California Health Workforce Education and Training Council

Patrick Brennan, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Health Workforce Education and Training Council. Brennan has been Director of Policy and Programs at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies since 2022. He is a member of the UCSF Dyslexia Center Board of Directors, founder and a chairperson of The Diverse Learners Coalition and a co-founder and member of the Advisory Board of the California Institute on Law, Neuroscience and Education at UC Law San Francisco. Brennan earned a Master of Business degree in Finance from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Wake Forest University.

Dr. Kevin Grumbach has been Chair of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Family and Community Medicine since 2003, where he has been a professor since 1991. He is a member of the American and California Academies of Family Physicians, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Association of Departments of Family Medicine, Physicians for a National Health Program, Physicians for Human Rights, North American Primary Care Research Group, and the California Physicians’ Alliance.
Dr. Grumbach earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the UCSF School of Medicine.

Kristina Lawson has been Managing Partner at Hanson Bridgett LLP since 2021 and a Partner there since 2017. Lawson was a Partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP from 2011 to 2017. She was a Partner at Miller Starr Regalia from 2003 to 2011. Lawson was a member of the Walnut Creek City Council from 2010 to 2014, serving as Mayor of the city in 2014. Lawson is President of the Medical Board of California and has served as a member since 2015. She was also President of the Board from 2020 to 2023. Lawson earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Nader Nadershahi has been Dean of the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry since 2016, where he held multiple positions from 2007 to 2016 including Interim Dean, Executive Associate Dean and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Acting Dean. He is chair of the American Dental Education Association Board and a member of the American Dental Association, the California Dental Association, and the Santa Fe Group. Dr. Nadershahi earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree
from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, a Doctor of Education degree from the University of the Pacific Benerd School of Education and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business. He also completed a General Practice Residency with the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, CA.

Dr. Cedric Rutland has been a Pulmonary Critical Care Physician, Medical Consultant and CEO at Rutland Medical Group, West Coast Lung since 2019. He has been President and Co-Founder at the Association for Healthcare Social Media since 2019 and a National Spokesperson at the American Lung Association since 2018. He was Critical Care Director at Riverside Community Hospital GME in 2019. Prior to that, Dr. Rutland was a Physician at Pacific Pulmonary Medical Group from 2015 to 2019. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Van Ton-Quinlivan has been Chief Executive Officer of Futuro Health since 2020. She was Executive Vice Chancellor with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office from 2011 to 2019 and Director of Workforce Development at Pacific Gas and Electric from 2006 to 2011. Ton-Quinlivan is a member of the International Women’s Forum and serves on the board of the National Skills Coalition and National Student Clearinghouse. Ton-Quinlivan earned a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of
Education degree from Stanford University.

Judith Liu is the Education Manager for the United Nurses Association of California Union of Healthcare Professionals. In this role, she plans and develops content to help nurses and other health care professionals achieve their professional and leadership goals while prioritizing work and life balance. She received her MSN in Nursing Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and has over 16 years of nursing experience with a background in Intensive Care and Interventional Radiology. She currently works per diem as staff at Kaiser Permanente in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. In 2018, she was Nursing Research Resident at Kaiser Southern California Regional Office. She also served as Chair of the Nursing Research Council at the local medical center. Liu is an advocate for evidence-based medicine and prioritizes ways to address health equity and mental health crisis.

Dr. Roger Liu serves as the Director of Medical Education for the Institute for Health Equity at AltaMed Health Services, the largest independent Federally Qualified Health Center network in the nation. In this role, he oversees all educational programming and curriculum development including Undergraduate Medical Education pre-health pipeline programs, Graduate Medical Education residency and fellowship training programs and Continuing Medical Education. Dr. Liu oversees numerous grant funded programs including the Health Careers Opportunity Program, National Medical Fellowships-Primary Care Leadership Program, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Advanced Nursing Education Workforce, Nursing Workforce Diversity and Primary Care Training Enhancement. Dr. Liu was a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California (UC) Irvine School of Medicine, where he served as Director of the Program for Medical Education for the Latino Community Family Medicine Residency Track. In addition, Dr. Liu was a director and researcher in the Departments of Molecular and Cell Biology and Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. For over 25 years, Dr. Liu has been dedicated to diversity, equity, and training the next generation of healthcare providers committed to serving multi-ethnic underserved communities. Dr. Liu earned a Ph.D., Integrative Biology-Comparative Endocrinology, and a B.A., Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley.

Catherine Kennedy has been a registered nurse for the past 42 years. She is currently a staff nurse at Kaiser Permanente – Roseville (Women and Children’s Center) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She also serves as President of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and Vice President for National Nurses United. From 2015 to 2019, Kennedy volunteered as a team leader for Registered Nurse Response Network on several deployments for disaster relief (Hurricanes Maria and Dorian) and humanitarian efforts – USNS Comfort (Jamaica and Nicaragua), and currently works collaboratively with the International Medical Corp. In 2013, she was appointed as a commissioner for the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission. Kennedy is a graduate of Samuel Merritt/Saint
Mary’s College.

Kimberly Perris is an Assistant Professor and founding Director of the RN-BSN Nursing Program at Cal Poly Humboldt. Since 1993, she has been deeply engaged with Humboldt County’s healthcare needs. Earning her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of San Francisco in 2015 and 2018, respectively, she discovered her passion for improving access to care. She focuses on interdisciplinary team-based care, expanding the role of RNs in community health settings, and quality improvement. Dr. Perris is committed to empowering nurses to work to the top of their license. She actively serves on several boards, including as President of the California Association of Colleges of Nursing, California Grass Roots Liaison for the American Academy of Colleges of Nursing, and President of the Omicron Omega Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau.

Vernita Todd has been a leader in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years and joined San Ysidro Health as its Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. Her responsibilities include the development and execution of strategy related to organizational planning, mergers and acquisitions, business development and marketing. She oversees developing, communicating, and implementing strategic initiatives for San Ysidro Health including the organization’s strategic plan. Vernita has spent the last 14 years promoting access for underserved families through the community health center movement. Prior to joining San Ysidro Health, Vernita was the Chief Experience Officer for Health Center Partners of Southern California where she represented policy and regulatory concerns of 17 primary care organizations to state and federal elected officials to advocate for health centers throughout Southern California. Vernita began her health center career as the CEO of Heart City Health Center in Northern Indiana in 2005.

 Rehman Attar is the Director of Healthcare Workforce Development at the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor. In this role, Rehman provides strategic leadership regarding advancing academic programs, educational solutions, and workforce development programming throughout the CSU
system’s healthcare programs. With a background in public health, Rehman is dedicated to enhancing the collaboration between education and industry to address inequities in the labor market throughout the state, to increase social mobility, to improve educational equity and to develop a diverse and responsive workforce. Before joining the Office of the Chancellor, Rehman worked for several years for a diverse range of government and nonprofit organizations where he was involved in increasing educational opportunities and improving health outcomes and accessibility for communities throughout the state. As a recognized leader in the healthcare industry and in educational enterprises, Rehman has successfully leveraged a variety of resources and engaged industry leaders to create new and innovative opportunities.

Michael Freeman has over 17 years of State of California experience with a focus on healthcare policy that ensures access to coordinated, person-centered, and equitable care for all Californians. Michael is currently Assistant Deputy Director, Health Care Benefits and Eligibility (HCBE) at the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), with a focus on Medi-Cal Benefits, Dental Services and Tribal Affairs. Prior to this role, Mr. Freeman was Branch Chief in the Behavioral Health Licensing and Certification Division and California’s State Opioid Treatment Authority, with responsibility for the policy and oversight of substance use disorder facilities as well as the State Opioid Response federal grants. Michael has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a master’s degree in business administration from California State University, Sacramento.

Dr. Elizabeth Landsberg is the Director of the Department of Healthcare Access and Information (HCAI). Previously she was a Deputy Director at the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) overseeing the Help Center which assists consumers and providers with health care complaints. Before joining DMHC, Landsberg was an advocate for health care consumers in the nonprofit realm for more than 16 years. She was the Director of Policy Advocacy for the Western Center on Law & Poverty where she specialized in
health care issues including health reform implementation, Medi-Cal, Covered California, and other issues affecting poor Californians. Earlier in her career, Landsberg was the Supervising Attorney for the Health Rights Hotline at Legal Services of Northern California. She was a Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates and served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Martha Vázquez. Landsberg received her law degree from UC Berkeley where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Women’s Law Journal. She holds a bachelor’s in history from Pomona College.

Dr. Deena Shin McRae obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania and completed both her medical school and psychiatry residency training at UC Irvine. She trained at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in 2004-2005 and was an Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) fellow in 2021-2022. Dr. McRae is the Associate Vice President for Academic Health Sciences for the University of California (UC) Health, providing leadership, strategic direction, policy guidance and advocacy on behalf of the University of California’s health sciences and clinical training system. She leads systemwide and regional initiatives that are important for advancing the University’s teaching, research, and public service missions. The University of California operates the largest public health sciences instruction program in the nation, enrolling approximately 16,000 health sciences students and trainees across 20 schools on 7 campuses. Schools include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, dentistry, optometry, and veterinary medicine. From 2016 – June 2023, Dr. McRae was the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at UC Irvine School of Medicine. She has also served as the SUC Irvine Psychiatry Residency Program Director and is the founder and former chair of the UC Irvine School of Medicine Wellness and Professionalism Committee. Dr. McRae has also served as the Associate Chief of Staff for Education/Designated Education Officer at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California.

Abby Snay joined the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency in January 2020 as Deputy Secretary for the Future of Work. She leads workforce strategy for the Labor Agency, driving programs, partnerships and initiatives for high impact, job quality and equity. She has worked to increase economic mobility for immigrants and refugees, to create a new healthcare workforce initiative in partnership with the California Health and Human Services Agency, to expand apprenticeships in California and to develop training and workforce opportunities through the state’s climate strategies.