Meet the RHPC Members

Ana Acton is the Assistant Deputy Director for the Division of Policy, Research, and Engagement (DPRE) at the California Department of Aging (CDA). Under this division, Ana oversees the Policy Branch and Master Plan for Aging Branch with a focus on development and implementation of California’s Master Plan on Aging and other strategic goals and priorities that impact older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers. Central to this role, Ana collaborates and engages with stakeholders through the six Master Plan for Aging advisory committees.

Ana has extensive experience in disability and aging leadership, policy, and programs at the state and local levels. As a person with a disability and family caregiver living in rural California, Ana brings first-hand experience with living in a rural community and accessing essential services including health care and home and community services.

Joy has been working to improve health access for low- and moderate-income Californians since 2013. As an attorney at a large legal nonprofit in Central California, she spent 11 years providing direct service to clients struggling to access and pay for health care. In her current role at Western Center on Law and Poverty, Joy has continued this work through impact advocacy and engagement with community organizations, government agencies, and other nonprofits. Her primary focus area is medical debt, and she is also deeply engaged in advocacy in the areas of transgender healthcare and birthing justice.

Before becoming an attorney, Joy spent many years working as an Emergency Medical Technician in Fresno and in the Los Angeles Basin. This gave her significant practical insight into the real-world experience of those struggling to get and pay for health care, insight she still uses in her work today.

Kirk Fermin is a strategic healthcare executive with experience in managed care operations, regulatory governance, and workforce transformation. As the Director of Provider Network at Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), Kirk has been a key architect in addressing Riverside and San Bernardino County’s workforce shortage, most notably managing a $96 million budget tied to the Network Expansion Fund (NEF) Program that has established 646 new access points within the two counties. In partnership with local medical schools he has also assisted in pioneering a local Healthcare Scholarship Fund that has awarded 245 scholarships to date, creating a “homegrown” pipeline of physicians committed to serving Inland Empire communities.

Kirk co-chairs IEHP’s Provider Network Access Subcommittee which is committed to improving patient access to care. Kirk holds a B.A. from the University of California Irvine, and is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, bringing a lean, process-improvement lens to public health challenges.

Hernando Garzon, MD has practiced Emergency Medicine since 1992. His career has focused on domestic and international disaster response, Emergency Management, and pre-hospital care. Dr. Garzon served as Sacramento’s EMS Medical Director for 14 years and currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the California Emergency Medical Services Authority.

Dr. Garzon’s 14 domestic disaster response deployments have been with the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue System, and have included the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center during 9/11, New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and others. His 18 international disaster responses have included the Southeast Asia Tsunami, earthquakes in Kashmir, Haiti and Mexico, civil violence Kenya and Nigeria, famine in Somalia, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and others.

Dr. Garzon has helped develop capacity building volunteer programs in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala, Colombia and other countries. Dr. Garzon has served on national and state panels to define Crisis Medical Care guidelines and Pandemic Flu guidelines, and he has been a consultant for the U.S. Department of State on medical care for weapons of mass destruction.

Orvin Hanson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Indian Health Council, Inc. (IHC), bringing more than 32 years of healthcare leadership experience dedicated to improving the health and well-being of rural Native communities. Throughout his tenure at IHC, he has held several executive leadership roles, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Associate Executive Director, before becoming Chief Executive Officer in 2020.

Known for his collaborative and people-centered leadership style, Orvin has helped expand access to culturally responsive healthcare services, strengthen organizational sustainability, and support programs that improve health outcomes for rural Tribal communities. He has successfully guided organizational growth, managed multimillion-dollar budgets, and fostered strong partnerships that enhance the quality of care available to tribal community members. His commitment to service and community wellness has helped position IHC as a trusted healthcare resource for generations of Native families.

Virginia Q. Hedrick, MPH, is an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe and of Karuk descent. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of the California Rural Indian Health Board (CRIHB), leading statewide advocacy, public health initiatives, and health system transformation efforts to improve health outcomes and strengthen tribal sovereignty in health care. With nearly 20 years of experience in tribal public health, Ms. Hedrick has worked extensively in chronic disease prevention, health policy, health research, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act for California tribes.

Prior to joining CRIHB, she served as Executive Director of the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health (CCUIH), where she led programs and strategic initiatives supporting Urban Indian communities across California.

Ms. Hedrick has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the California Racial Equity Commission, California Wellness Foundation, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, and California Primary Care Association. She holds an MPH from Drexel University, dual bachelor’s degrees from UCLA, and a graduate certificate from the University of Arizona.

Haady Lashkari, FACHE, is Chief Administrative Officer of Community Memorial Hospital–Ojai, a critical access hospital serving the rural communities of Ventura County. Since joining Community Memorial Healthcare in 2001, he has held progressive leadership roles focused on improving access to high-quality, sustainable rural healthcare. 

Haady currently serves as Chair of the California Hospital Association’s California Critical Access Hospital Network (CCAHN), where he collaborates with critical access hospital leaders across the state to advance policy, strengthen rural healthcare delivery, and promote innovation. He previously served six years on the Monica Ros Board of Trustees, including two years as Board President, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Ojai Hospital Foundation. 

A Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), Haady earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Northridge.  

Lori brings over 30 years of midwifery experience leading full-scope maternity care across both rural and urban settings, with a career grounded in expanding access to high-quality care in underserved communities. She is a strong advocate for midwifery as an evidence-based solution to addressing critical maternal, newborn, and women’s health needs, particularly in rural areas where access gaps are most acute.

In 2021, Lori joined Plumas District Hospital and Rural Health Clinic in Quincy, California, as Director of Midwifery, where she provides midwifery care and co-leads the development of The Plumas Model—a community-driven, midwifery-led system integrating hospital, clinic, and birth center services. This model was created in direct response to local needs and demonstrates a scalable approach to strengthening rural maternity care infrastructure.

She also serves within the California Nurse-Midwives Association. Guided by her enduring principle, “Listen to women,” she brings a community-centered, outcomes-focused perspective to rural health policy and system design.

Dr. Rita Nguyen is Assistant State Public Health Officer at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). She leads CDPH’s Population Health pillar which includes oversight of the Center for Healthy Communities, Center for Family Health, Center for Environmental Health, Vital Records and Statistics Division, and the Office of Data Strategy. Dr. Nguyen’s work is anchored in health equity, ensuring all Californians—regardless of race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+ status, disability status, or geography—have the opportunity to live healthy lives.

The programs Dr. Nguyen oversees include preventative services for chronic disease and maternal, child, and adolescent health (MCAH) as well as behavioral health promotion, and include the pursuit of policy and systems change to address underlying structural inequities, including those affecting rural and frontier communities. Dr. Nguyen relies on the expertise of individuals with lived experience in rural and frontier areas and seeks diverse input across CDPH, including from the Office of Health Equity, which houses the Rural Health Equity Specialist and conducts CDPH’s tribal consultation, and the Regional Public Health Office which helps convenes local health departments and prioritizes requests from and supports rural public health departments throughout California.

As the Value-Based Payment (VBP) Branch Chief at the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), Dr. Jeffrey Norris oversees DHCS programs that drive value in the Medi-Cal system. These include pay-for-performance programs (including the Quality Incentive Pool [QIP] for public hospitals), a loan repayment program, and developing value strategy.

Prior to DHCS, Dr. Norris spent 8 years running a San Diego-based Federally Qualified Health Center caring for people experiencing homeless. He was also heavily involved in leadership of a regional FQHC consortium (Health Center Partners of Southern California), including helping lead a Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) which jointly cared for 350K patients through collaborative contracts with health plans.    

Tim Rine is the Executive Director of the North Coast Clinics Network (NCCN), a consortium of eight rural Northern California FQHCs with 29 access points throughout Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake and Trinity counties. Serving as the Executive Director for the last 20 years, Mr. Rine focuses on regional health center collaborations to improve the health delivery systems in the rural communities they serve.

Mr. Rine also works on statewide legislative and administrative issues impacting California’s community clinics and health centers and he also serves as one of the North Coast representatives on the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) Board of Directors. Mr. Rine is the Treasurer of the regional Health Information Exchange (HIE), North Coast Health Improvement and Information Network (NCHIIN), serves on the Strategic Advisory Committee of the Partnership HealthPlan of California (PHC), and he is the President of the Board of Directors for the Clinic Mutual Insurance Company (CMIC).

Mr. Rine is an active participant in National Association of Community Health Centers and the National Rural Health Association. Mr. Rine holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Cal Poly Humboldt and was named one of the 2018 Distinguished Alumni from the University.

Colleen Rodriguez is a seasoned public health executive whose career has been defined by a steadfast commitment to serving people where they are: in rural towns, underserved areas, and communities too often overlooked by policy and systems of care.

Since 2017, she has served as the Director of Public Health for Calaveras County Health and Human Services Agency. She leads a comprehensive rural public health department focused on strengthening community systems, expanding access to services, and striving to ensure that geography is not a barrier to health and well-being.

Raised in a rural community, Colleen developed an early and personal understanding of the disparities that frequently shape life in small towns and rural communities. That perspective continues to inform her leadership and fuels her dedication to advancing equitable health outcomes for high-need, low-resource communities through strategic innovation, cross-sector collaboration, and community-centered partnerships.   

James F. Schlund, MD, FACR, is a diagnostic and interventional radiologist with over 30 years serving rural and frontier Northern California. Dual board-certified in Internal Medicine and Radiology, he brings uncommon clinical breadth to rural care.

He leads the Briner Breast Center at Tahoe Forest Health System, a Critical Access Hospital in Truckee, which in 2025 earned Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence status from the National Consortium of Breast Centers—a distinction held by roughly three dozen centers nationwide and rare for a rural community.

James F. Schlund has practiced across communities including Chester, Greenville, Quincy, Colusa, and Chico. As Director of Healthy Rural California and Chair of the Interprofessional Healthcare Campus Design Committee, he works to build a sustainable rural health workforce through education, technology, and innovative care delivery. Dr. Schlund is committed to advancing equitable, person-centered care for California’s rural and frontier communities. 

Dr. Soni leads the Health Equity and Quality Transformation division, supporting nearly 2 million enrollees in pursuit of health and wellness. A board-certified internist and Associate Professor at UCLA and CDU, she graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and completed her residency at UCSF.

Dr. Soni is currently a board member for Mercy Housing California, a leading affordable housing organization, and previously served as a commissioner for the Los Angeles County Hospital and Health Care Delivery Commission.

Dan Southard is Chief Deputy Director at the Department of Managed Health Care, where he is responsible for oversight of the day-to-day operations of the DMHC. Dan has also served in a variety of roles at the DMHC including multiple managerial roles at the Help Center. Prior to his appointment to Chief Deputy Director, Dan was the Deputy Director for the Office of Plan Monitoring where he was responsible for evaluating and promoting health plan regulatory compliance related to quality improvement, utilization management and member grievances and ensuring health plan networks have the right types of providers necessary to deliver health care services that meet time and geographic access requirements. 

Colleen Townsend, MD, is a family medicine physician with over 25 years of experience in community health, clinical leadership, and health system improvement.

She completed residency at the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine and practiced at OLE Health in Napa County, caring for patients across the lifespan while leading initiatives to strengthen community partnerships, specialty access, provider recruitment, and quality improvement.

Since 2018, Dr. Townsend has served as Regional Medical Director at Partnership HealthPlan, where she applies clinical and public health experience to improve access, quality, and coordination of care across Northern California. Her current work focuses on perinatal health, including expanding pregnancy-related services, supporting doula and ECM Birth Equity benefits, improving provider networks, and advancing care models for rural communities. She also contributes to state and regional policy efforts.  Dr Townsend provides direct patient care for newborns and unsheltered adults in Napa and Solano Counties. 

Ryan Witz is a healthcare finance executive with more than 15 years of experience in Medicaid policy, reimbursement, and healthcare financing. He currently serves as Executive Director of the District Hospital Leadership Forum (DHLF) and Director at SCA Consulting, advising hospitals and healthcare organizations on complex Medi-Cal financing and policy issues. Previously, Ryan served as Executive Director of Medicaid Finance for Kaiser Permanente in California and Hawaii and as Group Vice President of Policy at the California Hospital Association, where he helped develop major hospital financing programs.

Earlier, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Director of Health Care Financing at the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), leading key Medicaid financing initiatives. Ryan is a frequent speaker on Medicaid financing and a current and former member of the DHCS Stakeholder Advisory Committee.