Executive Dean's Advisory Board

Patty Hayes

Patty Hayes, MN, RN is the Director of Public Health – Seattle & King County, a metropolitan health department of 1500 employees.  Public Health is one of the largest health

departments in the country, serving the 2.2 million residents of King County, Washington.  It provides a full complement of public health services including communicable disease control, environmental health services, jail health services, emergency medical services coordination, medical examiner services and a county-wide community health center system.  As co-lead in the development of the Best Starts for Kids Initiative, Patty provides leadership to the $65 million-dollar groundbreaking investment that focuses on prevention and early intervention strategies for children, youth and families in King County.  Most recently, Patty has been responsible for the COVID-19 response for King County.  In addition, County Executive Dow Constantine and Patty declared Racism as a Public Health Crisis.  The Executive asked Patty to co-lead the efforts in the county to address systemic and institutionally racist governmental policies and procedures and build pathways for community-led solutions. Prior to her role as Director, Patty led the department’s largest division, Community Health Services, which delivers personal health services at locations across the county.

With over 30 years of experience in public health, policy development and advocacy, Patty previously served as the Executive Director of WithinReach, a statewide non-profit that connects families to food and health resources. She also worked for the Washington State Department of Health in various positions including Assistant Secretary of Health for Community & Family Health as well as the Director of Legislative, Policy and Constituent Relations.  Patty has a bachelor and master’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington, School of Nursing.

Patty has received numerous honors and recognition, including:

• 2020 Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award from the University of Washington.
• 2019 Peter Dyer Heart of Nursing Award from the UW School of Nursing.
• 2018 Kresge Foundation Emerging Leaders in Public Health.
• 2018 Honorary Assistant Dean to the UW School of Nursing.
• November 2017 Patty was named one of the most influential people of the year by Seattle Magazine.
• 2015 Cynthia F. Shurtleff Award, a statewide honor that recognizes extraordinary leadership and dedication to the health and well-being of women, children and families in Washington.
• 2014 Heroine of Health Care award from the Center of Women and Democracy.
• Induction into the Washington State Nurses Hall of Fame in 2002.

Eli Almo

Eli Almo has been actively involved in the senior housing industry for three decades as President and CEO of Era Living LLC, a Seattle-based owner and manager of retirement communities.

Since establishing Era Living in 1985, in collaboration with his wife and Co-Founder, Rebecca Almo, Eli has overseen the management and renovation of ten senior housing complexes in Washington State, including eight properties currently operated by Era Living. He has been instrumental in the development and enrichment of key partnerships between Era Living and community entities including the University of Washington Retirement Association, as well as the UW Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work and Medicine, enhancing opportunities for healthy aging and lifelong learning for Era Living residents and UW students alike.

Mr. Almo’s commitment to improving quality of life for older adults is manifest in funding for the Aljoya Professorship, an endowment established by the Almos in 1996 to promote gerontological research at the University of Washington.

Mr. Almo is Chairman of the University of Washington School of Nursing’s Advisory Board; he is a Trustee and the former Asset Committee Co-Chairman of Samis Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization with an extensive real estate portfolio.

Bobbie Berkowitz

Bobbie Berkowitz, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Dean and Professor Emerita of Nursing at Columbia University School of Nursing. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Washington School of Nursing where she served on faculty for 14 years.

Prior to her appointment as Dean at Columbia she was the Alumni Endowed Professor of Nursing and Chair of the Department of Psychosocial and Community Health and Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington. Her primary research relates to public health systems, health disparities and health equity. Her major grant funding includes the NIH Center for the Advancement of Health Disparities Research (PI) and PI and Director of the National Program Office for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Turning Point Initiative. Previous appointments include Deputy Secretary for the Washington State Department of Health and Chief of Nursing Services for the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health.

Dr. Berkowitz has served on a number of boards including Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, Washington State Board of Health, Washington Health Care Commission, Washington State Academy of Science, New York Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Medicine Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Public Health Foundation and chair of the Board of Trustees of Group Health Cooperative. She is past President of the American Academy of Nursing and currently serves as a member of the Report Review Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Board of Trustees for Swedish Health System in Washington State, the Advisory Board of the University of California Davis Health System Board of Advisors and the University of Washington School of Nursing Board of Advisors. She holds a Ph.D. in Nursing Science from Case Western Reserve University and Master of Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington.

Chandan Chauhan

Chandan Chauhan is an entrepreneur who is passionate about creating technology companies that provide internet services for consumers and enterprises. He is the CEO of Clocktree.com, which is focused on technology innovations that make healthcare accessible to all. He has cofounded two other successful internet companies, TalentWise and Intelius. At Microsoft, Mr. Chauhan was a member of the original development team that created Windows, and later he was a key player in creating CarPoint, Microsoft’s first internet application.

Chandan has utmost respect for the nursing profession and is honored to be affiliated with the UW School of Nursing in the advisory board capacity. He looks forward to actively participating in the nursing for the 21st century dialogue from the perspective of using cutting-edge technology for patient care and the research.

Kitti Cramer

Kitti Cramer is a C-Level executive with over twenty years of enterprise risk management experience with a health insurance company generating $4 billion in annual revenue. Led major transformative initiatives, including business process and system transformation for all lines of business resulting from the Affordable Care Act, including selling new products on three different states’ public exchange platforms for the individual market. Led incident response activities for large cyberattack, including notifying customers, negotiating with various federal and state law enforcement and other agencies, and designing Board governance approach for Cybersecurity.

Kitti leads strategic planning and meetings for the chairs of the Governance, Audit & Compliance, and Compensation committees of the independent Board.

Kitti actively participates on management committee evaluating and managing investments in early and mid-stage private-equity companies, including serving as an observer on early-stage board.

Sherri Del Bene

Sherri Del Bene RN, MN NEA-BC has been on the Advisory Board at the UW School of Nursing since 2014 and is a proud alumna of the University of Washington School of Nursing. She is an Assistant Administrator in Patient Care Service at UW Medical Center. Sherri ensures that patient care is consistently top of mind and all those who are cared for through UW Medicine benefit from the expertise of their healthcare providers. She began her nursing career at UWMC when it consisted of only the Pacific Tower.

Sherri has a BA from Pomona College in Claremont, California, and a BSN from the University of Arizona. She earned her Master of Nursing at the UW School of Nursing in 1999. Sherri has a daughter Siena who lives in Atlanta. In her time away, she loves walking with her dog Oliver and spending time with family and friends when it is safe to do so. She has been a member of the same book club for 28 years and has read some remarkable books and traveled to interesting places on annual retreats.

Jody Evans Smith

A Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1981 from UW led Jody to a career in intensive care and surgical nursing, becoming a strong advocate for those who are unable to speak for themselves. A trailblazer, Jody was in the first group of RN First Assistants to be nationally certified. She held additional certifications in Critical Care and Operating Room nursing. 

Now retired from nursing, Jody nourishes her quest for life-long learning with travel, figure skating, and community volunteering. She has been a member of the Advisory Board since 2018. She has a keen interest in innovation powered by research. Her aim is to be a positive, contributing citizen of the world. 

Jay Fathi

Dr. Jay Fathi, a family physician and recognized community and health care leader across Washington state, currently serves as the plan president and CEO of Molina Healthcare of Washington, the largest health plan by membership in the state, with over one million enrollees. After serving for 12 years as a full spectrum family doctor at the 45th Street Community Health Center, he founded and served as the senior medical director of Community Health at Swedish Health Services. He then helped lead the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Washington as president and CEO of a managed care health plan that provided health coverage to over 250,000 mostly low-income individuals across Washington state, including all 25,000 children, youth and young adults in foster care.

Dr. Fathi holds an appointment as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, serves on the boards of the Washington Health Alliance, the Washington Healthcare Forum, the Ballard Food Bank, and the Washington School-Based Health Alliance, and is a member of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange Advisory Committee. He has been recognized locally and nationally for teaching, leadership, and dedication to the health and well-being of the underserved and has also worked as a consultant and advisor to numerous providers, social service, government, labor, and non-profit organizations and businesses, working towards system improvements and health equity.

Jennifer Graves

Jennifer has been a proud member of the health care community in the Pacific Northwest for her entire, multi-decade career. Before joining Kaiser Permanente as the Vice President for Quality and Safety in both the Northwest and Washington Markets and serving as the Regional Chief Nursing Executive in Washington, Jennifer was the Senior Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality at the Washington State Hospital Association where she was instrumental in creating a formal partnership for the nearly 200 hospitals across Alaska, Oregon and Washington whose exclusive focus was on reducing harm and improving patient outcomes. Prior to her role at WSHA, she completed a successful tenure as the Chief Executive at both Swedish Edmonds and Swedish Ballard, where she was actively engaged in leading all aspects of hospital and ambulatory operations and established a deliberate focus on quality and safety while also creating a thriving work and care environment. Jennifer also served as one of the Swedish system’s Nurse Executives. Preceding her employment at Swedish, Jennifer served on the leadership team at Virginia Mason Medical Center for nearly a decade.

Jennifer has conducted clinical research in pulmonary and critical care medicine, with a special emphasis on venous thromboembolic disorders; participated on clinical teams investigating sleep patterns and nighttime hormone levels in women with irritable bowel disorders; and received grant support to implement evidence-based depression treatment delivered by nurse care managers in ambulatory care. Jennifer is passionate about serving her community in the Pacific Northwest and is the current Chair of the Northwest Healthcare Response Network Board of Directors, as well as Vice President of the Washington State Nurses Association Board and a member of the Board for Sound Generations. She also serves on the Advisory Committee for LifeCenter Northwest and multiple schools and colleges of nursing across the state.

Jennifer received her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Portland, returned to Oregon once again to earn a Master of Science degree with a dual focus on clinical care and education and has also completed the Human Resources Management program at the University of Washington. Highlights of her career include receiving the Honorary Recognition Award in 2017 from the Washington State Nurses Association and attaining American Nurses Credentialing Center Pathway to Excellence Designation with her Ballard team in 2015, making it the first hospital in the state to achieve this prestigious acknowledgement. Most recently, in November of 2017, Jennifer received the Distinguished Nurse of the Year award from the March of Dimes, which was given in honor of her many years of nursing leadership across the region.

Dahlia Mak

Dahlia Mak is a Managing Director in Health Care Consulting at Moss Adams. Working with institutions nationwide, she has extensive experience in health care leadership and consulting, spanning over 20 years.

Lean certified through Shingijutsu Global, her clients include large integrated delivery systems, academic medical centers and public health systems. Her work has been grounded in quality and patient safety, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to transform health care experiences and to reduce harm. With her expertise in lean methodology, process improvement and change management, she engages organizations at all levels, bringing together executives, boards, providers, frontline caregivers and staff to solve complex problems. In the Northwest, she has guided health systems on emergency operations, leadership development, staffing and strategic planning.

Previously, Mak served as a principal at Rona Consulting Group, and Administrative Director of Patient Safety at Virginia Mason Medical Center. She serves on the Board of Directors for The Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement and is actively involved with the Patient and Family Advisory Committee. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and a Master of Health Administration from the University of Southern California.

Julie Metzger

Julie Metzger, RN MN is a pediatric nurse, writer and educator.  Julie is about all things puberty. As the founder of Great Conversations, she has worked with families of teens and pre-teens on topics of puberty, sexuality and decision-making for over 30 years in the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Julie received her Masters of Science in Nursing from the UW School of Nursing, during which she conducted the research that she credits for the launch of her career.

Julie is inspired by the curiosity and courage it takes to talk about our bodies and how they work. Using humor, respect, and a straightforward approach, the programs at Great Conversations offer families an on-ramp to strengthen conversations. In addition to writing health curriculums on decision-making and friendships for elementary, middle and high school students, Julie also facilitates workshops for grown-ups who live and work with preteens and teens. Julie co-wrote Will Puberty Last My Whole Life? Real Answers to Real Questions from Preteens about Body Changes, Sex and Other Growing Up Stuff and a workbook/journal for preteen girls, This is Me – a Journal for Girls.

Julie has been on the board for Powerful Voices, building a community of activists for girl justice. Julie and her family have also spent over 25 years working with families with a child with cancer through Side by Side and The Light Collective.

Nate Miles

Nathaniel “Nate” Miles is a forward-thinking strategist, seasoned public policy expert, and long-time community leader. Throughout his 30-year career, he has been recognized by local and national leaders, elected officials, and community advocates as a powerful agent of transformation, reliable problem solver, and trusted confidante. Nate has a storied history of success in achieving organizational turnarounds and in leading teams in the private and nonprofit sectors through a “Total Engaged Teamwork” approach – bringing people seamlessly together to reach shared goals. He has built coalitions among some of the most diverse populations to support public policy initiatives and bring about positive change, especially in the health care arena.

With deep expertise in finance, audit, and governance and regulatory issues, Nate has served on a variety of boards. His longest-running service is with the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, an organization that works with businesses to bring about social change through creating employment opportunities. There he has served as board chair and on the finance, governance, and health committees.

Other board service includes Islandwood, an organization devoted to protecting the environment (governance committee); the Pacific Science Center board (governance and finance committees); the Puget Sound Regional Council – Economic Development Board; Association of Washington Business; Medical Teams International; The Seattle Chinese Nursing Home (finance committee); Seattle CityClub; the NAACP Foundation Board of Directors; and the National Action Network Corporate Advisory Committee. A lifelong advocate for education, Nate currently serves on the Whitman College Board of Regents (audit and student experience committees), the University of Washington Foster School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board, and the University of Washington Foundation (governance and nomination committees).

In his nearly 30 years of service with Eli Lilly and Company, most recently as vice president, strategic initiatives – state government affairs, Nate has led the development and flawless implementation of highly effective strategies to generate sound public policy. These initiatives have also garnered the brand support of traditional and non-traditional allies, such as grassroots organizations, faith-based organizations, Communities of Color, labor organizations, civil rights/social justice groups, and non-governmental organizations. He served also as the company’s corporate director of state government affairs, overseeing all government relations, public affairs, corporate responsibility, and external relations activity in the Northwestern region. Other professional activities have included serving as chief of staff for Washington State Senator George Fleming; playing a key role on the senior management team of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in securing funds for facility expansion; and serving as a marketing executive for CBS affiliate KIRO broadcasting.

Nate is the recipient of more than 300 recognitions. Representative honors and awards include receiving the Edward “Eddie” Carlson Award by Seattle’s Leadership Tomorrow program, a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Central Area Motivation Program, and a “Friends of JACL” (the Japanese American Citizens League) Award, as well as being selected as one of “30 Leaders of the Future” by Ebony Magazine.

Nate is a first-generation college graduate and a proud alumnus of the University of Washington, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in communication.

Greg Nickels

Greg Nickels was the 51st mayor of Seattle, a Democrat who served two four-year terms from 2002 through 2009, following a 14-year stint on the King County Council. While he ran for mayor as one who would follow the “Seattle way” of public inclusion and consultation, Nickels went his own way while he was in office — an approach that brought results, but that also siphoned away public support and eventually contributed to his defeat in the 2009 primary. During his first term Nickels focused on fixing the city’s fire stations and potholes; his second term focused more on light rail, urban density, and combating climate change.

Greg Nickels married Sharon Colwell of Ellensburg in 1978. Their son Jacob was born in 1981 and their daughter Carey in 1983. Greg and Sharon Nickels continue to live in the West Seattle house the family moved to in 1986.

Teri Oelrich

Healthcare consulting fulfills Teri’s lifelong passion for influencing the environment that patients receive “care” and caregivers give “care”. She has been a caregiver, a patient and the member of a team designing the space, analyzing the financial viability and the statistician identifying the need.

Teri’s career in healthcare started as a caregiver in orthopedics and oncology then transformed into working for the internationally known architectural firm NBBJ. She has been part of consulting and design teams helping communities and healthcare providers identify their needs and realize their visions for providing efficient, healing and functional healthcare space. Her career has included facility utilization planning, financial feasibility and cost analysis, operations analysis, and program and functional planning as well as facility design with HMOs, universities, hospitals, and freestanding clinics.

Teri Oelrich is a partner with NBBJ and leads the company’s Healthcare Analytics and Consulting group. She received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from UW and has a clinical background in nursing, working in a variety of settings, including medical-surgical units and adult and pediatric intensive care units. She also holds an MBA, and coupled with her operational knowledge, she brings a valuable mix of clinical and business acumen to healthcare projects.

Lucy Pruzan

Lucy Pruzan is a proud alumna of the University of Washington’s School of Nursing. Upon graduation she was a bedside nurse at Swedish Hospital. She interrupted her career when her first son was born and she became a stay-at-home mom and community volunteer. She went back to bedside nursing at Swedish when her three sons were all in school. Lucy continued her community volunteer activities on several boards and served as Board chair of the Stroum Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. She also served on the Board of the United Way of King County and co-chaired the Alexis de Tocqueville Society portion of the annual campaign one year. She has served on the U of W Foundation Board and has been a long-time member of the Arts and Sciences Visiting Committee and Advisory Board. She has served on the Board of the Samis Foundation for over 25 years. With her husband Herb, she has traveled extensively around the world especially to South America to visit her birthplace Montevideo, Uruguay. Through their family foundation, Herb and Lucy established a professorship in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies of the Jackson School of International Studies, as well as fellowships in the School of Art and the School of Nursing.

Brooks Simpson

Brooks Simpson has over 40 years of experience in medical sales and marketing. He retired from Physio-Control after 20 years of service including senior management positions as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, International, and North American Sales.

During his tenure at Physio-Control he was involved with the divestiture from Eli Lilly, sale to Bain Capital, IPO and acquisition by Medtronic. In 1999, Mr. Simpson founded Pacific Rim Medical Systems, a distributor of cardiovascular devices. He is a limited partner in Bain Capital and was on the Board of Physio-Control from 2011-2016. Mr. Simpson is also chairman of the R. Hunter Simpson Foundation. He is a Director on the University of Washington Foundation Board, in addition to external advisory board member for the UW Department of Global Health, Department of Bioengineering and co-chair of the School of Nursing. He is Chairman elect of the Washington Research Foundation and President of the Medic One Foundation.  Other boards include the Physio Foundation and Resuscitation Academy.

Joycelyn Thomas

Joycelyn Thomas, ARNP holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, Master of Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington.  Currently, she works as a Family Nurse Practitioner at a Family Practice Clinic for Catholic Health Initiatives where she is also the Medical Director.  She is a nurse practitioner specializing in the care of persons of all ages, and her interests include improving patient provider communication with African Americans. Joycelyn collaborated with a large northwest medical center focusing on improving provider communication with African American patients.  As a result of this collaboration, Dr. Thomas developed evidence-based recommendations for implementation into an existing communication-training course for providers to be utilized by the collaborating agency.

Currently she serves as a board member of the University of Washington Advisory Board, African American Reach and Teach Health, and Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization where she is the president.