CIRHM Staff

CIRHM Staff

Gail Nickerson, CIRHM Executive Director

Gail Nickerson is the current Executive Director of CIRHM. She is responsible for the programmatic direction of CIRHM projects. She was formerly the Executive Director of North Country Clinic in Arcata, California. She joined Rosenberg and Associates as a Senior Health Systems Consultant.

Associates

Luisa Buada, R.N., M.P.H.

Luisa Buada served as Project Director for the DRIS Initiative. She is also the former Executive Director of CIRHM. She is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the ALPHA Center's Networking for Rural Health Project, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Luisa is a native multi-ethnic Californian with extensive experience in addressing the health care needs of vulnerable and underserved populations in both rural and urban environments. Prior to joining CIRHM, she acted as the Chief Operating Officer of Lifelong Medical Care, a community health center corporation, associated with Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley. At Lifelong and as Founding Executive Director one of its predecessor clinics, Berkeley Primary Care Access Clinic, she developed successful collaborative partnerships with public health and community organization and directed Lifelong's transition to managed care systems. She was a board member of the Monterey County Special Health Care Authority, a Medi-Cal organized health system. Luisa was a founding board member for the Community Health Center Network in Alameda County, a managed care integrated network of eight participating community health center corporations.

Luisa received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the UCSF, School of Nursing in 1977 and her Masters degree in Public Health Policy and Administration from UCB in 1990.

James Teevans, J.D.

James W. Teevans, our beloved co-worker, was a private attorney as well as the General Counsel and Senior Consultant with Rosenberg and Associates, a national health care consulting firm located in Oakland, California. Mr. Teevans specialized in rural health care legal issues, including antitrust law.

Prior to joining Rosenberg and Associates, James was a member of a leading Chicago law firm, where he was trial counsel in three recent major health care actions.

James tried and won the Ukiah California hospital merger case against the Federal Trade Commission which had a significant impact on how the federal government analyzes collaborations between rural providers.

James counseled many public and private entities concerning policy and operational issues related to regulating providers and rural integrated delivery systems. James was also admitted to practice before numerous federal courts. Along with being a member of the American Bar Association and the American Health Lawyers Association, he published many articles and spoke at many conferences concerning health care legal and policy issues.

James received his B.A., summa cum laude from Loyola University of Chicago and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

James passed away on March 8, 2004, at age 40.

Steve Rosenberg, Principal,
Rosenberg and Associates

Steve Rosenberg is the Principal of Rosenberg and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in the strategic development of rural health care delivery systems.

Sheldon Weisgrau, Community System Consultant Phase I,

Sheldon Weisgrau is a Senior Consultant with Rural Health Consultants, Inc. of Lawrence, Kansas. Sheldon has fifteen years of experience in health care policy, planning and administration and has spent the past eight years working exclusively on rural health system development and community issues. He is a nationally recognized expert in rural health network and limited service hospital development and has written and spoken extensively on these topics.

Prior to joining Rural Health Consultants, Sheldon was the key rural health contact for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and was responsible for a number of programs dealing with the development of alternative health care financing and delivery models for rural areas.

Sheldon received his B.S. from Cornell University and a Masters Degree in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Steve McDowell, Community System Consultant for Lompoc and Indian Wells Valley,
Rural Health Associates

Steve McDowell is the President of Rural Health Consultants, Inc. Steve's understanding of health care delivery and the need for integrated systems of care has been shaped by fourteen years of experience, both clinical and administrative, in hospitals, nursing homes, home health, hospice, primary care and public health.

Steve is the Project Director for the Kansas Health Foundation's Integrated Community Health Development Project. He has worked in development and implementation of both provider based rural delivery networks and in community based planning efforts to create integrated systems of care.

Steve has a B.S. Degree in Economics from Grinnell College and a M.A. in Social Work from the University of Kansas.

Bobbie Wunsch, Community System Consultant for Imperial,
Pacific Health Consulting Group

Bobbie Wunsch, M.B.A., a principal in Pacific Health Consulting Group, is an independent health care and management consultant who specializes in the restructuring of health care delivery organizations in a managed care environment. Bobbie provides strategic operations planning and practice management consultation to community clinics, county health organizations, ambulatory care centers and private medical groups on issues such as managed care contracting, redesign for improved efficiency, reducing overhead, managing the change process and consolidated practice modes.

Bobbie has spent the last 25 years working in and with the public health sector in the delivery of women's reproductive health, primary care and community health services. Financing and operating primary health services in a managed care environment now occupies much of Bobbie's time.

Bobbie is currently working on the development of a number of Medicaid managed care programs in the particular area of organizational development, provider recruitment and contracting.

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