Ninez Alafriz Ponce, PhD '98

Dr. Ninez A. Ponce is a Professor and the Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Chair of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is also the Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and serves as the Principal Investigator for the California Health Interview Survey, the largest state survey in the USA. Dr. Ponce acquired her PhD in Health Services from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in 1998. Dr. Ponce has received numerous awards from community organizations in recognition of her work in community-engaged research. She also served as a Commissioner for the RWJF Transforming Public Health Data Initiative and currently contributes to the Data Disaggregation workgroup for the White House AANHPI Commission. She is the inaugural Associate Editor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at JAMA Health Forum and received the AcademyHealth Impact award in 2019 for her contributions to population health measurement and public policy. In 2024, she will receive the national Elizabeth Fries Award, acknowledging her scholarship and policy advocacy for data equity.

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