Elizabeth (Becky) Yano is Adjunct Professor of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Director of the VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy 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 30 years’ experience in health services research and program evaluation.

An internationally recognized expert on organizational factors influencing system performance and implementation of evidence-based practice, Dr. Yano has received the VA HSR&D Senior Research Career Scientist Award for her research leadership, impacts, mentorship and service and received the 2012 Under Secretary for Health Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Health Services Research.

Dr. Yano has been a national leader in developing the infrastructure, research-clinical partnerships, and research consortium needed to rapidly increase the scientific evidence needed to improve care for women Veterans in the VA healthcare system through a national VA Women’s Health Research Network. The Network provides education/training, mentorship, and technical support to increase researcher, clinician and policymaker knowledge and conduct of women Veterans’ research, and includes 60 VA medical centers as members of the Women’s Health Practice-Based Research Network, enabling greater inclusion of women in VA research.

Dr. Yano directs the Women Veterans’ Healthcare CREATE Initiative, a 5-project program designed to use research to accelerate implementation of comprehensive care for women Veterans in VA settings. Within the CREATE, she leads a 12-site cluster randomized trial of an evidence-based quality improvement approach to tailoring medical homes to the needs of women Veterans, and a study of the impacts of variations in comprehensive care delivery on women’s quality of care and patient experience.

At UCLA, she teaches Practices of Evaluation in Health Service: Theory and Methodology in the Executive Master of Public Health (EMPH) Program, where she has been twice awarded Professor of the Year. She co-directs the VA Women’s Health Fellowship Program, and mentors a wide array of VA and UCLA postdoctoral fellows and junior investigators.