Jill R. Horwitz

Note: Professor Jill Horwitz is on sabbatical for Fall 2017.

Jill Horwitz is a legal scholar and health policy expert who is addressing some of the most pressing law and policy issues of our day, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and the impact of hospital ownership on the delivery of medical services.  She comes to UCLA from the University of Michigan, where she was a Professor of Law and Co-Director of their Law and Economics Program.  She also held joint appointments at Michigan with the School of Public Health and the Ford School of Public Policy.

Professor Horwitz is a highly productive scholar who has published in law journals, health policy journals, and economics journals.  Her scholarly interests focus on the legal regulation of health care organizations, nonprofit organizations, law and economics, and tort law.  Her empirical research on hospital ownership and medical service provision has won several awards.

Professor Horwitz teaches Torts and Nonprofit Law and Policy, as well as workshops on law and economics, governance, and health care reform.

Horwitz received her B.A. with honors from Northwestern University.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, a J.D. (magna cum laude), and a Ph.D. in health policy, all from Harvard University. Following law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Norman Stahl of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Horwitz is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Co-Reporter for the American Law Institute Restatement of Nonprofit Organizations, a fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance, an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of Victoria Department of Economics in British Columbia, and a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Bibliography

Articles and Chapters:

State Legal Restrictions and Prescription-Opioid Use among Disabled Adults (with Ellen Meara, Wilson Powell, Lynn McClelland, Weiping Zhou, James O’Malley, and Nancy Morden), New England Journal of Medicine, Special Article (June 22, 2016).

Cross Border Effects of State Health Technology Regulation (with Dan Polsky), 1(1) American Journal of Health Economics 101-23 (Winter 2015). Related work published as “Challenegs to Regulatory Decentralization: Lessons from Certificate of Need Regulation,” National Bureau of Economic Research WP 19801 (2014).

Expansion of Invasive Cardiac Services in the United States (with Austin Nichols, Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, Comilla Sasson, and Theodore J. Iwashyna), Circulation (Published online July 19, 2013, print version forthcoming).

Wellness Incentives in the Workplace: Cost Savings through Cost Shifting to Unhealthy Workers (with Brenna D. Kelly and John DiNardo), 32(3) Health Affairs 468-76 (2013).

Profits v. Purpose: Hybrid Companies and the Charitable Dollar (forthcoming, 2013). Draft Text

The Role of the Market in Health Care: Point and Counterpoint (with Seth Freedman and Jill Horwitz), in Debates on U.S. Healthcare (edited by Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, Wendy E. Parmet, and Mark A. Zezza, Sage Publications, 2012).

Malpractice Suits and Physician Apologies in Cancer Care (with Eugene Chung, John A.E. Pottow, and Reshma Jagsi), 7(6) Journal of Oncology Practice 389-93 (2011).

Rural Hospital Ownership: Medical Service Provision, Market Mix, and Spillover Effects (with Austin Nichols), 64(5) Health Services Research 1452-72 (2011). Related work published as National Bureau of Economic Research WP 16926 (2011).

Commentary: Why It’s Called the Affordable Care Act (with Nicholas Bagley), 110 Michigan Law Review First Impressions 1 (2011). Full Text

The Multiple Common Law Roots of Charitable Immunity: An Essay in Honor of Richard Epstein’s Contributions to Tort Law, 3(1) Journal of Tort Law Article 4 (2010).

The Attack on Nonprofit Status: A Charitable Assessment (with James R. Hines, Jr. and Austin Nichols), 108 Michigan Law Review 1179 (2010).

Hospital Ownership and Medical Service Provision in the United States: Implications for South Korea (with Austin Nichols), in The Service Sector Advancement: Issues and Implications for the Korean Economy 227-249 (edited by Moon Joong Tcha, Korea Development Institute, 2010).

Nonprofit Narratives: Piers Plowman, Anthony Trollope, and Charities Law, 2009 Michigan State Law Review 989 (2009). Full Text

Hospital Ownership and Medical Services: Market Mix, Spillover Effects, and Nonprofit Objectives (with Austin Nichols), Journal of Health Economics924-37 (September 2009).

Adoption and Spread of New Imaging Technology: A Case Study (with Joseph Ladapo Scott Gazelle, Milton Weinstein, and David Cutler), 28(6) Health Affairs w1122-32 (October 13, 2009).

Book Review of Reforming Medicare: Options, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities by Henry Aaron and Jeanne Lambrew, 47 Journal of Economic Literature 834-36 (September 2009).

Letting Good Deeds Go Unpunished: Volunteer Immunity Laws and Individual Tort Deterrence (with Joseph Mead), 6 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 585-635 (2009).

Debate, Medicare: Did the Devil Make Us Do It? (with David Hyman), 156 University of Pennsylvania Law Review PENNumbra 453-80 (2008). Full Text

The Virtues of Medicare: A Review of David A. Hyman’s Medicare Meets Mephistopheles, 106 University of Michigan Law Review 1001-20 (2008).

What Do Nonprofits Maximize? Nonprofit Hospital Service Provision and Market Ownership Mix (with Austin Nichols), National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 13246 (2007).

Does Corporate Ownership Matter? Service Provision in the Hospital Industry, 24 Yale Journal on Regulation 140-204 (2007). Also published in technical form, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 11376(2005).

Michigan’s Dangerous Attempt to Distort Donors’ Intentions (with Harvey Dale), Chronicle of Philanthropy (August 17, 2006).

Nonprofit Ownership, Private Property, and Public Accountability, 25(4) Health Affairs (June 20, 2006). Web Exclusive W308-W311

U.S. Adoption of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems (with David M. Cutler and Naomi E. Feldman), 24(6) Health Affairs 1654-63 (2005).

The Common Law Power of the Legislature: Insurer Conversions and Charitable Funds (with Marion Fremont-Smith), 83(2) Milbank Quarterly225-246 (2005).

Making Profits and Providing Care: Comparing Nonprofit, For-Profit and Government Hospitals, 24(3) Health Affairs 790-801 (2005).

Research Note: Relative Profitability of Acute Care Hospital Services, Exhibit, (2005).

Why We Need the Independent Sector: The Behavior, Law, and Ethics of Not-for-Profit Hospitals, 50 UCLA Law Review 1345 (2003).

Converting Hospitals from Not-for-profit to For-profit Status: Why and What Effects? (with David Cutler), in The Changing Hospital Industry 45-78 (edited by David Cutler, University of Chicago Press, 2000). Also published as National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6672 (1998).

State Oversight of Hospital Conversions: Preserving Trust or Protecting Health?, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Wiener Center for Social Policy, Working Paper H-98-03 (1998). Also available as Hauser Center, Working Paper #10.

Case Brief: Blue Cross & Blue Shield v. Travelers Insurance, 23 Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 407 (1995).

No-Fault for Medical Injury Compensation For Medical Injury: A Case Study (with Troyen Brennan), 14 Health Affairs 164-79 (Winter 1995).

Medical Malpractice (with Troyen Brennan), in Health Care Policy 307-27 (edited by David Calkins et al., Blackwell Science, 1995).

Arturo Vargas Bustamante

Arturo Vargas Bustamante is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He has a broad background in health policy, with specific training and expertise in health care survey research and data analysis, health care cost estimation, economic valuation and program evaluation. His research investigates unexplored or underexplored topics on access to health care, predominantly among Latinos/Hispanics and immigrants in the United States. He also specializes in the comparative analyses of health care delivery systems in Latin American countries. His research has been published in reputable health policy journals such as Health AffairsHealth Services ResearchSocial Science and Medicine, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, among others. The outcomes of his research have had direct policy applications, particularly since they estimate the share of disparities that can be attributed to socioeconomic and demographic factors and the corresponding part associated to health system variables, such as usual source of care and insurance status.

Professor Vargas Bustamante holds a PhD (2008) in Public Policy, an M.A. (2006) in Economics and an M.P.P. (2004) all from UC-Berkeley. As part of his professional experience, he worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and for the California Program on Access to Care. Before he worked for the Health Care Financing Administration of the Mexican Ministry of Health.

Selected Courses:

HPM 200 Health Care Organization and Financing

HPM 206 Health Care for Vulnerable Populations

HPM 226 Readings in Health Services Research

Selected Publications:

1. Contributions to U.S. Latino/Hispanic Health Care Research:

Vargas Bustamante A, Fang H, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Understanding observed and unobserved health care access and utilization disparities among US Latino adultsMedical Care Research & Review, 2009;66(5):561-77.

Vargas Bustamante A, Fang H, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Heterogeneity in health insurance coverage among US Latino adults. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2009;24 Suppl 3:561-6.

Vargas Bustamante A, Chen J, Rodriguez HP, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN.  Use of preventive care services among Latino subgroups. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2010;38(6):610-9.

Vargas Bustamante A, Chen J. Physicians cite hurdles ranging from lack of coverage to poor communication in providing high-quality care to latinos. Health Affairs, 2011;30(10):1921-9.

2. Contributions to U.S. Immigrant Health Care Research:

Vargas Bustamante A, Chen J.  The great recession and health spending among uninsured U.S. citizens and non-citizens: implications for the afffordable care act implementationHealth Services Research, 2014 Dec;49(6):1900-24.

Vargas Bustamante A, Fang H, Garza J, Carter-Pokras O, Wallace SP, Rizzo JA, et al. Variations in healthcare access and utilization among Mexican immigrants: the role of documentation status. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Center for Minority Public Health, 2012;14(1):146-55.

Vargas Bustamante A, Chen J, Health expenditure dynamics and years of U.S. residence: analyzing spending disparities among Latinos by citizenship/nativity status. Health Services Research, 2012;47(2):794-818.

Chen J, Vargas-Bustamante A, Ortega AN. Health care expenditures among Asian American subgroups. Medical Care Research and Review, 2013;70(3):310-29.

3. Contributions to Cross-Border Health Care Research:

Vargas Bustamante A, Ojeda G, Castaneda X. Willingness to pay for cross-border health insurance between the United States and Mexico. Health Affairs, 2008;27(1):169-78.

Laugesen MJ, Vargas-Bustamante A. A patient mobility framework that travels: European and United States-Mexican comparisons. Health Policy, 2010;97(2-3):225-31.

Vargas Bustamante A, Laugesen M, Caban M, Rosenau P.  United States-Mexico cross-border health insurance initiatives: Salud Migrante and medicare in Mexico. Pan American Journal of Public Health, 2012;31(1):74-80.

Gonzalez Block MA, Vargas Bustamante A, de la Sierra LA, Martinez Cardoso A. Redressing the limitations of the affordable care act for Mexican immigrants through bi-national health insurance: a willingness to pay study in Los Angeles. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Center for Minority Public Health, 2014;16(2):179-88.

4. Contributions to Comparative Health Systems Research:

Vargas Bustamante A.  The tradeoff between centralized and decentralized health services: evidence from rural areas in Mexico. Social Science & Medicine, 2010;71(5):925-34.

Vargas Bustamante AComparing federal and state healthcare provider performance in villages targeted by the conditional cash transfer programme of Mexico. Tropical Medicine & International Health: TM & IH, 2011;16(10):1251-9.

Vargas-Bustamante A. Menu labeling perception & health behaviors between immigrant and U.S.-born minority populations: assessment in two Los Angeles public marketsSalud Pública, 2013;55 Suppl 4:S515-22.

Vargas Bustamante A, Mendez CA. Healthcare privatization in Latin America: what explains diverging healthcare privatization policies in Chile, Colombia and MexicoJournal of Health Care Politics, Policy and the Law, 2014;39(4):841-86.

Jack Needleman

Jack Needleman, PhD, FAAN, is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Associate Director of the UCLA Patient Safety Institute. He teaches courses in health policy analysis and American political institutions and health policy in the master’s programs and research design and research methods to doctoral and MS students, and has previously taught program and policy evaluation. He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Dr. Needleman’s research focuses on the impact of changing markets and public policy on quality and access to care, and health care provider and insurer responses to market and regulatory incentives. For the past decade, Dr. Needleman’s research has focused on studies of quality and staffing in hospitals and on the evaluation and design of performance improvement activities.  Three of Dr. Needleman’s first authored publications on quality of care and nurse staffing are designated patient safety classics by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Quality measures he developed have been adopted by AHRQ, Medicare, Joint Commission, and National Quality Forum and his expertise developing, testing and refining quality measures has been tapped by these and other organizations. He was lead evaluator for the Robert Wood Johnson initiative Transforming Care at the Bedside and serves on the Steering Council for the NIH-funded Improvement Science Research Network.

Dr. Needleman’s research extends beyond nursing. He has directed projects on a wide range of topics, including studies of for-profit and nonprofit hospitals, the impact of community health centers on hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions, and changes in access to inpatient care for psychiatric conditions and substance abuse. He has had a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award to study the future of public hospitals. He studied Canadian provisional systems for paying and regulating hospitals, physicians and supplemental health insurers, and regulating new technology. Prior to coming to UCLA in 2003, Dr. Needleman was on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health and before that was Vice President and Co-Director of the Public Policy Practice at Lewin/ICF, a Washington health policy research and consulting firm. While at Lewin/ICF, he conducted studies and served as a consultant to numerous state and federal task forces examining health care costs and access to care, and evaluated or helped design payment systems for hospitals, physicians and nursing homes.

Dr. Needleman’s research on the impact of nurse staffing and nurses’ working conditions on patient outcomes in hospitals and the business case for increasing nurse staffing received the first AcademyHealth Health Services Research Impact Award. In 2007, he was inducted as an honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.  He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine.

Education: 

PhD, Harvard University

Selected Publications: 

Needleman, Jack, Peter I. Buerhaus, Catherine Vanderboom and Marcelline Harris. “Using Present-on-Admission Coding to Improve Exclusion Rules for Quality Metrics: The Case of Failure-to-Rescue.”  Medical Care. 2013; 51(8):722-30. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e31829808de

Needleman, Jack. “Assessing Low Mortality in Magnet Hospitals.” Medical Care. 2013; 51(5): 379-81.

Wyte-Lake, Tamar, Kim Tran, Candice C. Bowman, Jack Needleman and Aram Dobalian. “A Systematic Review of Strategies to Address the Clinical Nursing Faculty Shortage.” Journal of Nursing Education. 2013; 52(5):245-252.

Needleman, Jack, Peter Buerhaus, V. Shane Pankratz, Cynthia L. Leibson, Susanna R. Stevens and Marcelline Harris.  “Nurse Staffing and Inpatient Hospital Mortality.” New England Journal of Medicine. 2011; 364(11):1037-45 [AHRQ Designated Patient Safety Classic]

Yee, Tracy, Jack Needleman, Marjorie Pearson, and Patricia Parkerton. “Nurse manager perceptions of the impact of process improvements by nurses.” Journal of Nursing Care Quality 2011; 26 (3):226-35.

Needleman, Jack, and Ann F. Minnick. “Response to Commentary: What Conclusions Can We Draw from Recent Analyses of Anesthesia Provider Model and Patient Outcomes?” Health Services Research 2010; 45 (5):1397-1406.

Needleman, Jack, Patricia H. Parkerton, Marjorie L. Pearson, Lynn M. Soban, Valda V. Upenieks and Tracy Yee. “Impacts on the Learning Community Hospitals of Transforming Care at the Bedside.” American Journal of Nursing 2009; 109(11 Suppl):59-65.

Needleman, Jack. “Is What’s Good for the Patient Good for the Hospital? Aligning Incentives and the Business Case for Nursing.” Journal of Politics, Policy and Nursing Care 2008;  9(2):80-7

Needleman, Jack, Ellen T. Kurtzman, and Kenneth W. Kizer. “Performance Measurement of Nursing Care: State of the Science and the Current Consensus.” Medical Care Research and Review 64, no. 2S (2007): 10S-43S.

Needleman, Jack, Peter I. Buerhaus, Maureen Stewart, Katya Zelevinsky, and Soeren Mattke. “Nurse Staffing in Hospitals: Is There a Business Case for Quality?” Health Affairs 25, no. 1 (2006): 204-11. [AHRQ Designated Patient Safety Classic]

Berney, Barbara, and Jack Needleman. “Impact of Nursing Overtime on Nurse Sensitive Patient Outcomes in New York Hospitals, 1995-2000.” Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice 7, no. 2 (2006): 87-100.

Falik, Marilyn, Jack Needleman, Robert Herbert, Barbara Wells, Robert Politzer, and M. Beth Benedict. “Comparative Effectiveness of Health Centers as Regular Source of Care: Application of Sentinel Acsc Events as Performance Measures.” Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 29, no. 1 (2006): 24-35.

Bazzoli, Gloria J., Richard C. Lindrooth, Romana Hasnain-Wynia, and Jack Needleman. “The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and U.S. Hospital Operations.” Inquiry 41, no. 4 (2004): 401-17.

Needleman, Jack, Peter Buerhaus, Soeren Mattke, Maureen Stewart and Katya Zelevinsky, “Measuring Hospital Quality: Can Medicare Data Substitute for All Payer Data?.” Health Services Research 2003; 38(6):1487-1508.

Buerhaus, Peter and Jack Needleman, Soeren Mattke and Maureen Stewart, “Strengthening Hospital Nursing.” Health Affairs 2002; 21(5):123-132.

Needleman, Jack, Peter Buerhaus, Soeren Mattke, Maureen Stewart and Katya Zelevinsky, “Nurse-Staffing Levels and the Quality of Care in Hospitals,” New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 346(22): 1715-1722. Abstracted in The Yearbook of Anesthesiology and Pain Management 2003. [AHRQ Designated Patient Safety Classic]

Needleman, Jack, “The Role of Nonprofits in Health Care,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 2001; 26(5):1043-1060.

Marilyn Falik, Jack Needleman, Barbara L.Wells, and Jodi Korb, “Ambulatory Care Sensitive Hospitalizations and Emergency Visits: Experiences of Medicaid Patients Using Federally Qualified Health Centers,” Medical Care 2001; 39(6):551-561.

Needleman, Jack, JoAnn Lamphere and Deborah Chollet, “Uncompensated Care and Hospital Conversions in Florida,” Health Affairs 1999; 18(4):125-133.

Needleman, Jack, “Nonprofit to For-Profit Conversions by Hospitals, Health Insurers, and Health Plans,” Public Health Reports 1999; 114(2):108-119.

Needleman, Jack, Chollet, Deborah J., and Lamphere, JoAnn, “Conversions of Public and Not-for-Profit Hospitals to For-Profit Status,” Health Affairs, 1997; 16(2):187-195.

Needleman, Jack, “Sources and Policy Implications of Uncertainty in Risk Assessment.” Statistical Science: A Review Journal of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics 1988; 3:328-338.

Bailar, John C., III, Jack Needleman, Barbara Berney and J. Michael McGuiness, editors, Assessing Risks to Health: Methodological Approaches. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1993.

 

Gerald Kominski

Gerald Kominski is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. His research focuses on evaluating the costs and financing of public insurance programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Workers’ Compensation. He is also working extensively on evaluating the expected and actual impacts of health care reform and has co-led the development of a microsimulation model (CalSIM) for forecasting eligibility, enrollment, and expenditures under health reform. He currently serves as PI of several multi-year evaluations of Medicaid 1115 waiver demonstration projects in California involving disease management for fee-for-service Medi-Cal beneficiaries and expansion of coverage for low-income uninsured adults otherwise ineligible for Medi-Cal through county-based indigent care programs. From 2003-2009, he served as Vice Chair for the Cost Impact Analysis Team of the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP), which conducts legislative analyses for the California legislature of proposals to expand mandated insurance benefits. From 2001-2008, he was Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Dr. Kominski received his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in 1985, and his A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1978. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA in 1989, he served for three and a half years as a staff member of the agency now known as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). He is co-author of over 120 articles and reports, and is editor of the widely used textbook, Changing the U.S. Health Care System:  Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management, which will be published in its 4th edition in 2014.

Selected Publications:

Kominski GF (ed.). Changing the U.S. Health Care System: Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management, 4th Edition, San Francisco: Wiley and Sons, 2014.

Roby DH, Jacobs K, Kertzner AE, Kominski GF. California health policy research program - supporting policy making through evidence and responsive research. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 2014; 34(4):887-900.

Davis AC, Watson G, Pourat N, Kominski GF, Roby DH. Disparities in CD4 monitoring among HIV-positive Medicaid beneficiaries: Evidence of differential treatment at the point of care. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 2014;1(2):42.

Pourat N, Davis AC, Chen X, Vrungos S, Kominski GF. In California, primary care continuity was associated with reduced emergency department use and fewer hospitalizations. Health Affairs 2015;34(7):1113-1120.

Jones AL, Cochran SD, Leibowitz A, Wells KB, Kominski GF, Mays VM. Usual primary care provider characteristics of a patient-centered medical home and mental health service use. J Gen Intern Med 2015; 30(12):1828-1836.

Gans D, Hadler M, Chen X, Wu SH, Dimand R, Abramson JM, Diamant AL, Kominski GF. Impact of a pediatric palliative care program on the caregiver experience. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing 2015;17(6):559-565.

Lucia L, Dietz M, Jacobs K, Chen X, Kominski GF. Which Californians will Lack Health Insurance under the Affordable Care Act?Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, January 2015.

Meng YY, Diamant A, Jones J, Lin W, Chen X, Wu SH, Pourat N, Roby D, Kominski GF. Racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes care and impact of vendor-based disease management programs. Diabetes Care 2016;39(5):743-749.

Gans D, Hadler MW, Chen X, Wu S, Dimand R, Abramson JM, Ferrell B, Diamant AL, Kominski GF. Cost analysis and policy implications of a pediatric palliative care program. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2016; 52(3):329-335.

Labovitz JM, Kominski GF. Forecasting the value of podiatric medical care in newly insured diabetic patients during implementation of the Affordable Care Act in California. Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association 2016; 106( 3):163-171.

Sorenson A, Nonzee NJ, Kominski GF. Public Funds Account for Over 70 Percent of Health Care Spending in California. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, August 2016.

Mager-Mardeusz H, Kominski GF. More than 400,000 Californians with Developmental Disabilities Remain Outside the State Safety Net. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, November 2016.

Dietz M, Lucia L, Kominski GF, Jacobs K. ACA Repeal in California: Who Stands to Lose? Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, December 2016.

Kominski GF, Nonzee NJ, Sorensen A. The Affordable Care Act’s impacts on access to insurance and health care for low-income populations. Annual Review of Public Health 2017; 38:489–505.

Kenya L. Covington

Kenya L. Covington conducts empirical research that examines social and economic inequality associated with the structural makeup of metropolitan areas. Her work suggests ways to better utilize social and urban policies that likely mitigate disparities in economic opportunity and well-being overall.

For over a decade she was professor of urban studies and planning at California State University Northridge and concluded her tenure as full professor. In 2015 she was named Distinguished Teacher of the Year.

Professor Covington teaches courses on Housing Policy, Introduction to Public Policy, Research Methods, Forces of Urbanization, Social Inequality and Urban Poverty. She joined the Public Policy faculty at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in 2017. 

Dr. Covington actively participates in APPAM, Urban Affairs, ACSP and the Population Association of America. Over her career, Dr. Covington’s articles have appeared in the Journal of Urban Studies, Brookings Institution Policy Briefs, Journal of Urban Affairs, the International Journal on Economic Development, the Harvard Journal on Legislation, the National Urban League’s 2003 and 2004 publication titled The State of Black America, and The Review of Black Political Economy, among other publications.

Jody Heymann

Dr. Heymann established and will continue to lead the first global initiative to examine health and social policy in all 193 UN nations. This initiative provides an in-depth look at how health and social policies affect the ability of individuals, families and communities to meet their health needs across the economic and social spectrum worldwide. In addition to carrying out award-winning global social policy research, Heymann carried out some of the original studies on the risk of HIV transmission via breast milk to infants in Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS on tuberculosis rates in Africa, and how labor conditions impact the health and welfare of families globally.

She has authored and edited more than 200 publications, including 15 books. These include Changing Children’s Chances(Harvard University Press, 2013), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2010), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009),Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), Global Inequalities at Work (Oxford University Press, 2003), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2000).

Deeply committed to translating research into policies and programs that improve individual and population health, Dr. Heymann has worked with government leaders in North America, Europe, Africa and Latin America as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, UNICEF and UNESCO. Central to her efforts is bridging the gap between research and policymakers. She has helped develop legislation with the U.S. Congress as well as with UN agencies based on the implications of her team’s research results. Dr. Heymann’s findings have been featured on CNN Headline News; MSNBC; Good Morning America; Fox News; National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Marketplace;” in The New York TimesWashington Post; Los Angeles Times; Business Week; Inc; Portfolio; Forbes India and USA Today, among other internationally and nationally syndicated programs and press.

Karen Kaufmann

Karen Kaufmann is a lecturer in the department of Public Policy in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.  She received her Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and was an Associate Professor in Government and Politics at the University of Maryland before returning to California.

Kaufmann’s research on urban politics explores the nature of power in American cities and the ever-present challenges that political leaders face with respect to enacting policies that aid the poor. Kaufmann (with collaborator Thomas Holbrook) was awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study race relations and political behavior in American cities.  Her work examines local politics in the context of diversity, with an eye to the roles that competing interests and incentives play in undermining successful minority coalitions. She is the author of numerous articles and two books — “The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities” (University of Michigan Press) and “Unconventional Wisdom: Facts and Myths about American Voters” (with John R. Petrocik and Daron R. Shaw, Oxford University Press).

Kaufmann teaches classes on urban poverty and public policy, urban politics and U.S. housing policy.

 

SELECTED BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS

The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities
University of Michigan Press, 2004
The Consequences of Marriage and Motherhood: How Gender Traits Influence Voter Evaluations of Female Candidates
Journal of Women, Politics and PolicyFebruary 2015, 6:1:1-21 (with Melissa Bell).
Turf Wars: Local Context and Latino Political Development
Urban Affairs Review, January 2012, Volume 48:1:111-147 (with Benjamin Bishin and Daniel Stevens).
Political Behavior in the Context of Racial Diversity: The Case for Studying Local Politics
January 2011, 
PS: Political Science and Politics (with Antonio Rodriguez).
Battleground States versus Blackout States: The Behavioral Implications of Modern Presidential Campaigns
Journal of Politics, August 2007, Volume 69 (3):786-797 (with Jim Gimpel and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz).
Immigration and the Future of Black Power in American Cities
Du Bois Review, (spring) March 2007, Volume 4 (1):79-96.

Darin Christensen

Darin Christensen is an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his Ph.D. in political science and M.A. in economics from Stanford University.

Darin studies political economy, focusing on institutions and policies that promote investment and mitigate social conflict in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. He has consulted on projects for The Asia Foundation, USAID, and The World Bank.

Darin is a co-founder of the Project on Resources and Governance (PRG) and an affiliate of several academic centers, including the California Center for Population Research, Center for Effective Global Action, Evidence in Governance and Politics, and UCLA’s African Studies Center.

More information about his research and teaching can be found at darinchristensen.com.

Jim Newton

Jim Newton is a veteran journalist, author and teacher. In 25 years at the Los Angeles Times, Newton worked as a reporter, editor, bureau chief, columnist and, from 2007 through 2010, editor of the editorial pages.

He is the recipient of numerous national and local awards in journalism and participated in two staff efforts, coverage of the 1992 riots and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, that were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 2022, he was chosen by the American Political Science Association for the Carey McWilliams Award, which honors a journalist or organization each year for intellectual forthrightness and political independence in memory of a California lawyer who became an influential political leader, author and editor.

Before joining the Los Angeles Times, he was a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he began his career as the 1985-86 clerk to New York Times columnist James Reston. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

He came to UCLA full-time in early 2015 to teach in Communication Studies and Public Policy and to found Blueprint, a new UCLA magazine (blueprint.ucla.edu) addressing the policy challenges facing California and Los Angeles in particular. He serves as the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Newton also is a respected author of four important, best-selling and critically acclaimed works of history: Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown (Little, Brown and Company, 2020); Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (Riverhead, 2006); Eisenhower: The White House Years (Doubleday, 2011); and Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace (Penguin Press, 2014), a collaboration with former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. He recently signed with Random House to produce a book on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s. It’s tentatively slated for publication in 2025.