Health Care Affordability Board Member Biographies

Presently serving since 2011 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine (CDU) and Science in the Watts-Willowbrook area of Los Angeles County, Dr. Carlisle is a published author in health policy, quality of care, medical education diversity and eliminating health disparities. A board-certified Internal Medicine specialist, his clinical work has always revolved around caring for the underserved.

Dr. Carlisle is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by Governor Newsom, required by the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

Dr. Carlisle has been affiliated with the UCLA Department of Medicine for approximately thirty-one years, becoming a tenured Associate Professor in 1998. He is presently a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at CDU and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at UCLA.

President Carlisle served as Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development for eleven years (2000-2011) under Governor Gray Davis, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Governor Jerry Brown. Under his leadership, OSHPD released its first-ever health disparities reports, increased scholarship and loan repayment opportunities for health providers committed to practice in underrepresented, under-resourced and underserved communities, and successfully administered hospital seismic safety as well as health facility loan insurance programs.

In 2007, Dr. Carlisle became a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and presently is also a member of the Advisory Council of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. In 2018 he was appointed as a member of the California Future Health Workforce Commission.  In 2018, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the California Health Care Foundation, is a member of the Futuro Health Community Board, and served as a founding member of the BioscienceLA Board.

President Carlisle graduated from Wesleyan University, majoring in chemistry. He then earned his Medical Degree from Brown University, his Master of Public Health and his PhD in Health Services Research from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.  He completed a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program fellowship at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 1990.

Sandra R. Hernández, MD, is president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation. Prior to joining CHCF, Sandra was CEO of The San Francisco Foundation, which she led for 16 years. She previously served as director of public health for the City and County of San Francisco. She also cochaired San Francisco’s Universal Healthcare Council, which designed Healthy San Francisco. It was the first time a local government in the US attempted to provide health care for all of its constituents.

Dr. Hernández is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by Governor Newsom, required by the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

In February 2018, Dr. Hernández was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the Covered California board of directors. In December 2019, she was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the Healthy California for All Commission, which is charged with developing a plan to help California achieve a health care delivery system that provides coverage and access through a unified financing system. She also serves on the board of the company 23andMe. Dr. Hernández practiced at San Francisco General Hospital in the HIV/AIDS Clinic from 1984 to 2016 and was an assistant clinical professor at the UCSF School of Medicine.

Dr. Hernández is a graduate of Yale University, the Tufts School of Medicine, and the certificate program for senior executives in state and local government at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Kim Johnson was appointed Secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency in September 2024 by Governor Gavin Newsom. Prior to her appointment as Secretary, Ms. Johnson was appointed Director of the California Department of Social Services by Governor Gavin Newsom, a position she held from July 2019 – August 2024. In this role, Ms. Johnson led a team of over 5,500 employees – the largest Department in the California Health and Human Services Agency – serving over 7 million Californians.

Secretary Johnson is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by Governor Newsom, required by the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

Ms. Johnson started with the California Department of Social Services in 2015 and had previously been appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as Deputy Director of the Family Engagement and Empowerment Division, CalWORKs and Child Care Branch Chief, and Child Care and Refugee Programs Branch Chief.

Ms. Johnson has over 25 years of experience working in both community-based organizations and government focused on advancing the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities most in need of resources. The mission of the California Health & Human Services Agency is aligned with her purpose.

Secretary Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in social welfare, with a minor in education, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Richard Kronick is a Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. Dr. Kronick’s research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of lack of insurance, on the development and implementation of risk-adjusted payment systems designed to encourage insurers to develop systems of care that are responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable, and on design and evaluation of health care financing interventions. His career has included work both in academia and government, reflecting a commitment to using health services research as a means of improving health care delivery.

Dr. Kronick is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by Governor Newsom, required by the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Kronick served in the Obama Administration. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), where he primarily worked on implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the design and evaluation of Medicare and Medicaid payment policy. Dr. Kronick was also the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Prior to serving the Obama Administration, Dr. Kronick was a Senior Health Policy Adviser in the Clinton Administration in 1993-94, and was the Director of Policy and Reimbursement in the Massachusetts Medicaid program from 1985-87.

Dr. Kronick received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Rochester and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014.

Ian Lewis is the Policy Director for Unite Here Local 2, a union of over 15,000 hospitality workers in San Francisco, San Mateo County, and the East and North Bay. He has previously served as the Research Director for the National Union of Healthcare Workers where he directed research and political staff to support policy initiatives, collective bargaining, and electoral efforts including policy research & advocacy, health industry corporate analysis, quantitative support for collective bargaining with health employers, and organizing community and political relationships. Lewis is a trustee of a multi-employer health benefits fund covering thousands of participants in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lewis is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by the Speaker of the California Assembly, Anthony Rendon, required by The Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

Lewis has been in the labor movement for twenty-five years, much of that time making the best of a broken health care system for low wage workers. Prior to joining the National Union of Healthcare Workers, Lewis was the Research Director for Unite Here Local 2 coordinating political and community activities for collective bargaining and legislative efforts. Lewis’ experience includes bargaining for health benefits in both the US and Canada, administration of not-for-profit health funds, as well as regulatory and legislative strategies. He has been closely involved in legislative efforts to expand transparency of large group health plan pricing, and to advance the work of the Healthy California for All Commission.

Lewis has a bachelor’s degree in Government and Africana studies from Cornell University.

Elizabeth Mitchell is the President and CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH). Mitchell advances the organization’s strategic focus areas of advanced primary care, functional markets and purchasing value. Mitchell leads PBGH in mobilizing purchasers, elevating the role and impact of primary care, and creating functional healthcare markets to support high-quality affordable care – achieving measurable impacts on outcomes and affordability.

Mitchell is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by Governor Newsom, required by the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

Mitchell previously served as Senior Vice President for Healthcare and Community Health Transformation at Blue Shield of California, during which time she designed Blue Shield’s strategy for transforming practice, payment and community health. Mitchell also served as the President and CEO of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI), a network of regional quality-improvement and measurement organizations; served as CEO of Maine’s business coalition on health (the Maine Health Management Coalition); worked within an integrated delivery system (MaineHealth); and was elected to the Maine State Legislature, serving as a State Representative.

Mitchell served as Vice Chairperson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee, Board and Executive Committee Member of the National Quality Forum (NQF), Member of the National Academy of Medicine’s “Vital Signs” Study Committee on core metrics, and a Guiding Committee Member for the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network.

Mitchell has a degree in religion from Reed College and studied social policy at the London School of Economics.

Don Moulds was named CalPERS chief health director in August 2019. As head of the Health Policy and Benefits Branch, he provides leadership and oversees CalPERS’ health benefits program, including policy, research, plan contracting and administration, rate development, member and employer account management, and the long-term care program.

Moulds is appointed as a nonvoting member to the Health Care Affordability Board in the Office of Healthcare Affordability’s enabling statute (SB 184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

Moulds has more than 20 years of strategic leadership in government and health policy at both the state and federal levels. Don joined CalPERS from The Commonwealth Fund, a national foundation and think tank dedicated to improving the American healthcare system, where he was executive vice president for programs. Prior to the Commonwealth Fund, he served as acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he served as principal policy advisor to then-Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Before that, he spent over a decade in California where he led the bipartisan Senate Office of Research and was principal consultant for the leader of the Senate on health insurance and other issues.

Moulds earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Bates College. He holds a master’s and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Illinois and has taught philosophy and ethics courses at the University of Illinois, Harvard University, and California State University, Sacramento.

Richard Pan, MD, MPH, FAAP is a pediatrician, educator, health services researcher, and former State Senator and Assemblymember who represented the Sacramento region. Dr. Pan is a volunteer physician at the Sacramento County Primary Care Clinic caring for Medi-Cal and uninsured children and youth.

Dr. Pan is appointed to the Health Care Affordability Board by the California Senate Committee on Rules, required by the Office of Health Care Affordability’s enabling statute (SB184, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2022).

In the California Legislature, Dr. Pan served as Chair of the Senate and Assembly Committees on Health, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Senate Committee on Public Employment and Retirement and Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations; and most recently served on the Senate Committees on Business, Professions and Economic Development; Education; Human Services; and Pandemic Response. In addition, Dr. Pan was Chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

Dr. Pan led in California’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act including authoring legislation eliminating denials for pre-existing conditions, prohibited discrimination by health status and medical history and expanding Medi-Cal access and coverage. He advocated for public health authoring legislation to increase vaccination rates, expand newborn screening, prevent sexually transmitted diseases, enable gun violence research and improve pandemic preparedness. TIME Magazine called Dr. Pan a “Hero” for authoring landmark legislation abolishing non-medical exemptions to school vaccinations.

Dr. Pan was a UC Davis professor and Director of the Pediatric Residency Program where he created a nationally recognized service-learning curriculum, Communities and Health Professionals Together. Dr. Pan co-founded and served as chair of Healthy Kids Healthy Future securing health, dental and vision coverage for over 65,000 children in Colusa, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yuba counties; organized the Sacramento Health Improvement Project laying the groundwork for Sacramento FQHCs; and created the Sacramento County Health Authority to provide local oversight of Medi-Cal plans.

Dr. Pan has been recognized with the Physician Humanitarian Award from Medical Board of California and the Beverlee A. Myers Award for outstanding leadership and accomplishments in public health from the California Department of Public Health. Dr. Pan has a bachelor’s degree in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University, a MD from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MPH from Harvard University.