Shannon McConville is a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and a member of the PPIC Economic Policy Center. Her research interests include health care access, utilization, and outcomes among vulnerable populations and the impact of vocational training programs on economic mobility. Her current work focuses on examining safety net programs, assessing the effects of Medicaid coverage expansions on individuals involved with the criminal justice system, and analyzing the employment outcomes and economic returns of career technical education. Before joining PPIC, she was a research training fellow in the Health Services and Policy Analysis doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley; a senior research associate at the Department of Health Research and Policy at Stanford University; and a project manager at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a master’s in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tess Thorman is a senior research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California, and a member of both the Safety Net and Economic Policy Center teams. Thorman’s research centers on economic well-being and opportunity in California, with particular attention to the roles of social safety net programs and earnings. Recent work has examined food assistance and state tax credits for low-income families, characteristics of California’s workforce, and trends in income inequality in California. Thorman holds an MPP from the University of Southern California and a BA with majors in English and musical studies from Oberlin College.