PNHP

Daniel Blumenthal, MD

Daniel Blumenthal, MD

Dr. Blumenthal is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Chicago School of Medicine. He completed his residency in pediatrics at Charity Hospital of New Orleans (Tulane Division) and received his master of public health degree from Emory University. He is board-certified in both pediatrics and preventive medicine.

He has served as a VISTA Volunteer physician in Lee County, Arkansas; as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta; as a faculty member at the Emory University School of Medicine; and as a medical epidemiologist with the World Health Organization Smallpox Eradication Program in India and Somalia. Since 1985, he has chaired the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Henry Kahn, MD

Dr. Kahn has practiced general internal medicine in Atlanta since 1973. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, he was a resident (internal medicine) at Boston City Hospital followed by a year at Lincoln Hospital (pediatrics) in the Bronx, New York City. He came to Atlanta to serve 2 years in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and has stayed there as a faculty member in the Emory University School of Medicine.

Beyond his teaching and research in chronic-disease prevention, he worked to establish the neighborhood health centers associated with Grady Memorial Hospital. He is now Professor Emeritus in Emory’s Department of Family & Preventive Medicine and on the adjunct faculty of Morehouse School of Medicine. His current day job includes research as a chronic-disease epidemiologist.

Howard A. Green, MD, FACP, FAAD

Dr. Green received his education at George Washington University and The Boston University of Medicine. He did his post doctoral work at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and at Harvard Medical School.

Greg Silver, MD

Dr. Silver is a solo, practicing family physician in Clearwater, Florida. He has been an active lecturer and consultant in the areas of healthcare reform, electronic medical records and the adoption of new medical technologies.

John Battista, MD

John Battista, M.D. is a Board Certified Psychiatrist who practices in New Milford, Connecticut. In addition, he provides psychiatric services to the Staywell Clinic in Waterbury, Connecticut and the Wellspring Foundation in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

Dr. Battista has coordinated the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care since 1999. This coalition advocates for a publicly funded, not-for-profit trust, to administer comprehensive health insurance for all Connecticut residents. Dr. Battista is also the primary author of the Connecticut Health Care Security Act, which would put this universal health care insurance program into effect.

Elinor Christiansen, MD

Dr. Christiansen is the past President of the American Medical Women’s Association. In 1955 she earned her MD from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (now known as MCP-HU). Her diverse medical career has involved a private practice in general practice in Ohio, maternal and child health in the inner city clinics of Denver, CO and School Health for Denver Public Schools, college health at Colorado Women’s College for 2 years followed by 18 years at University of Denver Student Health Service where she was a staff physician and also medical director the last 9 years. She was also part of the clinical faculty in Family Medicine at University of Colorado School of Medicine and Medical Director and staff physician at Columbine Family Health Center.

Thomas Billroth Gottlieb, MD

President, Health Care for All Colorado Foundation

Dr. Tom Gottlieb has 48 years experience in health care and was trained as a biochemist at the University of Colorado Boulder and as a physician at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) in Denver. He worked in the Public Health Service (Indian Health Service), University of Colorado Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Denver Neighborhood Health Center (medical director), and private practice (Internal Medicine) in West Denver. His experiences include directorship of the Lutheran Medical Center Joint Venture (an Accountable Care Organization), a founder and medical director of a primary care group, New West Physicians, and founder and president of Denver Oncology Consortium. He practiced evidence-based practice principles with an emphasis on patient values and patient centered decision making. He is now retired and is devoting his time to introduce and implement universal health care financed by a public single-payer system. He has served as a board member for Health Care for All Colorado Foundation since November 2011 and was newly elected president in 2013.

George Pauk, MD

Dr. Pauk received his medical degree was from the University of Iowa, and postdoctoral training was at Gorgas Hospital in Panama, U. of Iowa, and Harvard Medical School. He resides in Phoenix. His experience includes research and practice of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and teaching medical students and nurse practitioners. He has served in positions on the staff of the University of Maine, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Texas.

A More Progressive Economic Agenda

Interview With Dr. Steffie Woolhandler

Ralph Nader Radio Hour, July 22, 2017

As the U.S. Senate contemplated detrimental changes to health care, PNHP co-founder Dr. Steffie Woolhandler spoke with Ralph Nader about what a different approach – a single-payer national health program – would mean for patients and doctors.

“Medicare for All would mean that everybody on the day they were born would get an insurance card that would pay for all medically needed care at the doctor or hospital of their choice,” she said.

“For doctors it would mean that everybody came with the same coverage; and we no longer had to worry about would the patient come back to see us for follow-up or would they decide that’s just too expensive.

“That’s not pie in the sky. That is the way that the single–payer systems work in countries like Canada or Scotland.”

Dr. Woolhandler’s interview begins at approximately the 40:10 mark, above.

https://ralphnaderradiohour.com…

James G. Kahn, MD, MPH

Preventive Medicine, Health Policy, Health Economics

Dr. Jim Kahn is an emeritus professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Francisco. He is past president of the California chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Dr. Kahn is an expert in policy modeling in health care, cost-effectiveness analysis, and evidence-based medicine. He has received over $10 million in NIH and other funding for health economics research, and published more than 225 articles, reports, and book chapters. Dr. Kahn led a team that published a 2020 review in PLoS Medicine of economic studies of single payer health care. Dr. Kahn served on a National Academies of Science/Institute of Medicine committee on the public financing and delivery of HIV care.

Dr. Kahn received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed a residency in preventive medicine at UC Berkeley, an international health fellowship for the CDC and the Ministry of Health – Central African Republic, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, UCSF.

Kevin Grumbach, MD, FAAFP

Family Medicine

Dr. Kevin Grumbach is professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He cares for patients at the family medicine practices at San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Health.

Dr. Grumbach served as chair of the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine from 2003-2022, and as vice president for population health for the UCSF Health system from 2015-2018. He is a founding director of the UCSF Center for Excellence in Primary Care and director of the Community Engagement Program for the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 

Dr. Grumbach has written or contributed to over 100 articles on the primary care workforce, innovations in primary care, diversity in the health professions, and community health improvement and health equity. With Tom Bodenheimer, Dr. Grumbach co-authored the bestselling textbook, “Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach,” now in its eighth edition, as well as the book, “Improving Primary Care: Strategies and Tools for a Better Practice.”

Dr. Grumbach has been an advisor to Congressional committees and government agencies on primary care and health reform, and a member of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and currently serves on the California Health Workforce Education and Training Council. He was a co-founder of the California Physicians’ Alliance, which merged with Physicians for a National Health Program in 1993 to become the California chapter of PNHP.

Henry Abrons, MD, MPH

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Dr. Hank Abrons is a physician in Berkeley, CA who retired from the faculty at Highland Hospital (Alameda County Medical Center). He was previously associate professor of Medicine at West Virginia University, where his research focused on epidemiology, physiology, and clinical features of occupational lung disease. His clinical practice focused on critical care, chronic lung disease, and cystic fibrosis. Prior to his appointment at WVU, Dr. Abrons worked for three years in the U.S. Public Health Service.

He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, and master’s degree from the University of Illinois. He is past-president of the California chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, served on PNHP’s board of directors, and is a member of the national advisory board.