17 Years of Empowering and Connecting Leaders in Health Care Transformation

Seth Moulton was first called to service when he joined the Marines in 2001, days after graduating from college and months before the attacks on 9/11. As the leader of an infantry platoon, he was among the first Americans to reach Baghdad in 2003. He served four tours in a war that he didn’t agree with – but he was proud to go, so no one had to go in his place.

After returning home from Iraq, Seth earned joint degrees in Business and Public Policy at graduate school, and then worked in the private sector in Texas to build the country’s first high speed rail line. But it wasn’t long before he was called to serve once again – this time in his home district in Massachusetts.

Seth ran – and won – on a platform of bringing a new generation of leadership to Washington, becoming the only Democrat to unseat an incumbent in a primary in 2014.

In the two terms since he was first sworn in, Seth has worked tirelessly to uphold his commitment to bipartisanship. He has passed several bipartisan bills, including the Faster Care for Veterans Act and the Modernizing Government Travel Act, and was named the most effective freshman Democrat by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. He has also concentrated on spurring economic development in Massachusetts, creating the first intergovernmental task force focused on growing the economy of Lynn, the biggest city in his district.

Today, as a member of the Budget Committee, Seth is focused on creating a new economic agenda that will make a difference for American families. He also sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is the top Democrat on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Seth lives in Salem, Massachusetts with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Emmy.

Dr. Roger Marshall, Congressman for Kansas' Big 1st District, is a physician, devoted father and husband. He and his wife, Laina, have been married for 36 years and are the parents of four children, and have two grandchildren. As a physician, Dr. Marshall has delivered more than 5000 babies, giving him a deep appreciation for the sanctity of life, and an intimate understanding of the healthcare system.

Marshall graduated from Kansas State University with an undergraduate degree in biochemistry before attending the University of Kansas Medical School. He received his Medical Doctorate in 1987 and moved on to his residency in St. Petersburg, Florida. In his final year of residency, he was not only named Teacher of the Year by all other residents and faculty, but also received the Resident Research Award. Following his residency, he returned to Kansas where he began his practice in Great Bend.

Since coming to Congress to represent Kansas' 1st District, Dr. Marshall has utilized his depth of medical and family experience, and much more. He brings seven years of Army Reserve experience, where he helped train a mobile hospital support unit and rose to the rank of Captain. His life began on a Kansas farm, and he preserves his deep agricultural appreciation and understanding through participating in a cattle feeding operation.

Community has been a pillar of Marshall's life, and is a focus to this day. He is a board member of Farmer's Bank and Trust, the community bank that has served central Kansas for 100 years. He has been an Elder, Deacon, and twice board chair of his church. He has also coached in his community youth sports programs, and spends as much time as possible at Quivera National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms.

In Congress, Dr. Marshall serves on the House Ag Committee and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Heather Cox is the Chief Digital Health and Analytics Officer for Humana. In this role, Heather is accountable for building Humana’s digital care delivery operations and leading enterprise analytics. Integrating these critical capabilities across the organization will further accelerate Humana’s move toward differentiated experiences for its health plan members at the intersection of healthcare and lifestyle, tailored especially to the needs of seniors.

Prior to joining Humana, Heather served as Chief Technology and Digital Officer at USAA, where she led the teams responsible for designing and building personalized and digitally enabled end-to-end experiences for USAA members. Heather has also served as CEO of Citi FinTech at Citigroup, helping the company adapt to a future dominated by mobile technology. Before that she headed Card Operations for Capital One, reshaping customer and digital experience for Capital One cardholders.

Heather was named by American Banker magazine as the #3 Woman to Watch nationally in banking in October 2017. She was also named to American Banker’s Women to Watch list in 2011, 2013 and 2016. In 2015, she was named one of the 10 Most Innovative CEOs in Banking by Bank Innovation, as well as Digital Banker of the Year by American Banker.

In March 2018, Heather was appointed to the NRG Energy Board of Directors. She serves on the Nominating and Governance and the Compensation committees. In addition, Heather serves on the national board of directors for LIFT, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to permanently lift people out of poverty.

Heather graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. She and her husband Chris are the parents of two daughters, Lea and Victoria. Heather and Chris share a passion for boating and are avid Washington Nationals fans.

In his role as president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and its parent company Stella, Dr. Craig E. Samitt is responsible for overseeing the strategy and operations of the state’s first and largest health plan.

Dr. Samitt came to Blue Cross in July 2018 from Anthem, Inc., where he served as executive vice president and president of their Diversified Business Group. He built partnerships within and outside of Anthem to provide new sources of growth for the enterprise and deepened Anthem’s relationships and impact across the healthcare ecosystem. Concurrently, he led and executed a nationwide clinical vision and strategy as Anthem’s chief clinical officer. Dr. Samitt’s numerous accomplishments at Anthem include advancing the company’s portfolio of provider partnerships and payment innovation models, leading quality improvements in patient outcomes and increasing the delivery of value-based care.

An internal medicine physician by training, Dr. Samitt has worked across multiple sectors within the health care industry. His career includes a number of senior executive positions, including partner and global provider practice leader at Oliver Wyman; president and CEO of HealthCare Partners, a subsidiary of DaVita HealthCare; and president and CEO of Dean Health System Inc., one of the largest integrated health systems in the Midwest.

For nearly 25 years, Dr. Samitt has been a nationally recognized expert and thought leader on health care delivery and policy. His record of collaborating across the health care system to deliver higher quality care at a lower cost led to him being named as one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders” by Modern Healthcare in 2018.

Dr. Samitt currently serves on multiple boards, including the National Committee for Quality Assurance; the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation; Prime Therapeutics; Minnesota Business Partnership; the Minnesota Council of Health Plans; and the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Additionally, he is a former commissioner of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment policy.

Dr. Samitt holds an undergraduate degree from Tufts University, a medical degree from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He completed a medical residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Permanente, P.C. Imelda Dacones, MD, leads more than 1,700 physicians, clinicians and administrators at the largest independent, physician-led, multi-specialty professional corporation in Oregon and southwest Washington. Together, these physicians deliver Permanente Medicine— evidence- and value-based health care with humanity— to more than 600,000 Kaiser Permanente members. Dr. Dacones is a passionate advocate for addressing the social and environmental determinants of health, and is working to transform the culture, practice, and business of medicine. Under her leadership, Northwest Permanente became the world’s first physician group certified as a B Corp – a status that underscores a strong corporate commitment to use business as a force for good.

Recently-elected as chair of The Permanente Federation's National Permanente Executive Committee, Dr. Dacones has responsibility for the people of The Permanente Federation. As a member of the Board of Directors of the new Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, she looks to influence the medical education of future generations of physicians in this country, inspiring them to spread the mission of providing high-quality, affordable health care and improving the health of people and our communities.

Joy currently serves as Lilly’s Chief Diversity Officer. In that role, she partners with the company’s CEO and senior leaders to attract top talent, develop future leaders, and ensure that all employees can thrive in an inclusive environment that is as diverse as the communities of patients we serve.

Joy has more than 20 years of leadership experience in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations in various industries. As a dynamic speaker and strategic thought partner, she has presented keynote speeches and workshops in more than 20 countries on five continents. She was recently published in Harvard Business Review. She is a highly sought-after executive coach, helping leaders fulfill their aspirations. She has served on boards for several organizations and was named by Diversity Journal as a Woman Worth Watching, by Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association as a Rising Star, and by Black Enterprise as a Top Executive in Corporate Diversity.

Neil Meltzer is president and CEO of LifeBridge Health, a position he has held since 2013. Mr. Meltzer joined Sinai Hospital of Baltimore as vice president of operations in 1988, and a decade later became Sinai’s president and chief operating officer.

As CEO of LifeBridge Health, Mr. Meltzer has led the system through a period of strategic growth with a mission to transform the organization into an integrated health care delivery system, offering a full spectrum of care. Along with the acquisition of Carroll Hospital in 2015, Mr. Meltzer has expanded the system through key partnerships, including alliances with organizations that provide medical transportation, retail pharmacy, urgent care, health insurance, assisted living and more.

Mr. Meltzer has a background in public health and brings a community-focused approach to every health care decision. He serves on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Committee, Notre Dame of Maryland University, the Maryland Hospital Association, the Hippodrome Foundation and Everyman Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Meltzer serves on the advisory board of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. On the national level, he continues to work with the American Heart Association after serving as national chairman. He was also one of 15 national workforce health care champions appointed by former president, Barack Obama.

Mr. Meltzer earned his Master of Public Health and Health Administration from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Louisiana, and his undergraduate degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Among many honors, the Maryland Daily Record has recognized Mr. Meltzer as an Influential Marylander and a Most Admired CEO and has awarded him its ICON Honor. The Baltimore Business Journal has named Mr. Meltzer as one of its Power 10 CEOs, and, in 2019, the Baltimore Museum of Industry named him “Industrialist of the Year.”

Charles W. Sorenson, MD, FACS, is President and CEO Emeritus of Intermountain Healthcare and the Founding Director of the Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute, a position he assumed in late 2016. The Institute’s premier program is designed for selected high potential health system leaders from the US and abroad. Staffed by a faculty of content experts from Intermountain and other distinguished health systems and academic institutions, the Institute’s focus is on the development of trusted leaders at the intersection of clinical and operational expertise.

Dr. Sorenson served as President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare from January 2009 until his retirement from this position in October 2016. Prior to that, he served for eleven years as Intermountain’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Dr. Sorenson, a graduate of the University of Utah and Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University (MD), is a board-certified Urologic Surgeon and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah.

Dr. Sorenson has a long-standing interest in clinical process improvement and in the development of Intermountain’s integrated delivery system. Under Dr. Sorenson’s leadership as Chief Operating Officer and as Chief Executive Officer, Intermountain Healthcare implemented a disciplined and system-wide focus on best clinical and operational practices aimed at producing measurably better outcomes for patients at costs that are sustainable to the communities Intermountain serves.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Sorenson has continued to be involved in the practice of urologic surgery at the Intermountain Medical Center, with a primary focus on urologic oncology. He also serves on several not-for-profit boards, including the Providence St. Joseph Health System Board.

Pamela Peele, Ph.D., is the Chief Analytics Officer at UPMC Insurance Services Division and UPMC Enterprises Dr. Peele brings 13 years of direct patient care experience along with 12 years of academic research experience to her position as a leader of health care analytics at UPMC. She is responsible for creating innovative analytics that drive financial and clinical performance including economic modeling, predictive modeling, statistical analysis and machine learning. Prior to joining the UPMC in 2006, Dr. Peele was the Vice Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management at the University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health. She currently holds faculty appointments in the Graduate School of Public Health and the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is core faculty at the Center for Research on Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an elected fellow of the Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations in Montreal, Canada. She has numerous published articles and book chapters. She was the first person chosen by IBM as an IBM Big Data Hero and was voted the 2014 IT News Men & Women of the Year as a top innovator in health care analytics.

Dr. Peele has a BA in economics from Roanoke College in Salem, VA, and a MA and a PhD in economics from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

Ms. Popwell serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for Ascension Michigan where she is responsible for the strategic direction and alignment of the Ministry Market. Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care. As one of the leading non-profit and Catholic health systems in the U.S., Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. In FY2018, Ascension provided nearly $2 billion in care of persons living in poverty and other community benefit programs. Ascension includes approximately 156,000 associates and 34,000 aligned providers. The national health system operates more than 2,600 sites of care – including 151 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities – in 21 states and the District of Columbia, while providing a variety of services including physician practice management, venture capital investing, investment management, biomedical engineering, facilities management, clinical care management, information services, risk management, and contracting through Ascension’s own group purchasing organization.

Prior to her role with Ascension, Ms. Popwell served as Vice President, Strategy Executive for the Strategic Service Group of Atrium Health. She led the organization wide strategy management process and advised System level executives in her areas of expertise which include: strategic planning, strategy execution, strategic growth, service line planning, portfolio/ project management, and cost management.

Prior to this position, Ms. Popwell was the Chief Ancillary Executive at Carolinas HealthCare System-Cleveland including two hospitals, one nursing home and a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) in Cleveland County. Ms. Popwell was responsible for all Ancillary and Support Services for CCHS, and she was with the organization for a little over 12 years. During that time, she led the team to award winning quality outcomes, award winning patient satisfaction results, top tier employee engagement results, and successful growth strategies in a turbulent healthcare climate and challenging per capita income community.

Ms. Popwell has been a healthcare professional for over 25 years. Over the course of her career, Ms. Popwell has served as a quality and accreditation senior leader as well as a healthcare consultant specializing in the use of benchmarking and labor productivity data. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Association as well as a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum (ALF). She is also certified as a Project Management Professional and was honored in 2015 with the Charlotte region’s Top 50 Most Influential Women Award.

Dr. Daniel Knecht is a board-certified internist currently serving as Vice President of Health Strategy and Innovation at CVS Health. In this role, he collaborates across CVS Health and Aetna business lines to develop and execute clinical innovations that address unmet health needs. Since joining Aetna in 2016, Dr. Knecht has led a series of enterprise-wide strategic initiatives including the company’s efforts to combat opioid misuse and addiction. Following CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna, his team remains focused on leveraging data analytics to provide actionable insights for patients and providers that increase value of care.

After graduating with honors from Dartmouth College, Dr. Knecht received a joint M.D., M.B.A. from Weill Cornell Medical College and Johnson Graduate School of Management where he was a recipient of the Lee Family Scholarship. As a Fulbright Scholar in medical sciences, he performed research that explored health care deficiencies in the Negev region of Israel. Today, Dr. Knecht is an associate clinical professor at Mount Sinai West in New York City and still sees patients.

Ceci Connolly is president and CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), the trade association for high-quality, nonprofit, community health plans. Connolly is a passionate advocate for a community-based approach to health care and a strong proponent of payer-provider collaboration. Formerly a national correspondent for The Washington Post and a leader at international consulting firm PwC, Connolly provides a comprehensive perspective on the American health care system from the everyday struggles of physicians and patients to the intricacies of health care politics. Coauthor of LANDMARK: The Inside Story of America’s Health Law and What it Means for Us All, Connolly has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Hill and Morning Consult, among others, and is a contributor on NPR, PBS and Fox. She is a founding member of Women of Impact for Healthcare, and a graduate of Boston College.

Jean oversees the strategic direction and business operations for Tufts Health Public Plans, Tufts Health Plan's managed Medicaid and state-sponsored plans division, which operates in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

With more than 15 years in health care, including provider, insurer and Exchange marketplace experience, Jean’s background gives her deep knowledge of the health insurance industry and its complexities. Prior to joining Tufts Health Plan, Jean served as the executive director of the Children’s Hospital Integrated Care Organization, a group representing Children’s Hospital Boston and its affiliated physicians. She is also a past executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, after initially serving as its chief financial officer. Jean began her work in health insurance at Tufts Health Plan in 2004, where she served on the contracting, strategy and analytics team.

Jean has served on the boards of the Health Policy Commission and Group Insurance Commission. She earned a B.S. in biochemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

John Pyhtila, Ph.D., is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer of the Partners Healthcare System. John is responsible for maximizing the utility of the vast amounts of current and future data available to Partners and enabling innovation through advanced analytics. The Data and Analytics Office drives and implements strategy on enterprise data warehousing, analytic tools, advanced analytics, and data governance & management and measures value delivered through impact on Partners HealthCare System’s critical mission of patient care, research, teaching, and community service.

Prior to joining Partners, John was the Head of Data Science at Cigna Healthcare. In that role, John led the advanced data science team responsible for partnering with business lines to achieve differentiated results through data driven actions. Prior to Cigna, John worked at Verisk Health where he led the Enterprise Analytics Division which provides Software as a Service data warehousing, analytics, and predictive modeling products to payers, providers, and employers. John also spent time at McKinsey & Company supporting clients across multiple industries on both strategy and operations. Early in his career John worked as an engineer for both Hewlett-Packard and Motorola. John has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State, a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

Rob Andrews currently serves as the CEO of the Health Transformation Alliance (HTA).

As CEO of the HTA, Andrews oversees the strategic direction of 50 major corporations who have come together in an alliance to do one thing: fix our broken healthcare system. Formed by 4 founding members in September 2015, the HTA has grown to include 50 of our nation’s leading employers, who collectively are responsible for more than 7 million employees, dependents and retirees and an annual health care spend of $26 billion. Through Andrews’ leadership, the HTA has launched value-driven solutions specifically designed to improve patient care and economic value through world class data & analytics, pathbreaking pharmaceutical solutions, high quality medical networks and robust consumer engagement initiatives.

Andrews previously led the Government Affairs practice at Dilworth Paxson law firm for two years before joining the HTA.

Prior to private practice, Andrews served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives for nearly 24 years. Upon his departure from the Congress, President Barack Obama praised Andrews’ service as “an original author of the Affordable Care Act...and a vital partner in its passage and implementation,” and cited his “tenacity and skill” in representing the people of New Jersey.

Andrews is married to Camille Spinello Andrews, an Associate Dean at Rutgers Law School and former Dilworth partner, and they have two daughters, Jacquelyn and Josie.

During his time in the U.S. House, Andrews was a Member of the House of Democratic Leadership as Co-Chairman of the Steering Policy Committee; Senior Democratic Member and former Chairman of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, with responsibility for all national defense matters; Senior Democratic member and the former Chairman of the Defense Committee Panel on Defense Procurement Reform; Senior Democratic member and former Chairman of the Defense Committee Panel on Audit of the Pentagon; Participant, White House Summit on Health Care Reforms (2009 and 2010); One of the Original Authors of the Affordable Care Act; One of the original authors of the Defense Procurement Reform Law (2009); and he holds the record for the highest number of votes ever received by a U.S. House candidate in the history of the state of New Jersey.

Andrews’ professional and community activities include his time as former Director of Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Andrews has been a keynote speaker at charitable, educational and governmental events for 30 years, including: Bucknell University commencement; Rutgers Law School commencement; and Rutgers Camden commencement. He is a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC.

Dr. Antoniou is the Medical Director of Healthworx, the corporate venture and corporate development arm of CareFirst BCBS. Prior to joining Healthworx, Dr. Antoniou was the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Strategy at BlockMedx, a blockchain and analytics startup, and a healthcare analytics Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company. Dr. Antoniou is a board-certified physician with clinical training in Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Informatics from Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Mary Caffrey has been with The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) editorial team for seven years. She primarily serves as Managing Editor for Evidence-Based Diabetes Management and Evidence-Based Oncology, two indexed publications that reach multi-stakeholder audiences and discuss how decisions by payers and pharmacy benefit managers affect outcomes in diabetes and cancer care. Mary is an award-winning journalist who has also worked for Princeton University and in senior policy and communication roles for several New Jersey government agencies. For AJMC, she covers major scientific meetings in diabetes, cardiology, and oncology and was a participant in the d17 Executive Innovation Lab hosted by the diaTribe Foundation. Her healthcare coverage is shaped by her family’s relocation from a working class suburb in the Northeast to Pascagoula, Mississippi, in the 1980s. Mary later graduated from Loyola University New Orleans. She is especially interested in covering research about prevention, medication adherence, the relationship between behavioral change and chronic disease management, and the challenge of improving population health among the poor and underserved.

Mark Caron is the Chief Executive Officer of Geneia and Executive Vice-President of Business Platforms and Systems at Capital BlueCross. He has more than 30 years of business and technology expertise with more than 25 years in health care traversing both health care delivery systems and health insurers.

His experience also includes senior leadership roles as the CIO of the Collaborative Care division of OptumHealth, Senior Vice President & CIO at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Senior Vice President & CIO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Chief Technology Officer at Catholic Health Initiatives (a 78 hospital system), and Vice President of Information Systems at Healthsource.

He earned a bachelor‘s degree in Computer Science from Franklin Pierce College and has a MBA and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), certified as a Healthcare Chief Information Officer through the College of Healthcare Information Executives, and is a member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and of the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS).

Laurie Cooke is the president and CEO of the HBA. Laurie is a dedicated advocate for gender parity, speaker, thought leader, PharmaVOICE 100 most inspiring people in life sciences and ASAE Mentor of the Year. Laurie served on PMI’s executive management team; and prior to nonprofit management work, she served in increasing senior roles ex-US with Hoechst, Hoechst Roussel, Hoechst Marion Roussel, and Aventis working across all pre-clinical to post approval areas including phase I biometrics, project management, process improvement, and late stage team effectiveness. Laurie began her career as a head hospital pharmacist in Washington State. Laurie graduated with a degree in microbiology from University of Maryland, advanced scientific degree in pharmacy from University of Washington, masters in Software Engineering Management from University of Luton, England. She is a licensed pharmacist and certified association executive. Laurie has lived and worked in Europe, New Zealand and both U.S., coasts and currently lives in the Philadelphia main line with her husband and four active pets.

Dan is a Partner at Flare Capital Partners, where he sits on the Board of Somatus, a Flare Capital portfolio company. Prior to joining Flare Capital, Dan served as a Medical Director at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, leading Population Health Analytics, Value Based Purchasing, and General Strategy. Dan is a practicing Internal Medicine Physician on the Faculty of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and has an appointment as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dan currently serves on Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Board of Nursing Home Administrators.

Previously, Dan spent time as an entrepreneur and operator in the Health IT Industry, cofounding and managing two separate businesses in the Electronic Health Records and Online Medical Education industries.

Dan’s other interests include Healthcare Policy and Global Health. He has served as a Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Campaigns of Governor Charlie Baker and Congressman Joseph Kennedy III. He has worked to expand healthcare infrastructure in the developing world, serving as a consultant for the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Ethiopia.

Dan earned a B.S. with honors from the University of California, San Diego, an M.D. Summa Cum Laude from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Dan completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Jeffrey Hausfeld, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., has served on the national board and committees of specialty medical societies since beginning his practice in Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at George Washington University School of Health Sciences and an alumnus of the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Hausfeld is widely published in the medical literature, is the pioneer of innovative laser surgery techniques, is the author of a lay oriented medical book, and has appeared on numerous local and national television and radio shows as a medical expert. He has also served as a health care consultant, spokesperson, and executive coach for multi-national pharmaceutical companies, health care firms, as well as the U.S. military. Dr. Hausfeld stepped down from his clinical duties after receiving a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. He continued to refine his communication and team building talents by completing a graduate certificate program in Leadership Coaching and Organizational Development at George Washington University.

Dr. Hausfeld led the field in otolaryngology/facial plastic surgery for many years and is now a business operator and entrepreneur. He invests, manages and consults to a variety of healthcare businesses, including assisted living facilities for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, medical device companies, healthcare information technology and biotech firms, debt collection services for physicians, as well as syndicating and raising capital for health care related real estate ventures, including other life science entrepreneurial enterprises, both regionally and nationally. Dr. Hausfeld is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Officer of BioFactura, a Biotech firm specializing in the production Biosimilars as well as novel biologic drugs. He serves as President of Memory Care Communities LLC, a portfolio of Assisted Living facilities in the Midwest dedicated to the care of Alzheimer’s and dementia care patents. He is the Chairman and Founder of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (www.sopenet.org ), a global network focused on educating healthcare and life science professionals in Bioentrepreneurship and Innovation.

Dr Hausfeld invites healthcare professionals to use financial information and the “science of business” as valuable tools to nurture medical innovation at their institutions and private practice, as well as to enhance the ability to promote quality patient care and improve decision-making. Dr. Hausfeld will demonstrate that power, pleasure and improved performance can result from the ability to mesh the cultures of medicine and business in a comprehensive and strategic manner. “The exciting thing about life after the practice of medicine is that now I am able to draw upon the diversified fields of medicine, business, and organizational psychology, and implement novel solutions that have an immediate impact on patients, providers, and on the client’s bottom line”.

Kathleen Herath oversees Nationwide’s Wellbeing and Safety activities for its 30,000 associates across the country. In this role, she is responsible for developing the company’s Integrated Health and Productivity strategy, Occupational Health Services and on-site clinics, Substance Free Workplace, and Associate Safety.

She has 35 years of professional experience in the health care industry. The My Health program at Nationwide has been awarded numerous honors including the IBI Health Innovation Award, the American Heart Association’s Platinum Fit Friendly Employer Award and the prestigious C. Everett Koop National Health Award. In 2014, Nationwide was the first company in the country to receive the US Healthiest Health Lead Gold Medal for improving health outcomes. In 2018, the program won both Top Training Magazine’s Best Practice Award and Optum Health’s Spirit of Innovation Award.

Kathleen has become a frequently requested speaker within the health and productivity industry and has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars on various industry-related topics. She is active in community and national non-profit organizations including Ronald McDonald House Board of Directors and the Great Rivers Strategy Committee for the America Heart Association. She is a past Board Member and President for Equitas Health.

Matthew O. Hurford, M.D. is Chief Medical Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health Organization part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division and one of the country’s largest not-for-profit behavioral health managed care organizations. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Community Care serves over one million Medicaid beneficiaries across Pennsylvania by facilitating the ongoing evolution of the behavioral health system toward one that embraces the journey of healing, transformation, and empowerment.

As Chief Medical Officer at Community Care, Dr. Hurford is responsible for the clinical and quality operations of Community Care through oversight of the departments of Clinical Management, Psychiatry, Psychology, and Quality Management. He also provides executive leadership for new business opportunities and program development in areas including physical health/behavioral health integration and innovative healthcare payment models.

Prior to joining Community Care, Dr. Hurford served as the Chief Medical Officer of the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS). He has held leadership positions in academic medicine, community mental health and managed care.

Dr. Hurford graduated from Swarthmore College and received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine where he was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society. Following graduation, Dr. Hurford completed his internship and residency in psychiatry at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was named Chief Resident. He is currently a Clinical Associate at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry's Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research. His research interests focus on the interface of physical and mental illness as well as the implementation of evidence-based practices.

Dr. Hurford lives in Philadelphia with his wife and four children.

Jo Ellen is the National Housing+Health Growth Lead for the UHC Housing+Health programs of United Healthcare. Led by Dr. Jeffery Brenner, former CEO of the Camden Coalition in Camden, New Jersey, Jo Ellen is part of a national specialty work group within United Healthcare focusing on identify housing opportunities for members who are homeless, medically vulnerable, and disconnected from community and family resources.. This investment is aimed at successfully reducing healthcare spend and improving healthcare outcomes. Jo Ellen joined United Healthcare in 2016 and provides expertise around Non-Profit Management and Non-Profit Housing partnerships (financing, operations, and leadership structure), HUD financing and initiatives, Fair Housing, and Business Analytics.

Prior to her work with United Healthcare, Jo Ellen spent more than 20 years in community development and affordable housing work. Her work has included the running Community Development Corporations aligned with community hospitals focused on housing counseling and housing rehab, a transitional housing and drop in center for homeless young adults, and providing large agency leadership for building community relationships, project support, and financing opportunities for affordable housing development and operations.

Jo Ellen’s early work in community development included serving as an grantor and oversight manager of HUD and local initiative funds and supporting initiatives in affordable housing, community economic development, small business support, community safety, and community outreach.

Jason Mitchell, M.D., is the Chief Medical and Clinical Transformation Officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, a not-for-profit health care system that is New Mexico’s largest, spanning hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group and a health plan.

While overseeing more than half a billion dollars of fully capitated risk arrangements, Dr. Mitchell also leads delivery system care and case management, organizational quality and accreditation, clinical informatics and enterprise population health. He has shared oversight over health plan clinical and pharmacy operations and co-leads enterprise medical cost management for the more than 650,000 members served through Presbyterian Health Plan.

Dr. Mitchell leads a team of 1,000 employed clinicians across 40+ clinical locations and also has clinical oversight for medical staff operations of nine hospital campuses in a mixed medical staff model.

Dr. Mitchell focuses on redesigning clinical practice at the system level and is transforming the role of the physician executive to better serve clinicians and patients during a time of rapid health care change. He is a key leader in developing enterprise strategy across care delivery, the health plan and Presbyterian’s Fluent Health – a leader in partnering with delivery systems to start or strengthen their own provider-led health plans.

Under Dr. Mitchell’s leadership, Presbyterian is advancing new care models, processes and technology to help connect the care continuum of payers, providers and patients in new ways. These efforts have yielded significant gains in disease management, better patient care and provider experience, and improved medical cost trends and management of population health.

Dr. Mitchell is passionate about the quadruple aim and continues to see patients as a family practice physician. He earned his medical degree from the University of New Mexico, where he also completed his residency in family medicine. Dr. Mitchell is board-certified in both family medicine and clinical informatics. He has been with Presbyterian since 2006.

Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group (1999-2017), the nation’s largest medical group, and former president of The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (2009-2017). In these roles he led 10,000 physicians, 38,000 staff and was responsible for the nationally recognized medical care of 5 million Kaiser Permanente members on the west and east coasts. Recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 most influential physician leaders, Pearl is an advocate for the power of integrated, prepaid, technologically advanced and physician-led healthcare delivery.

He serves as a clinical professor of plastic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on strategy and leadership, and lectures on information technology and health care policy.

In 2017 he authored “Mistreated: Why We think We’re Getting Good Healthcare—And Why We’re Usually Wrong” a Washington Post bestseller that offers a roadmap for transforming American healthcare. All proceeds from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.

As a regular contributor to Forbes, Pearl covers the business of healthcare and the culture of medicine. He’s the host of a new podcast called “Fixing Healthcare,” which debuted in the iTunes top 100 list of science and medicine programs. He has been featured on CBS This Morning, CNBC, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today and Bloomberg News. He has published more than 100 articles in various medical journals and contributed to numerous books. He is a frequent keynote speaker at healthcare and medical technology conferences. Pearl has addressed the Commonwealth Club, the World Healthcare Congress, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s National Quality Forum.

Board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Pearl received his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine, followed by a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford University. From 2012 to 2017, Pearl served as chairman of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), which includes the nation’s largest and best multispecialty medical groups, and participated in the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT in Washington, D.C.

Connect with Dr. Robert Pearl on Twitter >@RobertPearlMD, LinkedIn and at his website robertpearlmd.com.

Valinda Rutledge is currently the Vice President, Public Payor Health Strategy in the Care Coordination Institute at Greenville Health System, SC. She is responsible for identifying, analyzing, and supporting the implementation of opportunities related to government initiatives such as Bundled payments, Medicare advantage, Medicaid pilots, Dual Eligible, PCMH, and ACOs.

She previously worked as a founding member of the leadership team (Senior Advisor and Group Director) at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation (CMMI) where she helped build the Innovation Center from its startup phase and managed the design and launch of several of the Center's models. In particular, she led the development and rollout of the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Initiative, Strong Start and other national programs related to care transformation.

Before joining CMS, Ms. Rutledge served as the Chief Executive Officer of several systems including Bon Secours, SSM Health, and CaroMont Health in Gastonia, North Carolina where she led the development of a 210-day bundled knee payment arrangement between CaroMont Health and North Carolina's largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

Ms. Rutledge received the 2013 Becker’s Healthcare Leadership Award, which is given to the top 30 individuals in the nation who demonstrate leadership and impact to the industry on a national level. She currently serves on several National Scientific Advisory Boards including Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) and as a Subject Matter Expert for SG2 (part of Vizient) where she is responsible for assisting in the development of Sg2’s national thought leadership regarding payment transformation.

Ms. Rutledge holds two advanced degrees: a Master of Business Administration degree from Butler University in Indianapolis and a Master of Science degree in nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit. She is frequently sought as a national speaker in the area of payment, clinical innovation, and population health.

David A. Shore is a leading authority on innovation and managing change initiatives to gain competitive advantage.  Throughout his career he has worked to combine research, teaching, consulting and writing to build constructive links between theory and practice.

Shore has been on the faculty of Harvard University for more than two decades. He is also Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Change at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (China) and Adjunct Professor of Organizational Development and Change at the School of Business, University of Monterrey (Mexico).  Shore is a faculty member of The Governance Institute and Executive-in-Residence at Enable East (United Kingdom).  He has held visiting professorships including in Amsterdam, Santiago, and Shanghai and consulted on six continents.  Shore offers executive education seminars and facilitates strategic planning and guided implementation retreats.  He has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses and workshops across multiple industries.

Previously, Shore spent two decades at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he served as associate dean.  He founded and directed the School's flagship programs:  Forces of Change; The Trust Initiative; and the Certificate Program on Launching and Leading Successful Change Initiatives.

He has served on and chaired numerous boards and committees, and currently is a founding member of McKinsey & Company's External Implementation Advisory Board which has a primary focus on operationalizing strategy for transformational change.   He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Marshfield Clinic Health System, as well as several editorial boards.  Among his honors is the Doctorate Fellow from the Academy of Multi-Skills (United Kingdom).  Along with innovation and change, Shore's body of work focuses on creating higher performing organizations including building and rebuilding trust; reimaging and reengineering meetings; and, strategic marketing and branding.

His most recent books include Launching and Leading Successful Change Initiatives in Health Care Organizations: (Jossey-Bass, 2014); Forces of Change:  New Strategies for the Evolving Health Care Marketplace (Jossey-Bass, 2012); and High Stakes:  The Critical Role of Stakeholders in Health Care, with E. Kupferberg (Oxford University Press, 2011).  He has also written a book on trust and edited a second.

Professor Shore has been recognized as a Top Thought Leader in Trust by Trust Across America – Trust Around the World.   He is also a multiple recipient of Harvard's Letter of Commendation for Distinguished Teaching Performance, including in 2017 and 2018; and was chosen to deliver a 2015 and 2016 Harvard Lecture That Lasts (Harvard's version of a TED Talk) and a TEDx Talk. 

Never known to simply :admire the problem," beyond intellectually stimulating, Shore provides executable advice, inspiring leaders and organizations to gain a unique and adaptable competitive advantage.

David K. Vawdrey, Ph.D. is Chief Data Informatics Officer at Geisinger. He is responsible for implementing transformational technologies and leveraging Geisinger’s advanced data and informatics infrastructure to create value for patients, clinicians, researchers, and members across 13 hospital campuses, 250 clinics, a health plan with nearly 600,000 members, and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Dr. Vawdrey was the founding director of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s Value Institute, where he developed and evaluated innovative clinical information systems interventions that have benefited clinicians and patients across the country. An Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Department of Biomedical Informatics, Dr. Vawdrey has been a passionate teacher and adviser for informatics graduate students since 2007.

Dr. Vawdrey is a national speaker on using data analytics and informatics to transform healthcare, and he is an elected Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics. His research in areas such as clinical decision support, quality & safety, and patient engagement has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Vawdrey is a graduate of Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a master’s in computer science. He completed his Ph.D. in biomedical informatics at the University of Utah.