CHEA - Key Persons
Ana Bonilla Martinez is a Program Coordinator at the Center for Health Equity Advancement. Ana earned a B.S. in Public Health from Rutgers, School of Arts and Science in 2017; she is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Pennsylvania Hospital
Job Titles:
- Vice Dean for Inclusion and Diversity of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Eve J. Higginbotham, SM, MD is the Vice Dean for Inclusion and Diversity at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute and Professor of Ophthalmology as she continues roles as clinical researcher and glaucoma specialist.
Prior to joining Penn in August 2013, Dr. Higginbotham served as a Visiting Scholar for Health Equity at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in Washington, D.C.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Clinical Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Job Titles:
- Director of Community Health Services
Heather Klusaritz, PhD, MSW is the Director of Community Health Services for the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives and the Associate Director of the Center for Community and Population Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Perelman School of Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Perelman School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Founder
- Member of the Leadership Team
Jaya Aysola MD, DTMH, MPH is the founder and Executive Director of CHEA and also the first Assistant Dean for Inclusion and Diversity at Penn Medicine.
Galvanize Penn Medicine efforts to identify and address disparities in care quality and outcomes.
Develop peer-reviewed evidence to guide efforts to operationalize inclusion and diversity.
Jaya Aysola MD, DTMH, MPH is the founder and Executive Director of CHEA and also the first Assistant Dean for Inclusion and Diversity at Penn Medicine. She leads the charge to:
Galvanize Penn Medicine efforts to identify and address disparities in care quality and outcomes.
Develop peer-reviewed evidence to guide efforts to operationalize inclusion and diversity.
Lead efforts to measure and advance diversity engagement and inclusion.
CHEA stems from her previous successes as the inaugural Associate DIO for Health Equity and Inclusion and Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education, where she introduced the Penn Medicine's Blueprint for Health Equity, founded the Health Equity Taskforce (now Alliance), and introduced Health Equity Week. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, with her primary appointment in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Aysola has an extensive education and experience in anthropology, public health, and health services research. Her research centers on evaluating system, provider, and patient level strategies to improve the uptake and quality of health care and health for historically marginalized populations and stems from her clinical, administrative, and policy experiences in resource-poor settings. Her work has led to high impact publications in JAMA Network, Health Affairs, New England Journal of Medicine, and Academic Medicine.
Dr. Aysola received a Bachelors of Science from University of Michigan, with high distinction in Anthropology and Zoology, and her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. After residency, she served as a diplomate from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, spending significant time in Cambodia, Thailand, and India developing and implementing care delivery models in resource poor settings. Her international experience translated well to care delivery in New Orleans, La., during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Aysola served as the Medical Director of the New Orleans Children's Health Project, a safety net clinic she developed to provide integrated primary care and behavioral health services in English and Spanish to historically marginalized populations. Her integrated primary care behavioral health clinic was an early adopter of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) standards, receiving recognition in 2008 by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). She received awards for her work delivering primary and mental health care to families after Hurricane Katrina and was asked by the Government Accountability Office to speak on the state of mental health of children in the Gulf Coast post-storm. In 2009, she expanded these operations and became the Section Chief of Community Pediatrics and Global Health at Tulane School of Medicine. Dr. Aysola thereafter received her Master of Public Health in Health Care Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, through the Commonwealth Fund-Harvard University Minority Health Policy Fellowship. In this position, she partnered with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to introduce PCMH standards to better capture care delivery to minority and historically marginalized populations. She then completed a two-year general medicine research fellowship at the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School and the Division of General Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. During this time, she continued her clinical work for historically marginalized populations as an attending physician for women and children at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Her extensive and varied work experiences guides her research inquiries, which consistently have focused on evaluating how health care models can improve access and care for those most in need.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education Designated Institutional Official ( DIO ), University of Pennsylvania Health System
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Penn at Home
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Chester County Hospital
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Job Titles:
- Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer, Office of the CMO at Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
Job Titles:
- Chief Clinical Officer, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health
Job Titles:
- Intern / Research Fellows
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Job Titles:
- Chief Quality Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System
Patrick J. Brennan, MD is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brennan leads implementation of Penn's Blueprint for Quality, a strategic effort to improve clinical accountability and the outcomes of care.
Dr. Brennan oversees the departments of Healthcare Quality, Patient Safety, Regulatory Affairs, and Medical Affairs. He has developed a Center for Evidence Based Practice to apply scientific evidence to clinical operations.
He is an infectious diseases physician and previously served as Director of Infection Control for 11 years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and for periods of time held the same post at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He also served as Director of Tuberculosis Control for the City of Philadelphia for seven years.
Dr. Brennan also is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and in 2008 served as SHEA's president.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Job Titles:
- Physician Executive, Penn Primary Care
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
Rosemary Thomas serves as the Center's Director of Operations.
Rosemary holds a master's degree in public health and Certificate in LGBT Health from Drexel University and is a Certified Health Education Specialist.
In her role as Director of Operations, Rosemary manages day-to-day operations of the Center, the Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health, and the enterprise-wide Health Equity Alliance. Rosemary is part of the Center's leadership team and is jointly responsible for strategic and sustainability planning for the Center.
Rosemary was instrumental in the planning for and implementation of the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data within the electronic medical record, making Penn Medicine one of the first health systems in the Philadelphia region to collect this demographic data from its patients.
Rosemary believes that health care is not a commodity but a human right, and she works collaboratively with partners across the health system and University to expand and improve access to care and quality of care for all people.
Her previous work as a medical social worker with youth and adults living with HIV cemented her commitment to advocating for marginalized communities and working to create more equitable and just healthcare systems.
Job Titles:
- Chief Innovation Officer, Penn Medicine
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs, Penn Medicine Princeton Health
Job Titles:
- Neurosurgery Resident Physician