Richard Scheffler, PhD

Tim Brown received his doctorate in Health Services and Policy Analysis, with a specialization in health economics, from UC Berkeley, where he was an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Scholar. His current research focuses on health care labor markets (physicians, advanced practice nurses, dental hygienists, dental assistants), child behavioral health, oral health, and the connection between social capital and health. His work has been published in Health Services Research, Health Economics, The Archives of Internal Medicine, Social Science & Medicine, and the Journal of the American Dental Association. As Associate Director of Research, Dr. Brown manages the research staff and day-to-day research work of the Petris Center. Current active projects include a study on access to dental care among immigrants in California funded by the California Program on Access to Care, a study on oral health and access to care among the elderly in California funded by the California Dental Association Foundation, a study on social capital and cigarette smoking funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, and a study evaluating the Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63) funded by the California Healthcare Foundation. Dr. Brown also teaches a course on analytic methods for health policy and management in the School of Public Health.

Brent Fulton received his doctorate in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, where his studies focused on microeconomics and econometrics. While at RAND, his health research included health insurance reform and health care financing. His current research includes studying health insurance reform (including California's proposed reform), binational health insurance between the United States and Mexico, global health workforce supply-demand dynamics, the economics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its treatments, and oral health care disparities. Brent's MBA is from The Anderson School at UCLA and his B.S. is from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Jim manages the financial and business operations of the GCHEPR, which includes budget administration, fund management, project management, liaison with funding agencies, vendor relations, and general operations. He worked in finance, budgeting, and information systems at UC Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts and was a consultant in these areas to private secondary education and health care organizations. Jim also brings a private industry perspective to the Center, having led finance and information technology teams in the large corporate environments of Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Leasing, Intel Corporation, American President Lines, and Levi Strauss, and in the small-firm, high-tech world - two software companies and a systems integration firm. He has a BA from Indiana University and an MBA from Saint Mary's College of California.

Amy is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she received her Bachelor's degree in writing, literature, and publishing. She currently handles program coordination for the GCHEPR, including all aspects of research administration, conferences, and office management. She also administers the center's training program. Amy comes from a background in academic publishing and human resources.

Stephanie received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Harvard College where she was a research assistant in both the abnormal and social psychology departments. At the GCHEPR, Stephanie supports the Director, manages his calendar, plans special events, manages the office, coordinates travel, composes and manages correspondence, and handles special projects.

Mistique has been involved in health or healthcare research for 10 years including work at Chiron, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), University of Michigan and University of California, Berkeley. She received her masters at the University of Michigan in the department of Health Policy and Management. While in Michigan, she worked for the Michigan Center for Genomics and Public Health. She received her bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology. Her work at the Petris Center has included topics such as the uninsured and access to prescription drugs, the global market of ADHD drugs, Consumer Driven Health Plans and the Mental Health Service Act (MHSA).

Leonard Miller received a BA and PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967. He retired from Berkeley's School of Social Welfare in June 2003 and is now Professor Emeritus. He has constructed dynamnic models of the relationship between smoking and health and dying, he was an expert witness in the Minnesotta & Blue Cross Blue Shield v. Tobacco industry case and in the Federal suit v. Tobacco Industry. His calculations divided the proceeds from the State Tobacco suit among the states. His research experience includes smoking attributable medical expenditures, the economic costs of schizophrenia, serious affective disorders, alcohol and drub abuse, and mental illness. He directed the evaluation of California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program in the nineteen eighties, developed methods for rationalizing the In-Home Supportive Services program in California, and prior to that worked on the Economics of Higher Education. He has had over eighty publications throughout his career.

Candy Pareja is a graduate of San Francisco State University where she received her BA in Economics. While completing her undergraduate degree, she worked for the Human Services & Health Academy at Richmond High School as an Associate Coordinator. She worked directly with high school students, coordinated campus visits, student conferences, college workshops, and other various student functions and events. She is now a Research Coordinator at the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare at the University of California Berkeley. She is working on coordinating the site visits for the Mental Health Services Act study.

Salar is currently finishing his doctoral studies in Economics at UC Berkeley. At the Petris Center, he is helping to estimate a long-run model of demand and supply for dental services in California which will then be used to examine various policy measures. Salar received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Hannah is a undergraduate at UC-Berkeley majoring in Computer Science. She also works as a Web Development Assistant for the Department of Human Resources at UC-Berkeley. Her interests include web and graphic design, user interfaces, digital illustration, drawing, creative writing, and music composition.

Zoey attended the University of Maryland, College Park. She has previously worked for Information Services and Technology (IST) as a Computer Resource Specialist. She currently works at Departmental On-Site Computing Services (DOCS).