Oregon Health Policy Board Members

The nine-member Oregon Health Policy Board (OHPB) serves as the policy-making and oversight body for the Oregon Health Authority. The Board is committed to providing access to quality, affordable health care for all Oregonians and to improving population health.

OHPB was established through House Bill 2009, signed by the Governor in June 2009. Board members are nominated by the Governor and must be confirmed by the Senate. Board members serve a four-year term of office. The Board is responsible for implementing the health care reform provisions of HB 2009.

To learn more about serving as an OHPB member and to apply please click here.

OHPB Members

Antonio (Tony) Germann, MD, Member, West Linn

Dr. Antonio (Tony) Germann is a family physician centered in rural primary healthcare, clinical health education, public health, and with a focus in the health policy to bring better health outcomes for the most vulnerable communities of Oregon. Currently he is medical director of Salud and Pacific pediatrics clinics of the Yakima Valley Farm Workers clinic system (FQHC). He is the founder of the Salud Rural Maternal Child Health Fellowship. The fellowship prepares interested family physicians for practice in a rural or underserved setting through advanced training in low and high-risk obstetrics, surgical obstetrical skills, management of neonatal complications including resuscitation, and advanced office gynecologic procedures. Dr. Germann enjoys advancing the development of primary care clinicians and has served as a clinical assistant professor and affiliate faculty at OHSU in the School of Medicine and Department of Family Medicine.

Dr. Germann’s interest in public health and health policy has led him to serve in numerous roles in the state of Oregon. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Germann served on Governor Kate Brown COVID-19 Medical Advisory Panel composed of 16 members with weekly meetings for direct counsel to Gov. Brown in support of the state’s COVID-19 response. Additionally during the Delta wave of the summer of 2021 he served as a member of the Crisis Prevention & Response Table to Governor Kate Brown. The response team worked with the incident command center for state and regional hospitals response. With the anticipated closure of the pandemic designation, Dr. Germann served on the Oregon State Task Force- Bridge Health Care Program which addressed the Medicaid Redetermination as a voting member. The task force successfully designed a bridge program and basic health plan to provide affordable health insurance coverage and improve the continuity of coverage for individuals who regularly enroll and disenroll in the medical assistance program or other health care coverage due to frequent fluctuations in income.

Dr. Germann intends on changing policies and healthcare to a system that is equitable for all, including those that are the most marginalized of our society.

Term ends: 12/31/2026

Peter Starkey, Member, Tillamook

Peter Starkey is the Executive Director of FolkTime, a peer-run nonprofit providing behavioral health support to individuals and organizations throughout Oregon. With over a decade of diverse nonprofit experience, Peter has managed small, community-based organizations to large, multinational organizations prior to joining FolkTime. He is deeply committed to advancing behavioral health and equity for Oregon's most vulnerable populations, especially those with disabilities or who have been historically marginalized. Peter is passionate about building more trauma-competent systems, moving beyond trauma-informed care to collaborate with hospitals, clinics, schools, governments, and other community-based organizations in creating accessible healthcare and supportive systems capable of navigating trauma.

Peter has presented talks and trainings globally on topics related to behavioral health, trauma competency, houselessness, advocacy, and global health policy. His work in peer-delivered services, shaped by his lived and living experience with the behavioral health system, has influenced his view of health policy, emphasizing the importance of treating people with respect, dignity, and care.

Term ends: 12/31/2027

Kirsten Isaacson, Vice-Chair, Portland

Kirsten Isaacson is the Research Coordinator for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 where she applies her over fifteen years of experience in government and nonprofits focused on industry-specific research and policy analysis. SEIU is one of the nation’s largest unions. In Oregon, SEIU Local 49 represents more than 13,000 healthcare and property service workers. Kirsten has worked for the last five years as a healthcare policy researcher and advocate, promoting a health care system that responsibly and equitably serves all communities.

Kirsten and her family live in Portland and she is a parent of two children who attend Portland Public Schools.

Term ends: 12/31/2026

Brenda Johnson, MBA, Chair, Medford

Brenda Johnson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of La Clinica, a community and migrant healthcare organization in Southern Oregon. Brenda holds a MBA from Purdue University, a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Oregon Health Sciences University, and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Southern Oregon University, where her time included study abroad at the Universidad de Guanajuato, GTO, Mexico. Brenda has dedicated more than 25 years of her career to non-profit leadership in health care and community development and has a drive toward creating equitable systems of care. She believes shared power and love creates belonging, honors dignity, and positively transforms the lives of all people.

Term ends: 12/31/2025

Carly Hood-Ronick, MPA. MPH, Member, Portland

Carly Hood-Ronick, MPA, MPH, is the Chief Executive Officer at Project Access NOW. Prior to providing strategic leadership at PANOW, Carly was a Director at the Oregon Primary Care Association where she oversaw health equity and Medicaid strategy efforts with community health centers around the state, strategically identifying ways to align payment and delivery system reform.

Carly has worked with communities in multiple states and countries to develop upstream programs and has published work on best practices in financing social care efforts. With over fifteen years of experience in domestic and international work, she is called upon as a leader in systems-level equity efforts, including past Co-Chair of the Oregon Health Policy Board's Health Equity Committee, supporting Medicaid metric and measurement development, and advising on community and social health data sharing efforts as Chair of the Health Information Technology's Community Information Exchange (CIE) workgroup. Carly is deeply committed to health equity and comes at it from a lens that access to healthcare is a fundamental right.

She received her Master of Public Affairs in Social Policy from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs and her Master of Public Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Term ends: 12/31/2025

Melina Moran, DNP, FNP-C, Member, Bend

Dr. Moran is a board-certified family nurse practitioner. She graduated from Frontier Nursing University in 2018 with a Master of Science in Nursing and in 2023 with her Doctorate of Nursing Practice. She completed her Master of Science degree from Frontier Nursing University and her Bachelor of Science from Portland State University.

Dr. Moran has been in the medical field for over 20 years working as an emergency room and critical care flight nurse, family medicine/primary care provider and has been a member of federal and local disaster teams working over-seas in Haiti and the United Kingdom. She currently is a provider in addiction medicine providing harm reduction strategies to reduce overdoses, provide medication assisted therapy and improve the health of people with substance use disorder.

In addition to her extensive work experience, Dr. Moran is a member of The National Nurse Led Care Consortium partnering with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working on the Vaccine Confidence Advisory Committee to increase Covid-19 vaccine confidence. Dr. Moran was governor appointed to serve on the Oregon Commission of Hispanic Affairs and currently serves as Chair.

As a member of the Latino/a/x community, Dr. Moran is passionate about being a change agent in her local, state and national communities. Health equity is Dr. Moran’s passion and vows to work toward decreasing disparities and improving health outcomes.

Term ends: 12/31/2024

Rosemarie Hemmings, Ph.D., Member, Beaverton

Dr. Rosemarie Hemmings has a Masters in Social Work and a Ph.D. in Public Health. With over 30 years of experience as a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Hemmings currently owns a group mental health practice that focuses on providing cultural and linguistic care to Oregonians seeking mental health treatment. Additionally, she is an Assistant Professor in Public Health Dentistry and Director of Social Work at Oregon Health Science University School of Dentistry. She has developed and teaches an innovative inter-professional curriculum related to social determinants of health, health equity, and social justice within the school of dentistry. Additionally, Dr. Hemmings directs the social work program, which includes masters of social work interns from Portland State University, Arizona State University, Simmons University and Widener University who provide social work interventions to patients within the dental clinic, and residency program. Furthermore, Dr. Hemmings has presented her research nationally and internationally in the areas of social determinants of health, health equity, and social work curriculum within dental education.

Dr. Hemmings also provides clinical supervision for social workers seeking licensure. Furthermore, she serves as a mentor to several social work students and social workers who identify as Black, Indigenous and other people of color including LGBTQIA intersectionality and consults with various organizations on Diversity Equity and Inclusion related matters. Dr. Hemmings is currently working with Oregon State Representatives and OHA to improve access to mental health providers who are Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.

Term ends: 12/31/2024

William (Bill) Kramer, MBA, Member, Portland

Bill Kramer is Executive Director for Health Policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health. In this role, he leads PBGH’s initiatives to advance public policy in ways that improve health care quality and affordability. He is a nationally recognized expert in health policy, finance, and economics, with strong connections to the business community, health care industry leaders, policy experts and political leaders. Bill serves on the Board of Directors for the Primary Care Collaborative and is a member of the Founders Council for the United States of Care. In the past, he has served as Project Director for the Consumer-Purchaser Alliance and as a Board member for the National Quality Forum and the Health Care Transformation Task Force. He has testified before Congress on physician payment reform. Bill is a guest lecturer on health policy at Stanford Law School and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and he has made presentations in many health policy forums and has been quoted frequently in the media on health policy issues.

Immediately prior to taking his position at PBGH, Bill led his own consulting practice focusing on health policy, finance, and business strategy for public and private sector clients. Prior to developing his consulting practice, Bill was a senior executive with Kaiser Permanente for over 20 years–most recently as Chief Financial Officer for Kaiser Permanente’s Northwest Region. Bill also served as general manager for Kaiser Permanente’s operations in Connecticut; earlier in his career, he managed marketing, human resources, and medical economics functions.

Bill has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB from Harvard.

Term ends: 12/31/2024

Vacant Seat, Member

Term ends: 12/31/2025