Current Staff
Former Staff
Current Staff
Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. – Forum Chair [View CV]
Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H, MBA is the Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and Professor of Organization Behavior at the School of Public Health and Haas School of Business at University of California-Berkeley where he also directs the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR). From 2002 to 2013 he served as Dean of the School of Public Health, and he also holds appointments in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Research, UC San Francisco. Dr. Shortell received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, his Masters in Public Health from UCLA and his PhD in the Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago. A leading health care scholar, Dr. Shortell and his colleagues have received numerous awards for their research examining the performance of integrated delivery systems; the organizational factors associated with quality and outcomes of care; the development of effective hospital-physician relationships and the factors associated with the adoption of evidence-based processes for treating patients with chronic illness. He is currently conducting research on changes in physician practices overtime; on evaluation of Accountable Care Organizations; and on ACO involvement in patient activation and engagement activities. He serves on advisory boards to a number of health care organizations and is Chair of the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare System. In 2006-2007 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Richard M. Scheffler – Forum Vice Chair, Executive Director [View CV]
Richard M. Scheffler is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds the Chair in Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare endowed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of California. Dr. Scheffler is director of the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research. He has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Charles University in Prague, at the Department of Economics at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and at Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Scheffler has been a visiting scholar at the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, and the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, the WHO, and the OECD. Professor Scheffler has been a Fulbright Scholar at Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, and at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. He was also awarded the Chair of Excellence Award at the Carlos III University of Madrid in 2013. In 2015 Dr. Scheffler was awarded the Gold Medal for Charles University in Prague for his longstanding and continued support of international scientific and educational collaboration.
Ian Morrison, Author, Consultant, and Futurist – Forum Facilitator
Ian is a founding partner in Strategic Health Perspectives a joint venture between Harris Interactive and the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. Ian is President Emeritus of the Institute for the Future (IFTF). Ian is the author of Leading Change in Healthcare: Building a Viable System for Today and Tomorrow (AHA Press, June 2011) and Healthcare in the New Millennium: Vision, Values and Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2002). His previous book: The Second Curve – Managing the Velocity of Change (Ballantine, 1996) was a New York Times Business Bestseller and BusinessWeek Bestseller. Ian holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in urban studies from the University of British Columbia; an M.A. in geography from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a graduate degree in urban planning from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. He is a director and current chair of the California Health Care Foundation. Ian also serves as a member of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee of the Program on Health System Improvement at Harvard University.
Brent Fulton – Forum Study Chair [View CV]
Brent D. Fulton, Ph.D, MBA, is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy, Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health at University of California, Berkeley. Brent is an Assistant Research Economist at the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare and the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research, both located in the School of Public Health. His current research areas include health reform, health insurance markets (rate review regulation, risk adjustment and reinsurance), the health workforce (task shifting and pay for performance in the U.S. and globally), mental health (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder treatments and disparities), and oral health care (disparities). Brent will be teaching the Health Policy and Management Breadth Course for the School of Public Health’s On-Campus/Online Professional Master of Public Health Degree Program. He also co-teaches Health Economics and Public Policy. Brent received his doctorate in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School and his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.
Chris Whaley
Christopher Whaley is a second-year PhD student in Health Services and Policy Analysis at the University of California, Berkeley and is concentrating in Health Economics. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago in 2008. Prior to Berkeley, he worked as a Research Assistant at the RAND Corporation where he obtained and analyzed Medicare Part D data. He currently provides data analysis and quantitative analytics for The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. His primary research interests include health insurance plan design, evaluating the impacts of innovative medical technology, and hospital-insurer negotiations.
Kati Phillips
Kati N. Phillips is the program manager for the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Petris team, Kati studied health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where she graduated from a five-year program with her BS in health sciences and minor degrees in psychology and biology in May, 2013. During her time in school in Boston, Kati worked at Tufts Medical Center in the pathology labs where she gained clinical laboratory scientist experience. She also worked as a research assistant in a mobile health lab on projects testing mobile health technology geared toward fighting obesity and tracking asthma attacks in vulnerable youth. Kati has had her Health Education Specialist Certification (CHES) since November 2013. She was just awarded the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Achievement Award for staff in June, 2015 and will be starting in the masters of public health program in health policy and management at UC Berkeley this coming fall, 2015.
Former Staff
Eric Kessell, PhD
Eric Kessell is a policy analyst at the Petris Center and is the head staffer for the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System. He has over ten years of experience in a wide range of health-related fields, including epidemiology, health services research, clinical trials and health policy. He received a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; a MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics, and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California-Berkeley. He completed postdoctoral training in the psychiatry department of the University of California-San Francisco. His technical skills include geographic information systems (GIS), time-series and regression analysis. He has worked with a wide range of data sources, including census data, clinical administrative records, and randomized controlled trial datasets. His research interests include the socioeconomic determinants of health, health services in safety net settings and payment reform.
Liora Bowers
Liora Bowers is the Director of Health Policy and Practice for the Berkeley Forum project, facilitated from the Berkeley School of Public Health. Liora has policy, strategy and marketing consulting experience with various healthcare organizations, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative Drug Access Team, the California Center for Connected Health Policy, LifeLong Medical Care and TrustMD. Additionally, she worked on a high-impact health reform strategy project for a large hospital system while at Deloitte Consulting and led competitive intelligence efforts at Onyx Pharmaceuticals for the launch of a multiple myeloma drug. Liora began her career in Investment Banking, where she was heavily involved in over ten successful mergers & acquisitions, financings, and restructurings for a range of middle-market companies. Liora holds an MBA with honors from the Haas School of Business and an MPH from University of California, Berkeley. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University, where she played #1 singles on the women’s Division I tennis team.
Clare M. Connors
Clare Connors is a 2012 UC Berkeley MPH graduate, concentrating in health policy and management. Prior to entering the MPH program, she was a Director in the San Francisco office of Buck Consultants, a large employee benefits and actuarial consulting firm. In that position, she advised large employers on all aspects of the design, funding and administration of their employee benefit plans. Prior to her 10 years in benefits consulting, she spent 7 years as on the insurance carrier side as an underwriter of health, disability and stop loss coverage. She holds a degree in economics from Oberlin College.
Evan Gallagher
Mr. Gallagher is an experienced healthcare policy analyst and consultant. He previously led research projects and delivered market strategy insights to Fortune 500 clients in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare logistics industries. He has focused his academic and policy research on the intersection of payment reform and healthcare IT. Evan holds a BA from Bowdoin College and will receive an MPP from University of California, Berkeley in May 2013.
Sue Kim
Sue Kim, PhD, MPH has been trained as a health economist and health services researcher. She has been working on evaluation of programs designed to improve the health care delivery and outcome for low income population. She has expert knowledge of health economics, health care financing, health disparities, research methodology, and statistical analysis. She led projects that examine coordinated care for Medicaid recipients with chronic illness and various research projects analyzing large national data sets, including Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, National Survey of Children’s Health, California Health Interview Survey, and Medicaid and private health claims data. Her publications in academic journals present the results from these studies. She received her doctorate in Health Services and Policy Analysis and Masters of Public Health from University of California, Berkeley.
Tien Pham
Thanh-Tien Pham was the Forum Coordinator and Project Manager for the Berkeley Health Delivery Forum project. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she received her B.A. in Integrative Biology as well as in Sociology in 2011. Tien was the Program Coordinator and Administrative Officer at the Nicolas C. Petris Center where she handled program coordination for the center, including all aspects of research administration, conferences, and office management. She also supported the Director, managed his calendar, planned special events, managed the office, coordinated travel, compose and manage correspondence, and handle special projects.