Office of Women's Health Staff
Staff List:
Terri Thorfinnson, J.D. - Chief
Patricia Lee - Research Scientist III
Pamela Williams - Staff Services Analyst - Adminstration
Adria Wells - Staff Services Analyst - Web and Design
Appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger, Ms. Terri Thorfinnson is the Chief of the Office of Women’s Health, which is a joint policy office serving both the California Department of Health Care Services and the California Department of Public Health. She serves as the senior level policy advisor for the Directors and both Departments on women’s health issues. Under her leadership, the Office of Women’s Health published the award winning California Women’s Health 2007 report; Data Points: Results from the 2005 California Women’s Health Survey; Data Points: Results from the 2004-2004 California Women’s Health Survey; Women’s Health: Findings from the California Women’s Health Survey 1997-2003;and The 2007 Directory of Health Programs Serving Women. The women’s health month awareness campaigns have received National Public Health Information Coalition Award for Excellence in Public Health Communication recognition.
A well-respected health policy advisor and consultant, she has served in numerous health policy positions including senior associate for Lia Margolis and Associates, consultant for her own consulting firm Progressive Strategies and Policy Director for the California Primary Care Association. Her policy work with community clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers produced landmark legislation for clinics including the Cedillo-Alarcon Community Clinic Investment Act of 2000 which has become the model for capital infrastructure funding for community clinics. Prior to her state level health policy work, she worked in senior level policy positions for Planned Parenthood in both New York and California. She received a national award for her reproductive health advocacy work in California.
She received her J. D. degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire and her B. A. degree from University of Wisconsin, Madison in political science and anthropology. She is a member of the New York bar.
Dr. Lee is currently the Research Scientist III for the Office of Women’s Health. She co-chairs the multi-disciplinary interdepartmental California Women’s Health Survey (CWHS) group, a collaboration of the Departments of Health Services, California Department of Public Health, Social Services, and other state departments and private entities. She coordinates publications using data from the CWHS. Her role requires planning and conducting scientific epidemiological study, including the development of research questions, statistical methods, data analyses, and conclusions. Using scientific analysis of survey data, she identifies and assesses the distribution of key indicators of health status and risk factors among California women, and evaluates access to and utilization of appropriate health care services, and outcomes of specific interventions. She also identifies key areas of research, other than the CWHS, to be undertaken by OWH, and disseminate findings of scientific research in written reports. She uses the California Health Interviews Survey (CHIS), the California Women’s Health Survey, and findings from the Women’s Health Initiative, National Institute of Health, to prepare descriptive and scientific reports on the nature, extent and causes of diseases, disorders and conditions unique to, more prevalent among, or more serious in women. She is the principal editor of scientific facts for all data reports and scientific articles produced by the OWH. She also consults with researchers at universities, other state program/advisory committees within the external to DHCS/CDPH, national data centers, and policy institutes on scientific studies relating to women’s health problems, interventions, and policies. In addition, she serves as a technical advisor for CHIS and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Concerning publications, she has 7 peer reviewed abstracts, 17 peer reviewed abstracts, 2 book chapters, and 8 conference presentations.
During her graduate career she was involved in the application of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to a variety of health behaviors and has expertise in the development of expert system interventions, developing interventions for commercial products, measurement development, and data analysis. She has had the opportunity to work on projects concerning cancer risk, sexual behavior, and diabetes and been exposed to a public health framework. For the HIV and STDs Division of the Rhode Island Department of Health, she co-developed an evaluation survey for outcome research. Being part of multidisciplinary teams has become a focal point in her career by continuing to work with physicians, nurses, dieticians, exercise scientists, psychiatry, etc. She has also worked with various populations (aging, smokers, obese, diabetics, chronic pain patients, substance abusers, and adolescents). She has co- developed manuals for weight management program and a counselor's manual for condom use to be utilized with African American males in Birmingham, Alabama. The above activities demonstrate her experience in designing, implementing and evaluating theory-based interventions for a broad array of special populations and in evaluating psychosocial and behavioral measures to reduce risk behaviors. She received her B.A. in Clinical Psychology from San Francisco State University and both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island.
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Pamela Williams has almost 10 years of experience with the State. She previously worked in the Cancer Research Section, the Cancer Control Branch and the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Health Services. Pamela worked in the Director’s Office of the newly formed Department of Health Care Services, before coming to the Office of Women’s Health in May of 2010. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History, from the University of California at Berkeley.
Prior to working for the State, Pamela managed the ionic Tower Theater here in Sacramento. Working there for many years was a wonderful experience and a great exposure to cultural diversity. With such a diverse job background, she brings her skill and experience to OWH helping constituents find health resources in California.
Adria Wells is a graduate of the Art Institute of California - San Francisco, with a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation. She brings extensive knowledge in media, art and the web to the Office of Women's Health and is championing the use of the web for outreach and education. Adria has a passion for health education and believes that her work with the Office will bring much needed information to younger women throughout California.
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