About: Ellen Wu, MPH
Website: http://www.cpehn.org
Profile: Ellen Wu has been the executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) since 2001. CPEHN is a statewide multicultural health policy organization, whose mission is to improve access to health care and eliminate health disparities by advancing public policies and advocating for sufficient resources to address the health needs of communities of color. During her tenure, CPEHN has played a critical role in advancing policy requiring health plans and insurers to provide language services to their enrollees, as well as organized the health community to defeat a proposition that would have prohibited the collection of race and ethnicity data by county and state agencies. She also helped establish two statewide coalitions that are giving communities of color a voice in health care reform, and advancing public health’s involvement in land use planning polices. Ellen received her Masters in Public Health from UCLA and is an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco State University. She serves on numerous boards and advisory committees including the California Budget Project, Healthy Families Quality Advisory Committee and California Health Interview Survey Advisory Board. Additionally, Ellen has co-authored a number of studies on cultural competency and health care reform, and is a frequent presenter on health disparities. Prior to joining CPEHN, Ellen consulted with the Community Health Center Network, was a program officer at the Tides Foundation, and served as director of Health Education and Cultural Linguistic Services for the Alameda Alliance for Health.