Elizabeth Yano, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor Department of Health Services UCLA School of Public Health Box 951772 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 E-mail: elizabeth.yano@med.va.gov

Biographical Information

Elizabeth (Becky) Yano, PhD, MSPH is Adjunct Professor of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health and Co-Director of the VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Trained in health care epidemiology, biostatistics and health policy at UCLA and RAND, Dr. Yano has over 25 years’ experience in health services research and program evaluation. She has received the VA HSR&D Research Career Scientist Award for outstanding accomplishment in health services research and is a nationally recognized expert on organizational factors influencing quality of care and system performance, with a focus on primary care, prevention, and women’s health.  Her work has led to the creation of a unique set of organizational datasets that span more than a decade of VA’s quality transformation, enabling empirical assessment of management and clinical practice factors that distinguish high and low performing health care organizations.  Dr. Yano has also led evaluations of the organizational context and impacts of implementing evidence-based practice.  Major research initiatives include studies of implementation and impacts of VA patient-centered medical homes, impact of practice structure on the quality of care for women veterans, facility determinants of racial-ethnic and gender disparities, and determinants of the adoption and implementation of genomic medicine. She is also a national leader in women’s health research, as head of the VA Women’s Health Research Consortium and co-lead for the first ever Women Veterans’ Practice Based Research Network (PBRN).  At UCLA, she teaches Evaluation of Health Services in the Executive MPH Program for Health Services Management & Policy, where she has been twice awarded Professor of the Year.  Dr. Yano is also co-director of the VA HSR&D Associated Health Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and UCLA NRSA Primary Care Fellowship Program, in addition to serving as a member of the Research Advisory Board and a faculty mentor/advisor in the UCLA RWJ Clinical Scholars Program and VA Health Services Research and Women’s Health Fellowship Programs.

Selected Publications

1. Yano EM, Hayes P, Wright S, Schnurr PP, Lipson L, Bean-Mayberry B, Washington DL.  Integration of women veterans into VA quality improvement research efforts:  What researchers need to know.  J Gen Intern Med.  2010;1:56-61.
   
   
2. Washington DL, Yano EM, McGuire J, Hines V, Sun S, Gelberg L.  Risk factors and consequences of homelessness among women veterans.  Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 2010;21:81-91.
   
   
3. Yano EM, Rubenstein LV, Farmer MF, Chernof BA, Mittman BS, Lanto AB, Simon BF, Lee ML, Sherman SE.  Targeting primary care referrals to smoking cessation clinics does not improve quit rates:  Implementing evidence-based interventions into practice.  Health Services Research, 2008;43(5), Part 1:1637-1661.
   
   
4. Bean-Mayberry B, Yano EM, Brucker N, Bayliss N, Xu X, Mor M, Crick E, Fine M.  Does sex influence immunization status for influenza and pneumonia in older veterans?  J Am Geriatrics Soc.  2009;57(8):1427-32.
   
   
5. Yano EM.  Influence of health care organizational factors on implementation research:  QUERI Series.  Implementation Science, 2008; 3:29.
   
   
6. Yano EM, Simon BF, Lanto AB, Rubenstein LV.  The evolution of changes in primary care delivery underlying the Veterans Health Administration’s quality transformation.  Am J Public Health, 2007;97(12):2151-2159.
   
   
7. Yano EM, Soban LM, Parkerton PH, Etzioni DA.  Primary care practice organization influences colorectal cancer screening performance.  Health Services Research, 2007; 48(3):1130-1149.
   
   
8. Yano EM, Goldzweig C, Canelo I, Washington DL.  Diffusion of innovation in women’s health care delivery:  The Department of Veterans Affairs’ adoption of women’s health clinics.  Women’s Health Issues, 2006; 16(5):226-235.
   
   
9. Kochevar L, Yano EM.  Understanding organizational needs and context:  Beyond performance gaps.  J Gen Intern Med.  2006;21(Suppl 2):S25-29.
   
   
10. Yano EM, Bastian L, Frayne S, Howell A, Lipson L, McGlynn G, Seaver M, Spungen A, Fihn SD.  Toward a VA women’s health research agenda:  Setting evidence-based priorities to improve the health and health care of women veterans.  J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21(Suppl 3):S93-101.