Hospital and Health System Track Speakers

In his role as chief medical officer and executive vice president of clinical research, medical informatics, and telehealth, Dr. Zia Agha advances West Health’s mission to enable seniors to successfully age in place, with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence.

Dr. Agha serves as physician leader for West Health, which includes the West Health Institute, Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center and Gary and Mary West Foundation, ensuring its research portfolio and initiatives are translated into clinical practice, policy reform and scalable innovations that will allow seniors to successfully age in place. Dr. Agha leads the development and execution of clinical research activities and brings a comprehensive understanding of the evolving field of clinical informatics such as clinical information systems, telehealth and data science.

Dr. Agha joined the West Health Institute in 2014 and leads the organization’s clinical research and medical informatics initiatives, focused on creating and advancing senior-appropriate acute and chronic care models, and improving access to long-term services and supports.

Prior to joining West Health, Dr. Agha was director for the Health Services Research and Development (HSRD) division at VA San Diego Healthcare System and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He currently holds an appointment as a part-time professor at UCSD.

A practicing physician, Dr. Agha received his MD degree from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan and a MS degree in Clinical Epidemiology and General Internal Medicine fellowship in Health Services Research from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Bock graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in History and received his M.D. from the University of Illinois in 1987. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Illinois in 1990 and embarked on a 23 year journey of community family medicine. He received his CPE certification through American Association for Physician Leadership in 2015.

His administrative career began as a part time Medical Director for HSHS Medical Group in 2011, evolving into a fulltime position in 2013. He was elected the first Chairman of the independent Board of Managers for Physician Clinical integration Network LLC , a 2800 provider Clinically Integrated Network in Illinois and Wisconsin in 2012 and stepped down from that role to become PCIN’s Chief Medical Officer in 2015. He also serves as Medical Officer for HSHS ACO, a track one MSSP.

In his four years as the President and CEO of MetroHealth, the public health system in Cleveland, Akram Boutros, MD, FACHE, has galvanized political leaders, entrepreneurs and the public around supporting community-wide health care many had taken for granted.

With his unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality health care to everyone in Cuyahoga County, Akram Boutros has achieved what many thought was impossible. Under his leadership, The MetroHealth System went to market on its own credit in 2017 and sold $946 million in bonds to rebuild its hospital, revitalize its main campus and resurrect its West Side neighborhood.

In the four years since, he has created an Integrated Delivery System that provides care at more than 20 community health centers, four emergency departments, four clinics in Discount Drug Mart stores, five MetroExpressCare locations and nine pharmacies. Those are in addition to MetroHealth’s main-campus hospital, which is home to the area’s most experienced Level I Adult Trauma Center, a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, one of two adult and pediatric burn centers in the state and Ohio’s only Ebola Treatment Center.

Now a more than $1 billion operation, MetroHealth and its caregivers treat patients at more than 1.3 million visits a year. In the past four years, The MetroHealth System has also created more than 1,200 additional jobs, sent doctors into a dozen Cleveland schools and constructed an $82 million addition to its Critical Care Pavilion. Annual operating revenues have grown from $783 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2016. And last year, MetroHealth returned $226 million – 22 percent of its operating expenses – to Cuyahoga County in free care and community benefit programs. That is 2.5 times the national average. An internist with a 25-year record of successful hospital leadership at academic medical centers, community hospitals and specialty hospitals, Dr. Boutros cultivates personal relationships throughout the hospital system and the community along with an atmosphere of personal excellence for everyone he works with.

A graduate of St. John’s University, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, he has led organizations through strategic repositioning, operational redesign, clinical and physician integration and population-health and risk-contracting programs. He sees collaboration with other health systems, organizations and local residents as a key driver in fulfilling MetroHealth’s mission of leading the way to a healthier community.

Steven J. Corwin, MD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the nation’s largest, most comprehensive healthcare delivery networks.

Under Dr. Corwin’s leadership, NewYork-Presbyterian has nearly doubled in size and comprises of four divisions dedicated to providing world-class care to more than 2 million patients per year. Together with its academic partners—Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons—NewYork-Presbyterian pursues clinical excellence, engages in pioneering medical research, and provides outstanding medical education to the next generation of doctors. The organization’s six-campus academic medical center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, has been the top-ranked hospital in New York on U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey of “Best Hospitals” and among the top 10 hospitals nationwide for more than a decade.

A cardiologist and internist, Dr. Corwin obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University, graduating summa cum laude and with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. He completed both his internal medicine residency and cardiology training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Corwin joined the NewYork-Presbyterian team in 1979. From 1998 to 2005, Dr. Corwin was the organization’s Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, where he led the development and implementation of 13 clinical service lines, a critical step for the success of the newly merged Hospital.

Prior to his appointment as CEO, Dr. Corwin served as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, where he oversaw day-to-day operations across five campuses and was responsible for advancing a number of strategic initiatives, with We Put Patients First at the core of its mission. These included an intense focus on quality and patient safety, cultivating talented employees and caregivers, advancing clinical and technological innovation, building physician and institutional relationships, providing care to underserved communities, and maintaining the Hospital’s financial and operational strength.

As President and CEO, Dr. Corwin has thoroughly embraced innovative approaches to patient-centered care. He led the way in establishing the NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network and NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups, which enable patients to receive NewYork-Presbyterian’s world-renowned care directly in their own communities. He has overseen the planning and construction of several state-of-the-art facilities, such as The Spine Hospital at NewYork-Presbyterian/Allen, and the David H. Koch Center, which will be the largest freestanding building dedicated to ambulatory care in Manhattan’s Upper East Side when it opens in 2018. He has championed numerous technological initiatives, including on-demand access to electronic medical records for patients, a telehealth program set to launch in 2016 and a dedicated space at Blueprint Health, one of the country’s leading incubators of health care technology. In addition, his focus on energy efficiency and green buildings has garnered a record number of EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management, the program’s highest honor.

Dr. Corwin is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater New York Hospital Association and will serve as its president beginning in June of 2016. He is a member of the Governing Council of Health Care Systems of the American Hospital Association. He is also a Fellow at the New York Academy of Medicine, a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Teaching Hospitals Administrative Board, a member of the Health Management Academy, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing.

He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Hope and Heroes Award for promoting excellence in pediatric oncology and the VHA Award for Clinical Quality for the design and implementation of an emergency department for chest pain diagnosis and treatment protocol.

Jess Dalton is a seasoned acute and post-acute healthcare executive with expertise in cross-continuum operations, service line management, physician relations, business development, and financial advantage. As a strategic and operational leader, Jess has an impressive track-record in both acute and post-acute levels of care - with expertise in strategic ACO development and alignment, Episode & Alternative Payment Model development and implementation, translational care continuum/pathway development, episode of care efficiencies, safe and seamless patient transitions, value-based purchasing, and population health management. Jess is a highly visible leader, is people- and patient-centered, and outcomes-focused. Jess serves as Vice President, Post-Acute Continuum and Strategic Alignment with Ensign Services.

The Ensign Group, Inc.'s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and assisted living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, home health and hospice services and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 222 healthcare facilities, 20 hospice agencies, 18 home health agencies and three home care businesses in California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Wisconsin, Kansas and South Carolina. More information about Ensign is available at http://www.ensigngroup.net.

Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, FACR, FSIIM, is Vice Chairman of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Chief Data Science Officer for the Departments of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Associate Professor of Radiology at the Harvard Medical School. He is ABR board certified in diagnostic radiology with a BS in Mathematics, MS in Image Processing, PhD in Computer Science and medical fellowships in Imaging Informatics and Magnetic Resonance Imaging from Harvard University at MGH. Dr. Dreyer has held numerous board, chair, advisory and committee positions with the American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America, Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine and numerous global healthcare corporations. He has authored hundreds of scientific papers, presentations, chapters, articles and books; lecturing worldwide on clinical data science, cognitive computing, clinical decision support, clinical language understudying, digital imaging standards, and implications of technology on the quality of healthcare and payment reform initiatives.

As the Director of Provider Wellbeing for Christiana Care Health System in Newark, DE, Dr Farley’s focus is on optimizing the experience of providing care for clinicians. She oversees internal initiatives designed to address institutional and individual sources of provider stress and burnout, while fostering overall provider wellbeing, joy, and meaning in work.

Dr Farley completed residency training in emergency medicine in 2005 and fellowship training in administration in 2006. She has previously served as the Assistant Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and was instrumental in establishing the institution’s first freestanding emergency department in 2013, subsequently serving as the medical director for 3 years. In 2014, she developed “Care for the Caregiver” --one of the nation’s earliest and largest peer support programs for health care providers.

Dr Farley is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. She has held several leadership positions within the American College of Emergency Physicians on the state and national level. She has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and has been the principal or co-investigator in 10 grant-funded studies. Dr Farley continues to practice and teach emergency medicine in one of the busiest emergency departments in the country, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in health care delivery science at Dartmouth College.

Ms. Guzman is an expert in patient and physician engagement strategies, clinical reporting, health IT and quality management techniques at Montefiore Health System. Her role is to collaborate with more than 5,200 Montefiore employees, as well as independent physicians at Montefiore’s 11 hospitals to implement data driven tools and the clinical infrastructures and community partnerships to promote wellness and improve patient health outcomes. She has also spearheaded new wraparound care structures with the private practice community to promote proactive preventive health, improve delivery and cost effectiveness of chronic care services and procedures. These initiatives help enable Montefiore evaluate what is working, and what needs to be rethought to better meet individual patient needs.

Ms. Guzman plays a strategic role in maximizing revenue streams. She created a program to streamline regulatory and quality requirements, initiated a multi-year patient engagement program, and has grown the MHS financial leadership role in the Next Generation accountable care organization (ACO), MACRA/MIPS, DSRIP and VBP QIP models. Under her leadership, Montefiore is successfully implementing VBP QIP, helping financially distressed partner hospitals across the Hudson Valley leverage more than $230M in State funds, by reducing administrative costs, hospital acquired conditions, and ensuring patients receive timely primary care and follow-up visits after hospitalization.

Ben Harder oversees U.S. News & World Report's portfolio of data-driven patient decision-support tools. Freely available at usnews.com/health, these tools include hospital rankings and ratings, nursing home ratings, and more than 850,000 searchable online profiles of individual physicians. Harder is a healthcare journalist whose work has appeared in BMJ, JAMA, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Science News, USA Today, the Washington Post and other publications, as well as the anthology Best American Science Writing 2005. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and completed a journalism fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002. He has been an editor at U.S. News since 2007.

Michael Jackson (MJ) has dedicated his career to leading enterprises through sustainable digital transformations, which enable them to securely connect the world and improve the health of its populations.

As the Healthcare Strategy Lead for Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), MJ leads an agile team that defines and drives strategies to commercialize industry-specific cloud offerings and address the unique needs of mission-driven stakeholders.

Prior to joining AWS, Mr. Jackson served as General Manager of Consumer Health at Intel Corporation, providing executive leadership, vision, and go-to-market strategy for growth and expansion in consumer healthcare markets worldwide.

Previously, as Director of Public Sector & Health Strategy at Adobe Systems, MJ led strategy for Healthcare and Public Sector business units, including transformative shifts in software licensing models from perpetual to cloud-based subscriptions, for a suite of modular solutions currently trusted to help power federal, state, and commercial Health Benefits Exchanges in over 30 US states.

MJ earned an MBA as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Baltimore. He is also a proud veteran of the US Coast Guard and serves on the Board of Directors at Health Care for the Homeless in Baltimore, MD.

Paul Kusserow is the President and Chief Executive Officer for Amedisys and member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Kusserow, a healthcare industry veteran with deep expertise in driving growth strategies, most recently served as President and Vice Chairman of Alignment Healthcare, Inc., an integrated clinical care company focused on providing care to the Medicaid population. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy, Innovations and Corporate Development Officer of Humana, Inc., a Fortune 75 healthcare services and benefits company.

Mr. Kusserow’s experience also includes time as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Ziegler HealthVest Fund; Managing Director of San Ysidro Capital Partners, L.L.C.; and Managing Partner of Roaring Mountain, L.L.C. He began his healthcare career with Tenet Healthcare Corporation, one of the nation’s largest investor-owned healthcare service companies, where he spent seven years, the last four as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Ventures. Kusserow is on the boards of Connecture (Nasdaq: CNXR), Picwell, New Century Health, Matrix Medical Network and Dream Foundation Prior to Tenet, Mr. Kusserow was a consultant at McKinsey and Company, Inc. Mr. Kusserow received his Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and his Master of Arts from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

As the Managing Director for Healthcare at Google, Ryan Olohan leads the teams responsible for developing and managing Google's relationships with pharmaceutical and consumer health companies. Ryan and his teams partner with the largest companies in the world to leverage Google's consumer platforms while connecting the vast health resources and innovation at Google in an effort to push the industry forward. His relentless push is why he was selected by MM&M; as a “Top 40 Healthcare Transformer of 2016” and PRWeek’s 2017 Top 50 Healthcare Influencer.

Before Healthcare, Ryan spent the first half of his 11 years at Google overseeing the CPG industry as the Head of Consumer Packaged Goods. Prior to Google, Ryan was a consultant for Hewitt Associates and a Vice President at Bank of NY Mellon before getting the itch to lead Business Development at two prominent startups. Outside of his day job, he is a frequent speaker at industry events and is a Board member for the Chopra Foundation, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Foundation, and the Digital Health Coalition. He is also the founder of the Google Healthcare Advisory Board and the co-author of the widely acclaimed "Pharma 3D" (www.Pharma3D.com) in partnership with Google, McKinsey, and Wharton. When not at Google, Ryan "relaxes" at home in New Jersey with his wife and seven children.

Dr. Kavita Patel is a Venture Partner at NEA and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution as well as a practicing primary care physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In her role at the Brookings Institution, Dr. Patel was instrumental in the development of several specialty payment models that have been adopted by Medicare. Dr. Patel was previously a Director of Policy for The White House under President Obama and a senior advisor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy. Her prior research in healthcare quality and community approaches to mental illness have earned national recognition and she has published numerous papers and book chapters on healthcare reform and health policy. She has testified before Congress several times and she is a frequent guest expert on NPR, CBS, NBC and MSNBC as well as serving on the editorial board of the journal Health Affairs.

Steven D. Shapiro, MD, leads the Health Services Division as an executive vice president of UPMC, along with his overarching responsibility as chief medical and scientific officer for this integrated delivery and finance system. Dr. Shapiro works with colleagues across UPMC and the division, which includes more than 25 hospitals and 3,600 employed physicians. In collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences and the UPMC Insurance Services Division, Dr. Shapiro is promoting evidence-based care pathways and population health models that position UPMC to provide the highest value and quality to patients.

During his first five years at UPMC and Pitt, Dr. Shapiro served as the Jack D. Myers Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine. He was named UPMC’s chief medical and scientific officer in 2010.

Dr. Shapiro received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Chicago. He then completed an internal medicine residency, chief residency and fellowship in respiratory and critical care at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Prior to his move to Pittsburgh, Dr. Shapiro was the Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Shapiro is a physician-scientist who remains active clinically and at the lab bench. His research is focused on novel molecular pathways of inflammation, tissue destruction, and host defense in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), infectious diseases, vascular disease, and lung cancer. His efforts have led to several new potential therapies that are in clinical trials. He is the author of more than 230 peer-reviewed manuscripts, chapters, and reviews. In addition, Dr. Shapiro was the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and serves on several editorial boards, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Shapiro also served on the advisory committee of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and currently serves as a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee.

Dr. Snyder received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, with honors, in 1989. He then spent a post-graduate year at the University of Illinois studying Neuroimmunology. In 1990, Dr. Snyder entered the University of Connecticut Medical School, graduating with distinction in 1994. Dr. Snyder then pursued his training in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital, Denver, CO. After completion, he began his career as a faculty member at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Brown Medical School in Providence, RI, and in 2002 became Director of the Ambulatory Clinics. In 2006, he became Vice Chairman for Administrative Affairs for the Department of Pediatrics.

In 1998, Dr. Snyder was also appointed as Associate Medical Director for the Lifespan/Physician’s PSO and administratively worked with hospital contracting and disease management programs. In 2003, was appointed as Medical Director and then Senior Medical Officer of the PSO. In 2004, Dr. Snyder began serving as Medical Director of Outpatient Services for Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He has received multiple teaching and clinical service awards and served as President for the RI Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 2006, he began increasing executive and administrative roles within the Lifespan Office of the Chief Physician Officer leading efforts for quality improvement, physician strategy and new program development. In 2007, Dr. Snyder was appointed as Medical Director for System Affairs across the affiliate hospitals of the Lifespan system.

In 2008, Dr. Snyder took on a new role at Stamford Health System, in Stamford CT. There he served as Vice President of Ambulatory Network Development as well as founding and building an employed-model physician network, Stamford Health Integrated Practices. For the network, Dr. Snyder served as President & CEO, as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

In 2012, Dr. Snyder moved to the Bay Area to serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Brown & Toland Physicians IPA, where he oversees all clinical programs including Care Management, Quality Improvement and Utilization Management across all products and ACOs. The IPA consisted of over 1700 physicians serving more than 400,000 patients.

In 2015, Dr. Snyder joined the Mount Sinai Health System as EVP and Chief Clinical Integration Officer. Andrew will develop the clinical strategy for Population Health across the system, ensuring the physicians and the system excels under health reform within alternative payment models. Further, Dr. Snyder serves as President of Mount Sinai Health Partners, IPA, with approximately 4,500 physicians across the network, both employed and voluntary.

Karen Springer was named Ascension President, Healthcare Operations in 2017. In this role, Karen is accountable for the management oversight of Enterprise Excellence, which includes Performance Excellence and the Project Management Office (ePMO) as well as Ascension Healthcare’s small and medium Ministry Markets, delivering solutions to improve operating performance and achieve operating excellence for all ministries within those markets, and the successful execution of strategic operating priorities. Karen provides leadership and guidance across Ministry Markets’ ongoing efforts to explore new models of healthcare delivery to achieve operational excellence. Driven by the operating model, Karen plays a key role in evaluating and aligning each Ministry Market’s services and structure to help leverage Ascension’s collective resources in order to create maximum value for the communities served while ensuring financial stability and optimal operating performance.

Prior to her current position, Karen Springer served as Senior Vice President, Ascension Health/Tennessee Market Executive and President and CEO of Saint Thomas Health. In this role, Karen oversaw nine acute care hospitals, 97 primary care and specialty clinics, 17 ambulatory surgery centers, 14 outpatient imaging centers, 13 outpatient rehab clinics, five sleep centers and one post-acute partnership. While President and CEO, Springer implemented the clinical dyad leadership model to Saint Thomas Health and Saint Thomas Medical Partners, including both the chief clinical officer role partnered with the chief operating officer, and the chief medical officer role partnered with the chief executive officer. She also established a chief nursing officer role for Saint Thomas Health in 2017. Springer focused heavily on new systems for population health management by assisting in the launch of an accountable care organization, MissionPoint Health Partners to launch the journey for clinical integration system of care.

Springer also served as Saint Thomas Health President and Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for operational success and effectiveness of Saint Thomas Health hospital facilities, physician practices and numerous joint ventures. Saint Thomas Health inpatient facilities include four acute care facilities ranging from 30 to 500 beds, a critical access hospital, long-term care facility and a joint venture specialty hospital complemented by joint-venture acute care hospitals and a robust network of community health clinics, medical practices, imaging centers and outpatient rehabilitation services.

Springer joined Saint Thomas Health in 2011 after serving as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer at Lutheran Hospital of Indiana for four years. While there, she was administratively responsible for the operations of a 400-bed acute care hospital, providing key leadership of 16 division directors and more than 2,000 associates. Springer began her healthcare leadership career in the Lutheran Hospital System in Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving first as Director for cardiovascular and medical/surgical ICUs. From 1997 to 2000, she was Chief Nursing Officer for the Rehabilitation Hospital in Fort Wayne with direct responsibility for hospital operations and for multiple patient care departments in a setting focused on restoration of abilities. For Dupont Hospital, she held increasingly responsible positions and was responsible for construction of a new $52 million facility, serving as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer.

Springer received her Associate of Science degree in Nursing from Germanna College in Virginia and her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. She completed her Master of Science degree in Administration at Ball State University.

Springer is active in the Middle Tennessee community, serving as the Board Chair for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, Board Member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Healthcare Council, Nashville Health, Tennessee Hospital Association, Center for Medical Interoperability and the Tennessee Business Roundtable. She also serves on the Boards of Saint Thomas Health, Saint Thomas Rutherford, River Park Hospital, DeKalb Community Hospital and Stones River Community Hospital. She serves on the board of advisors for the University of Kentucky MHA. And she is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing.

Springer resides in Nashville with her husband of 38 years, Brad. They have one amazing son who practices law in New Mexico and is married to a beautiful woman with whom he has two very busy boys.

Fahad Tahir, FACHE is President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint Thomas Medical Partners, which is part of Saint Thomas Health in Ascension’s Tennessee market. Fahad’s responsibilities include overseeing clinical, operational and financial performance of Saint Thomas Medical Partners, as well as physician network strategy, physician development and recruitment, and service line development.

Fahad has been within Ascension since 2003. Prior to joining Saint Thomas Health, Fahad served as Vice President of Physician Enterprise and Community Health Network at Providence, a health system in Washington, D.C. Fahad’s responsibilities at Providence included practice operations, clinical integration strategy and growth plan of the physician enterprise. He oversaw and directed the acquisition of several practices across specialties, patient centered medical home certification, and affiliations with several primary care and community health centers. Additionally, Providence obtained three (3) CMS Innovation awards, totaling more than $18 million. These recognized programs included developing a clinically integrated network, new payment models for diabetes education and a clinically integrated prenatal care network. He was also Executive Sponsor for the implementation of a Health Information Exchange (HIE), an integrated EMR system that brings together the health records of multiple physician group practices, clinics, hospitals and health centers. Prior, Fahad held roles in physician practice development, acquisitions and practice management at Columbia St. Mary's Health System in Milwaukee, WI.

Fahad earned his MBA from Loyola University Chicago and his BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Fahad is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, as well as a Fellow of Washington D.C.'s Health Care Advisory Board. He is a member of Medical Group Management Association and a member of the American Public Health Association.

Jeffrey E. Thompson, MD, is executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System.

Dr. Thompson is a trained pediatric intensivist and neonatologist, and served as Gundersen’s chief executive officer from 2001 to 2016.

After completing his professional training in 1984, Dr. Thompson came to Gundersen with a desire to care for patients and to teach. He was asked to serve on Gundersen’s boards beginning in 1992 and was chairman of the board from 2001 to 2014. Dr. Thompson also served as executive vice president from 1995 to 2001, CEO from 2001 to 2014, and played a key role in the organization’s governance design, culture development and community focus.

A founding member and past board chair of both the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the AboutHealth™ network, and a White House Champion of Change, Dr. Thompson has led Gundersen’s nationally-recognized initiatives for patient care, quality improvement and sustainability.

Gundersen is one of Healthgrades’ America’s 50 Best Hospitals™, and the organization’s Envision® (environmental stewardship), Respecting Choices® (end-oflife planning) and 500 Club® (healthy eating) programs have also been highlighted by news organizations and health systems across the country.

Dr. Thompson attained certifications in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Pediatrics. He received his medical training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, University of California-Davis and Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y.

Dr. Thompson’s is the author of the values-based leadership book Lead True, and he has authored and been featured in many articles, book chapters and abstracts on healthcare, leadership and sustainability topics.

Sara Vaezy is the Chief Digital Strategy Officer for PSJH. Sara leads the development of the digital strategy and roadmap, digital partnerships and business development, and technology evaluation and pilots at PSJH. Prior to PSJH, she worked for The Chartis Group, a healthcare management consulting firm, where she focused on enterprise strategic planning, payer-provider partnerships, and the development of population health companies. Sara holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Physics and Philosophy and an MHA and MPH in Healthcare Policy from The University of Washington’s School of Public Health.

Dana currently serves as Chief Medical Executive of The Risk Authority Stanford (TRA Stanford) and as the Physician Risk Consultant for Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children’s Health. Her responsibilities include conducting risk assessments, consulting with and educating healthcare providers and staff, and investigating potential claims.

Dana Welle has more than 16 years of clinical experience as an obstetrician-gynecologist. After completing her residency in a large tertiary academic medical center, she began private practice where she continued to manage high risk obstetric cases, as well as perform complicated gynecological surgery. She is a fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) and also a fellow in the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Although she is no longer directly involved in patient care, she continues her pursuit of medical knowledge and remains active in both ACOG and ACS.

Dana’s combined educational degrees, coupled with her clinical background, places Dana in a unique position. She is able to use both her medical and legal insight to strengthen the relationship between the medical staff and TRA Stanford and bring a different perspective to addressing risk management issues.

Dana received her BS in Kinesiology from the University of California at Los Angeles, her DO degree from the Western University of Health Sciences and her JD degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of California.