Decisions that executives make are far-reaching and complex. The need for alignment on critical issues is paramount. Executives for Health Innovation (EHI) brings the top executives in healthcare together through its prestigious Leadership Council. Leaders in the EHI community know what their industry peers are thinking, while simultaneously building alignment with other stakeholder counterparts around big issues. This is a board approved group that meets quarterly to share best practices and trends in healthcare innovation. Meeting agendas are set to enhance peer learning to ensure executive alignment.
Paul Browne joined Henry Ford Health System in February 2018 after a nationwide search. He is the system’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, overseeing all aspects of Information Technology across the entire health system.
Previously, Browne was the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Applied Informatics for Tenet Healthcare, where he was responsible for all aspects of information services across the publicly traded healthcare system. Prior to that, he served as Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President for Strategic Program Development for Trinity Health.
Browne specializes in leading transformational change in complex organizations and the development of business and clinical intelligence capabilities across large enterprises. In addition to the delivery side, Browne has also extensive experience in the insurance sector, with both SelectCare and Accenture.
During more than three decades in information technology, Browne has been named to ComputerWorld’s list of “Top 100 CIOs.” He has also been named a “Top 50 Innovator” across all industries and “Top 5 Innovator” in health care by InformationWeek. Additionally, Browne has authored numerous articles and lectured extensively at national symposiums focusing on IT strategy and innovation.
A Michigan native, Browne is a graduate of the University of Michigan with both a bachelor’s degree in Economics and master’s degree in Health Services Administration.
Mr. Archibong serves as Associate Vice President of Product Innovation at Inovalon, where he oversees strategy development, execution, and sales commercialization of Inovalon’s Data Connectivity solutions.
As a healthcare IT executive with over 18 years of experience in the technology field, Mr. Archibong has also held several executive roles for large healthcare provider systems over the last 12 years. He began his career with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) where he successfully streamlined IT project execution and resource management across all 250 J&J operating companies globally.
He transitioned into healthcare when he was tapped to join Cooper University Health Care, Camden, NJ as their Director of Enterprise Applications. He successfully led the system-wide implementation and adoption of the Epic Electronic Health Record (EHR) for the health system - a 635-bed academic hospital, Level 1 trauma center, and 630 employed physicians. Mr. Archibong subsequently led both the hospital and providers to successfully attest to Meaningful Use Stages 1 through 3, earning over $10 million in CMS incentives for the health system. Under his leadership the health system achieved Stage 6 on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption model.
He then joined Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in Annapolis, MD as their Executive Director and Associate Chief Information Officer (ACIO). There he led several technology advancements for the health system, including the launch of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), and deployment of Epic EHR across all their Ambulatory clinics. AAMC was recognized as one of the nations Most Connected hospitals by U.S. News and World Report, as well as a HealthCare's Most Wired Hospital in 2015 and 2016 during his tenure as ACIO.
Prior to joining Inovalon, Henry was the Vice President and Site Executive for University of Maryland Capital Region Health in Prince Georges County, MD.
Jared Augenstein is a director with Manatt Health, an interdisciplinary policy and business advisory group of Manatt. He provides business strategy, federal and state policy analysis, project leadership and go-to-market advice to health care providers, emerging companies, states, payers, life science companies and other health care organizations. Jared’s primary areas of focus are advising public- and private-sector clients on health tech, telehealth, remote patient monitoring, delivery system transformation, population health, federal and state health policy trends and provider markets.
Jared has extensive experience assisting large health systems, children’s hospitals, policy makers, health care innovators and associations and foundations with strategic planning and implementation efforts related to digital health and digital transformation. His recent publications include Return on Health: Moving Beyond Dollars and Cents in Realizing the Value of Virtual Care, published in partnership with the American Medical Association; Sustaining Telehealth Success: Integration Imperatives for Academic Health Systems, published in partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges; A Toolkit for Building and Growing a Sustainable Telehealth Program for Your Practice, published in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians; and Transforming Primary Healthcare for Women, published in partnership with The Commonwealth Fund.
Dr. Balch has more than 20 years of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. He became the CEO of both PAF and NPAF in 2013. From 2006-2013, he served as Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership -- a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research.
Dr. Balch volunteers as a board member for the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC), Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board (SPCB)) and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). Dr. Balch has served on the Executive Board of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation since 2007. From 2006 to 2016, Dr. Balch served on the board of Fight Colorectal Cancer including several years as Vice Chair.
Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees including:
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Consumer Advisory Council
Duke-Margolis Value-Based Payment Advisory Board
National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)’s Quality and Outcomes Committee
Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) Advisory Board
Core Quality Measure Collaborative (CQMC) Steering Committee
Journal of Clinical Pathways Editorial Advisory Board and contributing editor
Payment and Policy subcommittee for the National Quality Forum (NQF) Task Force: Driving Value through the Next Generation of Quality
Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council (NHC)
Core member of the International Headache Society (IHS) Global Patient Advocacy Coalition
Working group member for the National Academies of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience
He earned his PhD in 2003 from the University of California, his master’s degree in 1997 from the University of Texas; and his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio.
Lee Barrett is currently Executive Director of EHNAC, a national healthcare accreditation organization. He is currently a board member and was formerly the CEO of HealthEC (formerly IGI Health) a consulting and solutions provider of products for ACO's, Population Health, HIE's, web portals, EMR and transactional platforming. Prior to HealthEC, he was the SVP of Global Healthcare Practice for Virtusa Corporation, a global delivery provider of consulting and technology solutions. He was EVP of the American Dental Association Business Enterprises Inc. (ADABEI), the for-profit subsidiary of the ADA where he oversaw new product development. He was CEO of Claredi Corporation of Salt Lake City, UT and Medical Banking Exchange LLC (MBEXX) of Oklahoma City, OK. He has 10+ years leading healthcare professional services organizations including PwC, Covansys, SAIC and others. He has 20+ years in the health insurance industry in leadership roles including Aetna, Travelers, MassMutual and CT Mutual. He has led the development of HIPAA privacy and security standards and provisions as chair of ASC X12N; and Chair of the WEDI. He is also on the board of Iffs Eldercare, an eldercare independent living consulting entity and a Senior Advisor to Perthera and Precision Medicine company.
Dr. Blair has served as the CEO of MedAllies for 19 years. Prior to establishing MedAllies as a top health information service provider company, Dr. Blair worked as a general surgeon for 15 years before moving on to become President of Taconic IPA. Dr. Blair is currently serving as the chair of the Direct Trust Standards Development Organization Board as well as various other committees and boards.
He received his medical degree from Rush Medical School in Chicago, completed his surgical training at the University of Texas Medical Center in Dallas and performed his gastrointestinal fellowship at the Middlesex Hospital in London, England.
Paul Brient is Chief Product Officer at athenahealth. Brient comes to athenahealth from PatientKeeper, Inc. where he served as CEO for 17 years and led the company’s mission to advance healthcare with instinctive, empowering technology that respects the importance of physicians.
Before joining PatientKeeper, he held senior executive-level positions at leading healthcare and consulting firms, including McKesson Corporation, HPR, and The Boston Consulting Group. Brient launched his healthcare IT career as the founder and president of BCS, an early physician practice management software company.
Brient serves on the Advisory Board for LRVHealth and has held board positions for a variety of healthcare technology companies, including GetWellNetwork and Reva Systems. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at The Aspen Institute and a 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year New England Region award winner.
Brient earned his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science summa cum laude from Princeton University.
Ms. Burchell is the Vice President, Government Affairs & Public Policy at Altera Digital Health. Her focus is on the opportunities presented to our industry through the increased focus on health information technology adoption by various government and industry stakeholders. Leigh serves on a number of committees including the Electronic Healthcare Records Association, chairing the Public Policy Leadership Workgroup and the Executive Committee. She has also served as Vice Chair for Tech America and HIMSS. Prior to that, she worked for Oxford Health Plans. Ms. Burchell holds a degree from Wesleyan University.
Mr. Church brings to 4medica a rare combination of business acumen, senior leadership, operational and strategic marketing experience. He began his career with a consumer-facing healthcare provider referral company in Boulder, CO where he quickly moved up the ranks from managing corporate marketing communications to becoming the company’s senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications. From there, he led business development and marketing at an electronic data interchange (EDI) company which was eventually acquired by TriZetto. The consulting giant also recruited Mr. Church, who ran the Colorado Division Operations.
In 2009, Mr. Church joined 4medica, again in a senior marketing executive position. He helped 4medica expand its interoperability customer base, and further defined new product lines in the patient identity matching, clinical data exchange, and revenue cycle management service areas. Today, he is president of the company.
Mr. Church routinely speaks with health IT leaders representing the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), PEW Charitable Trusts (PEW), Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (Civitas), Executives for Health Innovation (EHI), U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and many other government and private sector organizations.
For over 20 years, Jennifer has focused on quality and innovative technology solutions to transform healthcare. As CEO, she provides leadership for research, education and advocacy components of Executives for Health Innovation (EHI). Convening senior executives from every group in healthcare to discuss, identify, and share best practices that transform the delivery of healthcare. Focus areas: improving health and wellness through innovative solutions; interoperability; privacy concerns; artificial intelligence; payment models to support innovative care; and tech tools for chronic care. She led development of dozens of national surveys and published groundbreaking reports. As part of her work with the Foundation, she led grants with California Health Care Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, Aetna Foundation and Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation. Jennifer is co-chair of the Federal HIT Policy Committee’s Strategy and Innovation Workgroup; member of the HL7 Board of Directors; and a member of the Diabetes Collaborative Stakeholder Panel. Jennifer is a faculty member for the MHA and MHIA graduate programs at George Washington University. Prior to joining eHI, Jennifer headed up the strategic marketing at OpenNetworks, Inc., focusing on security solutions for the healthcare industry. She led healthcare industry relations at MicroStrategy, Inc., focusing on data-mining solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. She spent four years at the National Committee for Quality Assurance as Director of Policy and Product Development, helping develop national quality standards for healthcare organizations. Jennifer began her career at the George Washington University Hospital, Medical Center and Health Plan working on quality management initiatives, clinical pathways and healthcare administration. Jennifer earned a master's in Human Resource Development,completed coursework in health administration doctoral program at GWU, and resides in Maryland with her husband and two children.
David A. Dexter is the General Manager, Joint Ventures, for the Quest Diagnostics Operations in Arizona, serving as President & CEO for Sonora Quest Laboratories, LLC, a joint venture between Quest Diagnostics (a Fortune 500 company) and Banner Health (the largest non-secular health delivery system in the U.S.) and as President & CEO for Laboratory Sciences of Arizona, LLC, which provides management oversight and strategic direction for 31 Hospital and Rapid Response laboratories supporting Banner Health Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers and Cancer Centers across the state of Arizona and five western states.
Dexter is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt and he serves on the Board and the Executive Committee of Contexture (the Arizona and Colorado Health Information Exchange), the National Leadership Council for the Executives for Health Innovation, the Board of Directors and Healthcare Committee Member for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Board of Directors of the Arizona Bioindustry Association, as a Board Member and Health Committee Member of the Greater Phoenix Leadership, and on the Flynn Foundation’s 2021 Arizona Bioscience Roadmap Council. Dexter is also a member of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer, and the JDRF Board of Chancellors.
Shari Erickson currently serves as Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Medical Practice with the American College of Physicians (ACP). In this role, she manages ACP’s overall advocacy and policy initiatives relating to federal regulatory agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and other federal bodies. Ms. Erickson also oversees ACP’s Department of Medical Practice, which is responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of programs, products, tools, and services. Ms. Erickson currently serves as co-chair of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s (PCPCC) Public Policy and Advocacy Workgroup. Before joining ACP, she was a senior program director with the National Quality Forum (NQF) in Washington, DC, where she was responsible for managing an array of projects that supported NQF’s national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. Ms. Erickson received her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Arts-International Studies degrees from Miami University in Ohio.
Todd Fessler is a Principal and Chief Revenue Officer of MedInsight in the Seattle office of Milliman. MedInsight is one of the industry’s leading solutions for healthcare analytics, benchmarks, and health market intelligence data. Todd’s responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of MedInsight’s revenue operation including new and retention business across all product and service lines. In addition, he oversees the marketing and sales operations functions. He joined the firm in 2009. In addition to his primary responsibility at MedInisght, Todd has also served Milliman in additional roles including chairing the health discipline's products subcommittee and serving on the Health Steering Committee, Product Advisory Group, and firm-wide marketing committee.
In addition to leading the revenue and GTM activities for MedInsight since 2009, Todd built and managed the sales function for Enclarity from 2006-2009, helping the company to eventually be acquired by LexisNexis. From 1992-2005, Todd was a successful sales representative with leading health IT companies such as Optum and Landacorp, as well as companies in the life sciences and medical device industries. Todd combines a strong background of growth and go-to-market expertise with a deep understanding of the sales process and sales enablement technology. He embraces the power of analytics to help inform the growth strategies at MedInsight. Todd has a B.S in Business Management & International Business from Illinois State University.
Kristin Ficery leads Accenture’s North America Health practice. This practice consists of over 500 professionals serving the largest health systems, physician organizations, and payers in the United States and Canada. In 2020, it was named the leader in Healthcare consulting by Forbes and KLAS. Kristin also directly serves several large hospital clients on financial, strategic, and transformational initiatives. Her experience comprises 30 years of advising and executing on behalf of clients across the spectrum of profitable growth and operational strategy, M&A, and complex transformation programs. Previously, Kristin was a founding member and leader of the Growth and M&A businesses. She oversaw the development and delivery of M&A assets into the marketplace and was involved in over a dozen industry-defining mergers in high-technology, telecommunications, and healthcare.
Kristin holds three patents, has authored over a dozen externally published articles, and lectured on business transformations and M&A at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School and the University of Georgia’s business and law schools. Kristin holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Finance and Healthcare Management and a BA from Vanderbilt University. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Gregg and their two daughters.
John Glaser is a former senior vice president of Population Health, at Cerner Corporation. Previously he was chief executive officer of Siemens Health Services. Prior to Siemens, he was chief information officer at Partners HealthCare. John was the founding chair of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the past-president of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. He is the former Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Digital Health, World Economic Forum. He is a former Senior Advisor to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. In addition, John serves on the boards of the Scottsdale Institute, Intouch Health, PatientPing, National Committee for Quality Assurance, the American Telemedicine Association, Wellsheet and Relatient. He has authored many articles and books on the strategic application of IT in health care. He is on the faculty of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Chris Hobson is the chief medical officer at Orion Health. He has 20 years of experience as a physician working in primary and secondary care, including 10 years in family medicine.
While working as a primary care practitioner, he was instrumental in establishing the largest primary care network in New Zealand, where he helped develop and use one of the first electronic health records (EHRs).
He also worked in senior management at South Auckland Health before joining Orion Health.
Since joining Orion Health, Dr. Hobson has worked globally as Chief Medical Officer, and has been involved in most areas of healthcare IT with an emphasis on the clinical and functional perspective, showing how technology can make a significant difference to a patient’s experience with the healthcare system.
Cherie Holmes-Henry leads payer markets and government initiatives at NextGen Healthcare, a QSI company. Ms. Holmes-Henry joined the NextGen Healthcare team in 2009 and spearheaded the launch of the Payer Relations initiative at NextGen, while simultaneously cultivating significant relationships with key healthcare regulatory decision makers at the federal & individual state level. She has developed strategic partnerships with key health IT stakeholders including executives at Regional Extension Centers (RECs), state and regional HIEs, state Primary Care Associations & Medical Associations, quality organizations, Medicaid, payers and other important tactical partnerships centered around EHR adoption. She also heads up the NextGen Healthcare Accountable Care Leadership Team helping deploy accountable and collaborative care strategies for NextGen’s provider client base.
Prior to joining NextGen Healthcare, Ms. Holmes-Henry was the VP, Strategic Accounts at Healthvision where she managed large strategic HIE clients. Additionally she has held a number of leadership positions with major payers such as Cigna.
She is an involved member of HIMSS, EHRA, eHealth Initiative, the DFW Health Industry Council, and the DFW Business Group on Health.
Ms. Holmes-Henry has a Master of Education for the University of Oklahoma and Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Midwestern State University.
David currently serves as the CEO for New York eHealth Collaborative. Horrocks has been the President & CEO of CRISP, Maryland’s designated Health Information Exchange (HIE), since its formation in 2009. While at CRISP, he launched CRISP Shared Services, an innovative HIE affiliation by which five state designated HIEs share a single technology operation to gain economies of scale and share best practices. In 2012, under David’s leadership, CRISP developed an ADT-based encounter notification system which became a model for the country’s HIEs.
Prior to joining CRISP full time, David was SVP, at Erickson Retirement Communities, serving in several startup ventures and as Chief Information Officer. During his time as CIO, Erickson was among the very first senior living organizations to deploy electronic medical records to facilities, which spread across eight states.
Prior to Erickson, Mr. Horrocks was with Visalign, an IT consulting firm, where he focused on infrastructure technology and economic analysis of IT projects. He spent five years as a technologist and department manager for AbiliTech, a nonprofit company providing technology services to people with disabilities.
Mr. Horrocks holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business, and an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he continues to pursue studies.
As a Board-certified Occupational Medicine Physician and Medical Director, Dr. Ide has extensive clinical and population health management experience, and held residencies in Emergency Medicine and Occupational Health. Dr. Ide joined Zipnosis in 2016 as the company’s Medical Director.
Dr. Ide also served as the Medical Director for Employee Health at Fairview Health System (MN) and at Northview Hospital and Clinics. She was a worksite physician for General Mills.
Dr. Ide has been volunteering and working as a physician for the Center for Victims of Torture for since 1999. She holds a degree from Dartmouth College, holds a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Minnesota. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Medicine.
As the Chief Executive Officer of HL7, Dr. Jaffe serves as the organization's global ambassador, fostering relationships with key industry stakeholders. A 37-year veteran of the healthcare IT industry, Dr. Jaffe was previously the Senior Global Strategist for the Digital Health Group at Intel Corporation, Vice President of Life Sciences at SAIC, and the Director of Medical Informatics at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. He completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins and Duke Universities, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and at Georgetown University. Formerly, he was President of InforMed, an informatics consultancy for research informatics. Over the course of his career, he has been the principal investigator for more than 200 clinical trials, and has served in various leadership roles in the American Medical Informatics Association. He has been a board member on leading organizations for information technology standards, and served as the chair of a national institutional review board. Most recently, he held an appointment in the Department of Engineering at Penn State University. Dr. Jaffe has been the contributing editor for several journals and has published on a range of subjects, including clinical management, informatics deployment, and healthcare policy.
Kris Joshi is executive vice president and president, of Network Solutions, for Change Healthcare. Prior to joining Change Healthcare, Mr. Joshi was global vice president for healthcare product strategy for the Health Sciences global business unit at Oracle Corporation. He helped launch the Health Sciences business unit and successfully led two acquisitions for Oracle in Life Sciences. Before joining Oracle, Mr. Joshi served in senior strategy roles with IBM's Global Sales and Distribution organization, and prior to IBM, Mr. Joshi was at McKinsey and Company, where he worked with Fortune 500 companies on strategic issues.
Mr. Joshi holds a B.S. in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently serves on the boards of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and the eHealth Initiative in Washington, DC.
Al has 16 years as an innovator providing strategic technology and services management (Xerox, Kodak/Carestream Health), leadership in Strategy, IT, Marketing, Business Development, Channels, Sales. He is responsible for selling, implementing and integrating digital imaging solutions in hospitals, private practices, integrated delivery networks, and government/military environments. He has worked for top-tier professional services firms, EDS, Ernst and Whinney, and McKinsey & Co. With his in-depth knowledge and experience in healthcare, he has helped numerous providers attain significant grant funds and improve performance through the effective use of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT). He successfully contributed to public affairs and lobbying efforts on HIT in Washington and in NY. Al received a BS from SUNY Albany and his MBA from University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
Kevin Larsen, MD, is the senior vice president of clinical innovation and translation at Optum. Prior to his current role, Larsen held several leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Most recently, he was the senior health IT advisor at the office of the chief technology officer. Before that, he was the director of an enterprise strategy and improvement at CMS. He launched and spearheaded the agency's transformation into process improvement and human-centered design. He was also a senior advisor at CMS on health IT and health policy for numerous innovation program models. Earlier, Larsen was also the medical director of meaningful use, at the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT, where he led the development of clinical quality measurement for the meaningful use program. Larsen started his career at Hennepin County Medical Center, where he held several leadership roles, including chief medical informatics officer. He received a degree in biology and chemistry from Concordia College and his MD from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Dr. Richard Loomis serves as Chief Informatics Officer for Clinical Solutions at Elsevier. He and his team are focused on developing advanced clinical decision support and analytics solutions that help clinicians make better decisions and improve clinical outcomes. Rich also has Commercial responsibility for Gold Standard, Elsevier’s Drug Information business. Dr. Loomis’ clinical background is in anesthesiology and he has spent much of his career in informatics, both in healthcare delivery and in the healthcare IT industry. Dr. Loomis completed a fellowship in informatics at Harvard Medical School, trained in anesthesiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and received his medical degree from the University of Michigan.
Sophy is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Northwell Health. Her responsibilities include the strategic direction, implementation, and support for the health systems’ digital transformation and integrated product innovation and delivery. Northwell Health was founded in 1997, the largest Health System and the largest employer in New York State. Northwell’s integrated system encompasses 23 hospitals and 830 ambulatory practices and employs over 74,000 people with more than 2,000 solutions at the fingertips of its caregivers and administrators at 1.44B community impact.
Sophy has her B.S in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. After graduation, Sophy had the opportunity to design, build and start up a Liquefied Natural Gas plant in Indonesia as a young female chemical engineer. She also designed multiple air separation plants and processes in the industrial gas industry to provide global clean energy. Prior to joining Northwell, Sophy served as an executive in the healthcare and global information technology industries for 20+ years.
Sophy ultimately joined Northwell Health in 2010. Throughout her tenure she has been the Director of Applications and then in 2012, she was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Business Solutions. In June of 2017, Sophy was promoted to Vice President and Chief Applications Officer to help deliver the health system's long-term strategic vision, and digital and technology transformation. Sophy has always thrived on solving the impossible, leading a team of diverse talent, organizing chaos into calm, helping people, making a difference every day, and always enjoying the journey!
Outside of work, Sophy lives in Brooklyn with her husband, their two teenage kids, their four Labradors, and two Norwegian Forest Cats. She enjoys cooking, skiing, knitting, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends.
Ms. MacTaggart is the Program Director of Health Informatics at George Washington University. In addition, Ms. MacTaggart currently has an appointment as a program manager at VA. Ms. MacTaggart has been full-time at The George Washington University as a Lead Research Scientist/Lecturer since July 2007, during which time she also had an appointment at HHS/Office of the National Coordinator. An adjunct at The GWU for many years before joining full-time, she was a Principal at Health Management Associates (HMA), an executive at EDS for State and Local Government Health Care, and a public servant for almost 30 years, including six years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), more than 10 years at Minnesota Medicaid, including the role of Minnesota's Medicaid Director, and various county-level eligibility positions in the Medicaid arena over an additional 10 plus years.
Adam is Head of Global Strategic Operations in RWTS Practice at IQVIA, helping healthcare companies build better analytics, achieve insights, and leverage data as an investment and asset. He brings an extensive clinical background as a nurse, 20+ years of IT experience in data management, master data management, data integration and analytics spaces, and a decade of legal experience as an attorney.
Adam has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in public health/population health. As an attorney, he focuses on healthcare, intellectual property, and contract law, as pro bono civil rights and immigration work in support of underserved communities.
As the Chief Operating Officer for Fitbit Health Solutions, Amy leads the team working with employers, health plans, and health systems to design solutions and programs focused on engagement, positive return on investment, and health outcomes. Before her COO role, Amy took on several key positions leading Fitbit’s B2B efforts. Prior to Fitbit, Amy held strategic roles at CNET Networks, including Director of Audience and Content Development for the Community Division and Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Network. Amy has a bachelor’s degree from Merrimack College in Andover, MA, and a Professional Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications from the UC Berkeley Extension program.
Kevin O’Connor leads electronic health record projects for Booz Allen’s public sector clients with specific emphasis in transforming legacy systems to modernized platforms. He is an expert in design, development, and implementation; enterprise resource planning; and large-scale program management. Kevin has also been a key leader in our software development and architecture functional community.
Kevin has more than 30 years of experience and has supported clients such as the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He has advised teams on large systems operations and maintenance programs that involved multiple application portfolios and technology platforms.
Before joining Booz Allen in 1998, Kevin worked for a defense contractor and a small consulting firm providing systems and network designs for commercial organizations. He holds a Bachelors in electrical engineering from Villanova University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Carol Owen is the SVP of the Health Catalyst Interoperability team. Carol joined Health Catalyst in 2018 when Health Catalyst acquired Medicity where Carol worked for 18 years. While at Medicity, Carol held a wide variety of responsibilities ranging from directing product management, technology and operations. Most recently Carol was SVP of Operations reporting directly to the CEO. In this role she successfully operationalized client implementations, scaled the hosting and support functions to meet client demand and matured processes delivering more predictable revenue back into the business. Prior to Medicity Carol held a variety of roles including leading product strategy for a start-up EHR vendor, professional and technical recruiting for a larger ambulatory physician group. Carol attended the University of Utah in Community Health focused on Patient Education.
Adam Pellegrini is a digital health executive with nearly 30 years of experience in health care. In his current role as the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Virtual Care and Consumer Health, Pellegrini is leading a team of seasoned industry executives to build out the next-generation consumer health experience for CVS Health. Previously, Adam built the health care strategy for Fitbit as its SVP and General Manager of Fitbit Health Solutions leading the acquisition of Twine Health and roll out of the Fitbit Care platform.
Previous to Fitbit, Adam leads the creation of the Digital Health and Telemedicine strategy for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Prior to Walgreens, Pellegrini helped create the care management platform HealthyCircles, which was acquired by Qualcomm Life and was the product leader for Microsoft HealthVault. Adam started his career in the U.S. Army as a surgical tech and aviation medic.
Dr. Ileana L. Piña is a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology & Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. Dr. Piña also serves as advisor/consultant to the Food and Drug Administrations’ (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health and their section of Epidemiology. Dr. Piña earned her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Miami in Florida. She completed her medical degree and cardiology fellowship at the University of Miami School of Medicine, an internal medicine residency at the University of South Florida Tampa, where she was Chief Resident, and fulfilled a surgery internship at the University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics. She earned a master’s degree in public health from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Piña’s research interests include transition of care in heart failure patients, and the role of natriuretic peptide-guided management for patients hospitalized for heart failure, biomarkers of myocardial stress and fibrosis in chronic heart failure, and the clinical implications of chronic heart failure phenotypes. She is the author/co-author of more than 100 publications.
Clay Ritchey is the Chief Executive Officer of Verato. Clay brings more than 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation in market leading healthcare technology organizations to Verato. As CEO, Clay is passionate about working with healthcare, life science and government organizations across the care continuum to transform the way that consumers and patients engage with them to build deeper relationships resulting in improved outcomes and sustainable growth for our customers. Prior to joining Verato, Clay served CEO of Evariant, a healthcare SaaS CRM and big data analytics company, achieving hyper growth of the organization and leading them to a successful merger. Prior roles also include Chief Marketing Officer at Imprivata, CEO at Maryland-based Equinox Healthcare, and Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at Hill-Rom IT Solutions. Ritchey received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BSEE, with Highest Distinction, from The Pennsylvania State University.
Sunitha Sastry, MPH, CPXP serves as the Interim Chief Experience Officer at UChicago Medicine (UCM) and has been at the institution since 2004. During this time, Sunitha has had various roles in developing and leading highly effective strategic programs, driving improvements to cost containment, financial results, operational performance, employee engagement, and improving the patient experience. Sunitha has extensive experience working with physicians, care team members, external partners, and vendors on organizational issues. Sunitha serves as the role model for UCM’s mission as well as an advocate for the “voice of the patient” in all UCM endeavors, providing strategic leadership for the development of sustainable programs that foster service excellence, empathy, and compassion, as well as, patient and family engagement. Coupling her experience in operational improvement with her passion for service excellence, Sunitha has led enterprise-wide experience strategies focusing on cultivating a culture where exceptional experiences occur for everyone, every time. Through her leadership in the hArt of Medicine program, she coaches leaders in a strengths-based approach to bringing awareness and meaning to team members' authentic way of being, in turn creating exceptional experiences. Sunitha has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a Masters of Public Health-Health Services/Epidemiology & Biostatistics from Boston University.
Mr. Schiller co-founded Validic, and serves as the CEO and a Board Director. Prior to Validic, Mr. Schiller started and managed an award-winning web development firm for eight years. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and a member of the CTA Board of Industry Leaders. He also serves on the Board for eHealth Initiative (eHI) and sits on eHI's Policy Steering Committee. Drew is on the Board for the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) in North Carolina. He previously served on the Federal Advisory Committee joint HITPC/HITSC API Task Force on Meaningful Use 3, and as a Team Member for the Clinical Trials Transformation Institute (CTTI) project Advancing the Use of Mobile Technologies for Data Capture & Improved Clinical Trials.
As a patented technologist, Drew speaks and writes on a variety of topics, including advancements in consumer health data and standards, the future of digital health technology, overcoming barriers to interoperability and data access, as well as the ROI and opportunities in remote monitoring. Mr. Schiller also founded a website for patients with celiac disease, and served as an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Iowa, teaching graduate courses in web development and usability.
Josh Schoeller is the CEO of LexisNexis Healthcare. He has over 20 years of experience across the Payer, Provider, Life Sciences, and Pharmacy industries leading product and growth strategies. Mr. Schoeller specializes in big data, provider and identity data management and integration, application architecture, predictive analytics, and decision support. His track record of success working with multiple segments across health care has provided him the expertise to solve challenges faced by stakeholders at various levels within an organization, leading them to keep the big picture in focus while solving specific problems.
Mr. Schoeller is responsible for ensuring the development and growth of the overall strategy for LexisNexis Healthcare and customer satisfaction. In this role, he oversees all existing and new revenue for the company’s four health care verticals: Payer, Provider, Pharmacy, and Life Sciences. He does this by working with the sales, engineering, and product teams to ensure healthcare solutions are solving emerging healthcare technology issues. Mr. Schoeller earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. He is also a member of the Forbes Council.
Dr. Roy Schoenberg is President and CEO of Amwell. Since co-founding the company with his brother Ido Schoenberg, Amwell has grown to become one of the largest telehealth eco-systems in the world, digitally connecting healthcare’s key stakeholders - payers, providers, and millions of patients in an efficient, modern healthcare experience. Prior to Amwell, Roy was the founder of CareKey and served as Chief Information Security Officer at TriZetto, following its acquisition of CareKey. In 2013, Roy was appointed to the Federation of State Medical Boards’ Taskforce that issued the landmark guidelines for the “Use of Telehealth in Medical Practice”. Roy is the 2014 recipient of the American Telemedicine Association Industry award for leadership in the field of telemedicine. An inventor at heart, Roy holds over 50 issued US Patents in the area of healthcare technology, speaks frequently in industry and policy forums, serves on the healthcare advisory board of MIT Sloan, holds an MD from the Hebrew University, and an MPH from Harvard. He is a sailor, scuba diver, and, between September and February, a devoted football fan.
Anthony J. (Tony) Schueth is founder, CEO and managing partner of Point-of-Care Partners, LLC (POCP). A 25-year healthcare veteran, Mr. Schueth has spent the last 20 years working to provide decision support, communication and other tools to the point-of-care. He is considered an expert in health information technology (HIT) and health information exchange (HIE), in general, and one of the nation’s foremost experts in electronic prescribing, in particular. He has developed an extensive network of HIT contacts, and still serves as the executive sponsor of all of POCP’s consulting business. The company’s client list is a “who’s who” of HIT stakeholders in segments such as health plans, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), connectivity companies, employers, drug knowledge-base companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, Federal and State government agencies, ambulatory electronic medical record (aEMRs) and technology companies, providers, integrated delivery networks, and connectivity companies.
Since Mr. Schueth founded POCP in 2003, the company has evolved and his emphasis has shifted from consulting to running the business, though he still spends 30% to 40% of his time consulting. One of those engagements was serving as the project manager for the Southeastern Michigan (SEMI) ePrescribing Initiative, a coalition of the Health Alliance Plan (HAP), BCBS Michigan, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Medco, CVS Caremark and Catalyst Rx. SEMI was highly successful and served as a model for advancing industry use of ePrescribing.
Currently, Mr. Schueth is a member of eHealth Initiative’s Leadership Council. In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief of the ePrescribing State Law Review and leads the NCPDP Prior Authorization Workflow-to-Transactions Task Group and previously co-led the specialty pharmacy ePrescribing, RxNorm and specialty task groups. He frequently speaks at conferences, writes extensively about HIT-related issues and is quoted in the national media.
Prior to starting his consulting firm, Mr. Schueth spent 5 years at Merck-Medco (now Express Scripts), where he developed and executed on cutting-edge ePrescribing and point-of-care strategies. Prior to that, Mr. Schueth worked for five years at Integrated Medical Systems, Inc., a pre-Internet health care connectivity company (now the equivalent of health information exchange) wholly owned by Eli Lilly and Company at the time of his departure (now part of WebMD). There he had a variety of responsibilities leading HIE vendor of the era, including a product manager for an early-generation electronic prescribing application, a business development manager responsible for identifying new technology partners, and as a physician sales manager responsible for doubling the organizations’ physician customer base to 50,000.
He has a Master of Science in integrated marketing communications from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Alapp B. Shah is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the firm's Washington, DC, office. He advises clients on health care fraud and abuse matters and government investigations relating to health information technology.
Daniel Shaw is Vice President of Consumer Innovation Products, as part of the office of the Chief Operating Officer at CVS Health. In this role, he oversees the development and rollout of the Attain Health app, a new well-being management experience designed to empower users with personalized health recommendations.
Mr. Shaw brings to this role nearly 20 years of experience in global marketing and product strategy, with a particular passion for digital solutions in health and wellness. Most recently, he served as Product Brand Director for Eli Lilly, where he built and led a patient-focused marketing team that pioneered a groundbreaking digital-first experience for diabetes management. Mr. Shaw has developed an expertise in wearable technology over several years at Fitbit, where he led multiple product launches for their bestselling smartwatch portfolio, successfully representing the consumer voice from concept to on-shelf and serving as one of the external faces of the brand.
He also managed partnerships with professional sports leagues, including a comprehensive jersey patch partnership with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves integrating Fitbit into all aspects of their organization.
Prior to this, Mr. Shaw has worked in consumer marketing strategy for a number of household brands, including Under Armour, LeapFrog, and General Mills.
Mr. Shaw holds a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, and a master’s in business administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Sam serves as the Senior Director, Healthcare Quality Strategy at Johnson & Johnson with a background as a healthcare quality professional, experienced in pharmaceuticals, healthcare associations and the information technology industry. Sam is skilled in Medicare, Quality Measurement, Vaccinations, Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy Benefit Management, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Technology, Leadership and Management.
As a pharmacist and epidemiologist Sam has led several efforts to address the opioid epidemic at NQF and currently oversees the Behavioral Health and Substance Use portfolio of quality measures. His work also includes oversight of two committees reviewing gaps in opioid-related quality measures. Sam has held previous roles in the healthcare technology sector, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Sam holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from Howard University and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University.
Michael Thompson is the president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance), the only nonprofit, purchaser-led organization with a national and regional structure dedicated to driving health and healthcare value across the country.
Prior to joining the National Alliance, Mike was a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for 20 years. He is a nationally recognized thought leader for business health strategies and health system reform. Mike has worked with major employers and other stakeholders on sustainable cost reduction, integrated health, wellness and consumerism, retiree health, private health exchanges and health reform. Known for developing and promoting collaborative cross-sector health industry initiatives, Mike participated on the steering board of the World Economic Forum’s “Working toward Wellness” initiative and co-founded the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative (PEEC). Prior to PwC, Mike served as an executive with diverse roles with Prudential Healthcare for over 17 years.
Mike is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, serving on the Health Practice Council, and chairs the Medicare Sub-Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA). He is also widely recognized as a leading national advocate for mental health and wellbeing and was past president of the New York City chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Mike previously was an active member of the board of the Northeast Business Group on Health for 11 years.
William T. Thorwarth Jr., MD, FACR, was appointed CEO of the ACR in April 2014. A diagnostic radiologist from North Carolina, Thorwarth has previously served as ACR President, chair of the ACR Economics Commission, member of the ACR Board of Chancellors, and in 2010, was honored with the ACR Gold Medal.
Thorwarth is a recognized expert in the field of coding, nomenclature and the relative value scale, and is a recipient of the Silver Medal Award from the North Carolina Radiological Society (NCRS) for extraordinary service to the chapter. He has held leadership positions in numerous medical organizations, including the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), NCRS and the RSNA Research and Education Foundation.
April Todd is the Senior Vice President, CORE and Explorations for CAQH. She is responsible for leading the CAQH CORE multi-stakeholder collaboration that is driving the creation and adoption of healthcare operating rules for electronic administrative transactions and establishing a common foundation for the operational components of value-based payment. She also directs the research functions for the organization including the CAQH Index.
Prior to joining CAQH, April led data, analytic, strategic, and product development functions focused on value-based care for Avalere, an Inovalon Company. Before her role at Avalere, April established the MNsure state health insurance exchange and served as Minnesota’s State Health Economist. April also previously held roles as the Vice President of Strategic Analysis and Communications for Government Affairs at UnitedHealth Group and as the Director of Competitive Intelligence for United Healthcare.
April holds an MPH from the University of Minnesota and a BA from Beloit College.
Dr. Susan Turney is a national thought leader and expert in strategic planning, executive management and external relations and the current CEO of Marshfield Clinic Health System. Prior to becoming the CEO of Marshfield Clinic, Dr. Turney was President and CEO of Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), from 2011-14. From 2004-11, she was CEO and Executive Vice President, of Wisconsin Medical Society. Through her leadership, the Medical Society founded the Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network (WISHIN) to improve individual and community health, promote patient-centered health care and advance the use of information technology to improve health care quality and efficiency. She was also the WISHIN chair and served on state and national health care committees, including the National Quality Forum and the American Medical Association. In 2014 and 2015, she was featured on Modern Healthcare’s list of 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and was No. 41 on its list of 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2013. She earned her Fellowship in the American College of Medical Practice Executives (FACMPE) in 2005. Dr. Turney, a native of Mellen, Wisconsin, graduated from Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. She completed her internal medicine residency at Marshfield Clinic/Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield, and earned a master's degree from UW-Madison. From 1982-2004, Dr. Turney was a physician at Marshfield Clinic, practicing internal medicine, serving in education and leadership roles while later being named medical director for Patient Financial Services.
Sara Vaezy is the Chief Digital and Growth Strategy Officer for Providence leading digital strategy and roadmap, digital partnerships and business development, commercialization, technology evaluation, pilots, and digital thought leadership as a part of the Providence Digital Innovation Group.
Prior to Providence, Sara was at The Chartis Group, a health care management consulting firm, where she advised clients on enterprise strategic planning, payer-provider partnership, and the development of population health companies. She holds a BA in Physics and Philosophy from the University of California Berkeley, and an MHA and MPH in Healthcare Policy from The University of Washington’s School of Public Health.
Dr. Waldren is a family physician informaticist. He hold a Masters in Health Informatics from the Univ. of Missouri and a Medical Degree from the University of Kansas. He completed his family medicine residency at Wesley Family Medicine in Wichita, KS. In his current role at AAFP, he has increased the adoption of electronic health records in their membership for 10% to 40%+ over a 3 year period; and to over 70% today. He is a subject experts in physician Adoption of technology, health-IT standards, controlled terminology/ontology, health information exchange, health-IT policy, XML messaging and modeling, and clinical decision support.
Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, Marcy served as deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she led the legal team in drafting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security regulations. Marcy has helped manage hundreds of security incidents and successfully defended clients in numerous privacy-related federal and state investigations, including by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorneys general. She is routinely called upon to advise on proposed regulatory and legislative changes that will impact the electronic health environment. Marcy has helped plan and execute global compliance programs and supervised privacy assessments and information security policy audits for leading global health, education, and technology enterprises.
Marcy was named to The National Law Journal's "Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazers," and is consistently ranked as a top-tier privacy lawyer by both Chambers USA and The Legal 500. She was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame for her work in data protection and privacy. In addition to serving on the board of directors for the national eHealth Initiative, Marcy has been a featured speaker at conferences and seminars across the country, and she lectures frequently on data privacy and cybersecurity, data analytics, digital health, cross-border data transfers, and privacy issues related to medical and genomic research.