Neal Kaufman MD, MPH

Neal Kaufman, MD, MPH,Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Co-Founder, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities; Commissioner, First 5 LA and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DPS Health and member of the board of the Children’s Law Center (provider of legal services for abused and neglected children in Los Angeles).

After a 27 year career in academic medicine and public health, he founded DPS Health to create technology solutions that enable clinicians to help their patients adopt and sustain health promoting behaviors. Dr. Kaufman has developed a deep understanding of how technology can enable behavior change interventions in the context of therapeutic relationships. His approach is grounded in behavior change and patient self-management support theories, research-based protocols and the realities of real-world clinical practice.

He has extensive experience in a variety of aspects of health promotion, disease prevention and clinical care. As an academic practicing physician and public health professor for 27 years, he not only provided care to vulnerable populations, he also had responsibility to plan, implement, evaluate and evolve health and social services approaches at the individual, family, clinic, community and governmental level. This experience, coupled with his activities regarding provider and patient education, has given him the capacity to create effective clinically-linked programs that are based on how master clinicians provide care, can be linked into community resources and supports, and are enabled by sophisticated information technology support.

Among many other areas of interests, Neal is devoted to complexity science and how its principles can improve health and health care. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Plexus Institute - a leader in complexity science. He is also interested in how good architecture and urban design can improve the health of populations and how philanthropy, partnering with government and businesses can use its resources for social good. Since 2000, he has been a commissioner (trustee) of First 5 LA, a grant making foundation that is part of government investing > $150 million dollars per year to improve outcomes for children by the age of 5 beginning in the prenatal period.