Janet Coffman, MA, MPP, PhD, aims to build bridges between academia and policymakers. She is Co-Associate Director for Policy Programs at UCSF's Institute for Health Policy Studies and Co-Director of the Master of Science in Health Policy and Law Program. She is also affiliated with Healthforce Center and the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Her work as Vice Chair for Medical Effectiveness for the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP) is a prime example of bridge building. Established in 2002, CHBRP responds to requests from the California State Legislature to provide independent analysis of proposed health insurance benefit mandates and repeals. The program is administered by the University of California's Office of the President and involves faculty and staff from several UC campuses, other universities in California, and an actuarial firm. Since Dr. Coffman joined the program in October 2005, she has authored or guided work on reports on a wide variety of topics and collaborates with other CHBRP faculty and staff to improve the program's analytic methods

Over the past 25 years, she has authored numerous publications on the health care workforce in California and the United States, including multiple analyses of strategies for increasing racial/ethnic diversity in the health professions. She has also conducted evaluations of multiple health workforce initiatives aimed at increasing racial/ethnic diversity and geographic distribution of health professionals. Her other research interests include innovations in management of chronic conditions, access to care for vulnerable populations, development of evidence-based health policies.