Professor, UCLA School of Public Health
Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

310-794-0812 / Fax:  310-794-2686
E-mail: erbrown@ucla.edu

Dr. E. Richard Brown is a professor at the UCLA School of Public Health and the founder and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He received his PhD in sociology of education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Brown has studied and written extensively about a broad range of issues and policies that affect the access of disadvantaged populations to health care. His recent research focuses on health insurance coverage, the lack of coverage, and the effects of public policies, managed care, and market conditions on access to health services, particularly for disadvantaged populations, ethnic minorities, and immigrants. Dr. Brown and the Center's studies of health insurance coverage, uninsurance, and eligibility for public programs have been used by California's governors, legislators, and advocates in crafting health insurance legislation and programs.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which he founded in 1994, has developed into a leading national health policy research center and the premier source of health-related information and analysis on California’s population (www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu). The Center conducts research on a wide range of health issues and provides extensive public service to policy makers, advocates and the media. The Center is supported by grants and contracts that total more than $8 million a year.

Dr. Brown is the principal investigator for the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), one of the nation's largest ongoing health surveys. CHIS uniquely provides statewide and local-level estimates for California's diverse population and covers a broad range of health issues, including health status and chronic conditions, health behaviors, and health insurance coverage and access to health care.

Dr. Brown also has been extensively involved in the analysis and development of public policies, with particular emphasis on health care reform. He served as a full-time senior consultant to the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform, for which he co-chaired the work group on coverage for low-income families and individuals. He has served as health policy adviser to two members of the United States Senate, where he was a Senate Fellow and developed major health care reform legislative proposals. He was health policy adviser to several candidates for President. Dr. Brown also has developed legislation for the California Legislature and advised members on a variety of health policy legislative issues. He has presented invited testimony to numerous committees in both houses of the U.S. Congress and in the California Legislature and has provided consultation to many private, state, federal, and international agencies. He also has served on several National Academy of Science study committees. He is a past president of the American Public Health Association

Selected Publications

Brown ER, “Community Participation and Community Benefit in Large Health Surveys: Enhancing Quality, Relevance, and Use of the California Health Interview Survey,” in Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Health Survey Research Methods, Cohen SB, Lepkowski JM (eds.), Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2004, pp. 49-54.

Brown ER, Davidson P, Yu H, Wyn R, Andersen R, Becerra L, Razack N, “Effects of Community Factors on Access to Ambulatory Care for Lower-Income Adults in Large Urban Communities,” Inquiry 2004; 41: 39–56.

Brown ER, Rice T, Ponce N, and Lavarreda SA, The State of Health Insurance in California: Long-Term and Intermittent Lack of Health Insurance Coverage, Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, November 2003.

Andersen RM, Yu H, Wyn R, Davidson PL, Brown ER, Teleki S, “Access to Medical Care for Low Income Families: How Do Communities Make a Difference?” Medical Care Research & Review 2002 59(4): 384-411.

Brown ER, Ponce N, Rice T, and Lavarreda SA, The State of Health Insurance in California: Findings from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, June 2002.

Brown ER, Yu H, “Latinos’ Access to Employment-Based Health Insurance,” in Suárez-Orozco M, and Páez M (eds.), Latinos: Remaking America, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002, pp. 236-253.

Brown ER, “Public Policies to Extend Health Care Coverage” in Andersen R, Rice T, Kominski G (eds), Changing the U.S. Health Care System: Key Issues in Health Services, Policy and Management, second edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001, pp. 31-57.

Brown ER, Ojeda V, Wyn R, Levan R, Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Health Insurance and Health Care, Los Angeles and Menlo Park, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2000.

Brown ER, “Expanding Coverage for California’s Ever-Growing Uninsured Population,” in Mitchell DJB, Nomura P (eds.), California Policy Options 2000, Los Angeles: UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research and UCLA Anderson Forecast, 2000, pp. 94-105.

Brown ER, Wyn R, Yu H, Valenzuela A, Dong L, “Access to Health Insurance and Health Care for Immigrant Children,” in Hernandez DJ (ed.), Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999, pp. 126-186.