Contact the California Diabetes Program

Dean Schillinger is a practicing primary care physician at SFGH and a professor at UCSF who joined the California Diabetes Program as Program Chief in April 2008. He will continue in his clinical and academic work while leading the California Diabetes Program, retaining his position as a Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco and continuing as a practicing primary care physician at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), an urban public hospital, where he sees patients, teaches in the primary care residency program, and conducts research. In his administrative capacities, he has directed the Medi-Cal managed care clinic at SFGH, the ambulatory care clinics at SFGH, and has been the Director of Clinical Operations for the Department of Medicine. He is currently the Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, a new research center committed to transforming clinical and public health practice by improving health communication for socially vulnerable people, and the chair of a UCSF-wide translational research committee to expand the scope and quality of implementation and dissemination sciences.

Dr. Schillinger has focused his research on healthcare for vulnerable populations. His current work has focused on literacy, health communication, and chronic disease prevention and management. He has carried out a number of studies exploring the impact of limited health literacy on the care of patients with diabetes and heart disease, and was honored with the 2003 Institute for Healthcare Advancement Research Award for this work. He has been awarded grants from NIH, The California Endowment, The Commonwealth Fund, AHRQ, and the California Health Care Foundation to develop and evaluate care management programs tailored to the literacy and language needs of patients with chronic disease, and is a co-investigator for the National Association of Public Health and Hospital Institute’s Diabetes Quality Improvement Consortium.

Dr. Schillinger contributed to the 2004 Institute of Medicine Report on Health Literacy, is a section editor for the textbooks Understanding Health Literacy (AMA press) and Caring for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations (Lange series, 2007), and is a former member of the American College of Physician’s Health Communication Advisory Board. He completed an Open Society Institute Advocacy Fellowship working with California Literacy, Inc., a non-profit educational organization that helps people gain literacy skills, to advance the California Health Literacy Initiative. He recently returned from a semester as Visiting Scholar at the University of Chile’s School of Public Health to help develop chronic disease prevention and treatment initiatives.

Dr. Schillinger is a father of 9-year old twin boys and a 1-year old girl, and his spouse is a legal services attorney who is managing attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid.

Susan Lopez-Payan will continue to serve as fulltime Coordinator of the California Diabetes Program and will manage daily operations.

Susan joined the California Diabetes Program in the California Department of Public Health in 2000 and is the Program Manager. In 2012 she was elected Chair of the National Association of Chronic Disease Director’s Diabetes Council, which includes members from all U.S. states and territories.

Susan participated in the development of the Medicaid Diabetes Prevention and Management Initiative, which was part of the Governor’s 2007 Healthcare Reform Proposal. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Diabetes Coalition of California since 2003. She also served on the Evaluation Workgroup of the National Diabetes Education Program and was on the Executive Committee of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Diabetes Primary Prevention Initiative. In 2009 Susan received the Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional University Management from the University of California San Francisco.

Susan was a Creative Director and Vice President of an award-winning marketing communications and research firm in Washington, DC that specialized in marketing intangibles. Clients included the National Science Foundation, Indian Health Service, Federal Occupational Health, National Health Service Corps, Federal Highways Administration, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Houston Associates International. She earned awards from the International Association of Business Communicators, Sacramento Ad Club, and the National Association of Government Communicators. She was also a contributing writer for the book Notable Hispanic American Women, published by Gale Research.

Susan earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from California State University Fresno and completed a Business and Management certificate program from the University of California, Davis. She also studied art at UC Santa Cruz, the Corcoran, the Smithsonian Institute, Oakland College of Arts and Crafts, Sedona Arts Center and with private instructors including Ken Potter, Jan Sitts, Ernie Clausen, and Barbara Jackson.

As a Senior Area Health Promotion Specialist in the Northern Central Valley Area, Tami works to improve diabetes awareness and prevention efforts through links between the California Department of Public Health, communities, grassroots collaborative efforts and organizational partners.

Currently Tami manages the Diabetes and Tobacco Collaboration project and is the lead for the Diabetes and Tobacco Do you cAARd? task force.  She also provides consultation and support to state and regional health care professionals and organizations on diabetes and diabetes prevention.

Tami received her bachelor’s of science from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, completed post-graduate work in Exercise Science from California State University Long Beach, and received her master’s degree in Public Health from California State University Northridge.

Tami has worked in the health education field for over 23 years as a community health educator, facilitator and trainer in many health arenas. This experience includes work in diabetes education, physical and exercise therapy, wellness, breast cancer prevention, childhood injury prevention, student health, alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. Tami also has diverse experience in program planning and development, managed health care, community collaboration, training and facilitation, curriculum and materials development, as well as social marketing.

Tami is currently a member of the American Public Health Association, the Diabetes Coalition of California, the American Association of Diabetes Educators and the Golden Empire Diabetes Educators AADE Chapter.

As a Senior Health Promotion Specialist, Karin helps health care professionals and community organizations to provide evidence-based diabetes management and prevention services. She leads the California Diabetes Program’s diabetes prevention efforts, including supporting health care and community organizations in their implementation of the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program. Karin also serves as the program’s Evaluation Lead, assisting colleagues to develop and implement evaluation plans for their public health interventions. Since joining the California Diabetes Program in 2006, Karin has also delved into strategic planning and grant writing, facilitating discussions among program staff and partners about the priorities of the program and ways to achieve its goals.  Karin earned her Bachelor's degrees in Ethnic Studies and Spanish from UC Berkeley, a Master's degree in Education form Harvard University, and a Master's degree in Public Health from UCLA.  She also achieved the designation of Master Certified Health Education Specialist from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.  For the last sixteen years, she has worked in public health and social service organizations addressing diverse issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, and chronic disease.

Gary has served as a biostatistician and the Diabetes Epidemiology and Surveillance Lead for the Diabetes Program since 2000. He assists in the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of comprehensive diabetes programs, selects appropriate methodologies in public health study designs, performs statistical data analysis in clinical research and epidemiological studies, and translates research findings for specific audiences. Dr. He has participated in state, national and international collaborative diabetes projects, including Diabetes Risk Tests in California Elder Adults, the Medi-Cal type 2 Diabetes Project, the U.S.-Mexico Border Diabetes Project, and the Diabetes Information Resources Center. He serves as a member of the Scientific Committee for the U.S.-Mexico Border Diabetes Project. Gary is fluent in Chinese.

Gary received a PhD degree in biostatistics from University of California, Davis in 1999, and a master’s degree in statistics from University of Texas, El Paso in 1989. He was a biostatistician for the California Department of Fish and Game from 1992 to 2000, and a computer system analyst for Apex Computer Systems, Inc. from 1990 to 1992.

Gary has conducted independent and collaborative research in the areas of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics such as sample surveys, clinical trials, survival analysis, longitudinal analysis, nonparametric modeling, and functional data analysis. A partial list of publications includes:

• He, G. et al, Decreasing the Risk of Diabetic Retinopathy in a Study of Case Management: The California Medi-Cal Type 2 Diabetes Study, Diabetes Care (manuscript).
• He, G., Müller, H. G., and Wang, J. L., Functional linear modeling and canonical regression analysis, Annals of Statistics, 2004.
• He, G., et al, Closing the gap: effect of diabetes case management on glycemic control among low-income ethnic minority populations: the California Medi-Cal Type 2 Diabetes Study, Diabetes Care, 27:95-103, 2004.
• He, G., Müller, H. G., and Wang, J. L., Functional canonical analysis for square integrable stochastic processes, Journal of Multivariate Analysis, 2002.
• He, G., Müller, H. G., and Wang, J. L., Methods of canonical analysis for functional data, Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, Special Issue on Contemporary Data Analysis: Theory and Practice, MS. No. 111, 2002.
• He, G., Müller, H. G., and Wang, J. L., Extending correlation and regression from multivariate to functional data, Asymptotics in Statistics and Probability, ed. M Puri, pp. 197-210, 2000.
• Grassi, K., Guadalupe, G., Tello, P., and He, G., La Vida Caminando: A community-based physical activity program designed by and for rural Latino families, Journal of Health Education 30 no.2 S13-S17, 1999.

Sarah joined the California Diabetes Program in September 2002. As the Diabetes Information Resource Center (DIRC) Administrator, Sarah oversees all aspects of the website, including training and technical assistance; and she also serves as the liaison between the California Diabetes Program and the site webmaster.  Sarah provides contract administrative support for a 5-year project called Medicaid Incentives for prevention of Chronic Diseases.  In additiion, Sarah assists in implementing key projects as needed such as the National Diabetes Prevention Program, San Joquin County Diabetes Self-Management project, and surveillance reports. Sarah also provides administrative support for a wide range of State and Federal Government assignments.  She also assists in the hiring process

Prior to joining the California Diabetes Program, Sarah worked at the Department of Defense for 16 years and later transferred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) – Immigration and Natural Service (INS) as an Analyst.  She remained with DOJ - INS until 1999 when she relocated back to Sacramento to be closer to her family.

Sarah is married and has two sons.  Sarah and her husband are contributing writers for the Philippine Fiesta, a local Filipino Newspaper.  She is fluent in Tagalog.  Also, Sarah is very active in the local community-at-large.  She is currently serving as President of the Filipino Women’s Club for the second two-year term.  Sarah is a member of the Maharlika Lions Club as 3rd Vice President, District 4-C5 Lions Clubs International.  She is currently the Sacramento Region Lion of the Year and was recently selected as one of the top three finalists for Lion of Year at the Multiple District 4 Convention Academy Awards.  She is involved in many community service projects for the indigent population of Sacramento and Vicinity.

MIQS Outreach Coordinator:

Cynthia (Cindy) Vela joins the California Diabetes Program as an Outreach Specialist for California’s Medi-Cal Incentive to Quit Smoking Program. Before joining the CDP, Cindy worked for Sutter Health as a Nutritionist and brings with her more than twenty years of health education experience, working with all age groups and diverse demographics as part of the Interdisciplinary Team of Care for patients. Cindy also conducted classes and presentations on chronic disease management, having been certified in the Stanford Model of Chronic Disease Self-Management. Most recently, Cindy worked as a Certified Wellness Coach providing personalized coaching and counseling on topics such as healthy eating, weight management, heart health, diabetes prevention and smoking cessation for Sutter Health’s employee wellness program. Cindy feels preventive health is essential to enjoying a high quality life and she embraces promoting healthy lifestyles. Cynthia obtained her B.S. in Gerontology with a concentration in Health Education from California State University, Sacramento.

Susan (Sue) Kratochvil-Smith also joins the California Diabetes Program as an Outreach Specialist for California’s Medi-Cal Incentive to Quit Smoking Program. With more than 15 years of experience in the health care field specializing in outreach and promotion, marketing and communications, writing and publications, and strategic planning, Sue will be an asset to the program. After receiving her B.A. in Journalism and Public Relations from San Jose State University, Sue acquired her Master’s degree in Public Health from Walden University. She completed her MPH practicum in the Communications and Outreach Program for the CDPH California Reportable Disease Information Exchange. Most recently, Sue worked as a volunteer in Health Education and Communications for the California Department of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Health and Vector Control division.

Melissa Mallory supports both the diabetes and arthritis programs as an Associate Governmental Program Analyst. She performs analytical and fiscal tasks necessary to carry out the functions of both programs. Melissa has a wide range of skills and provides programmatic support for various projects. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Spanish, Melissa obtained her teaching credential from CSU, San Marcos. Melissa has taught both elementary and adult education as a structured English immersion teacher in southern California. In 2009, she moved to Sacramento where she worked as an Education Consultant providing trainings on researched-based teaching methods in various school districts across California. Melissa received her Master’s in Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in Collaborative Governance from CSU, Sacramento where she studied collaborative methods used by community-based women’s organizations in Mali.