Friends,
Following President Clinton’s failed health care reform effort 18 years ago, I asked a small group of faculty in the UCLA School of Public Health to join me in creating a new health policy research center. The center would use policy research to help improve health care access and quality and the public’s health.
The vision that motivated us was a center that would serve as a focal point for faculty research to inform the policy process. The center would communicate directly with policy makers and advocates to translate the results of our research into evidence that policy audiences could use in their work. It would be a bridge between the university and the policy world, with communication flowing in both directions.
The result was the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research which opened in early 1994 with a staff of eight. Eighteen years later the Center has grown to become one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers, with a staff of more than 75, including some of UCLA’s leading health policy and public health experts. I have been privileged to lead the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research throughout this exciting time of growth and innovation. It has been a particular pleasure because my role has brought me into contact with so many of you – the constituencies and stakeholders who rely on our rigorous research and the credible communication of our data, our analyses, and our research findings to inform policy debates. But even the most dynamic organization can benefit from new leadership and new vision. I have decided that in early 2012, I will step down from my role as Center director.
Before I talk about what my plans are – and our new leadership – I'd like to briefly reflect on the Center's accomplishments.
The establishment of the Center received support from The California Wellness Foundation. The Center quickly attracted support from additional funders, support that today has grown to more than $12 million a year from a wide array of public agencies, foundations, and not-for-profit organizations.
The Center’s success can be measured by many indicators, but the key one is the impact of its work on health policy. The Center’s work is used in a wide range of health policy development and advocacy, both in California and nationally.
Its impacts are seen in efforts to expand health care coverage for low- and moderate-income children, to the crafting of broad state-based health care reform proposals, and the implementation and evaluation of federal health care reform intended to improve coverage, access and quality of care, and reign in health care costs. The Center’s work also informs efforts to combat obesity and rising diabetes rates, improve access to fresh produce, reduce reliance on obesogenic foods, and enhance active living. The Center’s work has also aimed a spotlight on disparities in health and health care with a goal of reducing inequities in health and social policy.
One of the Center’s largest and most impactful projects has been the creation of the California Health Interview Survey. CHIS, as it is widely known, uniquely provides statewide and local-level estimates for California’s diverse population. It is nationally recognized as a state-of-the-art health survey, particularly for its inclusiveness of ethnic and racial diversity, the breadth of health issues it covers, its extensive stakeholder participation in designing the survey, and its comprehensive dissemination of results and data to diverse constituencies. CHIS data have helped inform policy from Sacramento to the chambers of the U.S. Congress, move state and national debates, and improve the health of all Californians.
Although I step down from my role as Center director with pride in our accomplishments, I know that the Center will remain in very good hands. I am pleased to announce that the Dean has appointed our distinguished colleague, Dr. Gerald Kominski, to replace me as Center Director, a decision that I strongly support.
Under Jerry’s leadership, effective January 1, 2012, the Center will continue to engage policy audiences and community leaders, while it grows even stronger in key areas for which it is already well known and expands in new directions. A University of Pennsylvania-trained health economist and professor in the UCLA School of Public Health, Jerry is a respected and widely-published authority on health care reform, health care economics, and efforts to improve the efficacy of public programs. Jerry has led the rapid growth of the Center’s Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program, spearheading a number of new initiatives, including an exciting new evaluation of California’s low-income health care coverage expansion program viewed as an important first step in implementing health care reform. He has also forged new partnerships with other University of California campuses and with the California Department of Health Care Services. Jerry is a builder and a strategic thinker who will keep the Center positioned as a leading regional and national force in health policy debates.
Jerry will be joined in leading the Center by our equally distinguished colleague, Dr. Steven Wallace, who is professor and Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and who will serve as Associate Center Director. Steve, a UCSF-trained sociologist and gerontologist, will continue to lead key parts of the Center, including its engagement with diverse communities. Jerry and Steve will provide both effective leadership in the future and continuity during this period of transition.
I am excited about the change in leadership for the Center, and I will continue to participate as Senior Research Scientist and as Principal Investigator of the California Health Interview Survey. In the coming months, Jerry will share with all of you more about the Center’s leadership transition, so please stay subscribed to our free monthly e-newsletter, Health Policy News for more information.
In the meantime, thank you for your interest in and support of the Center’s work on behalf of our vision: “Building Knowledge. Informing Policy. Improving Health.”