Faculty

Dr. Raghuram B. Bhat is a psychiatrist in private practice, with a special interest in post-traumatic stress disorder.  He is board-certified in psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, addiction medicine, and community and public psychiatry.  In addition to his private practice in Camas, WA, Dr. Bhat provides psychiatric consultation to primary care clinics in underserved areas of Washington through a collaborative care program, and via e-consulting.  Prior to private practice, he had held various medical leadership roles, including Chief Medical Officer of a community mental health organization.  Dr. Bhat attended medical school at Saba University, and completed his psychiatry residency and geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Stony Brook University.  He also completed a community-based integrated care fellowship through the University of Washington.  He is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Alfonso Apu is the Chief Behavioral Health Officer at Community Medical Centers, Inc. (CMC).  Community Medical Centers is the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in San Joaquin County, providing integrated services to over 100,000 patients in 3 counties. When Alfonso was hired by CMC in 2008 he was the only Licensed Clinical Social Worker they had on staff.  Since becoming director of behavioral health in 2014, CMC’s Department of Behavioral Health has grown tremendously and he now manages a staff of 75 who include licensed clinicians, psychiatrists, psychologist, community health workers, case managers, and substance use disorder addiction specialists.  Alfonso has also been instrumental in helping to expand CMC’s behavioral health services providing mental health, substance use disorder and care coordination services at CMC’s 26 centers, CMC’s Recovery Center and Respite Center, local homeless shelter, and school-based counseling services.  In addition to developing case management services that address patients’ social determinants of health that link patient with basic needs such housing, food, insurance, and other basic needs.  As part of a team he was instrumental in developing CMC’s Recovery Center- a treatment center for patients suffering from substance use disorders which includes a sobering center and a respite center. Alfonso received his Master of Social Work in 2002 from San Jose State University and has been working in the social work field for over 30 years.

Dr. Melanie Lin is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician and Certified Professional Coder currently serving as AltaMed Health Services’ Medical Director of Integrated Clinical Services. In this capacity, Dr. Lin oversees the organization’s dental, behavioral health, senior care and health education departments as well as the radiology and lab programs.  Prior to joining AltaMed, Dr. Lin worked with DaVita HealthCare Partners in multiple capacities, including as the Department Chair of Quality Improvement.  Dr. Lin attended medical school at Tufts University and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Joel Ramirez is Chief Medical Officer for Camarena Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Central California. He completed his medical education at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and achieved board certification in both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine after training in these fields at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. Dr. Ramirez also completed a Master’s in Business Administration from the USC Marshall School of Business. Having been raised in the San Joaquin Valley, he is pleased to be back working for underserved populations, and helping to develop Camarena Health as a teaching health center.

Dr. Dan Wilensky has been a proud member of the Community Health Center, Inc. team since 2003. He is a Family Medicine Doctor, having completed his University of Connecticut Family Medicine Residency in 1995. In addition to serving on the ConferMED-ECHO faculty, he also has also served on Project ECHO Complex Care Management Faculty since its inception in 2015. Dr. Wilensky is the Chief Preceptor/Medical Consultant for Community Health Center’s APRN Residency Program and an agency-wide champion of best practices in chronic pain treatment. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of ConferMED.

 Dr. Matthew Huddleston has worked as a Family Medicine Physician with a focus on HIV, Hepatitis C, and substance use disorders at Community Health Center, Inc. since 2001. Dr. Huddleston received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Huddleston has served as co-lead faculty member on Project ECHO Hepatitis C/HIV since the program’s development in 2012. Dr. Huddleston also serves as a preceptor for Community Health Center, Inc.’s Nurse Practitioner Residency Program.

Weitzman Institute Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of the Weitzman Institute to ensure that Continuing Education (CE) activities are independent and free of commercial bias. To ensure educational content is objective, balanced, and guarantee content presented is in the best interest of its learners' and the public, the Weitzman Institute requires that everyone in a position to control educational content disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. An ineligible company is one whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Examples can be found at accme.org.

Faculty participating in a Weitzman Institute-sponsored activity must disclose to the planning committee and audience all financial or other relationship(s) with ineligible companies.

Faculty Disclosures

No faculty disclosed a relevant financial relationship for this program.