Who We Are

As chief operating officer of the collective West Health effort, Shelley Lyford Valentine works with the executive leadership team to advance the unique, one-of-a-kind initiative’s mission of lowering health care costs through the West Health Institute, West Health Policy Center, West Health Investment Fund and West Health Incubator. All of these entities focus on lowering costs by creating innovative, patient-centered solutions that deliver the right care at the right place at the right time.

In addition to leading operational efforts, Valentine serves as the primary legal liaison for West Health and works directly with the West Health Institute’s board of directors. In this position, she advises management on implementing strategic initiatives, objectives and policies.  She creates collaborations with health care entities, and educates the industry and various constituencies on the value, efficacy and cost-savings of health care technologies and innovations. Valentine also has a leadership role in the West Health Investment Fund.

Valentine also serves as President of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, where she brings expertise in nonprofit tax and compliance issues, as well as in creating impactful, action-oriented partnerships and identifying technology that enables seniors to be independent and age in place.

Prior to her work with Gary and Mary West, Valentine was a director at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Joan Kroc Institute at the University of San Diego. While with the United Nations and the International Executive Service Corps, she gained experience in assessing the viability of opportunities in emerging markets. Valentine currently sits on the Governance Committee of Grantmakers in Aging. She graduated from the University of San Diego Summa Cum Laude with a M.A. in international relations and political-economy.

In his role as chief strategy officer and executive vice president of business development, Richard Dakers oversees the strategic planning process, all business development, technology transfer and licensing activities, clinical systems innovation collaborations and the interoperability initiative. He also evaluates existing and new strategic areas of interest to advance West Health’s mission of lowering health care costs through the West Health Institute, West Health Policy Center, West Health Investment Fund and West Health Incubator. All of these entities focus on lowering costs by creating innovative, patient-centered solutions that deliver the right care at the right place at the right time.

In his role as general counsel of West Health, Chris Costa brings expertise in legal and business affairs to advance the West Health entities’ unique mission of lowering health care costs.

Costa oversees legal affairs, including those in connection with West Health’s contracting, intellectual property, investment and development activities.

Costa brings extensive law firm and in-house legal experience to his role of general counsel. Most recently, he was the director of legal affairs and corporate business development at Synthetic Genomics, Inc., a leader in advancing the commercialization of synthetic biology. Previously, Costa was the general counsel at La Jolla Cove Investors, Inc., an investment fund focusing on public equity investments.

Costa was an associate at leading international law firms, including Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Gunderson Dettmer and Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, where he represented a wide variety of life sciences and emerging growth clients. His practice included significant venture-backed and public equity transactions, as well as representing clients in a variety of intellectual property, commercial contracting and regulatory contexts.

Costa earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California at Davis, as well as his M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

In his role as executive vice president, government affairs and executive vice president, West Health Policy Center, Rodger Currie brings expertise in governmental affairs and legislative policy to advance the initiative’s unique, one-of-a-kind mission to lower health care costs through the West Health Institute, West Health Policy Center, West Health Investment Fund and West Health Incubator.  All of these entities focus on lowering costs by creating innovative, patient-centered solutions that deliver the right care at the right place at the right time. As a member of the executive leadership team, Currie focuses on the implementation of non-partisan policy solutions to lower the cost of health care.

Currie brings extensive health care-related experience to West Health, most recently as a partner in the Health Care and Government Strategies Practice Groups at Foley Hoag LLP, where he advised biotechnology companies, medical device firms, other health care providers, and trade associations on federal legislative and regulatory issues in health care and the life sciences.

Previously, Currie served as senior vice president for the renowned health care inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research & Development.  Prior to that he served for six years as vice president for global government affairs at Amgen, the world’s largest biotechnology company, where he led the strategic planning and execution of legislative initiatives ranging from Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for cancer, dialysis, arthritis and osteoporosis treatments to FDA regulatory issues, intellectual property matters and various tax priorities.

Currie also served for six years as senior vice president for Law & Federal Affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where he led the trade association’s highly successful advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and with the Administration, including the development and enactment of the landmark 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation.

Before joining the private sector, he served in several positions on Capitol Hill, including majority counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce where he advised the committee chairman as well as House leadership on federal health care programs and legislation, with particular responsibility for matters relating to the FDA, CMS, and NIH.  Currie was counsel of record for the historic FDA Modernization Act as well as for the Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University and volunteers as a Reserve Police Officer with the DC Metropolitan Police Department.