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Elizabeth M Yano, PhD, MSPH – Research Career Scientist

Elizabeth M Yano, PhD, MSPH Elizabeth M Yano, PhD, MSPH
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
North Hills, CA 


Trained in health care epidemiology, biostatistics, and health policy at UCLA and RAND Health, Dr. Yano has over 30 years' experience in health services research, program evaluation, and implementation science. She is the Director of the VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Adjunct Professor of Health Policy & Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and of Medicine at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. She has received the 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 (2018), and a National Recognition Award from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2023) for her research impacts in women's health, and was named one of 50 Women of Impact in U.S. Health Care (2017). Dr. Yano is an internationally recognized expert on organizational factors influencing system performance and implementation of evidence-based practice, in addition to pioneering partnered approaches to increasing the impact and value of health services research and implementation science. Her primary research expertise is in evaluating impacts of primary care and women's health care delivery models and testing evidence-based quality improvement approaches for implementing and/or tailoring care to improve quality, patient experience, and health outcomes. She led development of the infrastructure, partnerships, and consortium needed to increase the scientific evidence base needed to improve women Veterans' care in the VA healthcare system through the national VA Women's Health Research Network. The Network provides education/training, mentorship, and technical support to increase researcher, clinician, and policymaker knowledge, conduct, and use of women Veterans' research, and includes 76 VA medical centers as members of the Women's Health Practice-Based Research Network, enabling greater inclusion of women in research. Dr. Yano is also currently co-leading the VA HSR&D PROVEN Coordinating Hub, designed to accelerate research on VA's electronic health record modernization, as well as a study of organizational variations and impacts of alternate strategies to enhance access management. She mentors a wide array of VA and UCLA postdoctoral fellows and early and mid-career investigators.

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