Elizabeth (Becky) Yano

Dr. Elizabeth (Becky) Yano, PhD, MSPH is Adjunct Professor of Health Policy & Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, and Director of the VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Trained in health care epidemiology, biostatistics and health policy at UCLA and RAND, Dr. Yano has over 30 years’ experience in health services research and program evaluation. She has received the VA HSR&D Senior Research Career Scientist Award for her research leadership, impacts, mentorship and service (2007-present), the Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary for Health Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Health Services Research (2012), the Breslow Lifetime Achievement Award for the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Alumni Hall of Fame (2017), a Special Recognition Award from Disabled American Veterans for her research impacts on women Veterans’ care (2018), recognition from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2023) for her research impacts, and was named a Woman of Impact in Health Care (2018) (www.womenofimpact.org). Dr. Yano’s research expertise is in evaluating multilevel factors associated with quality and patient experience as well as the development and testing of evidence-based quality improvement (EBQI) approaches for implementing, tailoring and spreading care models to improve system and practice-level quality and outcomes, with a focus on primary care and women’s health. She has been a national leader in developing the infrastructure, research-clinical partnerships, and research consortium needed to increase the scientific evidence needed to improve care for women Veterans in the VA healthcare system through a national VA Women’s Health Research Network (WHRN). The Network provides education/training, mentorship, and technical support to increase researcher, clinician and policymaker knowledge, conduct, and application of women Veterans’ research toward evidence-based practice and policy changes. She also co-led development of the VA Women’s Health Practice-Based Research Network, including 76 VA medical centers and hundreds of community-based outpatient clinics, enabling greater inclusion of women in VA research. Dr. Yano previously directed the Women Veterans’ Healthcare CREATE Initiative, a 5-project program using research to accelerate implementation of comprehensive care for women Veterans in VA settings. Within the CREATE, she led a 12-site cluster randomized trial of an EBQI approach to tailoring medical homes to the needs of women Veterans, which led to national adoption of EBQI by the VA Office of Women’s Health to support comprehensive care delivery. She also directs the VA PROVEN Coordinating Hub, a national consortium like WHRN but to accelerate development of electronic health record modernization (EHRM) research supporting VA’s national transition to a commercial EHR. At UCLA, she teaches Evaluation of Health Services in the Executive MPH Program, where she has been twice awarded Professor of the Year. She is a Faculty Member in the the VA Women’s Health Fellowship Program, the National Clinician Scholars Program, the VA Health Services Research Fellowship Program, and the Los Angeles Area Health Services Research Learning Health System Fellowship Program. She mentors a wide array of VA and UCLA postdoctoral fellows, career development awardees, and other investigators. She has published over 285 peer-reviewed publications and delivered hundreds of conference presentations and briefings.

Areas of Interest

• Health services research, implementation science, program evaluation
• Primary care delivery models, including patient-centered medical home
• Women’s health and disparities research 

Selected Publications

• Yano EM, Tomoyasu N. Accelerating generation and impacts of research evidence to improve women Veterans’ health and health care. J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Sep;37(Suppl 3):S668-S670.
• Yano EM, Resnick A, Gluck M, Kwon H, Mistry KB. Accelerating learning healthcare system development through embedded research: Career trajectories, training needs, and strategies for managing and supporting embedded researcher. Healthc (Amst). 2021 Jun;8 Suppl 1:100479.
• Carlson G, Than CT, Rose D, Brunner J, Chanfreau-Coffinier C, Canelo IA, Klap R, Bean-Mayberry B, Agrawal A, Hamilton AB, Gerber MR, Yano EM. What drives women Veterans’ trust in VA health care? Women’s Health Issues. 2022 Sep-Oct;32(5):499-508.
• Than C, Washington DL, Vogt D, Chuang E, Needleman J, Canelo I, Meredith LS, Yano EM. Discontinuity of women Veterans’ care in patient-centered medical homes: Does workforce gender sensitivity matter? Women’s Health Issues. 2022 Mar-Apr;32(2):173-181.
• Hoffmire CA, Denneson LM, Monteith LL, Dichter ME, Gradus JL, Cappelletti MM, Brenner LA, Yano EM. Accelerating research on suicide risk and prevention in women Veterans through research-operations partnerships. Med Care. 2021 Feb 1;59:S11-S16.
• Yano EM.  A partnered research initiative to accelerate implementation of comprehensive care for women Veterans:  The VA Women’s Health CREATE.  Med Care. 2015 Apr;53(4 Suppl 1):S10-14.
• Yano EM, Hamilton AB. Accelerating delivery of trauma-sensitive care:  Using multilevel stakeholder engagement to improve care for women Veterans. Fam Syst Health. 2017 Sep;35(3):373-375. 
• Yano EM, Darling J, Hamilton AB, Canelo I, Chuang E, Meredith LS, Rubenstein LV.  Cluster randomized trial of a multilevel evidence-based quality improvement approach to tailoring VA Patient Aligned Care Teams to the needs of women Veterans.  Implement Sci.  2016;11(1):101.
• Yano EM, Haskell S, Hayes P.  Delivery of gender-sensitive comprehensive primary care for women veterans:  Implications for VA Patient Aligned Care Teams.  J Gen Intern Med.  2014 Jul;29(Suppl 2):S703-S707.
• Yano EM. Influence of health care organizational factors on implementation research:  QUERI Series.  Implement Sci, 2008; 3:29.