Affiliate Faculty
The Farley Health Policy Center is privileged to work with some incredibly talented, expert and committed folks and organizations, both on the Anschutz Medical Campus and beyond. Such interdisciplinary collaborations greatly enhance our capacity, quality of results and dissemination of findings and lessons learned.
Daniel Burke, MD
Associate Vice Chair for Educational Program Development, CU Department of Family Medicine
Dr. Burke is Associate Vice Chair for Educational Program Development in the University of Colorado Department of Family Medicine. He is also program director of the University of Colorado-Morgan County Rural Training Track. Dr. Burke is a leader in residency training, medical student mentorship and inpatient teaching excellence; and has received many accolades in these areas. He is one of the leaders of the Graduate Medical Education Initiative (GMEI) with membership in 35 states, established to inform graduate medical education and funding reform from a state level through Medicaid GME. Initially, his focus has been on rural training and attention has been turned to assisting in COVID funding relief packages.
Lilia Cervantes
Dr. Lilia Cervantes is a professor in the CU Department of Medicine and the Director of Immigrant Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU-Anschutz). Dr. Cervantes completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Colorado Boulder and her medical degree, residency in internal medicine, and Master of Science in Clinical Science at CU-Anschutz. Dr. Cervantes is recognized for spearheading community-partnered research that led to several innovative changes to a Medicaid payment rule in Colorado to give undocumented individuals with kidney failure access to life-saving maintenance dialysis, home dialysis, and outpatient COVID-19 care. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, and NIH, Dr. Cervantes has conducted studies to understand the social challenges and perspectives of Latinx individuals with kidney disease, and in partnership with a community advisory panel, translated her findings to develop, and test community-based interventions.
Allison Costello, MD, MBA
Dr. Costello is an assistant professor in the CU Department of Family Medicine and is a practicing family medicine physician in the greater Denver metro area providing full spectrum outpatient, inpatient, and obstetrical care. She hails from Massachusetts where she completed medical school at the Tufts University School of Medicine and her MBA in Healthcare Management at Brandeis University. She completed her family medicine residency at the University of Colorado where she continues to train future family physicians. She has a strong interest in health systems change and works to see this change at all levels, from the local clinic, larger health system, and national policy level.
Liza M. Creel, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Colorado Division of Health Care Policy and Research
Liza M. Creel is an Associate Professor in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine. Dr. Creel’s research is in the areas of maternal and child health, organizational collaboration within the healthcare and social service systems, outcomes of programs working at the intersection of the health care and criminal justice systems, and policy evaluation as it relates to impacts on cost, quality, and access among vulnerable and underserved populations. Dr. Creel serves as PI and Co-I on several studies, including a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported grant to examine cross-sector alignment among organizations serving pregnant and parenting women in recovery. Dr. Creel has taught courses in health policy analysis, health policy research, and microeconomic theory.
Brandi Kaye Freeman, MD MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, CU Department of Pediatrics
Dr. Freeman, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the CU Department of Pediatrics, is dedicated to eradicating the health inequities that impact vulnerable populations through evidence-based practices and improved quality of health care delivery. She is a practicing primary care physician and health services researcher whose portfolio includes developing approaches to improve diversity and equity in healthcare and investigating best practices to help children thrive in early childhood. Dr. Freeman dedicates numerous hours to improving the health and wellbeing of minority communities. She has been a mentor for the Tour for Diversity in Medicine since its inception in 2012 and is currently the Speaker of the House of Delegates of the National Medical Association and Vice President of the Mile High Medical Society (Colorado NMA Local Affiliate).
James Kaferly, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor, CU School of Medicine, Department of General Pediatrics and Medical Director, Denver Health Connections for Kids Clinic
Dr. Kaferly is a pediatrician at Denver Health and Hospitals and an Assistant Professor and at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of General Pediatrics. He directs the Connections for Kids Clinic, a medical home for children and adolescents in kinship, foster and congregate or out-of-home care (OHC), and is an adjunct faculty member at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. He has integrated clinical and scholarly interests to advance knowledge of critical issues for children and youth in out-of-home care: disparity, cross-system collaboration and resilience. He collaborates, in Colorado, with youth and young adults with lived experience in OHC, child welfare and Medicaid stakeholders and, nationally, with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Foster Care, Adoption and Kinship Care.
Lakshmi Karra, MD, MS
Family Medicine Physician, Denver Health
Dr. Lakshmi Karra is a full-spectrum family physician working at Denver Health, where she cares for low-income and indigent populations including many refugees and immigrants. Her interests lie in the provision of high-quality and accessible primary care and process and quality improvement. Her work at the Farley Center thus far has focused on payment reform and integrated behavioral health. Dr. Karra completed a master’s degree in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and her medical degree at the University of Michigan. In addition to her work at the Farley Center, Dr. Karra teaches medical student and residents, and serves on the ethics committee at Denver Health.
David M. Keller, MD
Professor and Vice Chair, Clinical Strategy and Transformation
CU Department of Pediatrics at the CU School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado
Dr. Keller practices primary care pediatrics, teaches health policy and works to develop value-based systems of care for children and adolescents. Prior to moving to Colorado, Dr. Keller spent 22 years on the faculty of UMass School of Medicine, ultimately serving as an associate medical director for Medicaid in Massachusetts and program director for Rhode Island’s All-Payer Primary Care initiative. He served as a fellow in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the US Department of Health and Human Services as well as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy fellow. Dr. Keller is interested in building, evaluating and refining sustainable systems of care that provide value to patients and families while addressing their health needs.
Rebecca (Becky) Orsi, PhD, MS
Assistant Research Professor, Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, School of Medicine
Rebecca Orsi, PhD, MS is an assistant research professor at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz. She holds a secondary appointment in the Colorado School of Public Health, Epidemiology. He primary interest is research supporting the renewal and reform of child protective service (CPS) systems. She is experienced with the construction of child welfare administrative datasets for research, and with advanced statistical methods using both administrative and survey data. Her research interests include outcomes epidemiology for children in CPS systems, improved permanency outcomes, and addressing stress and resilience in the child welfare workforce. As a research methodologist, Dr. Orsi actively collaborates with researchers across a variety of academic fields; she has published in Child Abuse and Neglect, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice and Children and Youth Services Review.
Apoorva Ram, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado
Dr. Ram is a primary care physician and assistant professor in the Department of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado. She practices at both a university-based primary care clinic and a federally qualified health center. Her policy interests include the use of state-level policy levers to promote equitable access to care. Her prior research work has included qualitative research with undocumented immigrants who faced systemic barriers to cancer care. She is also interested in the intersection of medical education and health policy, with a specific interest in creating engaging, interactive sessions relevant to clinicians. To that end, she created a curriculum for internal medicine residents about health policy and advocacy. Dr. Ram completed internal medicine and chief residency at the University of Colorado, is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Medicine, and completed the Leadership in Health Policy (LEAHP) Program through the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM).
Janine Young, MD, FAAP
Professor of Pediatrics, UC San Diego, Chief, Division of Academic General Pediatrics, Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics and Newborn Medicine, Martin Stein Endowed Chair, Developmental, and Behavioral Pediatrics
Dr. Young is a pediatrician at Denver Health and Hospitals and associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of General Pediatrics. She directs the Denver Health Refugee Clinic, is co-medical director of the Human Rights Clinic at Denver Health, and serves as the medical advisor for the State of Colorado Refugee Services Program. Her career focus is health care and access to care for new immigrants and refugees, and speaks nationally about the development of standard of care medical screening guidelines for these populations. She sits on the executive committee of the AAP’s Council of Immigrant Child and Family Health, and is a lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics Immigrant and Refugee Toolkit screening guidelines. Dr. Young is a certified Spanish medical interpreter and speaks French.
Assistant: edrosete@health.ucsd.edu.