30 Years of Excellence

2001 – First "State of Health Insurance in California" (SHIC) report: The Center launches a new comprehensive report of health insurance status and trends.

Food insecurity bill: A Los Angeles Times story based on a Center study of food insecurity prompts passage of AB 231, which increases eligibility for the federal food stamps program.

First 5 California: CHIS data are used by First 5 California in more than a dozen counties to develop early childhood education programs.

"Health of Older Californians" report: The Center publishes its first omnibus report on elder health, using 2001 CHIS data.  

Cancer Screening in California report: The Center publishes its first omnibus report on cancer screening, using 2001 CHIS data.  

SB 2: The Center's data and expertise are used in designing this law, which requires medium and large companies to provide health benefits to workers in California. Although the law was later repealed, it laid the foundation for future health care reform efforts.

Healthy Kids: First 5 California starts to use CHIS data for a new program that extends health coverage to children in low-income families who are ineligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families.

He cites the Center's "The State of Health Insurance in California: Findings from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey" on the decline in employer-sponsored coverage as justification for the reform. CHIS data are subsequently used by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office and policymakers from both parties in debate about the proposed reform effort.

Fast-food moratorium: The City of Los Angeles institutes a moratorium on building fast-food outlets in South Los Angeles, based in large part on a Center study about food environments and obesity.

Health Profiles: The Center publishes the first of many easy-to-read, one-page fact sheets that contain CHIS-based estimates on the health status, health behaviors and demographics of adults, adolescents, and children by county, region and legislative district.

Soda tax: A Center study on the link between soda and obesity is cited in a proposal to tax soda to support a children's health fund.

Fighting pollution: Health DATA begins to offer community-based research and training on environmental-related health issues.

Elder Economic Planning Act of 2011: Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown signs a law requiring the state's Area Agencies on Aging to use the Center's Elder Index in their strategic planning calculations of the true cost of living for low-income seniors.

Low-Income Health Program: The Center is selected as the primary evaluator of California's "bridge to health care reform" program, designed to provide health coverage to uninsured low-income residents.

New director: Gerald Kominski, associate director and professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a leading authority on health care reform and health economics, is appointed Center director.

April: E. Richard (Rick) Brown, founding director, passes away.

Defense of Marriage Act: A Center study is used in an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court to support arguments that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) significantly impairs married gay and lesbian workers access to employer-provided health care benefits for their spouses. The Supreme Court repealed key sections of DOMA in June 2013.

LIHP transition: The Center helps to facilitate the transition of 652,000 Californians from the Low-Income Health Program into Medi-Cal on Jan. 1.

AskCHIS™ Neighborhood Edition: In late 2014, the Center will introduce its new, cutting-edge tool to examine, map and chart health data by ZIP code and city.

Democratizing data: The Center's Health DATA Program has trained more than 4,475 representatives from 1,800+ organizations on how to find, use and communicate health data.

Thousands of users: Nearly 43,000 people are registered AskCHIS™ users.

Approaching one million: Approximately 980,080 queries have been made on AskCHIS™, the Center's user-friendly, online query tool.

National LGBT surveys: CHIS methodologies on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender questions are guiding an Office of Management and Budget workgroup on LGBT data collection.

Health care for undocumented minors: Gov. Jerry Brown in October signed into law SB4, which extends full-scope Medi-Cal to undocumented immigrants under the age of 19. "Assessing Health Care Services Used By California's Undocumented Immigrant Population In 2010", an article coauthored by the Center's Nadereh Pourat that used CHIS estimates on DACA youth, helped educate policymakers on the impact of both SB4 and SB10, a related proposal that would extend Medi-Cal to adult immigrants, both legal and undocumented.

Child mental health services: An audit request by state Senator Jim Beall to analyze how school districts are using mental health funding for students was informed by CHIS data, which showed that about 600,000 children in California have a need for student mental health services. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the request in April.

UCLA-SAFE: The Center project, UCLA-SAFE, launches a smoke-free housing initiative, Smokefree Apartments Los Angeles, that encourages owners of market-rate, multi-unit apartments in densely populated areas of LA to voluntarily put in place smoke-free policies to reduce residents' exposure to secondhand smoke. Supported by a $3 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the program focuses on neighborhoods where high proportions of Latinos and African Americans reside. The two groups have among the highest rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

ACA 411: New CHIS data were added to the California Health Care Foundation's ACA 411 interactive web tool, which helps track the Affordable Care Act's effect on insurance coverage, access to health care services, and affordability in California after health care reform. The updated CHIS data show Medi-Cal expansion brought state rates of uninsurance to a historic low. Future CHIS data will help ACA 411 users gauge the effects of an ACA repeal.

AskCHIS™ Neighborhood Edition API: An application programming interface that provides live access to the latest AskCHIS™ NE data joins the lineup of new CHIS products in February. Subscribers include the California Office of Health Equity, St. Joseph Health, and Healthy City, which populates many city and community health dashboards.

AB447 (Amendment that allows Medi-Cal to cover the cost of continuous glucose monitors): Susan Babey, co-director of the Center's Chronic Disease Program, provided data on diabetes for the Medi-Cal population to Assemblyman Adam Gray's office. Gray is coauthor of the bill.

AB1003 (California Community Health fund): CHIS data on prediabetes were cited in analysis of the 2-cent-per-fluid-ounce tax on sugary beverages and soda proposed by Assemblyman Richard Bloom.  

Sacramento briefing: Center Associate Director Ninez A. Ponce presented CHIS data Sept. 15 at a legislative briefing to advance immigrant access to care. The briefing was hosted by the Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, Asian Health Services and others.

City of Santa Monica on elder subsidies: The city of Santa Monica approved pilot project subsidies July 25 that will help 26 low-income elders stay in their homes. Subsidy amounts are based on the Center's Elder Index, which uses CHIS data in its calculations. The Elder Index for California was calculated by the Center and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. 

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: Center Director Gerald Kominski testified at the Aug. 15 meeting about the role ACA funding played in the expanding health benefits to Los Angeles residents and the important role the supervisors had in supporting projects funded by that money.

California Assembly Health Committee on Healthcare Delivery System: In an Oct. 23 hearing that examined the state’s current health care system, California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data and estimates from the Center's CalSIM micro-simulation model were used during testimony by Ken Jacobs and Laurel Lucia of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.

Public charge: Analysis by the Center, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Education and Research and the California Food Policy Council of ‘public charge’ rule changes proposed by the Department of Homeland Security was cited in official comments by U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and Nanette Diaz Barragán, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and many other groups such as the California Latino Legislative Caucus, The California Endowment, Blue Shield of California Foundation, Health Access and Western Center on Law & Poverty

Assembly resolution: State Assemblyman Rob Bonta cited data from Center analysis in a state assembly bill resolution condemning the rule changes.

Restaurant law: Analysis on prediabetes based on CHIS was used to inform a California law that requires healthier default beverage choices for kids’ meals served at restaurants.

Elder Index and legislation: The Alliance for Children’s Rights used the Elder Index Grandparents Raising Grandchildren data to inform legislation that provides equal funds for grandparents or other relatives who raise children in the foster care system.

CHIS redesign experiments: With funding from Kaiser Permanente and the Department of Health Care Services, CHIS staff conducted two field experiments exploring the use of a web version of the CHIS survey to help inform decisions about the design of the 2019 CHIS.

In Sacramento, experts discuss how universal health care systems in other countries function, and at a workshop at UCLA the next day, they brainstorm with UCLA faculty, students, and others and present topics for further research on universal health care.

March: California Assemblymember Rudy Salas introduces AB 480 (Mental health: older adults), which would advance geriatrics behavioral health workforce training and establish an administrator to oversee mental health services for older adults. The bill analysis used research led by UCLA CHPR’s Janet Frank and Kathryn Kietzman.

June: AcademyHealth awards its prestigious 2019 Health Services Research Impact Award to Center Director Ninez A. Ponce and the California Health Interview Survey. 

June: Gov. Gavin Newsom issues an executive order calling for the creation of a Master Plan for Aging. UCLA CHPR’s Janet Frank, faculty associate, and Kathryn Kietzman, research scientist, are named subcommittee members.

September: The state resolution (ACR1) condemning rule changes to the public charge designation is chaptered by the California state secretary. Center research was used in statements and articles about the harmful health and economic impacts of the rule change.

September: California Health Interview Survey transitions to a mixed-mode survey (web and telephone) using a random sample of California addresses.

November: Steven Wallace is presented with the Arthur Cherkin Award for contributions in aging by the UCLA Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.

February: Steven Wallace is part of a roundtable discussion about the Master Plan for Aging hosted by state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.

March: Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns over public health, the UCLA CHPR transitions to remote work.

June: The COVID-19 Rates and Risk Factors by California County Dashboard is released, an updated version of the previous COVID-19 dashboard that presents graphic visualizations of data.

August: The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) COVID-19 Data Policy Lab, hosted at the UCLA CHPR, releases a dashboard that shows rates of the virus among NHPI ethnic groups and other major racial groups by state.

August: UCLA researchers are awarded a $596,000 grant by national collaborative on gun violence research to study gun violence related to firearm ownership, storage, and perceptions of safety. The research also aims to fill gaps in knowledge about risk factors for gun suicide and urban gun violence among groups who are disproportionately impacted: youth/young adults, veterans, immigrants, and LGBT.

September: For the first time in its history, the California Health Interview Survey releases preliminary estimates about COVID-19 vaccine uptake and other effects of the pandemic, a year before normal release time, in a 2020 CHIS Preliminary COVID-19 Estimates dashboard. Read about the dashboard.

October: The 2020 E.R. Brown Symposium, "Healing a Fractured Society: Health Care as a Right," features experts who focused on fractures the COVID-19 pandemic revealed in our health systems and introduced strategies for change in addressing health equity.

November: Center Faculty Associate Janet Frank is appointed to the California Commission on Aging.

December: Gerald Kominski and four other UC researchers are named as expert policy guides for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Healthy California for All Commission, which will develop a path toward universal health coverage in California.

February: California Assembly Bill AB1038 (California Health Equity Program) cites a California Health Care Foundation report that references CHIS/UCLA CHPR data in its Assembly analysis.

March: Steven Wallace, associate center director, passes away.

May: Ninez A. Ponce, director of the UCLA CHP, is named to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s newly established National Commission to Transform Public Health Data System.

August: Referencing Ninez A. Ponce’s assertion that the prevalence of mass shootings "has led many to view gun violence as an epidemic and matter of public health," the Los Angeles City Council ask the city attorney to file a motion in support of California Attorney General Rob Bonta battling the California courts overruling the state's ban on assault weapons

September: UCLA CHPR names researchers to three new leadership roles: Corrina Moucheraud, center associate director; Kathryn Kietzman, director of the Health Equity Program; and Ying-Ying Meng, director of research.

September: The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District cites data from the UCLA CHPR fact sheet "Proposed Changes to the 'Public Charge' Rule Will Affect Health, Hunger and the Economy in California" as evidence to oppose public charge in a stay of an order against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

October: Ninez A. Ponce is featured at the White House Filipino American History Month event. Watch a video of the event.

October: 2021 E.R. Brown Virtual Symposium "Opening Doors for All: Improving Health in Housing and Homelessness" brings together public health leaders, community advocates, policymakers, and other leaders to discuss some of the underlying economic and social factors contributing to homelessness and what can be done to effectively address and invest in solutions. Watch videos of Day 1 and Day 2.

October: The American Public Health Association posthumously renames a lifetime achievement award after Steven Wallace, late associate center director. Steve had received the award in 2018.

December: UCLA CHPR names Arturo Vargas Bustamante and Mark Peterson senior fellows.

The report highlights health insurance over the decade following the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as the ACA or "Obamacare."

February: Vickie Mays is named senior fellow and Daniel Eisenberg as director of the Mental Health Program at UCLA CHPR.

February: New data added to the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Preliminary COVID-19 Estimates Dashboard takes a closer look at the impact of the pandemic on Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. 

March: Family, friends, colleagues, and students gather at UCLA to remember the late Steven Wallace, husband, father, professor, mentor, friend. The Steve Wallace Fellowship Fund is created in his honor to provide support to first-generation students interested in advancing public health policy. Each year, a fellow will be selected to join a research team based in CHPR and gain experience and mentorship from the center’s research scientists.

March: UCLA CHPR’s Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab is featured in an episode of PBS NewsHour discussing the critical work the Lab is doing to address striking gaps within data and research for NHPIs.

April: CHIS data are cited in the California Health Benefits Review Program analysis of California Assembly Bill 1930 Medi-Cal: Comprehensive Perinatal Services, which would mandate that coverage for specified comprehensive perinatal services, delivered through the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program (CPSP), for Medi-Cal beneficiaries be extended from 60 days to 12 months following the last day of an individual’s pregnancy.

April: Gerald Kominski, director emeritus (2012–2018) and senior fellow at the UCLA CHPR and a professor for 30 years at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, is celebrated at a gathering of colleagues, students, family, and friends. He establishes the Gerald F. Kominski Health Policy Fellowship to help first-generation college graduates study health policy in UCLA's MPH program.

April: In partnership with UCLA CHPR and using CHIS data, Nourish California and the California Immigrant Policy Center release a report that revealed that nearly half (45%) of undocumented Californians are currently experiencing food insecurity. Data are used by the Food4All Campaign, which co-sponsors Senate Bill (SB) 464 with Senator Melissa Hurtado, aimed at providing food assistance benefits to undocumented adults.

May: Associate Center Director Nadereh Pourat and the HEER team release the Final Summative Evaluation of PRIME, the third in a series of reports based on their evaluation of the state's Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) waiver program.

June: The California Health Interview Survey releases the 2023 CHIS COVID-19 Preliminary Estimates Dashboard, which features brand new questions on Californians’ experiences with long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms, as well as respondents’ reasons for not receiving the vaccine or booster shots, and where they obtained their news about COVID-19.

July: Two UCLA students, Angelica Johnsen and Alma Lopez, are named the winners of the Health Equity Challenge, a competition presented by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and The MolinaCares Accord. Community groups that partnered with each student receive $50,000 to fund and implement their projects, both of which tackle mental health inequities.

August: Health Equity Program Director Kathryn Kietzman release findings from the California Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Study, a follow-on survey to the 2019–2020 California Health Interview Survey, which analyzed the need for long-term services and support among adults age 65 and older and adults with disabilities and assessed the financial constraints that limit options for such supportive care.

September: Preliminary 2022 data released by the California Health Interview Survey found that more than 1 in 13 (8%) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) adults in California experienced a hate incident due to COVID-19.

October: UCLA CHPR unveils findings from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey. Data highlight the urgent need for mental health services and difficulties in accessing care. New data on gun violence and firearm storage, adverse childhood experiences, encounters with police, climate change, and housing instability featured.

November: The Los Angeles Department of Public Health awards a team of UCLA researchers $21 million to conduct the Aliso Canyon Health Study, which will evaluate the short and long-term health impacts of the Aliso Canyon gas blowout that happened in 2015–2016.

November: UCLA CHPR releases a study that shows that the economic effects of COVID-19 increased the risk for poor mental health among California adults.

December: The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2022 Making an Impact report is released, highlighting an exciting year of data.

February: UCLA CHPR hosts the "2023 E.R. Brown Symposium: Addressing Gun Violence as a Public Health Epidemic," bringing together an outstanding group of researchers, advocates, community leaders, and policymakers working to understand and decrease gun violence, and sharing new research and perspectives to inform policy and programs to increase public safety.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta provides the keynote address and shared his vision for how policy can make a difference in the state.

February: The AAPI Data program at UC Riverside awards UCLA CHPR’s Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab a grant to develop an NHPI Health Equity Index.

February: UCLA study shows California’s Whole Person Care improved health care for high-risk Medi-Cal patients.

March: NHPI Data Policy Lab introduces data dashboards, tools aimed at prioritizing data equity among NHPIs. 

June: The four winners of the 2023 Health Equity Challenge are announced. 

August: Center launches new and improved website. 

October: UCLA CHPR releases 2022 California Health Interview Survey data. 

November: UCLA CHPR launches the Data Equity Center (DEC), which provides resources, technical assistance, and trainings to help data leaders and users. The DEC offers expert guidance for addressing barriers to implementation, skill development, and strategic planning for data equity goals.

March: Ninez A. Ponce receives 2024 Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award. The $50,000 prize is awarded annually to an individual who has made substantial contributions to their area of health education. 

April: In recognition of more than two decades of work advancing data equity, the American Association for Public Opinion Research honors UCLA CHPR's California Health Interview Survey with its Inclusive Voices Award. 

April: Dr. Ying-Ying Meng, scholar of environmental health, passes away.

April: UCLA CHPR researchers and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Healthcare Center for Advancing Health Equity release a study analyzing patient discharge data for hospitalizations and emergency department visits. The report uses data from 2016–2021 from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information and CHIS. 

June: The Health Equity Challenge awards four UCLA students' projects $50,000 each to advance health equity in Los Angeles

July: Updated AskCHIS™ and AskCHIS™ Neighborhood Edition (NE) web portals are released. 

October: UCLA CHPR hosts the "2024 E.R. Brown Symposium: Building a Better Future of Health Policy and Research," which took place at the Hammer Museum at UCLA. The event featured panels and presentations with CHPR researchers, faculty, and staff.

November: UCLA CHPR celebrates its 30th Anniversary Gala and Awards Dinner at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. The event honors 30 people, including CHPR leadership, key researchers, and partners integral to CHPR’s milestone achievements during the last three decades, making California the state to emulate in health policy.