Jim manages the financial and business operations of the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research, which includes budget administration, fund management, project management, liaison with funding agencies, vendor relations, and general operations. He worked in finance, budgeting, and information systems at UC Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts and was a consultant in these areas to private secondary education and health care organizations. Jim also brings a private industry perspective to the Center, having led finance and information technology teams in the large corporate environments of Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Leasing, Intel Corporation, American President Lines, and Levi Strauss, and in the small-firm, high-tech world - two software companies and a systems integration firm. He has a BA from Indiana University and an MBA from Saint Mary's College of California.

Amy is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she received her Bachelor's degree in writing, literature, and publishing. She currently handles program coordination for the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research, including all aspects of research administration, conferences, and office management. She also administers the center's training program. Amy comes from a background in academic publishing and human resources.

Irena gained her bachelor's in 2003 in Humanities at the Charles University in Prague (focus on non-profit organizations providing social services in the Czech Republic). She completed her Master's program of Public and Social Policy in 2006 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague (thesis on The Health Insurance in the USA). Currently she works as an assistant at the Center for Social and Economic Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, and she is a PhD candidate of Public and Social Policy at the Charles University developing the problematics of health insurance.

Alexandra received her PhD in social medicine from Comensius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Her research interests include: epidemiology of mental health, mental financing, community mental health services, case management and patient advocacy. Alexandra works as an executive director of the civic association League for Mental Health, organization working actively in raising public awareness on mental health issues. Alexandra is educated in general medicine and public health and has a long experience in patients' advocacy. She is co-author of Charter of Patients' Rights which was adopted by the government of the Slovak Republic in 2001. Patients' Rights in SR was also a thesis for her PhD work. Alexandra plans to do research on the prevalence of mental disorders and diseases in the Slovak Republic and the mental health of survivors of traumatic brain injuries.

Martin received his PhD in Operational Research and Econometrics (1998) at the University of Economics Prague, Czech Republic. His dissertation was devoted to the problem of Hospital Efficiency and Performance Measurement. Before coming to Berkeley he worked as an assistant at the Department of Econometrics (since 1993), University of Economics Prague, and as a deputy director at the Czech Institute of Health Policy and Economics (since 2000). His main research interests are operational research applied to health services, performance measurement, mental health care financing.

Dagmar is Sub-Dean and Associate Professor of Demography at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. She teaches courses on Human Ecology and Methods in Geography and Demography. Her research focuses on mortality and public health in Central and Eastern Europe, the effects of regional, social and psychosocial factors on health. In addition, she is founder and leader of the Czech Association of Parent and Friends of Children with Down Syndrome.

Petr is an assistant lecturer at the School of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague. He received Master degree from School of Education, West Bohemian University in Pilsen, in 1998. In 2003 he received PhD in Kinesiology from the School of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague. From 2000-2001 Petr was a visiting research fellow at Faculty of Social Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he worked on the reflection of sport participation in the value systems and value preferences of adolescents. Currently he wants to contribute toward integration of knowledge about quality of life of aging population and possibilities of delivery of physical activities to seniors. He also wants to focus his work on associations of value preferences with mental health of elders.

Lucie Motlova is an assistant professor in psychiatry at the 3rd Medical School of Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. She received her MD in therapeutic medicine from the Charles University, Prague (1990). She is interested in the role of psychoeducation in the treatment of mental disorders, quality of life in schizophrenia and in the strategies for effective promotion of general public mental health education. She works with the media in the field of science popularization. Her research focuses on health and social aspects of family group psychoeducation on patients with schizophrenia and their relatives. Currently she coordinates large scale study designed to prove positive effects of psychoeducation on schizophrenia prevention and its beneficial effects on quality of life of the participants. She has published several papers and lectured extensively on this topic.

Petr is currently the chief doctor of the acute department in the Psychiatric Hospital in Michalovce, Slovakia. He received his MD from the Medical Academy in Dresden, Germany. His research interests include: the de-institutionalization of psychiatric hospitals and the development of community mental health care; evaluation and financing of mental health care services; assessment of needs of consumers, quality of life and consumers satisfaction; and involvement of consumers and care providers in planning, delivery, evaluation and control of services. Petr is the principal investigator of two multi-site research projects funded by the European committee: Psychiatric day hospital treatment: an alternative to inpatient treatment?, and European Evaluation of Coercion in Psychiatry and Harmonization of Best Clinical Practice. He is also the author and head of pilot project Transformation to an integrated system of mental health care, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Netherlands. Petr plans to pursue research on Financing in Mental Health Care at UC Berkeley.

Arnost is a reseacher at Center for Social and Economic Strategies at the Charles University in Prague. He received his PhD degree in Public and Social Policy from the same university. His dissertation entitled "Knowledge-Driven Development: Conceptual Framework and Its Application to the Czech Republic" explores dynamic relationship among various forms of capital and their link to quality of life. He took a part in research on decision-making, financing and communication in public policy and on development strategies for the Czech Republic focusing upon educational and R&D policy. He presently participates in longitudinal research on "Economic, social and cultural sources of educational inequalities and determinants of life success". His current research interests center around mutual effects of social change and human and social capital.

Jan Vevera is a citizen of the Czech Republic. He graduated from Charles University, 1st Medical Faculty in 1997. Since 1998 he has been working for Charles University, 1st Medical Faculty as a psychiatrist. In 1998 he also started postgraduate studies in neuroscience. His research is mainly oriented to clinical correlates of violent behavior. In the past three years he has been participating in training of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Besides his work at the Psychiatric Clinic, he has been involved in work for different governmental and non-governmental international agencies. In 2000, he worked as a health care coordinator and a physician for the People in Need Foundation (PINF) in Kosovo. He organized negotiations between local citizens and Czech authorities regarding finances and health care procedures. Dr. Vevera also assisted in organizing medical material deliveries to the Pristina Hospital and the exchange study program for Kosovo doctors. In his physician's role, Dr. Vevera ran three outpatient facilities for over a 1,000 persons in community shelters in Peja. He was responsible for the coordination of a Medical Evacuation Program that resulted in cardio surgery for 25 children in the Czech Republic.