IHLS Staff & Members

Professor Liang has an interdisciplinary interest in health law and policy reflected by his study of health care from a broad array of perspectives. He graduated from MIT with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, studying organic synthesis of complex natural products, and then received a Ph.D. in health policy from the University of Chicago, studying access and quality issues in Medicaid managed care programs in the United States. He also studied medicine and medical care at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, assessing physician services financing systems and inner city hospital reimbursement structures, and received an M.D. degree from that institution. During this time, he was also invited to the Republic of China, where he was a consultant to the National Health Insurance Special Task Force and developed a global research strategy for the integration of existing beneficiary populations into the NHI Program. Professor Liang also performed empirical economic analyses of the medical malpractice system, assessing critical assumptions of rule knowledge by and deterrence effects on physicians in several different specialties while at Harvard Law School, where he was the Sheldon Seevak Law & Economics Research Fellow and received his law degree. Before coming to San Diego, Professor Liang held two distinguished professorships and served as a Research Council Faculty Fellow in Europe, assisting policymakers in the European Union address issues associated with managed care and complementary social insurance.

His current interests focus upon the interface between law, medicine, economic incentive structures, and their impact upon the quality of care, particularly patient safety, as well as patient access issues. In addition, his work attempts to determine the validity of assumptions regarding legal rules, their impact upon the social systems they purport to regulate, and alternative means by which social goals may be accomplished.

Professor Barton is interested in the connections between legal rules and social practices, philosophy, systems design, and psychology. He studied political science at Tulane University and the University of Nottingham, England as an undergraduate, and received his legal training at Cornell Law School. Following two years of private law practice in New York state, he began a Ph.D. program in law at Cambridge University, England and received his doctorate from that institution. His dissertation developed a theory of the common law as a technique of problem solving.

Professor Barton began his law teaching career at West Virginia University, where he developed courses in legal anthropology, legal values, and jurisprudence. At California Western he teaches courses devoted to both the theory and the skills of problem solving and prevention. He also has taught a variety of courses at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Sociology.

He is the coordinator of the National Center for Preventive Law and a co-director of California Western’s Center for Creative Problem Solving. As part of those activities he convenes the Law/Medicine Forum, a group of lawyers and health care professionals who join in conversations on topics of mutual interest, including patient safety, medical error disclosure, and conflict in health care.

Professor Bohrer is an expert in biotechnology, pharmaceutical policy, and technology transfer. His bachelor’s degree is from Haverford College, and he obtained his law degrees from the University of Illinois, where he served on the law review, and Harvard. Professor Bohrer’s activities and service in bioscience and technology have been extensive. He created and chaired the Annual California Biotechnology Conference from 1985 to 1996. He served as Director of Biotechnology programs at the Center for Molecular Genetics at UCSD (1991-1999), as a visiting Professor at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and as a consultant to Dimotech, Technion's technology transfer unit. From 1994 to 2004 he served as a member of the board of directors of the La Jolla Institute for Molecular Medicine.

Professor Bohrer's other technology activities include service on a broad array of boards of directors, including Myelos Neurosciences (now part of Savient Pharmaceuticals), Hygeia Pharmaceuticals (now Viventia Biotech), the Biotechnology Institute at the United States Patent Office, the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Science and Technology, and the Center for Medical Ethics and Mediation. He currently serves as Executive Editor of the Biotechnology Law Report.

Dr. Class received his Ph.D from Georgetown University with distinction in 2004. He has subsequently written articles and presented on counterfeit drugs in the biotech and pharmacy communities. His research interests span the regulatory and legal aspects of drug counterfeiting as well as international trade issues.

Linda L. D’Antonio is a world-renowned expert in communication disorders with 30 years experience in health policy. She received her undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of California Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of California San Francisco. She completed a two-year National Institute of Health post-doctoral fellowship at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. She is Professor of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.

Dr. D’Antonio is a pioneering researcher with over 200 publications in the medical literature on communication disorders, measurement of health related quality of life, and ethical and policy considerations regarding volunteer healthcare missions in developing countries. Dr. D’Antonio has extensive experience in promoting and establishing communication services for children in developing countries and has extensive cross-cultural experience. She has trained and led the training for providers around the world, including India, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Thailand. She serves as a member of the Medical Advisory Board for The Smile Train, an international non-profit organization committed to promoting cleft care for children around the world.

Her most recent work extends her extensive international policy experience to the study of health care conflict, particularly applying the themes of culture to understanding systems sources of conflict within the health delivery system. Her work encompasses institutional and group culture and patient care quality, and has led to significant understanding of cultural precepts of conflict in areas such as academic medical centers, naval hospitals, and deployed and nondeployed military personnel.

Dr. Deftos has an interest in law and medicine issues and is a world renowned expert in bone metabolism and endocrinology. His educational endeavors were focused in the east, having attended Brown University, and obtaining his bachelor’s degree there, and then being granted his medical degree from the University of Vermont. He trained in internal medicine at one of the busiest and most intensive internal medicine programs in the country, the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. From there, he became a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Public Health Service while working as an Attending Physician at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health and a Staff Associate in the Section on Polypeptide Hormones at the National Heart Institute. Dr. Deftos then joined the faculty of the Harvard Medical School as a Clinical and Research Fellow in Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital, then as Assistant Professor of Medicine. He was then recruited to the University of California San Diego School of Medicine as Chief of the Endocrine Section of the San Diego Veterans Administration Center, a position he held for 14 years. Since then, he has been Head of the Bone and Mineral (Endocrinology) Research Laboratory at the San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

Dr. Deftos also has had a tremendous interest in law and medicine, and pursued this interest by obtaining, first, his J.D. degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, then his LL.M. in Criminal Law from the University of San Diego School of Law. His research, which spans over 700 publications, involves areas as diverse as calcium and skeletal metabolism, to privacy regulations and their impact upon providers, to biotechnology and patent law.

Dr Gresham previously served as the Senior Epidemiologist for San Diego County, Health and Human Services Agency with over 20 years of experience conducting and supervising infectious disease surveillance and response activities.

Before coming to NTI, she was the Director of the San Diego State University Center for Public Health Security.

Dr. Gresham brings expertise in national and international disease surveillance systems, including the U.S. Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance program and the Middle East Consorium on Infectious Disease Surveillance.

She is well published in  peer reviewed journals and is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at San Diego State University, and co-founder of the Master of Science, Global Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Dr. Mittman is an experienced administrator whose work crosses the boundaries of medicine, business, and law each day. A Chicago native, Dr. Mittman received both A.B. and B.S. degrees with honors from the University of Chicago; in addition, Dr. Mittman trained in medicine at the University of Chicago, obtaining his M.D. degree there, also with honors. His postgraduate training at the National Heart Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Chicago was in internal medicine and respiratory diseases. After residency and fellowship training, in addition to being a scholar in pulmonary medicine and Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Mittman became a leader in medical administration. His administrative roles have included Executive Medical Director, Cancer Center Director, and Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs at City of Hope Medical Center, as well as President of a 100 physician, multi-specialty group practice and faculty practice plan at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Most recently, Dr. Mittman was Dean for Clinical Affairs at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, a position he held for eight years. In addition, he currently serves as the Special Assistant to the Dean for Clinical Affairs, Privacy Officer, and Compliance and Privacy Officer in the School of Medicine. In these capacities, he addresses issues of compliance with federal and other regulations that cover protection of research subjects, billing rules, and privacy in the clinical activities of the faculty and the School of Medicine's Medical Center. Finally, Dr. Mittman is also leader in administrative education; he directs the University of California San Diego Masters Degree in Advanced Studies in Leadership of Health Care Organizations, which is offered to medical students and the community.

Professor Morton is a leading innovator in education and creative problem solving. A pioneer from early in her education, she was in one of the first classes of women to attend and graduate from Princeton University. She then attended Northeastern University School of Law, a unique cooperative law program that alternates legal study with full time experience every three months after the first year.

Her experience in creative problem solving includes years as a litigator in Boston, arbitration of juvenile cases in Florida while teaching at the University of Florida College of Law, and mediating appellate, superior court, and community cases after joining the faculty at California Western School of Law. She was instrumental in creating a course in Advanced Mediation, where her students mediate cases in California Small Claims Court and Juvenile Hall.

Professor Morton’s interest in health care extends her work in creative problem solving to the health delivery sector. She has developed Problem Solving and Prevention in Healthcare, a course in which students resolve public health care issues in the San Diego community.

Professor Rutherford is a 30+ year veteran Captain of United Airlines, and was Vice President—Flight Standards and Safety at United before his retirement. Originally trained as a physician, Professor Rutherford received his undergraduate training from Stanford University, majoring in biology with minors in both chemistry and geography, and graduating with distinction, including departmental honors and Phi Beta Kappa. He received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, and also graduated from that institution with honors. He then trained at UCSF in medicine and the United States Air Force in Aerospace Medicine, also finishing these programs with honors. After USAF training, Professor Rutherford entered active duty to the U.S. Air Force, becoming a Squadron Flight Surgeon, Public Health Officer, and Occupational Health Officer of the 851st Medical Group, 97th Bomb Wing of the Strategic Air Command. After two years in these positions, he joined United Airlines, where he supplemented his pilot duties with accident investigations of commercial and military flight activities.

Professor Rutherford's prime area of interest is the intersection of complex systems and tools for systemwide improvement, utilizing the aviation model in simulation and training and applying it to medical care and delivery.

Steven R. Smith is President, Dean and Professor of Law at California Western School of Law in San Diego. He received his J.D. and M.A. (economics) degrees from the University of Iowa. He has taught at the law schools at Cleveland State University and the University of Louisville. He has written widely in the areas of law and ethics in medicine and mental health services. Special research interests include confidentiality and privilege, withholding treatment, malpractice, mental health care delivery and expert witnesses. He has received awards for creative teaching, outstanding scholarship and distinguished service. He has served on a number of national and state boards, is Chair of the California Law School Council, secretary of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs and is immediate Past Chair of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

Pam Tait has a legal, business and insurance background. She earned her Bachelors Degree in Business and Physical Education from San Diego State University. After owning and managing two family corporations, Ms. Tait obtained her Paralegal Degree from San Diego State University. While focusing on the legal field, she interned for Honorable Judge Ronald Domnitz at San Diego Superior Court and two other local attorneys. Later she worked as a law clerk for the court which provided her experience with the San Diego community and local court system.

In addition, Ms. Tait has been an active member of The National Association for Legal Assistants, a Commissioned Notary Public and served on several Children Hospital Auxiliary Boards. Throughout the years, Ms. Tait has pursued volunteer positions with the Red Cross and various youth athletic organizations. She is a licensed soccer coach and has coached many youth baseball teams.

For the past few years, Ms. Tait’s legal experience led her to work in the insurance field as a Claims Analyst. She was the primary resource for several attorneys to research and manage professional liability claims for national and international insurance companies. This combined experience and the compassion to promote better health care, drives her to obtain solutions to the complex issues that plague our society.

Jim Thomson was educated in East Africa, Switzerland and England, He has been a pioneer of UK cause-related marketing and of coordinated programs of corporate social responsibility. More recently, he has been involved in building proactive consortia of patient and associated groups – both at home and in the developing world. Mr. Thomson works in mental health in England, where he currently leads the Centre for Mental Health. He was formerly CEO of Depression Alliance, the leading UK charity representing people affected by depression.