Diana J. Mason is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Nursing, the oldest and largest circulating nursing journal in the world. She served as the Project Director for a print and video series on nursing care of older adults (funded by Atlantic Philanthropies) as well as print series on palliative nursing (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) and chronic kidney disease (National Kidney Foundation). She is a co-principal investigator for a series of articles and videos on assessing older adults, funded in part by a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation. Under her leadership, the AJN has received numerous awards from the Association for Healthcare Journalists, the Association for Women in Communications, Publications Management; American Academy of Nursing, Folio, and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honorary Society.
Dr. Mason is the co-editor of the award-winning book Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, now in its fifth edition. Since 1986, she has been one of the producers and moderators of Healthstyles, a weekly live radio program in New York City that has received media awards from the State of New York, Public Health Association of New York City, American Academy of Nursing, and the National Association of Childbirthing Centers. She was project director for the WBAI-Global Kids’ Sound Partners for Community Health Initiative (funded by the Benton and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations), designed to train New York City youth in producing radio programs on preventing teen substance abuse.
Dr. Mason is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Long Island University; fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the West Virginia University Academy of Distinguished Alumni; and the Pioneering Spirit Award from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She is a graduate of West Virginia University School of Nursing (BSN, 1970), St. Louis University (MSN, 1977), and New York University (PhD, 1987).
Dr. Rios serves as President & CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), representing Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics. Dr. Rios also serves as President of NHMA’s National Hispanic Health Foundation affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, to direct educational and research activities.
Dr. Rios also serves on the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, Campaign Against Obesity, and the Partnerships for Prevention Boards of Directors, the American Medical Association Commission to End Health Disparities, the PacifiCare-UnitedHealthcare California Investment Committee and is Chair, the National Coalition on Hispanic Health. Dr. Rios has lectured and published articles and has received several leadership awards, including awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses, American Public Health Association Latino Caucus, Association of Hispanic Health Executives, Minority Health Month, Inc., Hispanic Magazine, Verizon’s First Pollin Community Service Award, and Amerimed. Dr. Rios was appointed to the Minority Alumni Hall of Fame of Stanford University in October, 2006.
Prior to her current positions, Dr. Rios served as the Advisor for Regional and Minority Women’s Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health from November 1994 to October 1998. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as Coordinator of Outreach Groups for the White House. In 1992, Dr. Rios worked for the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as a policy researcher. Dr. Rios has also served as President, Chicano/Latino Medical Association of California, Advisor to the National Network of Latin American Medical Students, member of the California Department of Health Services Cultural Competency Task Force, Stanford Alumni Association and Women’s Policy Inc. Boards of Directors, and the AMA’s Minority Affairs Consortium Steering Committee.
Dr. Rios earned her BA in Human Biology/Public Administration at Stanford University in 1977, MSPH at the University of California School of Public Health in 1980, her MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987, completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and the White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles in 1990, and her NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine in 1992.
Ellen Blackler is Executive Director, Public Policy at AT&T. Ellen develops AT&T’s public policy positions for a range of issues related to both legacy and emerging communications services and also critical business issues including privacy, access for people with disabilities, rural broadband deployment, health care and tax related issues. Prior to joining AT&T in 2003, she was Special Assistant to the Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. She has also worked at the New York Public Service Commission and the New York State Legislature, where she handled a range of issues involving energy policy, consumer protection, and the development of competitive telecommunications markets.
Honorable Nancy Johnson is a senior public policy advisor in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Baker Donelson, PC and a member of the firm's Federal Public Policy Group. She focuses on health care, tax and trade matters on behalf of Baker Donelson clients.
Ms. Johnson served 24 years in Congress, from 1983 to 2007, representing the fifth district of Connecticut, following 6 years of service in the Connecticut State Senate. She co-authored the national Children's Health Insurance Program, was a principal author of the Medicare Modernization Act and authored several taxpayer rights bills as Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee. As a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a free-trade proponent, Ms. Johnson played an integral role in passage of every major tax bill, trade agreement and health care initiative during her tenure on the committee.
As a member and chairman of the Health Subcommittee, Ms. Johnson co-authored the laws that expanded Medicare to cover prescription drugs, chronic care management, increased preventive health benefits, and care offered by nurse specialists, physician assistants and nutritionists. She also introduced the health information technology legislation that led to the establishment of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT) and fought for broad adoption of HIT to reduce medical errors and improve care quality. She also led the Long Term Care Coalition, was an avid supporter of Community Health Centers and children’s hospitals, and worked to pass malpractice reform and mental health parity legislation.
Education
• Radcliffe College, Harvard University, B.A., 1957
• University of London, Courtauld Institute, 1958
• Baypath College, Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, 1999
• University of New Haven, Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, 1995
• University of Hartford, Doctor of Laws, 1989
• University of Bridgeport, Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, 1985
Boards
• Pfizer U.S. Health Advisory Board, 2008
• Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Board of Directors, 2007-2008
• John Marshal Law School, Board of Trustees, 2007-2010
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Health Policy Fellowship Advisory Board, 2007-2010
• E-Health Connecticut, Board of Directors, 2007
• Magellan Health Services, Board of Directors, 2007-2009
• National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Board of Directors, 2007-2010
As founder and President of Strategic Health Policy International, Inc, Glenna Crooks solves some of the toughest health care problems of our times by distilling chaos and complexity into recognizable and easily digestible, action-oriented insights. Her clients, businesses and governments around the world, have used her Centricity Principle™ approach to create successful organizational, national and global transformational strategies. Her work is based on a professional history in senior government positions as a Reagan appointee, lobbyist and professional society and bio-pharmaceutical company executive.
Glenna devotes her time to academic, professional, and philanthropic endeavors as well. She is adjunct professor at the University of the Sciences of Philadelphia, Founder and Chairman of Causeway Collective, and an officer on the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship Board. She served on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative Board of Scientific Councilors and was a member of the Institute of Medicine committee to advise the Department of Defense on bioterrorism countermeasures. Glenna was founding Vice-Chair of the Partnership for Prevention, a member of the National Council of the Institute for Child Health and Human Development, Chairman of the National Commission on Rare Diseases. She received the Congressional Exemplary Service Award for Orphan Products Development and is a recipient of the highest award in public health, the Surgeon General’s Medallion, awarded by C. Everett Koop.
Glenna is the author of Covenants: Inspiring the Soul of Healing, and is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences. She is also the founder of Best Edge, a company devoted to helping the highest-performing executive women stay in the game and manage the unique challenges they face as women working to solve health care problems and have satisfying personal lives.
Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health and the prevention of sickness. Our blog admins use her name for guest posts.
Kathi Cullari's unique combination of government relations, media and marketing, and coalition development experience has earned her national recognition as a leader in integrated communications strategies. Highly regarded for her skills in coalition and grassroots development, she actively works with clients and coalition members to promote quality healthcare throughout the northeast.
A registered lobbyist for 20 years, Ms. Cullari is widely known for her strong public policy skills and political instincts. She is considered an aggressive advocate on behalf of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology research industries and the patients they assist.
In 1999, Ms. Cullari founded Cullari Communications Group, a firm specializing in public relations, third-party ally development and government affairs.
Prior to starting her own business, Ms. Cullari's positions included serving as director of government relations for a statewide business association; director of fellows and intern programs for the Department of Cardiology at the Hershey Medical Center; and working with information technology companies such as EDS, Netscape and Oracle.
Kathryn C. Brown is senior vice president - Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility for Verizon. She has been with the company since June 2002, and is responsible for corporate responsibility initiatives, policy development and issues management, public policy messaging, strategic alliances and the Verizon Foundation.
Before joining Verizon, Ms. Brown was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and a member of the firm’s Communications and Electronic Commerce practice, where she focused on the legal and regulatory challenges for communications companies in the converging telecommunications market.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Brown was the Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) where she managed Chairman William E. Kennard’s agenda on all telecommunications, broadcast, and spectrum matters. She previously served as the Chief of the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau, where she led key initiatives implementing the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Before working at the FCC, Ms. Brown was the Associate Administrator, Office of Policy Analysis and Development, at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications & Information Administration. In that position, she was closely involved in President Clinton’s initiatives to put computers in every classroom in America, and to close the “digital divide” by promoting the deployment of advanced technologies both here and abroad.
Ms. Brown also worked for eight years at the New York State Public Service Commission in various capacities, including as the Director of the Consumer Services Division and as Litigation Attorney and Managing Attorney for Telecommunications with the Office of General Counsel. Prior to joining the NYPSC, she was the Deputy Clerk of the New York State Court of Appeals.
Ms. Brown received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law in 1980 and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Marist College in 1974. She is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia.
Laurie E. Burman is the Executive Director of the Hearing Speech & Deaf Center of Greater Cincinnati, an 83-year-old non-profit agency providing audiology, speech language pathology and deaf services to over 8,000 individuals annually. The mission of the Center is to "strengthen our community by supporting individuals and families to overcome obstacles to communication."
An audiologist by training (B.A., University of Buffalo and M.A., The University of Connecticut), Ms. Burman's clinical expertise is in the area of geriatrics, counseling patients on hearing impairment and outcomes measurement. Prior to her current position, Ms. Burman held a faculty appointment in the communication disorders department of Case Western Reserve University, and was Director of Audiology at the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center.
Ms. Burman has served on a geriatric assessment team, as a nursing home clinician and as an accreditation site visitor. Locally, she is on a number of advisory committees and collaboratives. She is an active board member of the Ohio Council of Speech and Hearing Administrators, OhioSPAN (Speech Pathology and Audiology Network) and the Ohio Alliance of Community Centers for the Deaf.
Linda Burnes Bolton is Vice President for Nursing, Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Nursing Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She is one of the Principal Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Burns & Allen Research Institute. Her research, teaching, and clinical expertise includes: nursing and patient care outcomes, improving the health of childbearing women, improving nursing and organization functions and reliability, functional health literacy of African Americans and other ethnic and racial communities; quality of care in racially and ethnically diverse communities and cultural diversity within the health professions.
Dr. Burnes Bolton is a past president of the American Academy of Nursing and the National Black Nurses Association. She is a member of the American Nurses Association, American Organization for Nurse Executives, Association of California Nurse Leaders; American Public Health Association, Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, National Black Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing.
She has held board and officer positions for several national organizations and is the recipient of numerous awards for her scholarly and world community service, including receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Organization of Nurse Executives in 2007 and the Distinguished Alumnae Award from Arizona State University in 2008. She is chair of the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative to Transform Care at the Bedside (TCAB) and Principal Investigator of the American Academy of Nursing Technology Drill Down research project. She also holds positions as an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) School of Nursing and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Nursing. Dr. Burnes Bolton received her DrPH in Population Health & Behavioral Science from the University of California, School of Public Health at Los Angeles, California.
As a Physician Executive, Meera Kanhouwa is responsible for Microsoft’s worldwide physician and provider communications for the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, and for the Amalga product in particular. Meera’s efforts are part of Microsoft’s commitment to helping the health industry realize its potential for improved productivity, quality and safety. The Health Solutions Group is focused on providing innovative products that enable consumers to live healthier lives at any age, improve patient safety and operational results by providing “Health Intelligence” to caregivers, and reach into emerging regions to improve health worldwide.
Meera’s career has been in the health industry as a practicing emergency physician. Meera attended medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA as an HPSP US Army scholarship participant. Meera did her internship at Brooke Army Medical Center in Ft. Sam Houston, TX, before being stationed at Walson Army Hosptial as General Medical Officer in the emergency department. During Meera’s time in the military, she was Quality Assurance Director at Walson Army Hospital, and ARCENT Forward Surgeon with the 1-43 Patriot Battalion stationed in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.
Subsequent to completing the military requirement, Meera was an emergency medicine resident at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington DC. Concurrent with her residency, she also completed her Master of Health Administration with a focus on health IT. Meera was Chairman, Department Emergency Medicine, at Prince George’s County Hospital, Cheverly, Maryland prior to moving to the Seattle area.
In Seattle, Meera continued to practice emergency medicine at Swedish Hospital. She was Medical Director of Information Services for Swedish Health Services, and was instrumental in piloting and deploying innovative solutions to clinical problems while in this role for 5 years.
Meera joined Microsoft in 2005, and began as the Worldwide Executive Director Public Sector for Health Technology Strategy. In this role, Meera helped to define a global strategy for providers at Microsoft. Currently, Meera is the Physician Executive for the Health Solutions Group, working to bring the newly acquired Azyxxi application to market.
Meera holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College, a medical degree from Tufts University, an MHA from GW University in Washington DC. Meera and her husband Bruce, an interventional cardiologist, have one daughter and reside in Salt Lake City, UT.
Meryl Bloomrosen is Vice President at the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Ms. Bloomrosen supports a number of AMIA committees and task forces, provides executive oversight to AMIA’s contracts and grants, and provides support for AMIA’s ongoing efforts on Clinical Decision Support (CDS) and informatics workforce development.
Prior to her position with AMIA, Ms. Bloomrosen was a Vice President at the eHealth Initiative and the Program Manager of the Connecting Communities for Better Health Program, a HRSA-funded, multi-million dollar cooperative agreement. Earlier in her career she was a senior policy analyst at the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission. She has a certificate in health information management from the U.S. Public Health Service, an MBA in Information Systems from George Washington University, and is currently enrolled in the Graduate Certificate Program in Biomedical Informatics at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. In addition she has completed the Medical Informatics MBL/NLM Course Fellowship program at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA.
Michelle McMurry is a physician, scientist, health policy expert, and advocate for better global health and improved healthcare for all Americans. She is the founding director of the Health, Biomedical Science, and Society Policy Program of the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think tank. In that capacity she leads a policy team as they illuminate the barriers to better nutrition, personalized medicine, HIV treatment around the globe, and reform of the American medical system. She also directs the annual Aspen Health Forum which brings thought leaders from around the world to debate the role of medicine and technology in improving the health of our nation. Most recently, Michelle’s team launched the Aspen Health Stewardship Project which seeks to broaden the healthcare debate from a narrow discussion of insurance to a more inclusive one of health and how best to protect this valuable resource. She has worked on health projects from Rwanda to Cambodia and is a committed global health advocate.
Michelle has nearly a decade of experience in health and science policy. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Health Policy at George Washington University. She was formerly a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco and an Adjunct MacArthur Fellow in Global Health at the Council for Foreign Relations. She was also the Hospital Preparedness Coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked on preparing our Nation's hospitals for public health emergencies.
She has crafted legislation on Capitol Hill and participated in national debates on health and social issues. She oversaw health and social policy issues for Senator Joseph Lieberman and was the senior health policy advisor for the Lieberman for President Campaign. She worked on homeland security, health disparities, healthcare quality, and translational research bills.
She studied biochemistry at Harvard and then attended Duke University for medical training. She was the first African-American to complete the combined National Institutes of Health funded MD/PhD program at Duke. A published scientific researcher, Michelle earned her PhD in molecular immunology for her study of gene recombination in immune system cells. She trained in pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Krasner has over fifteen years of healthcare policy and healthcare marketing and communications experience. She has worked in both the non-profit and corporate sectors where her experience has ranged from coordinating high-level press briefings on Capitol Hill to launching health information technology products for Fortune 100 companies and IPO offerings. Ms. Krasner is currently working as the lead Product Marketing Manager at Google Health, a new product that helps users organize, manage and share their medical records online. Prior to coming to Google, Ms. Krasner worked in the Secretary’s Office at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) as Senior Advisor to Dr. David Brailer, M.D.,Ph.D., the first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Before coming to HHS, Ms. Krasner worked as Marketing Director for CareScience, Inc., a "private-to-public" healthcare technology company that sold Internet-based tools and consulting services to hospitals, integrated delivery health systems, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to her role at CareScience, Ms. Krasner helped lead Press and Communications at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan, national, healthcare policy think tank. Ms. Krasner also worked at Aetna Inc. where spearheaded a national provider relations campaign to Aetna's contracted providers. Ms. Krasner holds an M.A. in Communications and Healthcare Administration from Stanford University and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has published a series of articles.
Pat Ford-Roegner is CEO of the American Academy of Nursing. She has more than 30 years experience in national health policy and governmental affairs.
Pat combines her clinical nursing experiences with community organizing training to advocate for common sense health care. She is known for her work to engage nurses, physicians and other health professionals to be heard by policy makers at the national, state and local levels, including the White House and Congress. Pat builds effective coalitions to reach consensus on issues and demonstrates her commitment to diversity by active engagement with individuals and groups. She is a Board member of the patient centered National Health Council and serves on the Advisory Board for the National Partnership to Prevent Chronic Disease.
Pat joined AAN from the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), where she was Executive Director. She was credited with pumping new life into AIMBE’s membership service programs and, particularly, its public policy initiatives. She built new and stronger relationships with Members of Congress, administration officials and the leadership of key institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
She was a founding member of the National Health Policy Council, a non-profit group that hosted presidential candidate forums on health care in the 1980s and 1990s. Pat is co-founder of the Nightingale Policy Group, which promotes nursing's expertise on a wide range of health issues and has a major goal of putting a human face on the health care debate.
Pat’s career included service as Atlanta regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1999, overseeing more than 500 employees and more than 20 percent of the agency’s national budget. One of the few nurses who has held a presidential appointment, she led that region to become the first to successfully implement Children Health Initiative Programs in each of its eight states. Prior to that she held a White House appointment co-leading the Health Professionals Council working on health care reform.
Earlier in her career, Pat led a behavioral health care organization where she built new alliances with business and the Republican-led Congress. She added prescription drug use and misuse, parity for mental health and substance use disorders and prevention of these diseases to her repertoire of knowledge on complex health issues. Pat was one of three Americans to testify to a joint committee of Britain's Parliament on addiction policy and politics in 2003. She held senior policy level positions at the American Nurses Association from 1981 to 1990 and with the SEIU from 1990 to 1992.
Pat holds a keen interest in health care coverage for the uninsured, Medicaid coverage and costs, the management of chronic diseases in special populations, children and women's health and the future health care workforce. She translates science and research to practice concepts to new audiences.
Pat was inducted as an AAN Fellow in 1998. She received the 1995 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Social Work and Social Policy. Pat holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and Public Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy from West Chester State University in Pennsylvania and an Associate’s Degree in Nursing Science from Gwynedd Mercy College in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Patrice Milos is Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for Helicos BioSciences. A passionate believer in personalized healthcare, Dr. Milos joined Helicos BioSciences in June 2007. Her expertise and extensive knowledge in the life sciences advances the company's efforts to develop innovative and breakthrough technology involving single molecule DNA sequencing in pursuit of the $1000 Genome.
Previously, Dr. Milos served as Executive Director at Pfizer Global Research and Development. While at Pfizer, she was responsible for leadership, strategic alignment and execution of the scientific disciplines of pharmacogenomics, proteomics, metabonomics and RNA profiling across the Pfizer portfolio from early discovery into the marketplace. She joined Pfizer in 1993 and held numerous research positions of increasing responsibility focusing on a variety of areas relevant to human health including Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, Pharmacogenomics, DNA Sequencing, Biomarkers and Molecular Sciences.
Dr. Milos serves on the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research and was pivotal in the establishment and oversight of key Pfizer strategic investments in the genomics area, most notably, the Genetic Association Information Network, a partnership with the National Institutes of Health. She also sits on several editorial boards for journals and has published and presented extensively in the genomics area.
Dr. Milos conducted post-doctoral fellowships at Brown University and Harvard University. She earned her MS and PhD degrees at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and received her BA from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. She lives in Edgewood, Rhode Island with her husband Curt Spalding and their two children, Henry, 16, and Hannah, 13, who keep everyone very busy with hockey, basketball and sailing.
Phyllis Beck Kritek has deep roots in health care, beginning with her clinical career in mental health nursing and extended to several academic leadership roles, including dean, department chairperson, director of research, and creator and director of two doctoral programs. Long recognized for her leadership in the national nursing community, Dr. Kritek is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), and a member of several professional organizations, where she has served in a variety of leadership roles.
Dr. Kritek has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and books. She has served on the editorial board of several nursing journals and was the Editor of Nursing Forum from 1989 1992. She has produced two books on subjects that have become widely associated with her professional foci, conflict resolution and healing. Dr. Kritek was on the leading edge of the shift to a healing focus in health care. Her book, Negotiating at an Uneven Table: Developing Moral Courage in Resolving Our Conflicts, now in its 2nd edition, explores conflict engagement under conditions of structured inequity, an area of expertise she developed during a Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship.
Dr. Kritek has been providing consultation and training in conflict engagement for over twenty years. She resigned her academic position in 2003 to dedicate herself full time to this work through her sole proprietorship, “courage”. She is sought as a speaker, a consultant, and a facilitator by organizations and health care agencies exploring strategic changes. She is noted for her unique ability to create conceptual maps that assist individuals and groups in grappling with challenges and dilemmas. She is convinced that constructive conflict engagement has “come of age” as an acknowledged need, particularly within US health care settings.
Randel Richner founded Neocure Group in June 2006, a consulting firm specializing in reimbursement, health policy, economics, and government advocacy support for biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. Prior to founding the Neocure Group, Richner was Vice President, Global Government Affairs, Reimbursement and Outcomes Planning for Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) for 9 years. At Boston Scientific, Richner built a global reimbursement and outcomes strategic process for new and existing less invasive medical technologies for BSC product platforms. During this time, she was actively engaged in national and international policy and legislative arenas as an advocate for the benefits of innovative medical technology, FDA, regulatory, international trade and payment issues.
Prior to BSC, Richner worked for GlaxoSmithKline (formerly SmithKline Beecham) in both London, England and Philadelphia, focusing on global pricing and economic issues for cardiopulmonary and diabetic drugs, publishing extensively. She was a member of the Global Health Policy Group (GHPG) consortium of leaders of health economics groups in the pharmaceutical and device industry. Richner has been an active member of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Research (ISPOR) serving as a Board member for 2 years, founder of the US Medical Device Council of ISPOR, and Asia-Pacific Medical Device Council.
Richner has been a leader in policy initiatives in Washington with Congress and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She served on a four-year term as the first industry representative to the Executive Committee (EC) of the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee (MCAC), contributing to the development of national coverage and MCAC process guidelines. In 2007, she was reappointed to MedCAC for a 2 year term. She is a frequent contributor on policy panels on health care issues related to the technology industry, such as an Institute of Medicine (IOM) special committee on cost-effectiveness and post-market surveillance in 2005. Richner is on the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE); National Institute of Health Commercialization Program (NIH-CAP) Advisor; Executive Advisory Board of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVRH) Tufts New England Medical Center; Executive Advisory Board to the Dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and the University of Michigan Ross Business School Healthcare Life Sciences Corporate Advisory Board. She serves on the board of Entellus Medical.
Richner has a master’s degree in public health policy and administration from the University of Michigan where she is also a magna cum laude graduate of the bachelor’s in science nursing program. Before her career in health economics and policy, she was a practicing dialysis and transplant nurse for 13 years at the University of Michigan Hospital and Northern Michigan Hospital.
Robin Strongin is an accomplished public affairs expert with more than 25 years of experience working in Washington, DC. Her areas of specialization include health care, science, technology and innovation. Robin has worked with and for Federal and state governments, regulatory agencies, Congress, think tanks, nonprofit organizations, corporations, coalitions and trade associations. Before becoming President of Amplify, Robin was a Managing Partner at the public affairs firm Polidais, LLC. Before joining Polidais, Robin served as a Senior Research Associate with the National Health Policy Forum at George Washington University. While at the Forum, she organized seminars for congressional and executive staff, authored numerous publications, and worked closely with a range of state and federal agencies, professional societies, advocacy groups and consumer organizations. She served as acting Executive Director and Director of Research for the Health Care Technology Institute. Her previous tenures with health and policy organizations include the National Leadership Coalition on Health Care and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission (now the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission). She was selected as a Presidential Management Intern and worked in the Office of Legislation and Policy of the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), in addition to serving in the Office of Congressman James J. Florio (D-NJ). Robin is currently serving on the Public Affairs Council's Senior Executive Task Force and the AcademyHealth Health Policy Communications Interest Group Advisory Committee. She has recently been appointed to the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
A diploma nursing school graduate of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Ruth Watson Lubic also received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, followed soon thereafter by a certificate of nurse-midwifery awarded by MCA/SUNY Health Sciences Center in Brooklyn. Broadening her scope, she earned a doctorate in education (Ed.D) from Columbia in applied anthropology.
From 1970 to 1995, she was the General Director of Maternity Center Association, a venerable organization dating from 1918, which was organized by women and operated continuously by women of great distinction. MCA’s focus is the health and welfare of childbearing families, and Dr. Lubic put her unusual education and personal philosophy to full use as its CEO. While maintaining her upper West Side residence in Manhattan with her husband, she currently serves as Founder and Chair Emerita of the Family Health and Birth Center and Founder and President Emerita of the Developing Families Center in Washington, D.C. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the New York University Division of Nursing and at the Georgetown University School of Nursing. From 1995-1997 she was an expert consultant in the office of the DHHS Assistant Secretary for Health, Philip R. Lee, M.D.
It was Dr. Lubic’s vision which lead to establishment of the first demonstration freestanding Childbearing Center (CbC) in the United States. Operating from the MCA town house in Manhattan (1975-1996) before being transferred to become the St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, the CbC served as a model for more than 150 centers in this country. Instrumental in the growth of this movement was the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) of which Dr. Lubic was a co-founder and first president. Because of her knowledge and skills as a public speaker, she has consulted with organizations in Japan, Australasia and several European countries. Birth centers on the CbC model were established in Australia, Sweden and Germany. Her insights have led Dr. Lubic to redefine the stereotype of the low-income mother as being consistently high-risk. MCA established its second freestanding birth center in 1988 in the depressed inner city area of the southwest Bronx. Apart from achieving remarkable medical statistics, the social and familial impact of the Center has been extraordinary. Turned over to a community health center in 1992, it continues to operate successfully.
The recognition of Dr. Lubic’s achievements in public health have been many. In 1971 she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Subsequently she was elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She was a member of the first official American Medical Delegation to the Peoples Republic of China in 1973. She was designated by the Ladies Home Journal, (October, 1983) as one of “America’s 100 Most Important Women”. Honorary doctorates were awarded by the University of Pennsylvania, and four other institutions. She is particularly pleased with the Rockefeller Public Service Award given her by Princeton University, and being designated as a “Distinguished Alumna” of Teacher’s College, Columbia University. In 1997, she received the Carola Warburg Rothschild award from Maternity Center Association and The Association for Women in Education in 1999 bestowed its Woman of Distinction Award at its conference for Women Student Leaders.
A milestone as well as a change of direction was the result of receiving the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur so-called “genius” Fellowship in 1993. Dr. Lubic used her five year stipend in a seven year venture in bringing to families in Wards 5 and 6 of our nation’s capital, (the locus of the worst infant outcomes in the United States,) her concept of a Developing Families Center, which has operated since 2000.
Dr. Lubic has served as Visiting Professor to the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, Australia, and as Kate Hanna Harvey Visiting Professor, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University. In what is the most significant development in nurse-midwifery education in many decades, Dr. Lubic (in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University, the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky and AABC) was one of the prime movers in a new concept of nurse-midwifery education which amalgamated home study and precepted “hands on” experience in efficiently educating professional nurses in their own communities to become certified nurse-midwives. In June, 1999, Dr. Lubic was the Irving Harris Professor at the School of Nursing of the University of Illinois-Chicago.
To be honored by one’s peers is of particular significance. Among others, the American College of Nurse-Midwives awarded the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award in 1983; the American Nurses Association designated her the 1985 Maternal and Child Health Nurse of the Year, and gave Honorary Recognition, it’s highest award, in 1994; the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing conferred its Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Nursing Education Alumni Association of Teacher’s College gave her both its Achievement Award and the McManus Medal. The year 2001 was a high point for Dr. Lubic. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences awarded in Washington its Gustav O. Lienhard Award for “outstanding achievement in improving health care services in the United States.” The American Academy of Nursing designated her as a Living Legend for “contributions to the provision of health care services in the United States and in all regions of the world”, and the Medical Honor Society, Alpha Omega Alpha, elected her to honorary membership. In 2003, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York bestowed on Dr. Lubic its prestigious Lillian D. Wald Award, and in 2006, she received the American Public Health Association’s Martha May Eliot Award.
Early in her career, Dr. Lubic served as officer and director of boards of various professional and health associations including the Presidency of both the Pan American Health and Education Fund and the American Association for World Health. In addition to publishing over seventy-five articles, she is co-author of the book “Childbearing - A Book of Choices”.
Dr. Lubic’s residence is in New York City. She is married to an attorney who is an honorary nurse-midwife. They have one son who is practicing law in New Jersey, and two grandchildren.
Ruthann Russo is a managing director with Navigant Consulting and a partner in the law firm of Russo and Russo based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and New York City. She has been working in and advising healthcare organizations and their medical staffs for over 20 years. She was previously the chief executive officer of HP3, HP3 Research Institute, and Cabot Marsh Corporation.
Dr. Russo has written seven books addressing the industry-wide issues of documentation, coding, and compliance in healthcare including her most recent, A Compelling Case for Clinical Documentation, published in 2008. She also wrote Mindful Healthcare: The Conscious Person’s Guide to Living in Harmony with the US Healthcare System and the Raw Food Diet Myth: What you need to know about the raw and living food lifestyle to improve your health, fitness and life. She created the HealthMap™ program to help healthcare consumers proactively create a vision and plan for their care.
Dr. Russo is a graduate of Dickinson College, American University’s Washington College of Law, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s program in public health, Columbia University’s Teachers College certification program in health counseling, and Touro University, where she earned her doctoral degree in business administration with an emphasis on healthcare management.
Sharon Terry is President and CEO of the Genetic Alliance, a network transforming health by promoting an environment of openness centered on the health of individuals, families and communities. She is the founding Executive Director of PXE International, a research advocacy organization for the genetic condition pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). Following the diagnosis of their two children with pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) in 1994, Ms. Terry, a former college chaplain, and her husband, Patrick, founded and built a dynamic organization that fosters ethical research and policies and provides support and information to members and the public.
At the forefront of consumer participation in genetics research, services and policy, Ms. Terry serves on many major governmental advisory committees on medical research, including as liaison to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children, and the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, NHGRI, NIH. She serves on the boards of the Biotechnology Institute, DNA Direct, National Coalition of Health Professional Education in Genetics, and the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine. She is on the steering committees of Genetic Association Information Network of NHGRI, the CETT program, the EGAPP Stakeholders Group and the Google Health Advisory Board. She is the chair of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness that was instrumental in the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. She is a member of the IOM Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health, and chair of the Social Issues Committee of American Society of Human Genetics. In 2005, she received an honorary doctorate from Iona College for her work in community engagement and haplotype mapping, and in 2007 received the first Patient Service Award from the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy.
Ms. Terry is a co-founder of the Genetic Alliance Biobank, a centralized biological and data repository catalyzing translational genomic research on rare genetic diseases. The BioBank works in partnership with academic and industrial collaborators to develop novel diagnostics and therapeutics to better understand and treat these diseases. Along with the other co-inventors of the gene associated with PXE (ABCC6), she holds the patent for the invention. She co-directs a 33-lab research consortium and manages 52 offices worldwide for PXE International.
Ms. Terry is committed to bringing together diverse stakeholders that create novel partnerships in advocacy; integrating individual, family, and community perspectives to improve health systems; and revolutionizing access to information to enable translation of research into services and individualized decision making. She lives with her husband Patrick and their two children in Maryland.
Stephanie Mensh found herself thrust into the role of personal caregiver and patient advocate in the same shocking instant that her husband, Paul Berger, suffered a severe stroke. Stephanie was only 31, Paul 36, when their middle class, career-oriented lives lurched suddenly off track. That was over 20 years ago. Since then, they have both thrived due to teamwork and Stephanie’s caregiving mantra: push the survivor to be as independent as possible; do what you (the caregivers) do best; and communicate.
To help other caregivers, persons with disabilities and their families, Stephanie serves on the consumer board of the newly established Stroke Comeback Center in Oakton, VA, and as an appointed representative to the Fairfax County (Virginia) Human Services Council and the Tysons Land Use Task Force. She served on the Steering Committee of the National Quality Forum’s project on Stroke Measures as a consumer representative. Previously, she served as co-chair of the Community Education Committee, of the “Operation Stroke” pilot sponsored by Inova Health Systems (Fairfax, VA) and the American Heart/American Stroke Association Mid-Atlantic affiliate. She served as President of the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Association, and as a member of the Executive Board of the National Aphasia Association.
Stephanie has co-authored books on stroke recovery with her husband, including How to Conquer the World With One Hand…and an Attitude. She works with Paul in their publishing company, Positive Power Publishing, and contributes to their website on stroke recovery, www.strokesurvivor.com. She has made numerous presentations to professional and consumer groups on caregiving and patient advocacy.
Stephanie has worked professionally for New Editions Consulting, Inc., as a Senior Research Manager; for the National Association of State Mental Retardation Program Directors as Legislative Assistant; and the National Council of Community Mental Health Centers as Research Assistant/Editor. She served as Managing Editor of Health & Healing, an alternative health consumer newsletter with a circulation of 500,000.
Currently, she serves as Vice President, Reimbursement Policy, for the Neocure Group, a consulting firm specializing in strategic reimbursement policy and health economics for the medical device industry. Stephanie focuses on Medicare coverage, coding, payment, quality and value strategies. She served in a similar position as a Senior Reimbursement Advisor for King and Spalding, LLP, and as Vice President, Payment and Policy, for the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed). Prior to joining AdvaMed’s staff, she worked for the Institute for Clinical PET, as Executive Director, and for the Coding Institute, as Consulting Editor. Previously, she worked for the American Urological Association as Director, Department of Health Policy, and for the American Academy of Ophthalmology as Assistant Director of its Washington, DC Office.
Lending her expertise in reimbursement policy, Stephanie co-chaired the Medical Device Regulatory, Reimbursement and Compliance Congress at Harvard for the past three years, and produced a special 2-day course on reimbursement for the University of Southern California at Irvine’s Masters of Regulatory Science Program.
Stephanie holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration, Finance, from George Mason University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & English from The American University.
With a 30 year career in the healthcare industry, Teri Louden has developed a national reputation for her leading edge marketing and strategy expertise in launching medical products and advanced medical technologies as well as new health care service businesses. In recent years, she has focused on the futuristic world of medical technologies, including the many life and world changing technologies such as genomics, medical informatics, robotics, wireless diagnostics, implantable, and many other leading edge medical technology breakthroughs. In her vision of the future, both health care and consumer technologies continue to come together to change the world of health care as we know it today…for the better and with a more enhanced focus on diagnostics, prevention, and wellness services.
This medical/consumer technology exploration lead her into the amazing future world of medical gaming and virtual world information technologies. As she has spent time researching and exploring this new and exciting area of medical technology, it has now become her next major leading area of interest and focus and expertise across the world of health care technology and services.
An early pioneer among women in business, her career has included key positions in Fortune 500 medical companies as well as emerging medical technology businesses, and also founding and leading the growth of The Louden Network, a healthcare business marketing and strategy consulting firm. An accomplished keynote presenter and publicist, Teri has lectured at many corporate and executive conferences across the healthcare industry and has published and been quoted in many leading edge books, articles, and newsletters across the industry.
In 2001 she left her consulting practice to be part of the launch team for a venture-backed San Diego-based company called CardioNet, the first company in history to integrate the use of wireless and medical diagnostics technologies to allow for 24/7 outpatient arrhythmia monitoring. (Note: they just had a successful public offering in April 2008 and are trading on NASDAQ under the symbol BEAT). Teri has recently returned to her own consulting practice and as her company tag line implies, her focus is to help her clients “think differently about healthcare” and develop truly innovative and creative strategies that take advantage of the future technological world that is changing our world every day, and making the global world of health care a reality.
Teri’s career in healthcare began with Baxter Travenol Laboratories, where she first worked on market launch projects for new medical disposable products, and subsequently became one of the first women in medical sales. Following Baxter, she was a health care strategy consultant for Booz, Allen, and Hamilton in their Chicago office where she worked with hospital and medical center clients on strategic planning and product line expansion assignments. She was hired by American Hospital Supply in the early 80’s and served as Director of Corporate Strategic Planning and also developed the company’s annual future forecast of the state of the healthcare industry.
She holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
As the daughter of a career Air Force pilot, Teri grew up in an environment of international travel and frequent change that nurtured an adventurous, confident sense of “change-as-opportunity” from an early age. She has recently published a book called On God’s Wings, a real life inspirational story about the medical miracle experienced by her father, who in 1949 survived a devastating crash of the B-45 Tornado, the first US jet bomber, and went on to fly in both the Korean War and Vietnam after almost three years of rehab at Walter Reed Hospital. He is one proud dad and still going strong at age 87!
