As the Deputy Director, Ms. Li managed and oversaw all fiscal operations and patient-facing administrative services for a large federal healthcare system renowned for its cutting-edge research program, innovations, and its nationally recognized clinical programs.

Prior to her Deputy Director role, Ms. Li served as the Director of Ambulatory Care, where she was responsible for leading, modernizing, and managing outpatient access for all Veterans in the San Francisco VA’s care—including primary care, mental health, and specialty care to include access to care in all six community-based outpatient clinics. As part of this role, Ms. Li was designated the VA’s first nationwide Group Practice Manager, helping VHA pilot and develop the VHA dashboard for monitoring outpatient access. This valuable experience led to her appointment as the SFVAHCS Associate Director, where she oversaw all administrative departments and was charged with developing the health care system’s vision for improving health care access and enhancing the patient experience.

The SFVAHCS operates the second largest funded research program in VA, with a budget of $81 million and over 320 principal researchers and over 1,000 active research projects. It is home to several National Centers for Excellence, including: The San Francisco VA National Center for the Imaging of Neurological Diseases, The San Francisco VA Epilepsy Center of Excellence, and The San Francisco Center of Excellence in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), among others. The SFVAHCS is also a prestigious general medicine and surgery teaching hospital that has affiliated with University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for over 60 years to train the next generation of physicians. 

Ms. Li is a highly experienced and accomplished health care executive with over 20 years of management and leadership experience in both the public and private health care sectors. She is a visionary health care leader with an eye on maintaining service excellence for today while constantly pushing for improvements of tomorrow. Ms. Li is committed to building an agile and innovative health care environment and workforce that is as empowering to its clinical providers as it is healing to its patients.