Board of Directors

Medical Director, Infection Control and Pharmacy for Sutter Health

Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy University of Southern California

Retired Chief Medical Officer and past Chief of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Watts Healthcare Corporation

Professor of Pediatrics Division of Infectious Diseases Director, Pediatric Immunization Advancement (PIA) Laboratory, University of California, San Diego

Health Program Manager, Sacramento County Public Health

Pediatric Physician for
Southern Orange County Pediatric Association

Follow me on X-Twitter @DrEricBall

Founding Member, CIC Principal, Bourne & Associates

Medical Director, UC Irvine Student Health Center

Executive Director, Health Officers Association of California

Pediatrician at Pacific Pediatrics in San Francisco

Special Assistant to the Chief Medical Officer at Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

Improvement Advisor | Senior Quality Improvement Project Manager

Partnership HealthPlan of California

Family Medicine and Sports Medicine Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Jeffrey Silvers, MD

Jeffrey Silvers, MD, is the Medical Director of Infection Control and Pharmacy for Sutter Health, where he serves as physician lead in antimicrobial stewardship, infection control, epidemiology, emerging infections and pharmacy for the health care system. Dr. Silvers works closely with the California Department of Public Health, having served on multiple advisory committees. After completing his medical training in the UCLA healthcare system, he spent 35 years caring for patients with complex infectious diseases. He is on the board of directors for the Infectious Disease Association of California, the Advisory Council for the California Immunization Coalition and is the lead author of the widely read Sutter Emerging Infections Newsletter.

Pia Pannaraj, MD, MPH

Pia Pannaraj, MD, MPH, is Professor of Pediatrics Division of Infectious Diseases; Director, Pediatric Immunization Advancement Laboratory, University of California, San Diego. She previously served as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the USC Keck School of Medicine and an Infectious Disease Specialist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Dr. Pannaraj has also directed the USC Pediatric Global Health Residency Track, and has written extensively and lectured nationally and internationally on vaccines, vaccine-preventable diseases, neonatal health and immunology. She has received multiple awards for her leadership including an American Physicians Foundation Outstanding Mentorship Award, several young researcher awards, and a Garvey School District award for her contribution to school health and disease prevention. Dr. Pannaraj was recently appointed as the Vice-Chair for the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, which is the “Red Book Committee”.

Dr. Pannaraj is a popular and sought after presenter for international, national, state and local educational events. She is our Immediate Past President and has also served as Vice President and Co-Chair of the Emerging Issues Committee.

Rachel Allen, RN

Rachel Allen is the Health Program Manager of the Immunization Assistance program and CPS Nursing Units for the Sacramento County Department of Health Services (DHS), Public Health Division. Prior to joining the Sacramento County DHS, she was the Immunization Coordinator for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services, where she planned all immunization activities, and superised Public Health Clinic operations, and coordinated and oversaw the Humboldt Immunization Coalition. In addition to her public health work for Sacramento County, she has helped to found and lead the Sacramento Valley Immunization Coalition.

Eric Ball, MD

Eric Ball, MD, is a primary care pediatrician at Southern Orange County Pediatric Associates, a member of the CHOC Children’s Primary Care Network. Dr. Ball is the immediate Past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Orange County and a member of the Board of Directors of the AAP-California. He also serves as an Assistant Medical Director with CHOC Health Alliance, serves on the Medical Leadership Council at Monarch Healthcare, and is a delegate to the California Medical Association House of Delegates, representing Orange County Physicians.

Dr. Ball received his degree at Duke University, attended medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and trained in pediatrics at Stanford University, where he also served as Chief Resident. Eric is a frequent contributor and media spokesperson on behalf of AAP and his practice. He was involved in support of recent legislation on SB 276 and worked in collaboration with other health professionals and advocacy groups to secure the passage of this and other legislation to support public health and immunizations.

Follow Dr. Ball on Twitter @DrEricBall

Lydia Bourne, RN

Lydia Bourne’s professional experiences are varied. Her primary professional experience has been in health care – as a Registered Nurse, health educator, program developer, and administrator. In addition to her professional experience, Ms. Bourne has long been active as a volunteer and community activist. Her legislative and regulatory experience includes health care, K -14 education, and professional licensure matters. She has been successful in navigating health and educational issues through the legislative process and in influencing Governors Wilson, Davis, Schwarzenegger and Brown to sign legislation on key issues. Presently she is owner of her own government relations firm – Bourne & Associates.

Lydia has been Executive Director and Legislative Advocate of the California School Nurses Association; Chair of the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board of Yolo County; Chair of the March of Dimes Public Affairs Committee, and Vice Chair of the March of Dimes Executive Committee. She also was a member of the Sacramento County Black Health Network and the Sacramento County Black Infant Health Community Advisory Board. She served in a variety of positions on the Shots for Tots board and has served on the CIC BOD several times.

Oliver Brooks, MD

Oliver Brooks, MD is the Chairman of the Immunize LA Families Coalition. He is a member of the national Leadership Panel for the Adolescent Immunization Initiative (AII), which advocated successfully for adding a column on the ACIP’s yearly vaccine recommendations in 2017. Dr. Brooks also has joined the Health and Human in June 2020, Dr. Brooks asked to, and joined the ACIP COVID-19 Work Group discussing and making recommendations to the ACIP regarding (potential) COVID-19 vaccine prioritization. Dr. Brooks is the immediate Past President of the National Medical Association (NMA), which represents the nation’s 55,000 African-American physicians. Dr. Brooks is Chief Medical Officer and past Chief of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Watts Healthcare Corporation in Los Angeles. He is a Medical Director for L.A. Care Health Plan, one of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care plans.

Albert Chang, MD, MPH

Albert Chang, MD, MPH, Dr. Chang is the Medical Director for Pediatrics and Preventive Care at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Student Health Center. Prior to his role at UCI, he served as the Regional Medical Director for AltaMed Health Services Corporation in Orange County. In this role, he was responsible for providing clinical oversight for 7 primary care clinics in Orange County, managing the Medical Directors at each site, advocating for the needs of over 60 medical providers, and supporting the delivery of care to over 65,000 patient lives.Dr. Chang has also worked as a Pediatric Consultant for the Orange County Health Care Agency, providing medical evaluation and direction for children with special needs through the California Children’s Services program.

Albert has a strong understanding of immunizations and other preventive services, pediatric care, policy development and implementation, training and continuing education, best practices and procedures, and regulatory issues, all of which would be assets when offering insights via the CIC Advisory Council. He is Past Chair of the Orange County Immunization Coalition and has supported CIC, including by coordinating and co-moderating the popular “Coalition Showcase in 2024s, 2025 and 2026, participating in several CIC committees and serving on the CIC Advisory Council prior to his election to the Board.

Dr. Chang obtained his MD/MPH combined degree from the Boston University School of Medicine, trained in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), and completed a Preventive Medicine Residency at UCLA.

Richard Dang, PharmD

Richard Dang, PharmD, APh

Dr. Dang is the Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Residency Program Director of the University of Southern California’s (USC) Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy.

He is the Immediate Past President, California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) and has been a long time advocate and educator about the importance of immunizations and pharmacy partnerships. Dr. Dang’s expertise in immunizations, travel health, and community health programs has led to his role as a leading advocate during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was Chair of the California Pharmacists Association COVID-19 Taskforce and a member of the USC COVID-19 vaccine planning steering committee, California State Testing Taskforce, California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Immunization Branch Pharmacy Taskforce, and Adult Workgroup of the Immunization Action Coalition of Los Angeles County (ICLAC).

Dr. Dang is also a medical consultant to international travel health and COVID-19 testing and vaccination companies. Dr. Dang has also been featured in numerous media outlets (including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, NPR, KNX News Radio, ABC7, the Los Angeles Business Journal, and BuzzFeed News) for his work and as a COVID-19/vaccination expert. Read more about Dr. Dang here at the USC website.

Kat DeBurgh, MPH

Kat DeBurgh, MPH, has a B.A. in politics from UC Santa Cruz and an MPH from the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill. She has been with the Health Officers Association of California (HOAC) since 2005. She began as an administrative assistant, then became the legislative assistant, assistant director, Director of Governmental Affairs, and was appointed executive director on October 1, 2014.

Representing the physician health officers in California’s diverse cities and counties means Kat gets to work on a variety of subjects, from water quality to food security, from vaccines to climate change. HOAC engages in continuing medical education, legislative advocacy, and special research projects in all areas of public health.

Yasuko Fukuda, MD

Yasuko Fukuda, MD, has been a general pediatrician at Pacific Pediatrics in San Francisco for over 30 years. She is on medical staff with California Pacific Medical Center and is Clinical Faculty with UCSF.

Dr. Fukuda has been active with immunization issues domestically and internationally, which has included work with the Japan Pediatric Society on vaccine hesitancy. Dr. Fukuda has also been active on the San Francisco Immunization Coalition, served as cochair for its Education Committee, and was recognized by the Coalition as an Immunization Champion in 2010.

In addition to her immunization activities, Dr. Fukuda has been a leader in organized medicine. She has held various leadership positions in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) District IX California with 5,000 member pediatricians and is the Immediate Past Chair. She also was formerly on the National AAP Board and serves as a liaison from AAP to the Japanese Pediatric Society’s Immunization and Advocacy projects. She has also served on various committees for California Pacific Medical Center and Brown and Toland Medical Group.

After graduating from UC Berkeley with degrees in Immunology/Microbiology and the Japanese language, Dr. Fukuda attended Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota. During her third year of medical school, she spent 6 months in Hiroshima, Japan, conducting research on atomic bomb survivors. She completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Oakland.

Julia Heinzerling, MPH

Julia Heinzerling, MPH, is the Special Assistant to the Chief Medical Officer at LA County DPH. In this role she coordinates special projects, develops communications for Departmental and external stakeholders, and is engaged in strategic planning and policy efforts. She also serves as the Managing Editor for LADPH’s newsletter, Rx for Prevention. Julia’s prior work focused primarily on health promotion, social support, disparities, quality improvement, and grants management. She received her MPH with a specialty in health policy and administration from UC Berkeley.

Ms. Heinzerling has been active with CIC for many years and was instrumental in leading the merger of the Adult Immunization Coalition and the California Childhood Immunization Coalition in 2008, resulting in CIC as a lifespan coalition. She has held a variety of leadership roles within CIC, including President, Vice President, lead Coordinator of the Disparities Work Group, member of the Summit Planning Committee, and currently serves as Governance Chair.

Pamela Kahn, MPH, RN

Pamela Kahn, MPH, RN, is the Coordinator for Health and Wellness at the Orange County Department of Education and she has been a credentialed school nurse for more than 20 years. In her first 12 years as a school nurse, she carried a caseload of approximately 10,000 7th-12th grade students spread among 5 schools. In addition to being responsible for the students’ care, she oversaw the training of unlicensed assistive school personnel. Currently, Ms. Kahn provides technical, advisory, and consultative services to the assistance and resources to the 28 school districts in Orange County, serving more than 500,000 students, in the areas of health education, nursing and health services, and nutrition services. Pamela has provided leadership for health programs improvement by developing strong relationships, collaborating and planning with the community at large, public and private community agencies, school district leaders, Orange County Department of Education staff and the State Department of Education.

Ms. Kahn is a Past President of the California School Nurses Organization (CSNO), and is a member of several professional organizations, including the California School-Based Health Alliance, the National Association of School Nurses, the Orange County School Nurses Organization, and the Orange County Immunization Coalition Advisory Committee.

Amanda Kim

Amanda Kim is an Improvement Advisor for Partnership HealthPlan of California, a non-profit community-based health care organization that insures Medi-Cal recipients across 24 Northern California Counties.  She brings over 20 years of experience in performance improvement project management and leads healthcare performance and quality improvement initiatives with healthcare providers and local health organizations, with a focus on improving pediatric health outcomes, including immunizations. She also has nearly 15 years of experience in managing projects and implementing performance improvement strategies for employers outside of the healthcare sector prior to joining Partnership HealthPlan.

Ms. Kim has been active in various immunization collaborations and facilitates the Shasta County Immunization Coalition. She has been an active member of the California Immunization Coalition, through the Annual Summit Planning Committee, the Emerging Issues Committee, and the Local Immunization Coalitions Leadership sessions. She has also presented on immunization topics for a variety of audiences including CIC, the California HPV Roundtable, and CDPH and DHCS Forums for Managed Care Plans, as well as conducted provider focused trainings.

Ms. Kim received her undergraduate degree at Murray State University

Alex McDonald, MD

Alex McDonald, MD,

Dr. McDonald is a Family Medicine and Sports Medicine specialist with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Fontana, where he is a core faculty member of the family medicine residency and sports medicine fellowship. He is also a clinical professor at the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine and serves as the team physician for California State University San Bernardino and Upland High School.  

In addition to his clinical experience, Dr. McDonald has been a leader in various partnerships. He serves on the Board of the San Bernardino County Medical Society and is Past President and executive committee member of the California Academy of Family Physicians. In addition, he’s active with the American Academy of Family Medicine as well as American Society for Sports Medicine. 

Dr. McDonald is a leader in promoting immunizations in California and nationally, particularly through social media. He co-founded #ThisIsOurShot during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led efforts on social media to combat mis- and dis-information about the COVID-19 vaccine. He also regularly sends messages to his patients and colleagues, promoting vaccines and preventative medicine. He has been active with the CIC Advisory Committee and has presented on CIC webinars and at the CIC Summit.

Dr. McDonald holds a BA from Connecticut College and a medical Degree from the University of Vermont Larnar College of Medicine. He completed his medical internship at Duke University followed by a Family Medicine residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship at Southern California Kaiser Permanente, Fontana.