2025 CALTCM Summit for Excellence FacultyBiographies
Yarin Ascencio, MSW Yarin earned her Master's in Social Work with a focus on Health and Aging from CSU Sacramento. She began her career at the California Department of Aging (CDA), working on Older Americans Act program data, the advanced to the Alzheimer’s Disease Program at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). At the California Primary Care Association, she supported programs addressing social drivers of health and Medi-Cal enrollment. In August 2024, Yarin returned to CDA as a Health Program Manager II in the Office of Long-Term Care Patient Representative (OLTCPR), focusing on advocacy and support for older adults in long-term care. Soraya Azari, MD Soraya Azari, MD is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine and addiction medicine. She completed residency and chief residency at the University of California, San Francisco. She worked as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF from 2011-2023, working in primary care, hospital medicine, and specialty addiction services. She currently works at Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) and Rehabilitation Center, a public SNF serving diverse, low-income San Franciscans. At Laguna Honda, Dr. Azari provides consultation on addiction and complex, intractable pain syndromes, plus weekly staffing of the LHH multi-disciplinary pain clinic. She enjoys teaching about pain, substance use, and substance use disorders. Alex Bardakh, MPP, PLC Alex Bardakh, MPP, PLC, is the Senior Director Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships for Post Acute and Long Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed). Mr. Bardakh works for PALTmed’s extensive Public Policy agenda through Advocacy in Congress & Federal Agencies. A graduate from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Political Science/Psychology and Master’s Degree in Public and Legal Policy, he has extensive experience in health policy with a specific focus on areas such as payment models and quality of care initiatives. He has been a recognized national speaker on healthcare policy and has spoken at national conferences throughout the country. Jennifer Birdsall, PhD, ABPP Dr. Jennifer Birdsall is a board certified, licensed clinical psychologist and Senior Clinical Director at ComPsych Corporation. Dr. Birdsall received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Louisville and completed her Clinical Internship and Advanced Fellowship at the Pittsburgh Veteran’s Administration Healthcare System. She has worked in behavioral health for 20 years and has treated clients in numerous interdisciplinary team settings including outpatient mental health, inpatient psychiatry, primary care, home-based care, and post-acute long-term care. Dr. Birdsall serves on the board of several professional psychology and healthcare associations and has a passion for educating others on behavioral health topics. At ComPsych, her role focuses on clinical strategy and innovation, overseeing projects and programs to enhance clinical service delivery, behavioral health integration, and clinical outcomes. Dr. Birdsall is passionate about helping organizations implement successful well-being strategies to achieve positive outcomes for employees and employers alike. Can Chen, MD Dr. Can Chen is a board-certified physician specializing in internal medicine and geriatric medicine, with a clinical focus on post-acute and long-term care. She is a Certified Medical Director by PALTmed (Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association) and serves as the Medical Director for The Sequoias Portola Valley Continuing Care Residential Community, where she is committed to enhancing the quality of care for senior residents.
Dr. Chen excels in shared decision-making and creating individualized care plans, emphasizing personalized approaches to advance care planning, dementia care, and beyond. Her dedication to improving quality standards in geriatric care extends to her involvement in quality improvement initiatives, interdisciplinary team education, and community education in senior living environments. Dr. Chen actively engages in guiding seniors and their families through the complexities of healthcare and aging, advocating for informed and compassionate care. Cassie Dunham On October 1, 2024, Cassie Dunham became the CEO/President of the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF). Most recently, Dunham was appointed by Governor Newsom in 2022 as Deputy Director of the Center for Health Care Quality at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). In this role, she oversaw the department’s Healthcare Associated Infections Program and the licensing and certification of health care providers and facilities throughout California. With a team of over 1,500 staff members, and oversight of roughly 14,000 facilities and providers, Dunham ensured these entities complied with state and federal laws, safeguarding the quality of care for patients across the state. She actively collaborated with the California Health and Human Services Agency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and various state and local organizations to promote health care quality and access.
Prior to her appointment, Dunham held several key positions within CDPH, including Chief of Field Operations for Northern California, Field Operations Branch Chief, Policy Section Chief, and Non-Long-Term Care Unit Chief. Her extensive experience also included leading policy development, legislative analysis, and high-level enforcement actions. Throughout her career, she has been a respected voice in health care policy, regularly presenting to state and national organizations on vital health care issues.
Dunham holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government with an emphasis on legal studies from Grand Canyon University and completed her general education and pre-nursing studies at American River College. Rebecca Ferrini, MD, MPH, CMD Rebecca Ferrini MD, MPH has been the full-time medical director of a county run safety net long-term care facility in a suburb of San Diego for more than 25 years. She graduated from UCSD Medical School and did a residency in general preventive medicine in San Diego. In 2009, she received the AMDA Medical Director of the Year for her efforts in turning Edgemoor, a 192-bed county owned facility into a nationally recognized model for quality care for underserved populations. She led her facility to years of five-star ratings, the American Health Care Association Gold Quality Award and it has been named by Time and Us News as a top nursing home in the USA. She is board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, general preventive medicine with a master's in public health, and is a certified medical director. She serves as faculty for PALTC Core curriculum and CALTCM Educational Committee and LMG. In 2019, she received the California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) leadership award. She consults on and teaches risk management, quality management, leadership and educational innovations. She has special interests in care efficiency, strategic thinking, organizational excellence, and innovation in the expanding area of chronic care health. Mark A. Ginella, Esq. Mark Ginella is Of Counsel to the firm. In 1984 Mark received his Bachelor of Arts, History / Political Science from the University of San Diego, San Diego, California and attended Mexican Studies at the University of Iteso, Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1986 he received his Master of Arts, International Relations at the University of San Diego, San Diego, California. In 1994 Mark studied Comparative Law at Oxford University, Magdalen College, England and in 1995 received his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego, California. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1996.
Mark’s trial experience encompasses many areas of civil litigation. He has successfully represented clients in personal injury, insurance defense, insurance bad faith and business litigation cases. Additionally, Mark has also specialized in constitutional law in the area of religious freedoms.
Mark has lectured on constitutional law matters for the California Bar Association. He has also appeared before the San Diego City Council on several religious freedom matters and has been a featured guest speaker on local radio and national radio stations. Mark spent three years working with the San Diego Chapter of the Thomas More Law Center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Thomas More Law Center is a national public interest law firm that promotes the religious freedom of Christians, through litigation and educational programs.
Mark has had the privilege of being one of a small percentage of lawyers to successfully bring a case before the California Supreme Court, and successfully created new law on Commercial General Liability insurance policies. (TRB Investments v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. (2006) 19 Cal.4th 40.) In addition to the State Bar of California, Mark is admitted to the Supreme Court of the State of California; United States District Court, for the Central District of California; United States District Court, for the Southern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Dolly Greene, RN, BSN, CIC Dolly Greene is a registered nurse with a BSN and one who is nationally board certified in infection prevention and control. She is the co-owner of Infection Prevention & Control Resources where she provides intense training classes for nurses in long-term care facilities throughout California.
Dolly has worked in the field of infection control for over 28 years and has been involved in long term care for over 30 years. She is a member of APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention & Control) and served as the Chair for their Long-term care section for 2 years. She is also part of the APIC Consulting faculty for trainings in LTC. Dolly was one of the creators of an infection control training program for Infection Preventionists in LTCFs in California. She collaborated with public health officials in California along with the California Association of Health Facilities to present this first-time 2-day training in 2012. This program is now an annual event which takes place in several venues in California.
Dolly is an associate member of the California Long-Term Care Medical Association and sits on their Board of Directors. Dolly is currently a member of the California Department of Public Health HAI Advisory Committee. Dolly has spoken at conferences and conventions for various organizations addressing nurses and physicians throughout the United States. Dolly is one of the co-authors of the APIC Infection Preventionist’s Guide to LTC which was released in 2013 and the latest version just released in 2019.
Dolly is the Infection Prevention & Control consultant for many nursing homes throughout California. She also works as an IP consultant for Expert Stewardship, an organization dedicated to providing antibiotic stewardship programs in skilled nursing facilities.
Dolly was inducted into the Alpha Epsilon Tau Honor Society November 2020 and was the 2013 recipient of the SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) Advanced Practice IP Award which was given to her at ID Week October, 2013 in San Francisco. Dolly is the 2023 inaugural recipient of the Excellence in Education Award from the California Long-Term Care Medical Association. Ashkan Javaheri, MD, CMD Dr. Ashkan Javaheri is a geriatrician with Mercy Medical Group in Sacramento and serves as an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis. He is actively involved in teaching geriatric medicine principles to medical students, residents, and fellows. Dr. Javaheri serves as medical director for multiple post-acute and long-term care facilities and directs the Memory Care Program at the Dignity Health Neurological Institute. His interests include geriatric medical education and the advancement of care for older adults – particularly in post-acute and long-term care settings – through research, quality improvement, and systems innovation.
Noachim Steve Marco, MD, CMD Noachim (Noah) Steve Marco, MD, CMD serves as the chief medical officer for the Los Angeles Jewish Health. He is also the executive director of the Brandman Research Institute and the medical director of LAJH Medical Associates. He is on the board of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM), serves on several of CALTM’s committees and is their President-Elect. He is a recipient of CALTCM’s Leadership Award.
With over 30 years of experience as a physician, he is a physician educator, writer and a sought-after speaker. Dr. Marco has presented numerous lectures on a range of medical issues and topics that include elder care, clinician patient communication and physician training. He holds a Bachelor of Sciences Degree from UCLA, and his medical degree is from U.C. Davis. His Internal Medicine residency was at Children’s Hospital of San Francisco (now called California Pacific Hospital). Kourosh A.P. Moshiri, MD, MHA, FACP, AGSF, CMD, HMDC, FACCWS Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Moshiri sees patients at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. He did his undergraduate at National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET) and medical school at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in Iran. After graduating from medical school and completion of his internship at University of Maryland Prince George's Hospital Center in the Washington D.C. metro area, he completed both his internal medicine residency and geriatric medicine fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, NY. He also completed his post-graduate degree in Executive Master of Healthcare Administration (EMHA) at the University of Southern California (USC) Price with Summa Cum Laude with highest honors and was awarded the special recognition as Dean’s Certificate of Merit recipient for his outstanding academic accomplishments.
Upon recognition of his competences in clinical medicine, medical management and commitment to improve quality of life in geriatric patients in different settings such as outpatient geriatric clinic, skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and hospice he was granted Fellow of the American Geriatric Society (AGSF), Certified Medical Director (CMD) and Hospice Medical Director Certified (HMDC) credentials by the by the American Geriatric Society (AGS), American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicine (ABPLM) and Hospice Medical Director Certification Board, respectively. Dr Moshiri, is also a Diplomat of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery and the Fellow of the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists (FACCWS). He has been honored to be a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) by demonstrating excellence and contributions made to both medicine and the broader community which he serves. Author and presenter of more than 50 scientific papers mostly in geriatric topics, in state and national meetings, he is a long-time advocate for implementing quadruple aim in our healthcare system to promote higher quality of care, higher patients’ satisfaction, physicians’ wellness and at the same time to decrease the unnecessary cost, especially for the growing geriatric population.
Dr. Moshiri serves as the Medical Director of the Geriatric Service Line, Internal Medicine Section Chief, Associate Program Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program, and Core Faculty for both the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship and Internal Medicine Residency Programs at Eisenhower Medical Center (EMC). He actively contributes to the implementation of the ACGMEMedicine geriatric rotation and the Geriatric Fellowship Program. Dr. Moshiri has played a key role in establishing the Geriatric Division and overseeing the development of essential geriatric services, including skilled nursing facility (SNF) care, wound care, a geriatric primary care clinic, and a memory clinic. He also serves as the Age-Friendly Champion Lead for the Eisenhower Health system, a mentor and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Medicine. In addition, he is an active member of the ABIM Geriatric Medicine Item-Writing Task Force, the CALTCM Policy & Professional Services Committee, a Director of the Board of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery (ABWMS), and a member of the ABIM Geriatric Medicine Certification/MOC Approval Committee.
Aida Oganesyan, PharmD, APh, BCGP Dr. Aida Oganesyan completed her undergraduate training from University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy in Pomona, California. She then continued at Western University of Health Sciences in completing an ASHP accredited PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice residency. Dr. Oganesyan has experience in outpatient and inpatient pharmacies, ambulatory care clinics as a clinical pharmacist, and long-term care consulting. Dr. Oganesyan area of expertise is geriatric care, and is currently the Director of Pharmacy at the Los Angeles Jewish Home. Sean O’Neill, Esq. Sean O’Neill is a partner and trial lawyer specializing in catastrophic personal injury, elder abuse, wrongful death, managed care liability, and medical malpractice matters on behalf of Plaintiffs throughout California.
Sean was born and raised in Carlsbad, California. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Pepperdine University School of Law. While in law school, Sean clerked in the United States Senate, Judiciary Committee, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and for a number of high-profile litigation firms in Los Angeles. Mr. O’Neill was also selected to serve as a special editor to the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
After law school Sean served as corporate counsel at United States Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Reporting directly to the General Counsel, Sean assisted with the Company’s international trade enforcement litigation, the Company’s engagement on public policy issues, and advised the business units on a number of high priority corporate matters. Thereafter, Sean returned to California to work as a trial lawyer at a medical malpractice defense firm where he defended doctors and hospitals. While working for an insurance defense firm, Sean gained invaluable experience learning how insurance companies value claims and defend medical providers. In 2017, Sean took this experience and knowledge and dedicated his practice to representing victims of medical negligence and elder neglect at a boutique Plaintiff’s personal injury firm in West Los Angeles.
Sean joined Stalwart Law Group in 2020 to help launch the firm’s elder abuse and medical malpractice team. Since joining Stalwart, Sean and the firm have had tremendous success securing justice for victims of negligence and neglect. In his career Sean has helped secure more than $100 Million in recovery for his clients. Meenakshi Patel, MD , FACP, MMM, CMD Dr. Meenakshi Patel is a Clinical Associate Professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and Ohio Heritage University of Osteopathic Medicine Athens OH. She is also a practicing physician at Valley Medical Primary Care as well as a Principal Investigator at Valley Medical Research, and Medical Director at several nursing homes. She teaches Internal Medicine and Geriatrics to medical students, Internal Medicine and Family Medicine residents, and Geriatric Fellows. She is involved in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for various agents for a number of indications. She has been very active with the American Medical Directors Association in several roles including as a board member, member of multiple committees, writing clinical practice guidelines on the management of diabetes in the long-term care setting. She is also faculty for the Core Curriculum developed by AMDA/PALTC for physicians who want to get certified as Medical Directors. She has served as President of the Ohio Medical Directors Association Dr. Patel earned her medical degree at the University of Bombay in Bombay, India. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and Hospice and Palliative Care. She received a Masters in Medical Management through Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Stacey Ringham, RN, MSN, BSN, BA Stacey Ringham, RN, MSN, BSN, BA, is the Area Director for Senior Care Strategy at Sutter Health, with over 15 years of patient care and nursing leadership, and over two decades in business management. She brings expertise in care coordination, data-driven strategy, and improving access for high-risk senior populations. Her experience spans geriatrics, hospital medicine, urgent care, and primary care. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Capella University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from UC Santa Barbara. Passionate about enhancing the quality of life for older adults, she leads with a focus on innovation, compassion, and excellence in senior care delivery. Richard Simman, MD, FACS, FACCWS Dr. Simman is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He is the founding president and chair of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery, past president of the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists (ACCWS), and past editor-in-chief of the journal of the college. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Annals of Plastic Surgery, Journal of Wound Care (UK), and International Journal of Wound Care.
He is currently Professor of Surgery in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences and Co-Director of the Wound Care Program at Jobst Vascular Institute/ProMedica Health System in Toledo, Ohio.
His training includes General Surgery at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University (New York, NY), a Plastic Surgery residency at Providence Hospital and Medical Centers (Southfield, MI), and fellowships in Burn Care and Wound Healing/Cultured Keratinocytes Research at SUNY Stony Brook. Dr. Simman has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, editorials, letters, and book chapters in wound care and plastic surgery. Brandon Singleton, Esq. Brandon Singleton joined the firm as an associate in October 2023 after leaving active-duty service in the United States Marine Corps at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Brandon’s practice focuses on the defense of medical professionals and long-term health care facilities.
Prior to joining the firm, Brandon served as a Marine Corps Judge Advocate from 2018 through 2023. He represented the U.S. Government in numerous criminal prosecutions before military judges, juries, and administrative boards. He also represented hundreds of service members, dependents, and retirees in civil matters involving family law, consumer fraud, landlord-tenant disputes, federal income tax, estate planning, and employment law.
Brandon earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in 2010, where he majored in Public Health and Anthropology. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2018, with a Certificate in International Law and Asian-Pacific Business Law. As a law student, he served as Managing Editor of the Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal. He was a member of the Elder Law Clinic. He represented the law school in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C. He also received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in legal writing. Brandon is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, Washington, Hawaiʻi, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi. Brandon is a member of the Louis M. Welsh American Inn of Court. Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD, HMDC, HEC-C Dr. Karl Steinberg has been a nursing home, hospice, and home health agency medical director and chief medical officer in the San Diego area since 1995. He received his bachelor’s in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard and studied medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, taught high school in New York City for three years, then completed his family medicine residency at University of California San Diego (UCSD) in 1990. He has board certifications in family medicine and in hospice and palliative medicine, and is certified as a nursing home and hospice medical director in addition to having a certification as a healthcare ethics consultant.
Dr. Steinberg is a past president of PALTmed (the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association, previously known as AMDA) and CALTCM, past president of the National POLST Collaborative, and past chair of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. He serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Medical Society and as a delegate to the AMA and California Medical Association’s House of Delegates, and chairs CMA’s Council on Ethical, Legal and Judicial Affairs (CELJA) and their Administrative Practice Forum.
Dr. Steinberg enjoys presenting at educational conferences to professional audiences and the public, and also serves as a consultant and testifying expert witness in civil lawsuits and regulatory matters. He hosts two regular podcasts (PALTtalk with JAMDA and PALTtalk with Caring) for PALTmed that discuss the organization’s publications. But Dr. Steinberg is perhaps best known for taking his poodles on patient care rounds with him on a regular basis. Katherine Trintchouk, MD Dr Trintchouk is an internal medicine physician with training in infection disease and board certification in both internal medicine and obesity medicine.
She has worked at Edgemoor DP/SNF since 2012, and she completed the CMD course last year. She is interested in infection prevention, chronic disease management, and obesity, and has been learning how to incorporate AI in day-to-day work. Kimberly Valentine, Esq. Ms. Valentine is the principal attorney at Valentine Law Group. She received her Juris Doctorate degree with honors, from Western State University in 1997. She is licensed to practice law in California and Arizona. Ms. Valentine has dedicated her career to the practice of law to advocate for the vulnerable elderly, the injured and the infirm. Her client's ages span from newborn children to elderly as old as 104. She practices predominantly in the areas of elder abuse and medical malpractice. Ms. Valentine is an Associate with the American Board of Trial Advocates. She was the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association’s Top Gun award recipient in 2011 and 2008 as the top Elder Abuse litigator. She was also recognized in 2008 as a California Trial Lawyers Associations “Street Fighter” Award finalist. She was also named a Super Lawyer each year from 2014 through 2018. Super Lawyers Southern California Magazine also named her as one of the top 50 Orange County lawyers and Top 50 Women lawyers in Southern California in 2017 and 2018. Michael Wasserman, MD, CMD Doctor Michael Wasserman is a geriatrician who has devoted his career to serving the needs of older adults. He was a tireless advocate for vulnerable older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, with multiple peer reviewed publications and television appearances. He is a member of the Board of Directors of PALTmed, the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (formerly AMDA) and the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM). He served on the Infrastructure workgroup for the National Advisory Committee on Seniors and Disasters. He served as a member of the National Academy of Science’s “A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus” Committee and was a member of California’s Community Vaccine Advisory Committee. He is Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s textbook, Geriatric Medicine: A Person-Centered Evidence-Based Approach. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer overseeing the largest nursing home chain in California. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director, Care Continuum, for the CMS contracted Quality Improvement Organization for California. In 2001 he co-founded Senior Care of Colorado, which became the largest privately owned primary care geriatrics practice in the country, before selling it in 2010. Springer published his books, “The Business of Geriatrics,” and “Primary Care for Older Adults: Models and Challenges” in 2016 and 2017. In the 1990’s he was President and Chief Medical Officer for GeriMed of America, a Geriatric Medical Management Company, and developed GeriMed’s Clinical Glidepaths in conjunction with Drs. Flaherty and Morley of St. Louis University’s School of Medicine Geriatric Division. In 1989, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Doctor Wasserman published "Fever, White Blood Cells and Differential Count in Diagnosing Bacterial Infection in the Elderly,” the findings of which are now part of the McGeer Criteria, used widely in nursing homes to evaluate residents for infections.
Dr. Wasserman is a graduate of the University of Texas, Medical Branch. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCLA. He spent five years with Kaiser-Permanente in Southern California where he founded Kaiser's first outpatient Geriatric Consult Clinic and second Department of Continuing Care. Dr. Wasserman was a co-founder and owner of Common Sense Medical Management (CSM2), a case management company that helped manage high risk beneficiaries of Cover Colorado. Jennifer Wieckowski, MSG Jennifer Wieckowski, MSG, serves as the Senior Executive Director for Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for California and Arizona. She has over 20 years of experience working in healthcare quality improvement with community providers including hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based organizations. Ms. Wieckowski is responsible for providing oversight and direction to the tasks associated with the QIN-QIO Statements of Work contracts to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. In this role, Ms. Wieckowski collaborates with key stakeholders and providers to achieve contract goals and disseminate data-driven interventions to improve the quality of care in healthcare settings. Most recently, Ms. Wieckowski is leading a team that is working to improve infection prevention, immunizations, readmissions, emergency preparedness, patient safety, and workforce stability. Ms. Wieckowski earned a master of science degree in gerontology from the University of Southern California. She earned a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies from Cornell University. George Washington Woods, MD George Woods, M.D., is a licensed physician specializing in neuropsychiatry. His focus is on neurodevelopmental disabilities, traumatic brain injury, neurocognitive impairments, mood disorders, and trauma. His clinical subspecialties are neuropsychiatry and consultation liaison psychiatry. In his clinical practice, he assesses and treats individuals with a variety of medical problems, that may present with psychiatric manifestations. In his forensic practice, he performs forensic consultations for criminal and civil matters.
Dr. Woods has taught at the University of California – Davis (1996-2000) and Morehouse School of Medicine (2002-2016). For the past ten (10) years, he has been a lecturer at the University of California – Berkeley Law School on the subject of “Law and Mental Health” with Jennifer Johnson, J.D. From 2012-2018 Dr. Woods and Ms. Johnson taught a continuing education webinar, “Where Mental Health Meets the Law,” produced by Thomson Reuters-West Legal Education. He is a faculty member of Practising Law Institute (PLI), based in New York and San Francisco.
Dr. Woods is the Chief Scientific Officer for Crestwood Behavioral Health, the largest psychosocial rehabilitation provider of behavioral health congregate care in California. Crestwood focuses on trauma-informed recovery. He is also on the Board of Directors for Roots Community Health Center; the Governing Board of the Stanford University Health Alliance (MSSP) Accountable Care Organization, LLC; a Community Board Member for Stanford Medical Partners; the Board of Directors of Cal-Pep; and Board Chair for Felton Institute. He is the current President (second term) of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health (IALMH). Dr. Woods was selected as the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus for the University of Utah Medical Center, the first psychiatrist ever selected. In 2019, he received the Historical Prize from the University of Milan in Italy.
George works with legal teams dealing with complex criminal and civil litigation, as well as startup and early ventures. He has also worked with multiple companies, including DeepSpan Health, Vulcan Industries, Microsoft, New Level Work, and Walmart on psychometrically and culturally competent employment testing procedures, as well as neurophilosophically effective algorithms.
He has presented and published articles on the topics of forensic assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders; race and cognition; cognitive impairment; intellectual disability; neuropsychiatric accommodation of the American Disability Act; aging in the workplace; Psychedelics in the workplace, financial deception in elderly populations; comorbidity; trauma, advances in neuroimaging and neuroscience; and the cultural implications of artificial intelligence.
In addition to spending time with his granddaughters, George’s passion is bringing his deep understanding of body/brain functioning and its impact on behavior to technological solutions in medicine, neuropsychiatry, business, and social policy. Glenn Xiong, MD, CMD Dr. Xiong earned his medical degree (MD) from University of California at Davis and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Duke. He is a Voluntary Clinical Professor at UC Davis. He teaches students, residents and fellows as part of their geriatrics rotations in skilled nursing facilities. He has published in the areas of medication safety, behavioral health and dementia care, and telemedicine. Lindsey Yourman, MD Dr. Yourman is a Harvard University and UCSF Medical School graduate who is dual-Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Medicine and nationally known for her leadership of Age-Friendly Health Systems initiatives and research on prognostication in older adults. She was the inaugural fellow of the West Health Institute-UC San Diego Geriatrics Quality Improvement Science Fellowship, UCSD’s first Medical Director of Geriatrics Quality Improvement, and the nation’s first Chief Geriatrics Officer of a County Health and Human Services Agency. To improve shared decision-making with older adults, she co-founded and continues to co-develop eprognosis, an online compendium of prognostic tools that is originally based on her first author publication in JAMA. Over the last decade she has provided direct patient care across the continuum and currently sees outpatients for the Geriatric Medicine Clinic at UCSD, where she is an Associate Professor for the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care and a Co-PI for the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program grant through the Health Resources and Services Administration. She loves to run, listen to the GeriPal podcast, and is the proud mom of two girls- Zarina (5) and Avalie (4 months)- as well as an adjusting Hungarian Puli dog (Csaba). |