improvements to the level of health services provided with the goal of improving health outcomes. He sits on Technical Expert Panels for the National Quality Forum and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He held prior roles as the Patient Safety Officer for Sutter Valley Medical Foundation and Medical Consultant for the California Department of Health Care Services.

Patty Atkins

John Bott

David Hopkins

David S. P. Hopkins is Research Advisor at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center and Senior Advisor, Pacific Business Group on Health, where he served for many years as Director of Quality Measurement and Improvement. Earlier in his career he was Director of Corporate Affiliations and Policy at Stanford University Hospital. David received his M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford.

Sayeed Khan, MD

Dr. Sayeed Khan is a physician executive with two decades of experience in coordinated managed care delivery systems for both Medicare and Medicaid. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Molina Healthcare of California, which serves the needs of more than half a million members in both Southern and Northern California. He previously held leadership positions at several large medical groups in Southern California, namely Healthcare Partners Medical Group, Heritage Provider Network, and AltaMed Health Services.

Dr. Khan completed his undergraduate studies at Boston University, completed medical schooling in Chicago, Illinois at Rush University, did his internship and residency at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, California. He is board certified in Internal Medicine. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Khan practices as a part time hospitalist in Long Beach, California.

Barbara Kivowitz

Barbara is a clinician, consultant, and author specializing in health care innovation with
the goal of helping organizations shift to more relationship-based models of care. She is
the coauthor of Love in the Time of Chronic Illness: How to Fight the Sickness, Not Each
Other, a guide for patient-caregiver partners and for the clinicians who help them. She
has delivered programs based on her book at UCSF, Stanford HealthCare, Sutter Health,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Center, the Beryl Institute, and
elsewhere. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences for patient-caregiver groups and
for clinicians.

Barbara is currently on the Board of Directors of Sutter Health DCE which oversees care
for all Medicare and Medicaid patients, and she is also on Board of Directors of San
Francisco Village, an intentional community for older San Franciscans. She was previously
on the Board of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. She is on the Honorary Board of
Well Spouse Organization, on the Advisory Board of Patient and Family Centered Care
Partners, and on the Technical Advisory Committee for California Hospital Compares. She
participates in national patient/family focused initiatives through the American College of
Physicians, the National Institute on Aging, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS). She serves as a Patient Family Advisor at Sutter Health.

She previously led the innovation practice for an R&D group within Lotus/IBM, provided
innovation consulting to large healthcare organizations and to the State of Vermont, and
worked as a clinical social worker in community based settings. She has graduate degrees
from Harvard and Simmons Universities, has worked as an advocate with refugee
populations, and speaks five languages

Leslie Kowalewski

Christopher Krawczyk, PhD

Dr. Christopher Krawczyk is Chief Analytics Officer with the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). In this role, Dr. Krawczyk provides overall strategic direction for analyses of healthcare quality, outcomes, and utilization; for data services that facilitate stakeholder access to using data in their own analyses and work; and engagement of stakeholders to increase the usefulness and impact of HCAI data and analytic products.

Sharon Lutz

Helen Macfie

Helen Macfie, Pharm.D., F.A.B.C., is Chief Transformation Officer for MemorialCare, a four-hospital, 1,300 bed nonprofit health system including a Medical Foundation and over 2600 affiliated physicians, located in Southern California. She also serves as the Executive Administrator for MemorialCare’s Clinically Integrated Network. Her passion is the attainment of the safest and highest quality care for every patient and family, in pursuit of the Triple Aim for health care.

Helen has executive responsibility for facilitation of system level transformation and performance improvement for MemorialCare’s population health, clinical quality, patient safety, risk management, utilization, Lean and patient and family experience initiatives. Additional areas of responsibility include coordination of system-wide strategic planning activities, operational Value Added Teams and executive sponsorship of the system’s Physician Society Board and clinical Best Practice Teams.

Helen was recently re-named as one of the Top 50 Patient Safety Experts Leading the Field by Becker’s Hospital Review (2016, 2017, 2018), and sits on the Joint Commission Pioneers in Quality Advisory Panel. She speaks nationally at forums focused on improving health care strategy, physician partnerships to drive quality, integration of lean principles, and performance improvement and patient safety. She serves as faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Change, Patient Safety Executive and other courses, has been active on the Board of the California Hospital Association’s Hospital Quality Institute and state Quality Committee, is a member of the Board for California Hospital Assessment and Reporting (CHART), and several California statewide advisory boards (CQC). Most recently she has been serving as part of IHI’s Leadership Alliance, leading a workstream on “Big Waste” and serving on the Equity workstream. In addition, she is a MemorialCare Certified Lean Leader.

Helen earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at UCSF School of Pharmacy, San Francisco, followed by post-graduate residencies in clinical pharmacy at UCSD and in pharmacy administration at Long Beach Memorial. Her FABC – Fellow of the Advisory Board Company – was earned for completing a two-year fellowship in Leadership of the Healthcare Enterprise for the 21st Century. She practiced as an acute care pharmacist for 13 years prior to moving into her organizational improvement work spanning the last 20+ years.

For fun, Helen loves travel, baseball, and movies. Go Dodgers!

Elliott Main

Scott Masten

Mary Schramke

Bruce Spurlock, MD

Bruce Spurlock, MD is the Executive Director for Cal Healthcare Compare. He is also President and CEO of Cynosure Health, a healthcare improvement organization whose vision is to create the day when suboptimal care is eliminated; when safe, reliable, and affordable healthcare is a reality for every patient. He leads and advises large improvement collaboratives at the regional, state, and national level designed to accelerate the implementation of evidence-based practices. He is a nationally known speaker on a broad range of health care topics including translating policy into practice, health care trends, and effectively engaging every stakeholder to drive improvement.

Jennifer Wieckowski

Jennifer Wieckowski, MSG, is the Senior Executive Director of Health Services Advisory Group, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for California and Arizona. She is responsible for providing oversight and direction to the QIN-QIO tasks to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and quality of services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries in California. Her expertise is in healthcare quality and data analysis to drive improvement in order to achieve the best possible patient outcomes with community providers, such as hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and community-based organizations. Prior to joining HSAG in 2008, Ms. Wieckowski was project administrator at the California Health Innovation Center for Partners in Care Foundation. In this role, Ms. Wieckowski was engaged in the strategic operations with the California Departments of Aging and Public Health, National Council on Aging, health systems, physician groups, foundations, education, nonprofits, and aging organizations to disseminate evidence-based health promotion programs to high-risk older adults within California. She also worked for the California Center for Long Term Care Integration, housed at the University of Southern California. She earned a Master of Science in gerontology from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University. She resides with her husband and three kids in Los Angeles, California.

Kevin Worth

Paul Young

Asraf Gulzar

Ashraf has over 26 years of healthcare experience. Prior to joining Santa Clara Valley Medical Center as a Quality Improvement Manager, she was Clinical Director of Quality, overseeing Accreditation, Regulation and Licensing (AR&L), Lead Quality Nurse Consultant and Department Manager for Oncology/ Hematology/Infusion clinic, at Kaiser Santa Clara. Prior to joining Kaiser, she was a Director of Quality Management and Infection Prevention and Control Program at O’Connor Hospital. She has also worked as Clinical and Business Manager of Wound Care Clinic and Hyperbaric Unit, Manager for Medical Surgical Telemetry Unit, and Clinical Educator for Oncology Unit at O’Connor Hospital. She was also the Consultant for the Joint Commission International. As a staff nurse, she has worked in Oncology and Cardiology units. She also has served as a faculty for School of Nursing at The Aga Khan University School of Nursing.

She received Master’s in Nursing Degree from San Jose State University, Bachelor’s in Nursing Administration and Diploma in Nursing from The Aga Khan University Karachi, Pakistan. She is certified as a HACP (Healthcare Accreditation Certified Professional), CPHQ (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and Improvement Advisor (IA). She is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau Honor society for nurses and several other professional members including National Association for Healthcare Quality and California Association for Healthcare Quality.

Craig Uejo, MD

As Chief Quality Officer, Dr. Uejo oversees efforts to further elevate the quality and safety of health care at Scripps’ acute-care hospitals and outpatient clinics across San Diego County. He also directs performance improvement initiatives and ensures compliance with the data reporting requirements of regulatory agencies.

Dr. Uejo also serves as medical director of occupational health and safety at Scripps, a role he has held since 2012. In this position, Dr. Uejo manages the employee health and worker’s compensation programs for Scripps and oversees the clinical and administrative operations of the employee care clinics available for Scripps’ workforce.

Previously, Dr. Uejo served as Scripps’ lead corporate physician for infection prevention and employee safety. He also was medical director of Scripps’ employee wellness program. Dr. Uejo’s career as a physician spans more than 25 years, most of which has been in the fields of occupational and environmental medicine, as well as employee health.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Uejo earned his medical degree from the University of Southern California. He completed his medical residency at UC San Diego and UC Irvine and later earned a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State University. Dr. Uejo is board certified in preventive medicine with an emphasis in occupational health.

Richele Benevent

Staci Gillespie

Mahil Senathirajah

Deb Bakerjian, PhD, MSN, FNP

Kristen Bettega, BS

Shao-You Fang, PhD

Dominique Ritley, MPH

Patrick Romano, MD, MPH

Tracy Fisk

Bruce Spurlock, MD

Bruce Spurlock, MD is the Executive Director for Cal Healthcare Compare. He is also President and CEO of Cynosure Health, a healthcare improvement organization whose vision is to create the day when suboptimal care is eliminated; when safe, reliable, and affordable healthcare is a reality for every patient. He leads and advises large improvement collaboratives at the regional, state, and national level designed to accelerate the implementation of evidence-based practices. He is a nationally known speaker on a broad range of health care topics including translating policy into practice, health care trends, and effectively engaging every stakeholder to drive improvement.

Alex Stack, MPH