Bonnie T. Zima

​Bonnie T. Zima, MD, MPH, is an affiliate at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the director of the UCLA Mental Health Informatics and Data Science (MINDS) Hub, and a professor-in-residence in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Zima is a child psychiatrist and health services researcher. Her research is dedicated to improving the quality and equity of child mental health care with priority placed on underserved child populations (i.e., homeless, foster care, juvenile justice). Her research has expanded to include national pediatric hospitalization resource utilization and costs, adaptation of the modified Delphi Panel approach, validity of national quality measures, pediatric integrated care models, pediatric workforce development, use of telehealth and mobile health technologies, child mental health informatics and advanced predictive analytics. 

Dr. Zima is currently a co-investigator on several research grants and projects, including examining identification, assessment, and treatment for opioid use disorders among adolescents and young adults using Medicaid claims data from 50 states, examining the impact on health care transitions on children and young adults using the Medical Expenditure Survey, and a program evaluation of CalAIM, the 1115 Medicaid waiver for CA DHCS. In collaboration with the Children’s Hospital Association, she led the development of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Diagnostic Classification system to create child mental health diagnostic groups, including suicide and self-harm, and a developmental framework to examine access, quality and equity of care for children. 

Dr. Zima's awards include all three research awards from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), 2024 Research Mentor Award from the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2024 cohort UCLA Faculty Mentoring Honorary Society, and the 2022 the Outstanding Research Mentor Award from her Department.

She is a member of the 2025 Child and Adult Core Set Annual Review Workgroup, Recommendation Group Member for Partnership for Quality Measurement’s Endorsement and Maintenance (E&M) Management of Acute and Chronic Committee, Chair Mental Health Research Group for Children’s Hospital Association, Member of the National Advisory Board, Enhancing Systems of Care for Children with Medical Complexity Coordinating Center and it’s Measurement & Evaluation Workgroup, Member on the APA Committee on Quality and Performance Measurement, and Co-Chair of the AACAP Committee on Healthcare Access and Economics. She is a distinguished Fellow in APA and AACAP.

Dr. Zima earned her master's in public health degree at UCLA and her medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago. She is board certified in general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.