Lisa Chamberlain, assistant professor and co-founder and director of the Community Pediatrics and Advocacy Rotation and the Pediatric Residency Stanford Advocacy track, will immerse herself in the office of California State Assembly member Richard Pan, M.D. She will work closely with his executive staff, participating in staff meetings, attending health committee meetings, observing legislative hearings, and meeting with key stakeholder organizations and advocacy groups. She will also spend time with staff from the California Health and Human Services Agency—the executive branch responsible for policy implementation—to learn more about regulatory change. Under the supervision of the Agency’s Secretary, Diana S. Dooley, Chamberlain will intermittently attend staff meetings to learn how the agency acquires and integrates evidence when making regulatory decisions. In addition, over the course of her Fellowship, Chamberlain will track the progress of a bill related to adolescent health that will soon be filed; she will participate in related meetings and revisions as it moves through the legislative process. She will also assist Assemblyman Pan’s office with the development of a new piece of legislation by helping with the literature review and early coalition-building. In addition, Chamberlain will meet with members of the opposition to understand possible challenges to the legislation. Chamberlain’s research focuses on children’s access to health care, the care of children with chronic health conditions, and issues related to training and advocacy for medical students. Her work is highly regarded and in these roles she has provided legislative briefings about health care reform. Through this Fellowship, Chamberlain hopes to develop a more nuanced understanding of the decision-making processes of legislators and key stakeholders, so that she can produce research that is more useful to health policymakers. More broadly, this Fellowship will allow her to identify ways health care researchers can more effectively inform policy making and better train medical students.
Lisa Chamberlain, assistant professor and co-founder and director of the Community Pediatrics and Advocacy Rotation and the Pediatric Residency Stanford Advocacy track, will immerse herself in the office of California State Assembly member Richard Pan, M.D. She will work closely with his executive staff, participating in staff meetings, attending health committee meetings, observing legislative hearings, and meeting with key stakeholder organizations and advocacy groups.
