About CAUSE and the Central Valley Health Policy Institute

The Central Valley Health Policy Institute (CVHPI) was first established as an ancillary unit of California State University, Fresno (CSUF) in 2002 and became fully operational in January 2005. The CVHPI mission is to facilitate the application of public, private and University resources to reduce health inequities in the region through improvements in health care and public health policies and programs. The primary geographic focus area of the CVHPI is the Central San Joaquin Valley, including Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties. These counties form one of the poorest and most culturally diverse regions in California and the nation. Since its inception, CVHPI has increased regional capacity to understand and address health policy through research and policy analysis reports, community meetings, conferences and policy briefings; a regional Health Policy Leadership Training Program; and the development of a health policy and management option in the Master of Public Health program at CSUF.

Integral to the functioning of CVHPI is the Regional Advisory Council comprised of valley-wide health leaders with representation from providers, insurers, education, business and community groups. In developing their regional research agenda, CVHPI has also held community meetings in all eight San Joaquin counties to obtain local feedback and to ensure that efforts were responsive to actual regional needs. Through these efforts, CVHPI has strengthened its network of stakeholders and experts across the region’s sectors and communities. CVHPI plays a prominent role in several other regional collaborative efforts, including the Central California Public Health Partnership California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, and the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program. The Institute joins with other regional stakeholder as part of Place Matters, a national initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Health Policy Institute. Place Matters seeks to reduce health inequities by addressing the root causes

CVHPI has spearheaded the Valley’s involvement in a national initiative to address health inequities by focusing on their root causes (such as, employment, education, poverty and housing). . The national Place Matters initiative was developed under the Joint Center Health for Political and Economic Studies, Health Policy Institute based in Washington, DC and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Ongoing research and technical assistance efforts of CVHPI are supported through funding from The California Endowment, California Wellness Foundation, California Breast Cancer Research Program, national and local philanthropists and foundations, as well as state and Federal government agencies. Current projects address prime healthcare challenges in the region, reducing social and economic disparities in prenatal care service use and outcomes, improving breast cancer care, reducing health professional shortages, improving chronic disease prevention and management initiatives, increasing access to mental health and substance abuse services in primary care settings, effects of social marketing on public perceptions of air quality policies, and impacts of air quality policies on regional capacity to address asthma and other respiratory conditions.

CVHPI has an impressive team of health policy analysts and health services researchers. John Capitman, PhD is Executive Director for the Institute and is also Professor of Public Health at California State University Fresno. Capitman has a national reputation for his work on cancer care racial/ethnic disparities, community-oriented chronic care services, and adolescent health behaviors. Other staff members include health services researchers Mathilda Ruwe, MD, MPH, PhD, Mohammad Rahman, PhD., and Marlene Bengiamin, PhD, and health policy analysts Melanie Briones, MPH, Diana Traje, MPH, Tania Pacheco, ABD, Armando Cortez, BA, Kudzai Nyandoro, BS. Nancy Pacheco, MBA is the Administrative Analyst.