Desmond-Hellmann	Kizer
Melnikow	Moreno
Yancey	Coye
Crawford	Halfon
Jackson	Shortell

Ten health policy experts from the University of California system have been appointed to a task force that will develop a 10-year plan to help make the state's residents healthier.

California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Diana S. Dooley made the appointments Monday (June 4) to the Let's Get Healthy California Task Force, formed under an executive order from Gov. Jerry Brown to make recommendations to improve the delivery of health care in the state.

The task force and a panel of expert advisers will work together to gather, evaluate and prioritize the best ideas and practices and organize them into a 10-year plan to improve quality, control costs, promote personal responsibility for individual health and advance health equity.

UC task force members are:

• UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, who previously served as president of product development at Genentech. In 2009, Forbes magazine named Dr. Desmond-Hellmann as one of the world's seven most "powerful innovators," calling her "a hero to legions of cancer patients."
• Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement, UC Davis Health System and distinguished professor, UC Davis School of Medicine and Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. Prior to launching the institute, he was founding president and CEO of the National Quality Forum and served as undersecretary of health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Dr. Joy Melnikow, director of Center for Healthcare Policy and Research and professor of medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, at UC Davis. Melnikow is a family physician and researcher who contributes on many state and national policy groups, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
• Dr. Ed Moreno, director and health officer, Fresno County Department of Public Health, and president, Health Officers Association of California. In addition to his county service, Moreno teaches resident physicians at the Fresno campus of UCSF and is actively engaged to reduce health disparities in the San Joaquin Valley.
• Dr. Antronette "Toni" Yancey, professor and co-director of the UCLA Department of Health Services Center to Eliminate Health Disparities. Yancey is an expert on chronic disease prevention and serves on the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention, Health Literacy Roundtable and National Physical Activity Plan Steering Committee.

UC members of the advisory panel are:

• Dr. Molly Coye, chief innovation officer of the UCLA Health System. Coye is an internationally recognized leader in advancing innovative approaches to health care delivery, adopting new technologies and shaping national health policy.
• Patricia "Pat" Crawford, co-founder and director, Atkins Center for Weight and Health, Cooperative Extension nutritional specialist and adjunct professor, UC Berkeley. Crawford has conducted extensive research in the prevention of childhood obesity. She is currently leading studies evaluating the impact of programs and policies to improve the foods in California schools and is on the Institute of Medicine's Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention.
• Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, and a professor of pediatrics, health services and public policy. Halfon is an internationally recognized expert on children's health, health care and health policy. He currently directs the Health Measurement Network for the National Institute of Health-funded National Children's Study, and the Life Course Research Network for the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
• Dr. Richard "Dick" Jackson, professor and chairman of Environmental Health Sciences Department at the UCLA School of Public Health. Jackson has done extensive work on the impact of the environment on health, particularly in children. He also chaired the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health.
• Steve Shortell, Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and dean, School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. A leading health care scholar, Shortell has done extensive research identifying the organizational and managerial correlates of quality of care and of high-performing health organizations. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is helping lead a number of initiatives to improve individual and community health.

The task force will be co-chaired by Dooley and Don Berwick, who is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The task force's report will establish baselines for key health indicators, identify obstacles, inventory best practices, provide fiscally prudent recommendations and create a sensible framework for measuring improvements in key areas including:

• Reducing diabetes, asthma, childhood obesity, hypertension and sepsis-related mortality.
• Reducing hospital readmissions with 30 days of discharge.
• Increasing the number of children receiving recommended vaccines by age 3.

The first meeting of the task force will be held June 11 in Los Angeles. The plan will be presented by Dec. 15.