Meet the PEP Team
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Chief Health Information OfficerScott MacDonald, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.M.I.A.
Expanded BiographyScott MacDonald is a primary care physician who has had lifelong interest in using computers to improve people’s lives. As the physician leader for the Electronic Health Record at UC Davis Health, he works to improve the tools physicians, nurses, and other care team members use to care for patients in the hospital and the clinics. This includes ensuring that people know how to use the available tools. This impacts quality of the care they provide and their own professional lives. The PEP program directly addresses this and is one of initiatives he’s most proud of. Outside of work, he knows all about riding/building/fixing just about any kind of bike. -
ManagerJessie Eting
Jessie has been a member of the team since its inception. From theater stage manager and technical director to Epic implementation and support supervisor, Jessie brings over a decade of leadership experience across multiple domains. Jessie was one of the first few employees in his division at Sutter Physician Services to become credentialed in Epic modules such as EpicCare Ambulatory, Cadence and Prelude. He supported the implementation process for Sutter Community Connect from the ground up, moving from analyst to supervisor, for both the implementation and support teams respectively. After seven years at Sutter, he took his love for growing teams and joined the Practice Experience Program to help expand the Department. As Supervisor, Jessie is able to step back and look at system-level processes from a birds eye view. He serves as a bridge between what the system can offer and what physicians need. He can help determine how to get on the best path to achieving workflow optimizations and improving the electronic health record experience for providers. -
Senior Technical Project ManagerLynnette Brady, M.H.A., P.M.P.
Lynnette grew up in the small mining town of Grass Valley. She joined the team in 2022 as a Project Manager. Before joining UC Davis Health, Lynnette worked for CommuniCare Health Centers as the Director of Clinical Informatics and Training. While there, she led a team that managed the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system and implemented initiatives targeted to improve the electronic health record experience. Lynnette also has expansive healthcare operational knowledge from holding various roles throughout her career, including serving as a Director of Operations for ten health centers in Northern California and Nevada. Lynnette finds clinical informatics fulfilling as it allows her to solve problems, optimize systems, and improve the end user's experience. Outside of work, Lynnette enjoys traveling, running, quilting, and cuddling with her two dogs. -
Senior Technical Project ManagerLeah Galasso, M.A., P.M.P.
Connecticut native, Leah earned a master's degree in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University. Upon graduating, Leah attended a national conference where she was recruited and offered a position with UC Davis. After spending three years on main campus running large-scale programs and developing curricula, Leah learned of an opening with UC Davis Public Health Sciences which mirrored her background in academic and career advising as well as illuminated her passion for public health from her AmeriCorps experience. As a Graduate Program Coordinator, Leah ran the Public Health graduate programs for three+ years and built up her project management skills. Seeking to expand her portfolio beyond public health, Leah joined the team in September 2020. In the project manager role, Leah serves as the team's Logistics Guru! She helps streamline processes and keeps the team on track of deadlines. As a lifelong learner, Leah loves that her work is constantly changing. She always wants to find new ways to provide better service to our clients. -
Training AnalystElsie Bluett, M.S.
As a native New Yorker, Elsie lived on the East Coast all her childhood. She moved to Sacramento with her parents as a young adult. Elsie worked at UC Davis Health in Food and Nutrition Services for 20+ years serving in a multiple roles to provide high quality nutrition and healthcare services to meet the needs of our patients, guests, staff, and our community. Elsie is an alumni of the UC Davis M.S. Health Informatics program, who passionately believes in optimizing Epic to its full potential, in order to improve the delivery of healthcare services, the safety and quality of patient care, and to provide better patient outcomes. Outside of work, Elsie likes to cook, listens to classical music and enjoys going on cruises. -
Training AnalystAli Grimm
Ali was born and raised in Sacramento and has worked at UC Davis since 2012 as a Certified Medical Assistant II. She was a core team member at the UC Davis Spine Clinic, supporting clinics for Neurosurgery, and Ortho Spine. Ali was pivotal in helping to create and implement new workflows and electronic questionnaires that focused on collecting pre- and post-operative patient data. This data focused on patients’ disability rating secondary to pain and their mental well-being. As a Clinical Applications Trainer, Ali provides clinicians with the tools and training necessary to not only reduce their time in the EMR, but to ensure that clinicians have more hands-on care with patients. You can hear Ali’s laugh a mile away! -
Training AnalystHawa Kaba
Hawa was born and raised in Mali, where she developed her interest in healthcare from observing the poor medical system in the country. After earning her associate degree in General Biology at Sierra Community College, she continued at UC Davis for her bachelor’s degree in Global Disease Biology. Witnessing the impact of technology in healthcare, Hawa joined UC Davis Master’s program in Health Informatics to explore her passion for healthcare and technology. In addition to her clinical knowledge with the UC Davis Institute of regenerative medicine, Hawa has 6+ years of teaching and training from Sierra Community College and UC Davis undergraduate studies. Hawa became part of the PEP Team as a Clinical Application Trainer in 2022 to help our physicians operate efficiently with Epic Electronic Health Records and contribute to improving the health system. -
Training AnalystKristin Lutz
Kristin joined the team in 2019. Prior to UC Davis she excelled as a Principal Trainer for Sutter Health. Kristin has 7+ years of electronic health record training implementation experience after supporting 10 Sutter affiliate hospitals. As a training analyst on the team she observes ambulatory clinic workflows, which allows her to see the documentation challenges providers are experiencing. She provides tips and tricks to reduce time spent on documentation which improves a providers overall Epic experience. -
Training AnalystRachel Rubi
Rachel is a Sacramento native and has worked for the University of California Health Systems since 2019. She started as a Patient Services Representative Float Team member and served over 17 clinics before committing to a career position. Rachel went on to support clinics such as OB/GYN Specialties and Otolaryngology before joining the IT Education team as an Epic Applications Trainer. With IT Education, Rachel supported all Patient Contact Center new hires and the organization in Epic-related and non-Epic related training requests. In 2024, Rachel joined UCLA Health’s Learning and Organizational Development department as a Learning and Development Specialist supporting the organization’s over 280 clinic locations. Rachel joined the PEP Team as a Clinical Applications Trainer in 2025 and is passionate about improving physician and clinical provider satisfaction with Epic and patient care in any way she can. If you want to discuss books, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, she’s your girl. -
Training AnalystCatherine Wells
Catherine is a Northern California native raised in the foothills of Nevada County. Before joining the PEP team, she worked as a pharmacy technician in a variety of settings including teaching an accredited pharmacy technician associate degree program. In 2016 she transitioned from vocational training to EHR support and implementation focused on medication processes in Cerner at Adventist Health. Catherine enjoys solving problems and figuring out how to make processes and application of technology as seamless as possible. In her spare time Catherine can be found enjoying the Sacramento food and music scene, performing with her dance troupe at local venues and DIY’ing everything she can get her hands on. -
Build AnalystTrenton Laird
Trent is a native of Brookhaven, Mississippi and currently resides in the Jackson Metro area. He has over 20 years of healthcare experience, both clinical and technical, with the last 11 being in Healthcare IT as an Epic Analyst/Builder for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. His first 12 years were deeply rooted in the clinical environment as an ICU and postoperative registered nurse. He then accepted an opportunity to join the Epic Team where he first gained experience as an Optime/Anesthesia analyst working closely with perioperative leadership to enhance and maintain the Epic application. After this, he transitioned to a newly established Epic Optimization team as an analyst where he gained an additional 7 years of experience with multiple applications including: Ambulatory, Optime, Anesthesia, and Clinical Documentation. Experience gained from the Optimization Team includes meeting the needs of ambulatory clinics by optimizing provider efficiency, revamping tools to meet Epic’s recommended workflows, and learning new applications and technology on the go to meet the needs of end users. Trent has a passion for continuous improvement of the Epic experience. -
Build AnalystRobert Mitchell
Robert (Bob) is a builder on the IP PEP team with 10+ years of experience in Healthcare IT. He grew up in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado and consequently he can never be quite certain which direction is which without the Rocky Mountains looming in the west to point the way. Bob worked at Epic in the Implementation Services division, where he oversaw several projects at large multi-hospital organizations. A passion for helping providers succeed in a rapidly changing environment led him to be one of the pioneering Epic Physician Trainers, who developed training programs to improve knowledge retention and to share valuable efficiency tips in the Thrive After Go-Live program. Post-Epic, Bob worked as a consultant across the US before settling down as a Physician Liaison at El Camino Health. While there, he helped physicians with onboarding, efficiency and optimization. He views himself as a Digital Chaplain, providing general spiritual counseling in the face of an ever-changing EMR. He is certified in 11 Epic application modules and is constantly and insatiably curious. Bob lives in Santa Clara, California with his wife, Niccole and two very needy cats. His hobbies include travel, acting, hiking (very casually), languages, reading, tabletop gaming, and video games. He studies two martial arts: Katori Shinto-Ryu and Shinkendo. Bob speaks two languages and can eavesdrop in eight or nine more. -
Build AnalystLisa Weir
Born in Sacramento and raised in Reno, Nevada, Lisa brings over 16 years of healthcare experience to the team. She began her career as a Certified Nurse Assistant before earning her Nursing Degree, later caring for cardiac patients as an Inpatient Telemetry Nurse at Saint Mary's Hospital. Seeking a better work-life balance for her family, she transitioned to home healthcare across the Reno and Tahoe areas, where she served as a primary wound care nurse. -
ExternEllaine Arroyo
As a Bay Area native originally from San Mateo County, Ellaine began her academic journey at Skyline College to earn her Associate of Science in Biology before transferring to the University of California, Davis. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, with a minor in Community Development. Following her undergraduate studies, Ellaine completed a Public Health Certificate through University of California, Davis Continuing and Professional Education. She subsequently worked as a medical assistant for two years, where she gained experience supporting clinical workflows, patient education, and quality improvement initiatives. Ellaine also has experience using Electronic Medical Record (Epic) in ambulatory settings at both Kaiser Permanente and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. Now, she is studying in the University of California, Davis Master of Public Health program with a concentration in Epidemiology. Through the Practice Experience Program Externship, she hopes to expand her understanding of clinical informatics and how health information technology can support evidence-based care. Looking ahead, Ellaine is interested in pursuing a career in clinical epidemiology that incorporates project management and data analysis to help improve patient care outcomes.
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ExternMayah Biswas-Judge
Mayah Biswas-Judge is a current Master of Public Health student at University of California, Davis. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Sacramento State University in Health Sciences, where she participated in many extracurricular activities related to healthcare administration. Mayah was the president of the Healthcare Administration Club at Sacramento State and CAHL HEN’s student liaison as well. In those roles, she learned about the field of clinical informatics. Though her career focus is on healthcare administration, she has an academic interest in clinical informatics. Specifically, Mayah wants to focus her practicum project on Electronic Health Record systems and the use of Artificial Intelligence to increase usability for the geriatric population.