Nasim Afsar MD, MBA
Chief Operating Officer for Ambulatory Care 
UCI Health

Prior to her current role at UCI Health, Nasim Afsar served as chief quality officer and as executive director of quality for the Department of Medicine at UCLA Health, leading a comprehensive quality program spanning all settings of care. In the roles, she successfully implemented initiatives in quality, safety, patient satisfaction, utilization and efficiency and cost. Afsar also developed The ABCs of Hospitalized Patients, a multidisciplinary checklist to reduce the risk of hospital-acquired conditions. She received her medical degree from the UC Davis School of Medicine, and her MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Afsar earned her undergraduate degree, with honors, from Caltech – in biology and art history.

Louise McCarthy
MPP, President/CEO 
Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County

As President/CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, Louise McCarthy represents the interests of L.A.-area community clinics and health centers and those they serve. Prior, she served as the association’s vice president of governmental affairs. Before joining CCALAC, she served as assistant director of policy for the California Primary Care Association, where she worked on statewide legislative, regulatory and administrative issues that affect California’s community clinics and health centers. McCarthy is chair-elect of the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) and is the past board chair of L.A. Care Health Plan. She holds a master’s degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Lori Morgan, MD
President/CEO 
Huntington Hospital

Lori Morgan is President/CEO at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. She previously served in a leadership role with Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health and with Tacoma Trauma Trust in Tacoma, Wash. Morgan also served as a co-director of the surgical ICU and as trauma surgeon at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. She received her medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine, completed her surgical residency at Stanford University Medical Center, and completed a trauma/critical care fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Morgan is a board-certified trauma surgeon and intensivist. She earned her MBA at Pacific Lutheran University.

Margaret Peterson, PhD
Trustee 
Olympia Medical Center, Los Angeles

Margaret Peterson served as president at California Hospital Medical Center, a 318-bed community hospital in downtown Los Angeles. She began her career as a registered nurse. Peterson earned a master’s in nursing from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Additionally, she earned a PhD in administration from Miami University in Ohio. Peterson has served in other executive leadership roles, including as CEO at Desert Valley Hospital and Desert Valley Medical Group in Victorville. Prior, she served as CEO at Victor Valley Community Hospital and at Simi Valley Hospital and Health Care Services. She has also held executive leadership positions at hospitals in Louisiana and Maryland.

Romilla A. Batra, MD, MBA
Adjunct Faculty Member 
UCI Paul Merage School of Business, Chief Medical Officer, SCAN Health Plan 

Romilla A. Batra is responsible for SCAN Health Plan programs including medical policy, community benefit, and population health management. She also leads physician engagement strategies with SCAN’s provider partners to advance senior care best practices. Batra has over 15 years of experience leading organizational efforts to create innovative programs focused on chronic disease management and quality improvement. She has a diverse clinical background and has managed physician practices in community-based health centers and academic centers. Batra is a board-certified internist and finished her internal medicine training at UCLA. She earned a MBA with health care focus from the UCI Paul Merage School of Business.

Rebecca Brusuelas-James
Associate Dean,
Finance and Clinical Operations, School of Medicine
Chief of Staff
Office of the Vice Chancellor, Health Affairs, UC Irvine 

Rebecca Brusuelas-James has a close to 30-year background in health care. She has worked in the managed care industry – where she used quality and outcomes research to deliver improved outcomes for managed care populations. Her research on diabetes in underserved communities led her to receive a commendation from Los Angeles County for giving special attention to the African-American and Latino communities of South Los Angeles. In 2006, UCI Health recruited Brusuelas-James to be chief administrative officer for its department of urology. In 2008, she moved into the UCI School of Medicine Office of the Dean as associate director of finance. In 2013, she was named as the new associate dean of administration and finance.

Jena Jensen
Chief Government Relations Officer 
CHOC Children’s 

Jena Jensen serves as CHOC Children’s central resource for legislative advocacy and the maintenance of relationships with federal, state and local elected officials, government, community and opinion leaders. Jensen focuses on creating awareness, building relationships and generating support for CHOC Children’s in its mission to nurture, advance and protect the health and well-being of children. Her 25-year career in health care began at United Western Medical Centers in Santa Ana. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from UC Berkeley. Jensen currently serves on the boards of directors for Orange Chamber of Commerce and Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Orange County Business Council, Orange County Public Affairs Association, and Orange County Forum.

Cynthia Neiman
Chief Marketing Officer 
CHOC Children’s 

Cynthia Neiman is an award-winning marketing professional with close to three decades of digital marketing, storytelling and branding experience. She has dedicated her career to connecting with families and children by developing innovative marketing campaigns for a range of organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and internet startups. Neiman previously served as CMO for Ergobaby, a global baby consumer products company where she managed all aspects of the marketing mix including marketing strategy, consumer insights, e-commerce and social media. She’s also worked in various capacities for toymaker Mattel, which she helped launch into social media and digital marketing, and for IKEA, which she helped introduce to the West Coast. Neiman holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA.

Melanie Patterson
Chief Nursing Officer 
CHOC Children’s 

Melanie Patterson focuses on building nurse manager leadership skills and the highest level of patient care quality. She implemented nursing research fellowship and other programs to empower nurse competency. She helped launch Innovation Beach Day, a summit of RNs and other health care professionals, facilitated by innovators including representatives from Google. She is a proponent of CHOC’s nurse residency program, dedicated to training the next generation of pediatric nurses. Patterson originally joined CHOC Children’s in a volunteer capacity and has served in various roles through the years. She also served as executive director of CHOC’s patient care south tower activation in 2013.

Jackie Provost, MPH
Senior Director 
Greg Facktor & Associates 

Jackie Provost brings over a decade of experience in health care and program management. She is senior director with Greg Facktor & Associates – a Los Angeles-based health care management consulting firm. Prior to joining GFA, she served as chief operating officer at the UMMA Community Clinic in South Central Los Angeles. She began her career in nonprofit health care focused on reproductive justice and sexual health education. She earned a MPH degree, with an emphasis on epidemiology, from UCLA – and a bachelor’s in kinesiology from Occidental College.

Chris Bauman, PhD
Associate Professor of Organization & Management
UCI Paul Merage School of Business

Chris Bauman’s research addresses how people make sense of and respond to their social environment, including the individuals, groups, and organizations with whom they interact. One line of his research focuses on how individuals determine issues of ethics and fairness. This work includes studies of individual decision making, group diversity, and corporate social responsibility. Another line of Bauman’s research examines information processing in negotiation and its implications for tactics that can increase individual or mutual gains.

Tammy Wong, PhD
Executive Coach 
Leadership Development Consultant

Tammy Wong focuses on cultivating leadership teams with the skills to achieve growth. She leads Fostering Executive Leadership, Inc., an international executive coaching and leadership development firm focused on providing results-driven expertise to executives and other leaders. Before starting the business, Wong spent 28 years in the technology industry with leading firms including IBM, Xerox and Sun Microsystems. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, as well as an MBA, and a PhD in organization and management with an emphasis on leadership. Wong is author of The Hour Glass Effect: Leveraging Female Talent for Your Competitive Advantage.

Maia Young, PhD
Associate Professor of Organization & Management, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs
UCI Paul Merage School of Business

Maia Young earned her PhD from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and taught at UCLA Anderson School of Management for 13 years before joining UCI Paul Merage School of Business in 2017. Her research examines the psychology of individual decision making in the workplace, particularly the way that decisions can be affected by emotions. Young teaches topics including leadership, influence, team management, conflict management, and negotiations. She strives to make organizations a place where leaders and employees thrive.

Richard F. Afable, MD, MPH
St. Joseph Hoag Health CEO (retired)
Past Chair, California Hospital Association
Adjunct Faculty, UCI Paul Merage School of Business 

Richard Afable is former CEO at St. Joseph Hoag Health and former President/CEO at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. He formerly served as chief medical officer at Catholic Health East, now Trinity Health, an East Coast system comprised of 31 hospitals and 45 long-term care facilities. Afable was also founder and President/CEO at Preferred Physician Partners and associate professor of medicine at Wake Forest University, and clinical assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University. Early in his career, he spent 10 years in private practice. Afable earned his MD from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, and his MPH degree from University of Illinois School of Public Health. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Janet Ioli
PCC
Leadership and Change Expert Executive Coach

Janet Ioli has been helping people and organizations make changes and maximize their impact for over 25 years. As a former leader with Fortune 200 companies including Cigna, Gannett, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, she knows the complexities and realities leaders face leading their organizations. Ioli holds master’s degrees in both public administration and business, an undergraduate degree in business, and has extensively studied human development and adult learning at the graduate academic level. She is certified as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coach Federation and holds an Advanced Executive Coaching Certificate. Ioli is a contributor to Forbes and to Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global.

Katerina Hencova
Certified Financial Planner
Continuum Consulting Group

Katerina Hencova specializes in serving the financial planning needs of women. She is passionate about empowerment through knowledge, and guides individuals and families in building comprehensive financial plans and developing customized strategies to achieve their financial liberation. Hencova is enthusiastic about teaching her Plan Like a Woman seminars, created to inform women on overcoming multiple hurdles of gender wage disparity. Prior to joining Continuum Consulting Group, Hencova spent nine years as investment advisor representative with Signator Investors, Inc. – affiliated with the John Hancock Financial Network. Hencova is committed to volunteering and community service with various non-profit organizations focused on improving lives and building strong healthy communities.