William Remak
William “Bill†Remak is a Medical Technologist, former faculty of the University of California, San Francisco and has a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Administration from San Francisco State University. Bill is a notable outspoken personality on local, state and national political and social health issues. Bill’s professional experience in the corporate and nonprofit worlds has shaped his solutions-oriented approach to address problems at all levels of the health care system. He has created networks that include people in research, academia, pharma, biotech, public benefit agencies, government, and private individuals and investors. He has used his personal experience with chronic illness to effectively organize patients at grass roots levels, inspire patient advocates, and others into powerful voices for innovation and policy change. His efforts have driven policy reform that has improved access, health care delivery, and quality of life for patients. He is the founder/chairman and CEO of the California Hepatitis C Task Force and Chairman of the International Association of Hepatitis Task Forces. He is also a founding board member of the California Chronic Care Coalition in Sacramento, Board member of the Chronic Care Policy Alliance, and Executive Director of the National Working Group on Evidence Based Healthcare in Alexandria, Virginia. He serves on the community advisory board to the VA National Hepatitis C Program. He sits on the community advisory board of Partnership Health Plan of California, the managed care organization serving the Medicaid clients for fourteen Northern California counties. He is a voting member or the World Hepatitis Alliance that provides advocacy and patient engagement on viral hepatitis to the World Health Organization of the United Nations. He has been recognized for his accomplishments in reducing disparities in minority health as the recipient of the 2013 and 2016 National Health Pioneer Award for Hepatitis Advocacy from the Georgia Doty HIV and Hepatitis Outreach Foundation, Chicago, Illinois. He is a former board member of Impact House, a Transitional Housing Non-profit serving people in recovery and the homeless in Merced, California. He is also a founding board member and advocacy director of the FAIR Foundation, a national research advocacy organization seeking reforms in our nation’s organ transplant and NIH research policies. Bill is a core advocate for the political action as an ambassador for the Americans for Cures Foundation that led to the creation of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and sat on the task force that developed its operational strategy. He is a panel reviewer for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review’s California Technology Assessment Forum. As a cancer survivor, a two-time liver transplant recipient and diabetic, he is a prominent voice and ardent advocate for patients with chronic diseases and the mentally ill. At 65 and serving for over 32 years, he continues to be an active member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, including five years as a Diversity Staff Officer and several years as Vice-Flotilla Commander of his local flotilla. He has written numerous articles and is a well sought after national speaker on patient advocacy issues. He enjoys reading, writing, sailing, swimming, going to movies and dinning. He has four grown children and three grandchildren. He is a native of Marin County and resides in Petaluma, California.