Tara Health highly values the rich and varied experience of its team.
We are honored to contribute our human capital to the partnerships and organizations we work with.
Elise Belusa
Executive Director
Elise Belusa is the Executive Director of the Tara Health Foundation. As Executive Director, Elise leads Tara Health’s operations and strategic initiatives, including overseeing the organization’s spend-down efforts, while also serving as a key spokesperson to advance Tara’s mission, vision, and values. Before joining Tara, Elise worked with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco, Ibis Reproductive Health, and the Harvard School of Public Health. She brings a background in domestic and international reproductive health research and service delivery, including working with women in Indonesia, Kenya, Senegal, and throughout the United States. Elise received a B.A. from the University of Minnesota and earned a Masters of Science in Reproductive & Sexual Health Research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Ellen Friedman
Board Treasurer
Ellen Friedman (she/her) is a social change strategist, organizer, philanthropic advisor, and network weaver. For eleven years she served as the Executive Director of the Compton Foundation, which seeks to ignite change toward a sustainable, just, and peaceful future. During Ellen’s tenure, the Foundation aligned its investment and grantmaking program with the Foundation’s mission and made the courageous decision to spend out the Foundation’s assets after 75 years of operation. Ellen served on the coordinating committee of the Divest/Invest Philanthropy campaign, was a member of the Steering Committee of Peace and Security Funders Group, and the Trust Based Philanthropy Project. Prior to her tenure at Compton, Ellen served as the executive vice president of Tides where she worked for twenty-three years with individual donors and other social change activists. Previously, as a program officer, Ellen designed the Domestic Violence program at the Conrad Hilton Foundation and was an organizer on issues of gender-based violence for many years. She is a trustee of Rockwood Leadership Institute, a member of the Program Committee of Criterion Institute, and member of the Directors Circle of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Ellen holds an MBA from UCLA, studies Jewish meditation and feminist spirituality, and leads the grief support team in her synagogue community in San Francisco. She is the proud mother of two remarkable humans and the partner of another.
Ellen George
Operations Manager
Ellen George is a principal at Family Philanthropy Advisors (FPA), overseeing financial and administrative management as well as providing consultative and management services to clients. Ellen has over 20 years of experience in philanthropy, foundation operations and wealth management. During her tenure at FPA, Ellen has developed and managed educational seminars, events and meetings for audiences of up to 1,000 people. She has overseen operations and programs for grantmaking foundations ranging in size from $4 million to $60 million and provided management services to an operating foundation that invested over $35 million in the health care field.
Ellen has served as co-chair and treasurer of the Community Capital Alliance, a nonprofit organization that focuses on creating community leaders for the future through philanthropic work. She is treasurer of the board of directors of the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota.
Liza Trujillo Kirkland
Associate Director
Liza Trujillo Kirkland is an equity-centered leader passionate about building more equitable and inclusive systems and spaces for all. Liza has centered her 15+ career around racial equity and justice, working to serve, advocate for, and create autonomy for historically marginalized and underserved communities in various diverse settings, spanning non-profit, healthcare, and tech- in local, national, and global settings.
Most recently, Liza worked in tech, focusing on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), fostering a global sense of community and belonging— creating safe, brave spaces where everyone could show up as their authentic selves and do the best work of their careers. As a proud first-gen Latina, Liza’s sense of self efficacy is highest when she can apply her lived experiences and skill set in a way that serves her community and the common good.
Liza holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Chicano/a Studies from California State University Fresno and an MBA with a specialization in Organizational Leadership from the University of Arizona.
Michael Penn, MD, PhD
Board of Directors, Chair Elect
Dr. Michael L. Penn, Jr. is laser-focused on advancing the development of talent, technologies, and companies that enable wellbeing for all, especially vulnerable populations. He began his career at Genentech working in Marketing and Business Development roles for nearly ten years. He was then recruited to become a Vice President at the Gladstone Institutes, responsible for strategy, diversity and mentoring; then later served as CEO of the Gladstone Foundation. He is a co-author of the book Finding Your North and co-founder of the non-profit, Building Diversity in Science—an organization that encouraged students of color to pursue careers in science. Dr. Penn was also appointed by former Mayor Willie Brown to serve as one of seven Commissioners responsible for governing San Francisco’s Department of Public Health. He currently sits on the Board of Trustees at St. Francis Memorial Hospital, a Dignity Health community hospital and the Bay Area Board of Summer Search. In 2017, Michael moved on to tackle some independent ventures, including a diversity management consulting practice and founding Health Equity Ventures--an emerging advisory group and investment fund supporting companies leveraging technology and data to accelerate healthcare transformation for underserved populations.
Rachel J. Robasciotti
Board of Directors
Rachel J. Robasciotti is a Black, queer woman and the Founder & CEO of Adasina Social Capital. Adasina is an investment and financial activism firm that serves as a critical bridge between financial markets and social justice movements. Rachel was also the founder of Robasciotti & Philipson, an investment management firm founded in 2004 and sister company of Adasina.
Among her many recognitions, Rachel has been called upon to testify before the US Senate regarding the state of financial markets. She is also regularly featured in the media, including The New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes, and Financial Planning Magazine as a leader in the financial industry for integrating issues of racial, gender, economic, and climate justice into investment portfolios. In addition to her work at Adasina, Rachel also serves as the Director of Advocacy & Engagement forAbacus Wealth Partners. She serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Resource Generation and as a Board Member for One Fair Wage, as well as an advisor the Indigenous Women’s Investment Fund for Native Women Lead.
Ruth Shaber, M.D.
Founder & President
Ruth Shaber, M.D., started her career in 1990 as an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center. She served as chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1997 to 2003 and spent six years as director of Women’s Health for the Northern California division of Kaiser Permanente. She is the founder of the Women’s Health Research Institute in Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region. Ruth was medical director at the Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute (CMI) from 2007 to 2012. At CMI she worked with Kaiser Permanente’s regional and national leaders to apply the best evidence-based and successful systems approaches to create reliable clinical performance.
Ruth is the co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures, a group of foundations and investors that collaborate to bring new types of capital and enterprise to the field of reproductive health in the United States. She is also a board member at the Women of the World Endowment and Toniic. She received her B.A. from Yale University and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kimberly Seals Allers
Board Secretary
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author of five books, and maternal and infant health strategist. She is the founder of Irth, as in Birth but without the B for bias, a doctor and hospital review and rating app for Black and brown parents designed to address racism and bias in maternity and infant care. Kimberly is also the host of Birthright, a podcast about joy and healing in Black birth. A former senior editor at Essence magazine, her most recent book, The Big Letdown--How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2017. Kimberly's upcoming book, Birthing in Colour: The Black Mother's Guide to Pregnancy, Birth & Breastfeeding, will be published by Pinter & Martin in 2022.
Founding Board Members
Rivka Gordon
Founding Board Member
Rivka Gordon is a longtime primary care Physician Assistant and Women’s Health Care Specialist, most recently serving as Senior Director for Quality in the Kaiser Permanente Federation in Oakland, Calif. She served on the leadership team of Kaiser’s Care Management Institute (CMI). Rivka previously served as Director of Strategic Initiatives with the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and as United States Program Director with Ipas, a global nonprofit organization supporting women’s health rights.
Rivka served on Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s National Medical Committee and on the San Francisco Women’s Community Clinic board of directors. Before moving to California, Rivka was board chair and chair of board development for Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina. She has a Masters in Health Sciences from Duke University.
Rivka served on Tara's board from the foundation's inception until July 2022.
Emiko Higashi
Founding Board Member
Emiko Higashi started her career as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. in Tokyo. She spent 15 years in investment banking, finishing as a managing director in charge of the global technology Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) practice at Merrill Lynch & Co. She co-founded Gilo Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley and Israel, in 2000 and founded Tomon Partners, a strategy and M&A consulting firm, in 2003. During her investment banking career, she has worked on numerous high-tech M&A transactions for clients such as Cisco, DSP Communications, Hyundai Electronics (Hynix), IBM, KLA-Tencor and Xerox. She was one of three women among 300 managing directors at Merrill Lynch.
Emiko grew up in Japan and received a B.A. from International Christian University in Tokyo and an MBA from Harvard University. She has served on the boards of Stentor Inc., Zen Research and BUILD, a nonprofit serving at-risk high school students. She currently serves on the board of KLA (NASDAQ), Rambus (NYSE), Takeda Pharmaceutical (TSE & NYSE), and Sanken Electric (TSE). Emiko served on Tara’s board from the foundation's inception until December 2021.
Mia Reilly
Communications Consultant
Mia leads Tara Health’s strategic narrative work, weaving together the stories of Tara’s 15-year spend-down, mission-aligned investing, and transformative racial equity journey into a core narrative primed for impact. Before joining Tara Health, she led the Membership Program at the Society of Family Planning, where she spearheaded efforts to build a collaborative community of scholars and partners united by a shared commitment to just and equitable abortion and contraception. Her background also includes advancing access to abortion and sexual health resources in the Mountain West Region via policy advocacy, development, and community organizing work. Mia is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Health Communication for Social Change from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, which is complemented by her Certificate in Storytelling and Content Strategy from the University of Washington. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Queer Studies and Public Health from Mount Holyoke College.