Advisory Council

The ITUP Advisory Council (Council) provides ITUP leadership and staff with ongoing feedback and strategic input to inform ITUP policy research, workgroups and conference programs. The Council helps to gauge the relevance and value of ITUP work products and activities, serving as ITUP’s direct connection to the health care sector. The Advisory Council includes statewide and regional leaders representing diverse sectors including clinics, hospitals, physicians, health plans, advocacy, labor, employers and government.

Joan Allen, SEIU-UHW Healthcare Workers West

Mayra Alvarez, The Children’s Partnership

John Baackes, L.A. Care Health Plan

Charles Bacchi, California Association of Health Plans

Bill Barcellona, America’s Physician Groups

Isabel Becerra, Coalition of Orange County Community Health Centers

Bianca Blomquist, Small Business Majority

Cynthia Buiza, California Immigrant Policy Center

Michelle Cabrera, County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California

Lisa Chan-Sawin, Transform Health

Joel Diringer, J.D., Diringer & Associates

Veronica Flores, M.A., Community Health Councils

Alvaro Fuentes, Community Clinic Consortium, Contra Costa County

Kelly Green, Covered California

James S. Gross, Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Gross & Leoni, LLP

Percy Howard, III, LCSW, California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions

Andrew Kiefer, Blue Shield of California

Maria Lemus, Vision y Compromiso

Linnea Koopmans, Local Health Plans of California

Louise McCarthy, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County

Anne McLeod, Private Essential Access Community Hospitals

Erica Murray, California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems

Mike Odeh, Children Now

Elizabeth Oseguera, California Primary Care Association

Jeffrey Oxendine, UC Berkeley School of Public Health/Center for Public Health Practice & Leadership

David Panush, California Health Policy Strategies

Ninez Ponce, MPP, PhD, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research / UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy Management

Peter Shih, San Mateo County Health

Julie Stoss, Kaiser Permanente

Aaron Toyama, California Department of Health Care Services

Micah Weinberg, California Fwd