A professor in health policy and management will serve as the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Center for Health Policy Research’s next director.
Ninez Ponce will begin her position on July 1, according to an email statement from the Fielding School. Ponce previously served as associate center director for CHPR, and is also director of the Fielding School’s Center for Global and Immigrant Health.
As director, Ponce will help represent the Fielding School and advance evidence-based policy to address national and statewide health disparities, according to the email statement.
CHRP provides research and data on diseases and healthcare to inform health policymaking. This includes the California Health Interview Survey, the largest state health survey in the U.S.
Ponce has worked as a Fielding School faculty member since 1999, examining how national and state policies affect the health of low-income neighborhoods and minority groups in the U.S. She helped create and serves as principal investigator of CHIS, and received the National Institutes of Health Merit Award in 2008 for her work.
Ponce will be succeeding Jerry Kominski, a professor in health policy and management and current director of CHPR.