Faculty

Shira Shafir is an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the Director of Field Studies. Dr. Shafir is also the director of the Master of Public Health for Health Professionals in the Department of Community Health Sciences and former assistant vice chancellor of research at UCLA. She is an epidemiologist with expertise in neglected tropical diseases and infectious diseases of poverty. Dr. Shafir received her PhD in Epidemiology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in global health from CHS at UCLA and her MPH in Infectious Diseases from UC Berkeley.

Dr. Shafir brings a unique perspective to her work in strategy and impact from her time in the private sector. She is the former vice president of giving, social innovation and impact at TOMS Shoes, an industry leader in social business, where she designed, implemented and evaluated their global impact strategy. She also consults with nonprofits on impact generation and evaluation.

Burt Cowgill is an assistant professor who resides in the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also an active member of the UCLA Semel Healthy Campus Initiative. He has extensive experience working with community-based organizations in the design, implementation and evaluation of a wide variety of research projects. Dr. Cowgill's areas of interest include nutrition and physical activity policies and practices in schools and worksites, e-cigarette and tobacco prevention and control, HPV vaccination uptake, and health insurance trends. Dr. Cowgill received his PhD from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management in Health Care Outcomes Research (2007).

Prior to returning to academic research, Dr. Cowgill served as a fellow for Senator Edward Kennedy's Health Committee staff and as an analyst for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). During his time with CMS, Dr. Cowgill worked with state Medicaid agencies on child and adolescent immunization performance measurement and quality improvement projects and funding for immunization registries. He is experienced in both quantitative and qualitative research and analytical techniques.

Martin Lee is a professor of biostatistics. Dr. Lee’s research covers such areas as the development of statistical test procedures for bioequivalency studies, particularly those that involve matched paired designs. His interests are in the areas of clinical trials and clinical trial design, particularly as they pertain to biologic and biotechnologically produced proteins. Dr. Lee has worked extensively on the development of robust estimation and semi-parametric models for the analysis of pharmacokinetic data. Dr. Lee received his PhD and MS in Biostatistics from UCLA.

Dr. Lee also has worked in pharmacoeconomic modeling and has worked on Markov models for the assessment of cost-effectiveness of new diagnostic procedures for cervical cancer. The studies he has been involved in have given him the opportunity to work extensively with researchers in the fields of immunology, hematology and oncology. In the recent past, he has been involved in nutritional research with premature infants and has designed and managed key studies in this significant scientific area.

Dr. Lee is the author or co-author of almost 250 scientific papers and has published books in biostatistics and applied immunology.

Leah Vriesman is professor and founding executive director of Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management in UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. Dr. Vriesman teaches Strategic Management of Health Service Organizations and International Comparative Health Systems, and speaks often on health technology and innovation and strategic thinking. Dr. Vriesman is active in corporate education at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and specializes in innovative leadership development for provider organizations and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. She is also the co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthcare Management. Dr. Vriesman received her PhD in Medical Sociology from UCLA (2001) and her MHA and MBA in Strategy and Finance from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis (1991).

Dr. Vriesman was chosen as the inaugural 2018 National Faculty of the Year from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA.org). As a 2010-2011 U.S. Fulbright grant recipient and German Scholar Exchange award winner, Dr. Vriesman spent a year in Neu Ulm, Bavaria, Germany. She was at the University of Applied Sciences teaching International Healthcare Management and Strategic Marketing to German physicians studying for their Healthcare MBA. She travels frequently to give keynotes for international audiences (East Africa, Asia, Europe) on healthcare innovation and transforming healthcare delivery systems.

Laura Erskine is professor of health policy and management, director of the MHA program and director of the UCLA Center for Healthcare Management. Prior to taking a leadership role in the MHA program, Dr. Erskine spent nine years as the director of the MPH in Health Policy and Management. Dr. Erskine is committed to professional education and professional development. In addition to teaching in all three HPM professional programs (MHA, MPH, EMPH), she encourages student participation in case competitions and provides many professional development opportunities to students. In May of 2019 she became a founding co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthcare Management. The Center’s goal is to provide a home for practitioners and scholars interested in a wide variety of issues that touch on management in the healthcare context.

She has expanded the global health footprint of the department by introducing a course that gives students the opportunity to attend the World Health Assembly in Geneva and she has made changes to the MPH curriculum that will enable students to deepen their expertise in an area of interest to them. Her scholarly writing has also had an impact on the educational program by increasing the use of case-based instruction in the classroom and developing new case studies.

Her research interests include the meaning of relational distance in leader-follower relationships, leadership in virtual settings, classroom pedagogy and emergent leadership in the context of collective action. She has published her research in a variety of academic and practitioner journals and presented her research at several national and regional conferences. In addition, she is actively involved with the Organizational Behavior Division and the Network of Leadership Scholars within the Academy of Management.

Dr. Erskine’s teaching interests are in the area of healthcare, organizational behavior, leadership and decision-making. She uses real world examples and situations, experiential activities, field-based cases and simulations to help students develop their decision-making and problem solving skills, hone their communication and interpersonal skills, apply theories and the concepts, and further their critical thinking skills. She can highlight theories and concepts with personal examples from her background in strategic consulting, entrepreneurial activities, field-based research and case writing activities.

Following her MBA studies, she worked as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney and in a variety of marketing and strategy roles at Disney Online and FirstLook.com. Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Erskine participated in the creation of Eureka Review, a Los Angeles-based SAT tutoring company. Before joining UCLA in 2013, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods in the College of Business at Illinois State University.

Dr. Erskine received her PhD in Business Administration from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and her MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Julie Elginer is an assistant professor with dual appointments in both the Department of Health Policy and Management and Community Health Science within the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Dr. Elginer teaches Healthcare Marketing, Healthcare Financial Management and Reproductive Health Advocacy. She has been recognized by the Public Health Student Association for excellence in teaching several times. In addition, she serves in an advisory capacity to the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) – Los Angeles chapter. In 2012, NAPNAP-LA presented her with their highest award for a non-clinician given annually to the person who most advanced the practice of nursing in the Los Angeles area. Dr. Elginer received her DrPH from UCLA.

Dr. Elginer has over a decade of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience in various marketing, strategic planning, finance and managed market roles for Abbott Laboratories and Amgen. During a sabbatical from Amgen, she served as an adjunct faculty in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, teaching at various academic medical centers throughout the country. Her myriad consulting engagements include advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to incorporate technology into the logistical chain to address food safety and transport issues.

Dr. Elginer is a recognized leader in advocacy and health policy issues. She has led volunteer non-profit advocacy throughout California and in Washington D.C. She has drafted legislation, conducted policy analysis, testified before the legislature and successfully advocated for several issues including perinatal mental health, human trafficking, categorical eligibility of food stamps, microbicides funding and more. In 2010, the California Assembly bestowed upon her an Individual Member Resolution for her “lifetime of achievements and meritorious service.” In 2011, Dr. Elginer was recognized by the United Nations Association of New York for her work addressing the perils of human trafficking, along with colleagues from the Association of Junior League International. In 2012, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to a four-year term as a member of the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners and spent five years as an Environmental Commissioner for the City of Calabasas.

Ninez Ponce is a professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management and was associate director of UCLA's Asian American Studies Center (2011-2013). She also devised the rationale and implementation of Asian ethnic oversamples and the cultural and linguistic adaptation of the survey. She teaches courses in applied research methods, health policy and health economics. Her research contributes to the elimination of racial/ethnic and social disparities in health and health care in three areas: multicultural survey research, social penalties in health and health access, and population-based cancer prevention and control studies. Dr. Ponce received her PhD from UCLA and her MPP from Harvard University.

Dr. Ponce is the principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the largest state health survey in the United States, where she led the first CHIS efforts on the measurement of race/ethnicity, acculturation, physician-patient communication and discrimination. She has received major support from the National Cancer Institute, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the California Endowment, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other organizations. Dr. Ponce started and co-chaired Academy Health’s Disparities Interest Group. In 2004, National Cancer Institute’s Special Populations Health Network recognized Dr. Ponce as a rising star in cancer disparities. In 2008, she received a National Institutes of Health merit award for her work in multicultural survey research. In 2009 she was an Institute of Medicine subcommittee member on race/ethnicity/language data. Dr. Ponce has long consulted with community-based organizations such as Community Voices-Oakland/La Clinica de la Raza and Asian Health Services and served as deputy director of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum in San Francisco. In 2009, she received the Royal Morales Community Service award from the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association. She was board chair of New Heights Charter School in South Los Angeles from 2006 to 2012 and currently serves as vice-chair on the board of the National Health Law Program.

Dr. Jean Balgrosky’s career in health information systems and technology leadership and entrepreneurship spans 30 years as a chief information officer (CIO) in health care at Scripps Health in San Diego, Holy Cross Health System (Trinity Health System), and now MD Revolution. In addition, she is the founder of Bootstrap Venture Partners, investing in and nurturing innovative digital health information technology start-up companies. As CIO and Member of the Board of Directors at MD Revolution and several other digital health and life science early-stage companies, she provides leadership and strategy as well as investment funds, developing innovations in health care and life science. A force for change, she was recently selected as one of Top 25 Women Leaders in Consumer HealthTech by The Healthcare Technology Report. Dr. Balgrosky teaches Health Information Systems and Technology at the UCLA FSPH Health Policy & Management Department and is an active member of UCLA FSPH’s Board of Advisors.

Jean thrives academically by teaching the next generation of healthcare leaders, managers and policymakers as well as by writing textbooks about health information systems and technology. As career CIO, investor and innovator, she is creating new ways to use information systems and technology to improve health. As mentor, she helps early-stage entrepreneurs in development of digital health solutions to meet emerging requirements in digital health and analytics, including AI. She is author of two textbooks: Essentials of Health Information Systems and Technology and Understanding Health Information Systems for the Health Professions.

Jean earned her PhD in Health Services from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, with a cognate in health information systems and technology. She also completed her MPH in Management–Health Information Systems at UCLA FSPH and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health–Health Services, specializing in medical records science. Her PhD dissertation research, “Adoption of Electronic Health Records by Physicians for Use in their Practices,” analyzed differences between small and medium/large provider practices in their adoption of electronic health record systems.

She currently resides in Del Mar, CA with her husband, Parker Hinshaw, who together enjoy seven children and nine grandchildren. They sponsor the Jean Balgrosky and Parker Hinshaw Fellowship with the vision of supporting the education of two Fielding School students each year. They are especially motivated to provide support to students who, despite hardships, are pursuing their degrees in public health.

Michael Galper is a retired partner from the Health Care Consulting Practice of PwC. He has held a variety of leadership positions over the years with the firm, including global advisory tools and methods leader, West Coast health practice leader and national health insurance practice leader. Mr. Galper assisted his clients in financial and operational performance along with regulatory compliance. His clients included integrated health systems, managed care companies, hospitals, physician groups and academic medical centers.

Mr. Galper is a CPA and professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and leads the steering committee for the Paul Torrens Health Forum and is the faculty liaison to the Health Policy and Management Alumni Association. He also serves on the board for Hathaway Sycamores, a Child and Family Service Agency. Mr. Galper received his MPH in Health Management from UCLA.

Hannah Reischl, MPH is a public health business strategy consultant with 10+ years’ experience catalyzing complex business priorities into action to transform the role and capabilities of health systems. She recently took on a new role as senior strategic advisor to the chief quality officer at the University of Michigan Health.

Previous experience includes driving the development of investment strategies as a senior business process consultant within Kaiser Permanente’s National Office of Transformation, managing Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHCs) operations, Community Mental Health, Medicaid health plans, and strategy design and implementation efforts for care delivery systems. She received her MPH in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Hannah serves as a business design mentor at national and international hackathons – most recently with MIT’s COVID-19 global challenges.

Moira Inkelas is a professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. She has a background in public health and public policy, with specific training and expertise in designing and implementing improvement science research. Her research focuses on improvement in primary care and human service organizations, and she has led learning networks of national and local health care providers and systems.

Dr. Inkelas teaches core courses in the Master of Science in Implementation and Improvement Research in the Fielding School of Public Health. As co-program leader for population health in the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), she supports education and career development in Implementation, Improvement and Dissemination (DII) and learning health system methods; develops program strategy and liaises with leaders and faculty; integrates implementation science theory and methods into Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and partnered health systems; and develops partnerships with community organizations and health systems to increase the use of DII methods. She co-leads the CTSI TL1 program.

Jeff Helton is a former health system chief financial officer and a fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association ("HFMA"). His financial management experience ranges from urban community health centers to small rural health systems to tertiary medical centers to operating health insurance plans in California and across the United States. He is also a certified management accountant and a certified fraud examiner. Dr. Helton writes a column on "Disruptive Innovation in Health Care" for the journal Healthcare Financial Management and is a certification "boot camp" instructor for HFMA. He also consults on health care financing matters with several health care startup companies around the U.S.

Dr. Helton earned his PhD in Health Care Management from the University of Texas and his Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When not at work with his students, he is usually out skiing, surfing or kiteboarding, and he is an avid bass guitar player.

Dr. Sandra Potthoff spent the majority of her nearly 30-year academic career at the University of Minnesota, where she served as the director of the Master of Healthcare Administration Program for 8 years. She retired in 2019 from the University of South Florida, Tampa, where she served as the chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the College of Public Health.

Her teaching expertise includes analytics, operations management, quality improvement, problem-solving, healthcare information technology, health policy, program evaluation, patient flow and long-term care. Dr. Potthoff was the recipient of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) 2019 Gary L. Filerman award for Educational Leadership.

With a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Potthoff’s research spans the interfaces of systems analysis and quality management, operations research and management science, and data analytics, applied to evaluating and improving healthcare delivery, long-term care, tele-health homecare services and community programs.

Dr. Potthoff currently serves as a mentor and faculty member for Communities of Excellence 2026, a national collaborative of communities applying the Baldrige Framework of Performance Excellence to their community collaborative work.

Matt Beymer, PhD, is an adjunct associate professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He has taught the Introduction to Public Health course in the MHA Program since 2024, and he has taught a data analytics course in the Department of Community Health Sciences since 2018.

Dr. Beymer has worked for the past seven years as a statistician with the U.S. Army Medical Command studying issues related to behavioral health among soldiers, including food insecurity, substance misuse, intimate partner violence and health disparities among LGBT service members. Previously, he served as the lead epidemiologist for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, where his work focused on sexual health and disparities.

Matt holds a PhD in Public Health and an MPH in Epidemiology, both from UCLA, and a BS in Microbiology from UC San Diego.

Kevin Baldwin is an adjunct professor of Health Policy and Management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and informatics portfolio manager at UCLA Health Sciences. Kevin completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at UCLA and went on to complete additional post-graduate training at UC Berkeley and Columbia University.

Kevin’s research interests center around the impact of health information technology on clinical and financial outcomes and his work has resulted in more than 50 publications, book chapters and national presentations. He has been widely recognized for his accomplishments in his area of expertise, most notably as a fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association, project management professional and certified professional in healthcare information and management systems. His work has also been awarded grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Cardinal Health Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Kevin serves on the board of directors of the University Credit Union and teaches graduate courses in the Loyola Marymount University Seaver College of Science and Engineering. He remains active in professional organizations including the American Medical Informatics Association, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Healthcare Information and Management System Society. He also stays engaged with the UCLA community in his role as past president of the UCLA Staff Assembly.

Dr. Jun Chu is an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles with a full-time assistant professor position at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is a health services researcher with expertise in immigrant health, Medicaid, health disparities, patient-centered outcome research and the health policy process. Dr. Chu received his doctorate degree in health services research from University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Brenda Freshman is an adjunct assistant professor for the UCLA Department of Health Policy and Management at UCLA. She is also a professor in the Department of Health Care Administration at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), and she teaches organizational behavior, management, and human resources courses to undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Freshman’s research and practice interests concentrate on team formation and collaboration across the disciplines in healthcare. Specifically, she focuses on how thoughts and emotions influence behavior, productivity, and quality of life.

Dr. Freshman holds a B.S. in Psychology (UCLA), an M.A. in Applied Psychology (University of Santa Monica), an M.S. in Organizational Psychology (California School of Professional Psychology), and a Doctorate degree in Organizational Psychology (California School of Professional Psychology).

Linda Magara Horner, MBA is a Partner at Uplifting Capital, an impact investment firm specializing in constructing private asset portfolios for individuals and institutions. The firm focuses on investments designed to deliver strong financial returns while driving meaningful positive environmental and societal outcomes. Linda leads corporate strategy initiatives and participates in investment activities, including fund manager sourcing, due diligence, impact strategy, and portfolio monitoring. At the firm, she leverages her background to spearhead the diligence of healthcare impact investments.

Before joining Uplifting Capital, Linda was the Director of Corporate Strategy at SCAN, one of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage not-for-profit organizations—at $4 billion in revenue—focused on addressing the most significant issues in healthcare for older adults. Before SCAN, she was a Global Product Manager, working on upstream product strategy and evaluating acquisitions and strategic partnership opportunities for Medtronic’s deep brain stimulation product. Prior to that, Linda worked on leveraged finance transactions at Credit Suisse in the Financial Sponsors Investment Banking Group and finance at Aetna, performing financial due diligence on healthcare providers of various sizes under risk delegation contracts. She began her career at Deloitte & Touche in their audit practice where she became a California Certified Public Accountant (currently inactive).

Linda holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where she attended as a Toigo Foundation, Consortium for Graduate School Management, and Dartmouth Global Health Fellow. She also has a BS in Business Administration, Accounting from The Master’s University, Summa Cum Laude. Linda holds certifications in human-centered strategy from IDEOU, impact measurement from the University of Oxford, and impact investing from the CFA Institute (UK). Outside of work, she is a leadership coach in the Tuck School of Business’ Personal Leadership Program, serves as Vice Chair of the Board for Action in Africa, and on the Advisory Board of the National Black MBA Association – Los Angeles Chapter.

Dr. Ridhima Iyer has 14 years of healthcare experience encompassing both clinical and managerial roles within healthcare delivery systems. After graduating from medical school in the UK, Dr Iyer completed Residency in Internal Medicine and was a Fellow in Oncology when she first joined the MPH Program in Health Management at UCLA. After completing the MPH program, she became an Administrative Fellow with Kaiser Permanente SCAL during which she gained operational and consulting experience at the local and regional levels. For the past 3 years, she has been Department Administrator within the Medical Subspecialties at the West Los Angeles Medical Center. She recently transitioned into her current role as Director of Behavioral Health at the Panorama City Medical Center, responsible for the operations and performance of Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine and Social Medicine departments.

Dr. April M. Kelly is currently the Executive Director of Operations for Cedars Sinai Medical Care Foundation. In her current role, she serves as the Executive Director for Cedar-Sinai's newest region, San Gabriel Valley, where she is leading the work to build a clinically integrated care delivery network. April has over 20 years of healthcare experience and has held various clinical and operational roles over those years. She has her bachelor's in nursing and master's degrees in organizational management and healthcare administration. She received her Doctoral degree from Grand Canyon University. Her research interests include transformational leadership, servant leadership, and organizational change.

Dhruv Khurana, Ph.D., works as a Senior Research Scientist at NYU Langone Health. His most impactful work involves designing, implementing, and evaluating the groundbreaking Whole PERSON Health Score. This holistic assessment tool empowers care teams to execute timely, targeted interventions by quantifying and highlighting Social Determinants of Health. The paper was honored as the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Editors’ Pick of the Year 2022 and recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in their Science-in-Action brief.

Previously, he worked as a Senior Economist at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, driven by a fervent commitment to transforming healthcare through innovative interventions and promoting equity. At UCLA, Dr. Khurana’s research is geared toward evaluating the impact of pivotal SUD healthcare policies. His investigations delve into the transformative effects of initiatives like the CA 1115/DMC-ODS waiver, Naloxone Distribution Program, and Recovery Incentives, focusing on their implications for overdose rates, overdose deaths, and treatment access for marginalized populations.

The core of his research is focused on policy implications for underserved communities, including racial/ethnic minorities and individuals of diverse sexual orientations.

Owing to his multidisciplinary background and training, he was recognized as a “Diversity Scholar” by the American Society of Health Economists (ASHE) in 2020. In addition, he has been recognized as the “Most Valued Professor” for three consecutive years by the California State University.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics, specializing in Health Economics and Econometrics, and an M.A. in Economics, with a concentration in Behavioral and Neuroeconomics, both from Claremont Graduate University and an M.S. in Finance from the London School of Economics.

Christopher K. Lee is a healthcare and technology strategist. He has worked across the ecosystem from a community clinic to an academic medical center, from an early-stage startup to a large health insurer.

Chris is a venture partner at GoAhead Ventures. He scouts for early-stage tech startups. And he mentors at the Founder Institute and Techstars.

He is a participant ambassador for the NIH All of Us Research Program and advises in a similar capacity for Scripps Research Digital Trials Center.

Chris earned a BA in psychology from UC Irvine and a Master of Public Health at San Diego State University. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes.

Asya (Asia) Spears, MS is a STEM workforce policy researcher with a focus on the development of data cultures and the founder of Rose Data Studio, a data career strategy consultancy.

Asya received her BS in Mathematics from Spelman College, her MS in Biostatistics at UCLA, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Policy Analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Dr. Lindsay Williams brings significant clinical and leadership experience focusing on investigating, creating and improving outpatient care for vulnerable persons. As part of Worksite Labs' leadership team, she oversees enterprise-level clinical and data operations. Initially responsible for building out operations to bring COVID-19 laboratory testing to where it’s most needed, she now leads Worksite Labs’ clinical expansion to deliver decentralized labs and clinical services.

She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing at the UCLA School of Nursing and has been a registered public health nurse in California since 2010.

Previously, Lindsay served as Magnet Program Director at UCLA Health, where she managed human, fiscal and operational resources. Dr. Williams has also held managerial and clinical roles at Cedars-Sinai and Veterans Health Administration, and recently served as president of the SoCal chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives, which aims to boost Black representation in healthcare leadership.

Dr. Watson is currently serving as the Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Rutland Regional Medical Center in Vermont. She is board certified in healthcare management through the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and is currently serving as the ACHE Regent for the state of Vermont. Prior to moving to Vermont in 2022, Dr. Watson served on healthcare executive teams in both the Denver and Los Angeles markets. Dr. Watson served as a healthcare leader for over a decade, and her participation on leadership teams has contributed to the forward movement of several organizations by implementing strategic initiatives that have led to high-quality outcomes and enhanced access to care. She and her husband have three boys and enjoy hiking, skiing, and traveling.

Education

• Doctor of Nursing Practice, Regis University
• Master of Health Administration, University of Southern California
• Bachelor of Science, Nursing, Regis University

Accomplishments & Volunteer Activities

• Fellow – American College of Healthcare Executives
• Ex-Officio Board Member – ACHE of Northern New England Chapter
• ACHE District 1Regent, Vermont
• Chairperson, Vermont State University Nursing Advisory Council
• 2024-2025 Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellow through Penn Nursing and The Wharton School

Nahal Sabrkhani, MPH, is the chief of staff to the market president at Optum California, where she leads strategic initiatives and drives organizational alignment across the market.

Her previous roles include senior director of population health and director of patient retention programs at Optum as well as positions in healthcare consulting at Deloitte and in strategy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Nahal holds both a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science from UCLA and has served in various leadership roles with the UCLA Health Policy and Management Alumni Association.

Outside of work, she enjoys reading, drinking coffee and exploring L.A.’s diverse restaurant scene with her husband and dogs.

Dr. Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia is an adjunct associate professor of health policy and management at UCLA and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She teaches the Politics of Health Policy (HS 287) course for students in the Health Policy and Management Program.

Dr. Ahluwalia’s research examines barriers and facilitators to palliative care for patients with serious progressive illness, with the goal of improving integration of palliative services into routine care. Her most recent work has centered on identifying opportunities for improving patient-provider communication regarding advance care planning in heart failure. She is currently PI of an NIH-funded study to evaluate the use of group visits for advance care planning in outpatient settings and PI of another study to synthesize palliative care evidence to inform clinical practice guidelines.

Dr. Ahluwalia has methodological expertise in evidence synthesis, qualitative research and implementation science. Her primary policy interests are in understanding the role of interest groups and framing effects on health policy implementation and adoption.

Seth Lake, MPH, is a dedicated healthcare professional with a strong background in patient experience. Currently serving as manager of patient experience for USC Care & Ambulatory Care Services at Keck Medicine of USC, Seth oversees various programs aimed at enhancing patient satisfaction across 100+ outpatient clinics. His previous roles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital involved leading multiple data-driven projects and programs to improve patient experience across various clinical settings.

Seth received his Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from UCLA in 2019 and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from UC Riverside in 2015.