Faculty and Staff

Say Hello to the HIT/CIM Department Faculty!

Lillian Antonelli, MS, CTR is an adjunct instructor in CIM program. She is a graduate of the New School University and holds a Masters degree in Health Service Management and Policy. For the last five and half years she has worked for Vassar Brothers Medical Center as a Cancer Registrar and for the past eight years she worked for Orange County Community College as an On-line Instructor/Course Developer.  

Erik Bailey, Pharm.D. is an adjunct instructor in the HIT and Coding programs at Santa Barbara City College.  Erik has been in the field of pharmacology and addiction medicine for almost twenty years and has worked at various clinical, hospital and teaching positions.  Erik enjoys working in the field of pyschopharmacology, loves teaching, and is an active member of the American Pharmacist's Association (APHA) and the California Pharmacist's Association (CPHA).

Darla Branda is the HIT CIM Department Chair and newest faculty member of the department.  She has been in the HIM field for 18 years and holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Health Care Management from Park College, Parkville, MO and Medical Record Administration (now called HIM) from Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO; and a Master of Arts degree in Higher Education from St. Louis University.  She has worked in several acute care hospitals in a variety of roles, including coding, quality improvement and management.  In the past, she served as the HIT Program Director at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, and most recently as HIA Program Director for Stephens College in Columbia, MO, a completely online 4-year program. Darla has served on many HIM professional committees at the state and local level.  She was extremely honored to receive the Outstanding Educator from the Missouri Health Information Management Association in 2008 and is delighted to be on the SBCC Faculty!

Kathleen Davidson-Allen, CTR is an adjunct instructor in the CIM program at Santa Barbara City College, and has taught Cancer Patient Follow-Up since 2002.  Kathleen has been in the cancer registry field for over 25 years with experience in hospital-based, regional and state cancer registries.  She is currently the Director of Registry Operations for the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry at the Northern California Cancer Center. Kathleen actively supports local, state, and national cancer registry organizations.

April Fritz, RHIT, CTR is an adjunct instructor and former director of the CIM program.  She retired from the SEER Program of the National Cancer Institute in 2006 after 10 years of service to the government and moved west to form her own registry operations training and consulting company.  She has worked in hospital-based and central cancer registries as well as for registry software vendors.  She is a consultant to many organizations, including the Commission on Cancer, the American Joint Committee on Cancer, the International Union Against Cancer, and the International Agency for Cancer Research.  She is the author or editor of many of the standard references cancer registrars use in daily practice. 

Lynda L. Hampton, RN, BSN is an adjunct instructor in HIT and Coding and is in her third year at the college. She is currently a Clinical Document Management Specialist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.  She has worked in several hospital settings throughout the country, all in Critical Care settings (Cardiology).  She has ACLS credentials and is a BCLS Instructor at Cedars.  Lynda spends time as a Youth Director in her Church.

Meryl Leventhal, MA, CTR, RHIT, is an adjunct instructor in the CIM program at Santa Barbara City College since 2001. She has worked in the Health Information field for more than 30 years. Meryl is currently the Data Collection Supervisor for the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP), one of the 10 regional registries that comprise the California Cancer Registry and a SEER registry. She is an instructor and assistant director of the CSP Cancer Registrars Training Program (CRTP) since 1996. Meryl is an active member of the California Cancer Registrars Association (CCRA) and the Southern California Cancer Registrars Association (SCCRA).

Debi Lurie, RN, CCS, RHIT, has worked in healthcare for many years.  She is a Santa Barbara City College Online HIT program graduate.  She is working on her Masters Degree in Health Information Management through the College of St Scholastica’s online program.  A favorite area of study & research is the Electronic Health Record.  Debi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Management from University of La Verne. She is a licensed Registered Nurse from the California Board of Registered Nursing.  She earned her Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) and Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) credential from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).   Prior to her appointment at Santa Barbara City College as an adjunct instructor, Debi was a coder at an acute care hospital.  Her background includes staff nurse experience at various acute care hospitals in southern California.  Debi is currently a Clinical Documentation Improvement Coordinator at an acute care hospital.  This position includes responsibility for planning, developing, coordinating and implementing documentation improvement and education strategies.  She communicates with physicians, case managers, coders, and other health team members to facilitate comprehensive medical record documentation to reflect severity of illness and resources utilized.  Debi has been on the Santa Barbara City College Health Information Technology Advisory Committee since 2005.

Arti Parikh-Patel, PhD, MPH is an adjunct instructor in the HIT/CIM program who teaches the Cancer Statistics and Epidemiology Course. She is also a Research Scientist at the California Cancer Registry. Areas of interest in cancer research include racial and socioeconomic disparities in cancer incidence and survival, patterns of care in breast and colorectal cancer patients, and the relationship between cancer and autoimmune disease. Arti received her MPH from San Diego State University with an emphasis in health education, and her PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Davis.

Diane Premeau, MBA RHIT RHIA CHP is a specialist in systems analysis, development of health information systems, and database management and is the Director of Health Information Management Services at Santa Clara Valley Hospital and Healthcare System in San Jose California. She has held a position as a Compliance Manager, HIM Administrator and Privacy Officer at EMQ Youth and Family Services in Campbell, CA. She continues as adjunct faculty at Chabot College, Hayward, California in Health Information Manatement, and Santa Barbara City College. She is President-elect for the California Health Information Association.

Janet Robertson, RHIA is the HIT Program director and is a fulltime instructor in the HIT program at Santa Barbara City College since 2005. Prior to this position, she was an instructor and the HIT Program Director at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park. Before beginning her teaching career in 2000, she worked in the areas of coding and reimbursement, HIM management, Patient Registration management and regulatory compliance for more than 18 years and has worked in many settings such as, acute care hospitals, managed care, and consulting firms. Janet is active in the state association and serves on the CHIA Academics Committee and the Seminars Committee. She is also a Past President of the local SCHIA organization and volunteers at her daughters‘ school library and church.

Lynda A. Russell, EdD, JD, RHIA, CHP, adjunct instructor in the HIT Program, is the privacy manager at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.  Other positions held by Dr. Russell include associate professor and Director of Health Information Administration Program at the University of Central Florida, risk manager, practicing attorney and health information department director.  She has been a Health Information Management professional for over thirty years and has been active professionally on national, state and local levels.  She was the CHIA President for 2005-2006. Dr. Russell serves as a frequent speaker and has numerous publications on a variety of health information and related topics and on HIPAA.

James Slaughter, MD retired in 2004 after 26 years practicing with Kaiser-Permanente in northern California.  During his career he worked for many years as a liaison between the physicians and the health information management administration.  He was the coding coordinator for the electronic medical record that is being developed.  He holds specialty board certification in cardiovascular diseases (cardiology), internal medicine, and geriatric medicine. 

Vicky Turner-Howe, RHIT, CCS is an adjunct instructor in the HIT/Coding program at Santa Barbara City College.  She is currently employed for a managed healthcare organization in the Quality Data Management Department specializing in healthcare information monitoring and education.  She is very active in the implementation system-wide of the electronic health record.  She has been a volunteer for California Health Information Management (CHIA). Vicky currently serves on the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) Expert Coding Panel.

Katheryne Vance, BA, CTR, has been an adjunct instructor in the CIM program at Santa Barbara City College since 2001. She has been in the cancer registry field for over 25 years and her experience includes a community hospital-based cancer program and a university NCI designated cancer program. In 1988, Katheryne joined the California Cancer Registry as a Quality Control Specialist in the Data Standard and Quality Control Unit. Currently, she is the Acting Director of the Tri Counties Cancer Surveillance Program. She is a former consultant with the ACOS Commission on Cancer. Katheryne has served in many capacities in local, state, and national cancer registry organizations.

Lynette M. Williamson, MBA, RHIA, CCS, CPC is a fulltime instructor in the HIT, Coding Certificate program at Santa Barbara City College. Prior to this position, she was the HIT department program director and instructor at Camden County College, Blackwood NJ. Most of her professional career has been in the area of medical coding in various types of settings including acute care hospital, rehabilitation facilities, and coding companies. Lynette is an active member of both AHIMA and AAPC. Professional areas of interest include ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, and the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

Mary Wilkinson, MPH, RHIA is an adjunct instructor in the HIT/Coding Program and has been teaching for SBCC since Spring 2004.  Mary is also an instructor at Kirkwood Community College in the Health Sceince Department, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was previously an instructor and member of the advisory board for Trocaire College, Buffalo, NY.  Mary has held management positions in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs facilities and various staff positions in the civilian sector.   She has volunteered for local and state associations both in Hawaii and Michigan.

Sue Willner, RHIA is an adjunct instructor in the HIT/CIM Programs.  She has specialized in the areas of coding and reimbursement, data quality, and regulatory compliance for almost 25 years and has worked in many hospital settings, managed care, quality improvement, and consulting.  Sue is active as a HIM educator, speaker, and writer and as a volunteer for AHIMA and the California Health Information Association (CHIA). Sue is proud to tell you that she was awarded CHIA's Educator of the Year Award for 2007.

Administrative Support:

Joëlle Mathiot, Online Student Support Specialist
hitcim@sbcc.edu

HIT/CIM Counseling: