Board of Directors

Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, is the President of the Commonwealth Fund. Previously, Dr. Betancourt was the Senior Vice President, Equity and Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also the founder, senior advisor and faculty of the Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) at Mass General, Faculty at the Mongan Institute, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a practicing Internal Medicine physician. He has also served on the leadership team of the Mass General Center for Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Betancourt is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in health policy, health care disparities, diversity, and cross-cultural medicine, and has served on several Institute of Medicine Committees, including those that produced the landmark reports, Unequal Treatment and Increasing Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce. Dr. Betancourt has secured grants and contracts that have led to over 60 peer-reviewed publications and advises private industry, government, and not-for-profit health systems on approaches to eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. He sits on the Board of Trinity Health, a large national health system, and sat on the Boston Board of Health and the Board of Neighborhood Health Plan in Boston. He is a 2015 Aspen Institute Health Innovator Fellow.

Dr. Betancourt received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland, his medical degree from Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Following residency, he completed The Commonwealth Fund-Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and received his Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kai Drekmeier, BA is the founder and president of InsideTrack, the pioneering student success organization that currently advises more than 4,000 higher education programs nationwide and has directly coached more than 2 million students.

Named one of the Most Innovative People in Higher Education by Washington Monthly magazine, he has made a life-long commitment to helping others as a leader and innovator in the field of education. A sought-after higher education expert and trusted advisor to presidents, provosts, and policymakers, Kai has spoken at scores of conferences and events and his views have been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Hechinger Report, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

Kai plays an important role in managing the growth and strategic direction of InsideTrack, working with institutions, systems, and employers to create high-impact student support programs, evaluate and redesign existing initiatives and structure unique partnerships between industry, philanthropy, and higher education to unlock the potential of thousands of learners.

Prior to joining InsideTrack, Kai co-founded SCORE! Educational Centers, which at its height operated 165 centers across the U.S. for one-on-three tutoring services. Kai received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and resides in Oakland.

Tawara D. Goode, MA Tawara Goode is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has been on the faculty of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD), for over 30 years and has served in many capacities. She has degrees in early childhood education, and education and human development. Professor Goode has extensive experience as a principal investigator for federal and private sector grants and contracts. She is the director of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at GUCCHD. She is the new Director of the GUCCI-ID’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and focuses on national-level efforts to advance and sustain cultural and linguistic competence in this field.

Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., MPH is a Lecturer and Social Impact Fellow at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. For 15 years he served as the Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, the state’s largest health foundation. At the Endowment, he oversaw the design and implementation of a 10-year, $2 billion-dollar initiative to improve the health status of low-income Californians. Prior to that Dr. Iton served for seven years as the Alameda County Public Health Department Director and Health Officer where he managed a public health practice focused on preventing communicable disease outbreaks, reducing the burden of chronic disease and obesity, and managing the county’s preparedness for biological terrorism. He previously served as director of the Stamford Department of Health & Human Services and worked as a physician in the HIV Clinic at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Dr. Iton received his medical degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School and subsequently trained in internal medicine and preventive medicine at New York Hospital, Yale, and Berkeley and received board certification in both specialties. Dr. Iton has also received a law degree and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and is a member of the California Bar.

Gail Knight, MD, MMM received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of California, San Diego. She completed her pediatric residency and fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and earned a master’s degree in Medical Management form the University of Southern California, School of Business.

When her fellowship training was competed, Dr. Knight accepted a position as a Neonatology Attending Physician at Children’s Hospital – San Diego (now Rady Children’s Hospital) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Throughout her career, Dr. Knight has been active in clinical research, especially in advancing therapies for neonates with respiratory failure – specifically ECMO (temporary heart-lung bypass), resulting in multiple publications. Dr. Knight served as Medical Director of the Main NICU for over a decade, two terms as Chief-of-Staff for Rady Children’s Hospital as well as a Division Chief for Neonatology. In 2016, she was chosen to serve as the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego.

Laura Long is the Vice President of Operations, Performance, and Compliance, National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (NEID) for Kaiser Permanente (KP) Health Plan and Hospitals. In this role, Laura leads, designs, and directs systems alignment to drive equity in workforce, care, and community. She partners with leaders across KP to align and advance Kaiser Permanente’s NEID strategy and facilitates and consults on systems, policies and practices to align workforce and member lifecycle with EID strategy.

In addition, Laura provides direction, leadership and influence for KP’s culture of inclusion, including subject matter expertise, learning solutions, and inclusion integration strategy into talent lifecycle. In collaboration with national and regional leadership, she identifies, scopes and plans specific initiatives to realize equity and inclusion for all across the enterprise, including leading multi-disciplinary teams to ensure a comprehensive approach to EID strategy.
Laura brings more than 25years of experience in health care. She joined KP in 2009 as a Workforce Planning consultant and was promoted in 2012 to director, National Workforce Planning and Development. She was responsible for developing strong partnerships with regional and national internal KP functions, labor representatives, education providers, and other external organizations to advance workforce development, policy, and access to education. In addition, she was Co-Director of the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust (BHMT), providing career development and innovative education programs for 46,000 represented employees. Under Laura’s leadership, the BHMT significantly increased employee engagement and participation in BHMT programs. In this capacity, Laura was selected to represent KP at the White House Upskilling Summit in 2015.

Prior to coming to KP, Laura was a program director with the Stanislaus County Public Health Department where she worked on key public and population health issues to reduce health disparities while working to improve social determinants of health. She also held the position of California training coordinator with the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service.
In 2013, Laura was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the California Workforce Development Board and continues to serve in this capacity under Governor Gavin Newsom. She was the past chair of the California Hospital Association Workforce Committee and served as secretary and executive board member of Healthcare Career Advancement Program.

Laura received her Bachelors in Integrative Biology from University of California Berkeley and an Executive MBA from St. Mary’s College of California.
Laura has been with her high school soulmate, James for 31 years and is the proud mom of two adult daughters and an adorable rescued terrier. Laura is a first generation Mexican-American and enjoys spending time with her extended family. Laura’s personal health includes a strong meditation practice, Kundalini yoga, and long-distance running. Laura has successfully finished six half marathons and currently training on her 7th.

Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH is a physician, author, and healthcare leader who has spent more than a decade developing novel strategies to improve health in resource-poor communities. He has served as director of social medicine for a network of community health centers in South-Central Los Angeles, as the lead primary care physician for homeless veterans at the Greater Los Angeles VA, and as chief medical officer for a self-insured employer with a large rural immigrant workforce. In his 2013 TED Book, The Upstream Doctors, and 2014 TED Talk he introduced readers and viewers to the Upstreamists, a new model of healthcare workers who improve care by addressing patients’ health-related social needs, such as food, financial, and housing insecurity. The talk has been viewed nearly 2 million times, and the book has become recommended reading in medical schools and universities across the world.

Jeff Oxendine, MBA, MPH has been a health executive, educator and consultant for over 35 years. Jeff is Founder and CEO of Health Career Connection (HCC). He is also a longtime California and national leader in health workforce and diversity.

Jeff’s purpose is empowering students to achieve their authentic health careers, realize their full potential and optimize their impact on health. He’s done this for over 33 years at HCC, a national nonprofit that has supported over 5000 undergraduate students from under-represented, first generation college and low-income backgrounds to become health leaders and professionals.

Jeff also fulfilled his purpose at UC Berkeley School of Public Health where he empowered, mentored and prepared thousands of students for 16 years as a faculty member in Health Policy and Management and Associate Dean of Public Health Practice. He also served as Co-Director of the Undergraduate Public Health Major. In his retirement, Jeff continues to serve as Director of Health Workforce and Diversity in the Center for Healthcare Organizational Innovation Research.

Jeff shared his insights from HCC and Berkeley in his book You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor: Discover, Achieve and Enjoy Your Authentic Health Career to empower more people to achieve their authentic health careers and have the lives and impact they want to lead.

Since 2006, Jeff has also served as Co-Director of the California Health Professions Consortium, a coalition of over 300 organizations working to strengthen health workforce and diversity. He also serves as Co-Chair of the National Public Health Consortium’s Recruitment and Retention Task Force.

Jeff recently served as Co-Director of the California Future Health Workforce Commission from 2017 to February 2019. He co-led design, planning, and support of the Commission’s work to develop an actionable statewide health workforce strategy for California. He is now engaged in efforts to advance Commission recommendations (https://futurehealthworkforce.org/).

Prior to his roles at Berkeley, Jeff was a senior executive for 20 years in leading Bay Area and Boston hospitals and medical groups. He was a Lecturer in Health Management for five years at Harvard School of Public Health.

Jeff received his masters degrees in business administration and public health from UC Berkeley and his bachelors degree in health management from California State University, Chico.

Patrick Ramirez, MPH is the Vice President of Corporate Services at Community Medical Centers (CMC) in the Central Valley of California. In this capacity, Patrick oversees the CMC Office of Planning & Development where he works alongside the President and CEO on developing corporate strategy, evaluating long-term business opportunities and real estate investments for Community Medical Centers.

Prior to this, Patrick held Director and Vice President positions at Clovis Community Medical Centers (CCMC), a 208-bed hospital that is part of the CMC system. In these roles, Patrick was responsible for the operational and financial performance of all ancillary and professional support service departments in the hospital.

Before joining CCMC, Patrick was an Administrative Director in Ambulatory Services at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, CA, where he was responsible for regional operations and business development for outpatient pediatric specialties.

Patrick is an alumni Leadership Fellowship at the UC Berkeley Center for Health Leadership and was honored as an American College of Healthcare Executives Thomas C. Dolan Executive Diversity Scholar. Patrick is a member of the CSU, Fresno President ˜University Advisory Board and is a former board member of the California Association of Healthcare Leaders.

Patrick grew up in Firebaugh, CA, a small farming community in California’s San Joaquin Valley. He received his B.Sc. in Health Science from CSU, Fresno, and his Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in Health Policy and Management from UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH currently serves as the Director of the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training at NNPHI.

Ms. Ransom was appointed as a Presidential Management Fellow and worked at CDC for almost 20 years. For the last 10 years of her service, Ms. Ransom led CDC’s public health law related training and workforce development efforts. She received her law degree from the University of Alabama, her MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, and her Executive Leadership Coaching Certification from Georgetown University. In addition, she has received a certificate in training and facilitation from the Association of Talent Development. Ms. Ransom is the ABA Health Law Section’s 2019 Champion of Diversity and Inclusion Awardee, and the 2017 recipient of the American Public Health Association Jennifer Robbins Award for the Practice of Public Health Law. She is the President of the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential.

Devoted to helping people reach their human potential, Ms. Ransom also spends a lot of time working on career pathing and professional development with new public health practitioners and public health lawyers.

She is also a well-known public speaker, peer-reviewed published author, the Co-Editor of the textbook, Public Health Law: Concepts and Case Studies.

Josephine Stacey is the Director, Strategic Business Operations at Janssen Research & Development. With an extensive background defining and delivering successful solutions, Josephine is a self-motivator who thrives in ambiguity and enjoys exploring and implementing innovative methods, tools, and processes. She holds a Master of Arts in Business Education from New York University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management from Baruch College. 

Karen Stander, MBA is an executive leader in operations, strategy, and clinical service development across the health care services continuum, including the hospital, medical group, home care, and ambulatory surgical services settings. She is passionate about scaling and innovating in the delivery of care to expand access and improve outcomes across populations.  She is currently the Neuroscience Service Line Executive at Sutter Health.

Karen is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a certified Lean Leader. She obtained her Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in Public Health from U.C. Berkeley. As a proud alum of HCC, she is a strong advocate of mentorship and pipeline programs that increase the diversity of health care professionals.

Monica Valdes Lupi JD, MPH joined the de Beaumont Foundation as a Senior Fellow in January 2020. With more than 20 years of experience in public health, in her role as Senior Fellow, Monica serves an advisory and leadership role in the Foundation efforts to amplify and accelerate policy initiatives aimed at developing and advancing a health agenda on critical public health issues, such as tobacco control, racial justice, and health equity.

Given her extensive experience in governmental public health, Monica also contributes to the Foundation’s activities on strengthening the public health workforce at state and local health departments, including playing an advisory role for the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). She actively supports the Foundation’s priority programs in city policy, including CityHealth and the Big Cities Health Coalition.

Monica is also serving as an Advisor to the CDC Foundation on its COVID19 efforts to support local and state response activities.

Monica previously served as the Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission, the local health department for the City of Boston. In this role, she led one of the leading large city departments with more than 1,300 employees and a portfolio that included Boston Emergency Medical Services, the largest homeless services program in New England, school-based health centers, and other critical public health services.

Prior to the Boston Public Health Commission, Monica also served as the Deputy Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she led the day-to-day operations for an agency that included public health hospitals, several regulatory bodies, and numerous public health programs. She also has experience working at the national level as the first Chief Program Officer for Health Systems Transformation at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Monica led ASTHO work on health equity, Medicaid and Public Health Partnerships, government relations, state health policy, and public health informatics.

Monica received her JD from the Dickinson School of Law, MPH from the Boston University School of Public Health, and BA from Bryn Mawr College.

Calvin Wheeler MD, BS Pharm, FAAP is the Institutional Director for Undergraduate & Graduate Medical Education – Kaiser Permanente Northern California. He is also Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, KP Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine. Dr. Calvin Wheeler also serves on the Regional Community Benefit Governance and Contributions Committees. In his UME/GME, Community Benefit, and Equity Inclusion & Diversity roles, he leads and supports programs to improve this national and local communities health and to improve the diversity of the physician and healthcare professional pipeline.

Dr. Wheeler has served as the Physician-in-Chief for Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Fremont and the Greater Southern Alameda Area for eighteen years. During that time, he served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Operations Management Group of The Permanente Medical Group. Dr. Wheeler joined Kaiser Permanente in 1984 as a staff pediatrician and neurologist in Hayward and Walnut Creek.

Dr. Wheeler graduated from the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and the University of California-Irvine College of Medicine. Following medical school, he completed a six-month American Hepatic Foundation Fellowship at King College Hospital in London, England. He then did residency training in Pediatrics at Boston City Hospital and Children Hospital Los Angeles. His residency was followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Neurology at Boston City Hospital and the Boston University Combined Neurology Program, where he also served as a clinical instructor. He then completed a fellowship in Epilepsy/EEG and the Houston Merritt Fellowship in Cerebral Palsy at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School, where he also served as a clinical instructor.

After moving to the Bay Area, Dr. Wheeler became a clinical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Division of Neurology at the University of California-San Francisco. His research interests are in the areas of anti-epileptic medications and alternative epilepsy treatments.

He completed the KP Advanced Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1997. He completed the California Health Care Foundation Leadership Fellowship between 2003-2005.

Dr. Wheeler has served on the Board of Trustees of the California College of the Arts for eighteen years, where he sits on the Committee on Trustees and the Academic Committee. Dr. Wheeler has been a member of the NMF Board of Directors since 2017 and is Chair of the Bay Area Council.

Mike Williams, MBA is an accomplished executive leader in both the global financial marketplace and intercollegiate athletics arenas. Most recently, Mike served as the University of California, Berkeley’s (Cal Athletics) Director of Intercollegiate Athletics (AD) from 2014-18, where he was responsible for overseeing 30 intercollegiate sports and 1,200 coaches, staff, and student-athletes.

During Mike tenure as AD at Cal, the program enjoyed landmark success, turning around its academic standing in football from worst to first in the Pac-12 Conference while simultaneously winning 11 team national championships, 21 Olympic medals, and sending an abundance of top round draft picks to numerous professional sports leagues including (but not limited to) the NFL, NBA, MLB, WNBA, and MLS. In addition, Mike led Cal Athletics senior executive team as they established the two largest partnerships in school history, an $87 million/10-year apparel partnership with Under Armour and a multi-media rights deal with Learfield Sports that resulted in a more than $100 million over the 10-year deal. Mike also served as the chair for the Pac-12 Conference Athletics Director Council in 2015-16.

Mike began his career at Data Resources, Inc and worked at Bank of America after completing his MBA from UCLA Anderson. He joined Barclays Global Investors in 1993 and remained one of its most trusted leaders until he retired in 2009 as Vice-Chair of Capital Markets. 

Mike served as a trustee for the UC Berkeley Foundation (UCBF) from 2007-18 and Vice-Chair of the UCBF from 2013-15. He also serves on the University of California, Berkeley Executive Board of the College of Letters and Science. 

Currently, Mike is on the boards of the Spencer Foundation and Berkeley Stiles Hall. He also serves on the advisory boards of Bronze Investments and the UCLA Anderson Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment, and Sports (UCLA MEMES).

Mike earned his Bachelors in Economics from UC Berkeley in 1982 and his MBA from UCLA Anderson. He lives in Lafayette, California with his wife Jeanne and their three children.