Fall 2014Advocacy Team
The Faces of Advocacy
Our team members:
Nicole Bloom RN
Nicole is a registered Nurse working for the Veterans Affairs for almost a decade. Nicole joined the Advocacy committee because she rather not have policy makers creating the realm that she operates in without her input. It is very important to her that policy makers collaborate with the experts within the realm that they are aiming to create policy for. Additionally, it is a career aspiration of hers to play an influential role within the policy realm of her expertise full-time.
Through her participation in all of her various advocacy activities, Nicole has gained invaluable skills and knowledge that will help her to reach her career goals. She believes that those working in the policy realm full-time, all year, year after year, will have the most impact within the policy realm that they work. It is critical that policy-generating roles are filled by experts, and as much as possible, by the experts of the policy realm that they are expert of.
Leslie Bruce, JD
Leslie K. Bruce, JD, is a seasoned professional with a career in advocacy, communications and community relations that spans more than 25 years. She currently serves as Director of Healthcare Leadership and Community Outreach for UC San Diego Extension where she directs the Politics and Public Policy of US Healthcare advocacy training courses in Sacramento and Washington, DC. She also manages the Healthcare Information Technology program and teaches Introduction to U.S. Healthcare online to hundreds of students across the country.
Leslie also leads the applied capstone project in the UC San Diego master’s program in Health Law and Policy and lectures in various programs at UC San Diego and at nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Prior to working at UC San Diego Extension, Bruce served as Director of Government and Community Relations for the Health Sciences at UC San Diego and at Sharp HealthCare.
Leslie began her career working for a member of the California Legislature. A compulsive activist, she recently served as Chair of the Development Board for Family Health Centers of San Diego, the region’s largest family of community clinics and serves as Communications Chair for the Citizens Oversight Committee for Proposition S and N Funds for the San Diego Community College District.
Christopher Lee
Christopher K. Lee, MPH, is on a mission to develop sustainable, technology-driven solutions for managing population health. He is currently working at PrescribeWellness, a pharmacy software company where he oversees client case management and identifies new business opportunities.
Prior to his current role, Chris performed medical business valuation at a practice brokerage, Transition Consultants. He holds a B.A. in psychology and a master’s degree in health management and policy.
Ian Slade
VP Advocacy & Public Policy
Ian Slade is a Healthcare Innovator. He is passionate about finding ways to do things better, faster, and more cost efficiently without compromising patient outcomes.
Ian has been a registered nurse since 1999. His journey in the healthcare profession has exposed him to most areas of the hospital with much of his experience in Emergency, Critical Care and the Peri-Operative Area. He started delving into Healthcare Informatics in 2002 with his first EMR implementation and has been actively working in this arena ever since. He has worked as a consultant in multiple hospitals throughout the United States, with clients in Canada and the United Kingdom as well.
Ian enjoys speaking with public officials about our concerns in the Healthcare IT arena. He looks forward to collaborating with legislators to help make laws that will ultimately support healthcare professionals and improve the quality of care for patients in California.