Carol Berkowitz, M.D. FAAP, FACEP, currently Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, was graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and did her pediatric residency at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York.  She is a Past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics and also served in numerous other national leadership positions including President of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA, now the Academic Pediatric Association), President of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD), Chair of the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Pediatrics, Chair of the Council of RRC Chairs, President of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS). She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) as well as the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) and the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She was a delegate from the AAP to the AMA and served on the AMA’s Council on Medical Education.

She is a general pediatrician who is also Board-certified in Pediatric Emergency Medicine and in Child Abuse Pediatrics. She serves as co-chair of the LA County Child Death Review Team and is a deputized coroner, serving as the pediatric consultant to the medical examiners’ office. She serves Chair of the LA County Safe Sleep Committee.

In 2006, she was the recipient of the Joseph W. St. Geme Jr. Leadership Award, and in 2007, she received the Abraham Jacobi Memorial Award, an acknowledgement by both the AAP and the AMA of her numerous contributions to the health and well-being of children and to the pediatric community. She is the author of several hundred articles and book chapters and is the editor of Berkowitz’s Pediatrics: A Primary Care Approach, a textbook scheduled for publication as the 7th edition. She is also the editor of Advances in Pediatrics

Of note, she was the 2023 recipient ICAN Angelo Award

Dr. Geeta Grover is a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician at the UCI Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Dr. Grover is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at University of California, Irvine. She is also an attending physician for the teaching clinics at CHOC Children’s Hospital and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.  

Dr. Grover went to Stanford University and received her Doctor of Medicine from University of California, Irvine. She completed an Internship and Residency in Pediatrics and completed her Fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics from Harbor- UCLA Medical Center. She has over 30 years of professional experience working with the pediatric population in Orange County.

Dr. Grover is active in her community. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.  She serves the AAP on a national level as a committee member of the Council on Early Childhood, Council on School Health and the Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.  On a local level, she is an active member of the AAP Orange County Chapter where she serves as the Medical Director for the Reach Out and Read Orange County Affiliate.  

Dr. Grover is passionate about pediatric health care, especially serving the underserved and addressing the issues surrounding pediatric literacy and its impact on children’s health and well-being.  She volunteers her time with several nonprofit organizations in Orange County.  She served as a mentor and an advisory board for Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano College Mentoring Program from 2017-2023.  She is committed to reducing homelessness, and is on the Board of Directors for the Illumination Foundation since 2019.  Since 2021, she has served on the Board of Directors for Serving Kids Hope, dedicated to helping children and families overcome medical, nutritional, social, economic, behavioral, and equity barriers to achieve healthier lives through medical care and educational programs.  When she is not providing health care, Dr. Grover enjoys spending time with her friends and family.

Pooja Bhalla leads Illumination Foundation’s integrated system of housing and healthcare, an advanced approach to addressing the needs of adults, children, and families experiencing homelessness. Her innovative work includes the creation of IFMG, a private medical group which provides onsite medical and mental health services for Illumination Foundation clients; partnering with CHOC to provide primary care and behavioral health counseling to children experiencing homelessness; expanding Illumination Foundation’s recuperative care program, including creating a female-only recuperative care facility; and spearheading the development of an electronic health record system which uses clinical data and machine learning to generate diagnostic risk scores that can be used to tailor the level of services provided to client needs.

Pooja joined Illumination Foundation in 2017 as Chief Operating Officer, where she directed program operations, development, housing, and implementation of client services. She subsequently became Executive Director of Healthcare Services, where she focused on the complex issue of health equity in order to improve quality outcomes and reduce health disparities among those experiencing homelessness. She had previously worked for Boston Health Care Homeless Program, leading that organization’s efforts in establishing shelter medical clinics throughout Boston.

Pooja sits on the Board of Directors for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, an organization she has belonged to since 2002. She is a member of Adaptive Business Leaders, the Orange County Homeless Death Review Committee, the Family Solutions Collaborative, the Los Angeles Recuperative Care Learning Network, the California Health Care Foundation, and the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She is a graduate of UCLA’s Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program.

Pooja earned her doctoral degree in Nursing Practice at Northeastern University; received her master’s degree in Leadership, Health Policy and Nursing Administration from Northeastern University; and is a graduate of Simmons College of Nursing. Her published articles include “Leadership Development Program for Nurses at a Health Care for the Homeless Program: An Educational Intervention,” published in the Journal of Community Health Nursing; and “CIT [Care, Innovation and Transformation] Project: Creating Innovations in Care for the Homeless in an Outpatient Clinic,” published in AONE: The Voice of Nursing Leadership.

As Executive Director, Medi-Cal/CalAIM, Kelly Bruno-Nelson is responsible for oversight of the agency’s main health plan and its further development through the statewide California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative. She brings more than 25 years of experience serving vulnerable populations in Southern California through innovative work in health care and nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining CalOptima, Kelly was President and Chief Executive Officer of National Health Foundation (NHF), a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization working to improve the health of underserved communities. Prior to NHF, she was Vice President of ONEgeneration in Van Nuys, California, a nationally recognized organization that provided an intergenerational program of adult day health care and childcare that brought together frail elderly and young children. Her earlier career also included leadership roles at a nursing home and in hospital-based social work. Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Azusa Pacific University and a master’s degree in social work from California State University, Long Beach. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in social work from University of Southern California.

Phyllis Agran MD, MPH, FAAP is a pediatrician/pediatric gastroenterologist and professor emeritus (on recall) UC Irvine, Department of Pediatrics, and Institute for Clinical & Translational Science.

In the 1980’s, she founded the Child Injury Prevention Research Unit at UCI focused on translating research into policy, including research supporting the first California Child Seat Restraint Bill (SB 576, 1982) and elimination of travel in the cargo areas of pickup trucks. Currently under her leadership AAP, CA is the sponsor of CA Senate Bill 855: Child Drowning Data Collection Pilot Project, signed into law 9/29/2022. She is a former member of the Executive Committee, National American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Injury & Violence Prevention (COIVPP), the team lead on injury and violence prevention for AAP- California and chairs the Orange County Injury & Violence Prevention Committee. She is a member of the AAP Community Pediatrics and School Health Councils and the American Public Health Association. Dr. Agran is a member of the Irvine Unified School District Medical Advisory Committee and the COVID-19 UCI Healthy Start K-12 School Reopening Committee. Her current research is on prevention of childhood drowning and the impact of COVID-19 on school nurses and school health.

Dr. Agran received the 2020 Pediatrician of the Year Award from AAP-OC and has received an Orange County Medical Association Physician of Excellence award annually for more than 10 years. She invests in mentoring the next generation of health professionals.

Dr. Agran received her BA degree, UC Berkeley; MA in Biology, Boston University; MPH, Harvard University; and MD degree from UC Irvine.
Phyllis Agran, MD, MPH, MA, FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics)