Impact Fellows

Nate Favini

Chief medical officer for Pair Team, wants to mobilize the next generation of public health and Medicaid entrepreneurs

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Nate Favini, MD, MS is the Chief Medical Officer at Pair Team, an innovative Medicaid provider that connects underserved communities to high-quality care by partnering with local clinics, shelters, food pantries and other community-based organizations. Pair Team provides comprehensive clinical and mental health care while addressing the social needs that are so often the drivers of poor health outcomes. The company’s shared community health platform leverages cutting-edge technology to implement clinical best practices, making it the market leader in California’s complex care program.

Before Pair Team, Nate was the Chief Medical Officer at Forward. He led Forward’s teams of healthcare providers, oversaw clinical operations and supervised clinical product development for the organization.

Nate earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, completed his residency in Primary Care and Social Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at UCLA. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics and he holds a Masters of Science in Health Policy and Management from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. Prior to Forward, he was Director of Primary Care at CareMore Health System. He started his career in the safety-net, working in FQHCs, healthcare for the homeless programs and clinics for justice-involved people.

Nate’s work has spanned the for-profit, public and non-profit sectors as well as domestic and international settings. Nate is active with Physicians for Human Rights, where he has conducted numerous forensic evaluations for individuals seeking asylum in the United States. His global health work has focused on East Africa, from his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique, to building health systems in Uganda with Doctors for Global Health. He holds a certificate in Global Health Leadership from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

He lives with his wife and kids in the Bay Area, where he enjoys long-distance running and coaching youth basketball.

Thomas Goetz

Co-founder of Building H and former executive editor of Wired, is focused on making businesses a new force of change for health

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As a journalist and entrepreneur, Thomas Goetz helps people understand complicated things through stories, data and design. He is a proud 2007 graduate of the Berkeley School of Public Health’s interdisciplinary program.

Thomas is co-founder of Building H, a nonprofit research group that seeks to hold companies accountable for the impact their products have on human health. He is the former Chief of Research at GoodRx, the nation’s leading resource for affordable healthcare, where he created GoodRx Research and GoodRx Health. Previously he co-founded Iodine, a Webby-award winning digital health company that Time Magazine called the “Yelp for medicine” (acquired by GoodRx in 2016). He also led Iodine’s work with the Food and Drug Administration to create openFDA, a landmark resource for public health data.

As a journalist, Thomas started his career at the Village Voice, worked at the Wall Street Journal, and served as executive editor at WIRED, which he led to a dozen National Magazine Awards from 2001 through 2012. His writing has been repeatedly selected for the Best American Science Writing and Best Technology Writing anthologies. He is the author of two books: The Decision Tree, which laid out an early vision for personalized medicine and was selected a Best Health Book by the Wall Street Journal; and The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis, which Amazon selected as a Best Science Book of 2014.

He served as the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where he founded Flip the Clinic, a project to transform the practitioner-patient encounter. He also served as Curator-in-Residence for the Adobe Digital Museum. His 2010 TED talk on visualizing medical data has been viewed more than half a million times and inspired a decade of human-centered innovation in healthcare.

Tony Iton

Former senior vice president of healthy communities at The California Endowment, is committed to reinvigorating democracy to build the health of all communities

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Anthony Iton, MD, JD, MPH is a Lecturer and Social Impact Fellow at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. For 15 years he served as the Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation whose mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. Prior to that Dr. Iton served for seven years as the Alameda County Public Health Department Director and Health Officer where he oversaw public health practice focused on preventing communicable disease outbreaks, reducing the burden of chronic disease and obesity, and managing the county’s preparedness for biological terrorism.

Dr. Iton received his medical degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School and subsequently trained in internal medicine and preventive medicine at New York Hospital, Yale, and Berkeley and received board certification in both specialties. Dr. Iton has also received a law degree and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and is a member of the California Bar.

Kasley Killam

Author of "The Art and Science of Connection", is focused on strengthening social health and connection.

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Kasley Killam, MPH, is the author of The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier. She is a Harvard-trained social scientist, award-winning innovator, and leading expert in social health: the dimension of well-being that stems from relationships. Drawing from over a decade of studying, sharing, and applying the science of human connection, Kasley champions social health as a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and founder of Social Health Labs, a national nonprofit that empowers community builders.

As a sought-after advisor and speaker, Kasley partners with teams across sectors to improve well-being through connection and community, collaborating with organizations like Google, AARP, and the US Government. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Community Living Campaign and the Scientific Advisory Board for Only7Seconds, and she is an advisor for the Aspen Institute’s Weave: The Social Fabric Project.

Kasley earned a master’s at the Harvard School of Public Health specializing in solutions for loneliness and a bachelor’s in psychology at Queen’s University in Canada. Her background spans technology, healthcare, academia, and social entrepreneurship, equipping her with unique insight when collaborating with partners. Previously, Kasley oversaw a national community engagement strategy for Verily (Google Life Sciences), conducted research on positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and launched a campaign and app to promote empathy and kindness that won an award at Stanford University.

Kasley is passionate about translating the research on relationships so people can live more socially healthy lives. Her expertise has been featured in major outlets including The New York Times, NPR, Scientific American, Health Affairs, Washington Post, Vox, and Boston Globe, and she pens the Social Health Blog for Psychology Today.

For her dedication and impact, Kasley has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Encore Public Voices Fellow, Columbia University Age Boom Fellow, and Mind & Life Institute Visiting Scholar, and she was invited to the White House during the Obama presidency. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, she now calls California home.

Join Kasley’s newsletter community at kasleykillam.com.

Shruti Kothari

Head of industry initiatives at Blue Shield of California and founder of Women of Community, wants to help students leverage their own stories as impactful tools for professional development, advocacy, and driving health care transformation

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Shruti Kothari is a health care transformation advocate. She supports improved experiences for patients, families, and providers. Shruti has worked as a health educator, community mobilizer, quality improvement leader, early-stage startup operator, and a conduit between large systems and the innovation ecosystem. In this capacity she has worked for the American Cancer Society, Stanford, Honor, Kaiser Permanente, and Blue Shield of California.

Currently, Shruti leads Industry Initiatives for Blue Shield of California, where she is focused on scaling and sustaining health care transformation through industry alignment and policy movement.

Shruti is the Founder of Women of Community, an organization committed to increasing representation of Women of Color in health care leadership. She is also the Co-Founder of Crown Society, a company whose mission is to support the young caregiver community. Shruti is on the Board of Directors for the Family Caregiver Alliance, is a Board Advisor for the Asian Pacific Fund, and is an Advisor for the End Well Foundation, ScaleHealth, and Reverence.

In 2022, Business Insider named Shruti as one of their top 30 under 40 leaders in health care, and in 2024 Rock Health named Shruti as a top 50 in Digital Health.

Marko Mijic

Former undersecretary at the California Health and Human Services Agency, envisions a future where health, public health, and social services are seamlessly integrated through data and technology to address social drivers of health and uplift marginalized communities

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Marko Mijic served as Undersecretary at the California Health & Human Services Agency (CalHHS), where he managed 12 departments and five offices, overseeing over 34,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $260 billion. In this role, he focused on refining government operations, enhancing access to health and human services, and advancing an equitable recovery from the pandemic. Marko’s leadership emphasized improving services for marginalized communities, including older adults and individuals with disabilities, grounded in a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. He served under two Governors and three CalHHS Secretaries during his tenure.

Before his appointment as Undersecretary by Governor Gavin Newsom, Marko was Deputy Secretary for Program and Fiscal Affairs from 2019 and Assistant Secretary from 2015. He also served as Acting Director of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development from 2020 to 2021.

Beyond his public service, Marko serves on the Board of Directors of Opening Doors, a non-profit advocating for immigrants, refugees, and survivors of trafficking. He also contributes to the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Sector AI, which supports government leaders in utilizing AI and emerging technologies to address critical service delivery challenges.

Marko’s career includes roles at the American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah and a Master of Public Policy from American University.

Rainbow Rubin

Director of science at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, is committed to building better science and policy translation for environmental health threats

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Dr. Rainbow Rubin received an MPH in Environmental Health from UC Berkeley and a PhD in nutritional biology from UC Davis where she conducted post-doctoral research in environmental epidemiology and exposure science in the School of Public Health. She received the Fellowship in Reproductive and Environmental Health at UC San Francisco where worked with the US EPA to expand their definition of at-risk populations to include pregnant women.

Dr. Rubin’s research focuses on the health impacts associated with chemical exposure and the prevention of chronic disease during vulnerable life stages. Her article on children’s cancer risks from dietary contaminants found that cancer hazards are exceeded for five persistent bioaccumulative contaminants commonly found in the food supply. Dr. Rubin is passionate about translating science for the public and highlighting institutional and individual chronic disease prevention strategies.

Lisa Simpson

Former CEO of Academy Health, wants to build and scale evidence-based initiatives focused on equity and reproductive health

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Dr. Lisa Simpson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of AcademyHealth until March 18, 2024. She is currently an adjunct professor in the University of South Florida School of Public Health and the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. A nationally recognized health policy researcher and pediatrician, she is a passionate advocate for the translation of research into policy and practice. Her research, and over 120 articles and commentaries in peer reviewed journals, focuses on the role of evidence and data to improve health and health care, particularly for children and marginalized populations.

Before joining AcademyHealth, Dr. Simpson spent eight years as a professor of pediatrics, first as an Endowed Chair in Child Health Policy at the University of South Florida and then as the Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. She served as the Deputy Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality from 1996 to 2002. Dr. Simpson serves on the Editorial Board of Healthcare: the Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation and on several national advisory boards. In October 2013, Dr. Simpson was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies.

Dr. Simpson earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, a master’s of public health at the University of Hawaii and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ruth Thomas-Squance

Co-executive director at the Build Healthy Places Network, is focused on building multi-sectoral collaborations to address the root causes of health inequities in historically disinvested and marginalized communities

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Ruth Thomas-Squance, PhD, MPH, is Co-Executive Director at the Build Healthy Places Network a national center positioning multi-sector partnerships from community development, public health and healthcare sectors to lead and leverage community-centered investments across the country to address the drivers of health and advance racial equity.

Dr. Thomas-Squance has a passion for health equity strategy, bringing an interdisciplinary lens and systems change mindset to the promotion of health and social equity. Her health equity journey has taken her from a successful career in biomedical research to management in the non-profit and public sectors. She brings almost 20 years of experience working in multi-sector collaborations with diverse partners. She served as founding executive director of a Bay Area non-profit providing training in emotional intelligence skills development to low income and minority populations.

Before joining the Network she worked at San Francisco Department of Public Health in Whole Person Care, a Medi-Cal waiver program strategizing cross-sector approaches to improve outcomes for adults experiencing homelessness and high users of urgent emergent healthcare services.

Dr. Thomas-Squance is immediate past Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the US Green Building Council. She also serves on the Multi-Sector Partner Group of the Center for Health Justice at the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Public Health Association’s Alliance for Disease Prevention and Response.

Dr. Thomas-Squance earned her doctorate from Imperial College, London, UK and her Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco.