Speaker Bios
James I. Golden, Ph.D.
Robert M. Kolodner, MD
Mark McCourt
Victoria M. Prescott, Esq.
Lisa A. Robin
Roxane A. Townsend, M.D.
James I. Golden, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Health Policy
Minnesota Department of Health
651.201.4819
[email protected]
Dr. Golden is the Director of the Minnesota Department of Health’s Division of Health Policy and is responsible for overseeing programs that: Monitor and track health care access, cost, and quality; Analyze and report on the health care marketplace and infrastructure issues; Promote the adoption and use of interoperable electronic health records; Monitor and report on adverse health events; Administer the Medical Education and Research Cost fund to support medical education activities in Minnesota; and Maintain the official, permanent state birth and death records for Minnesota.
Dr. Golden also serves as the Project Director of the Minnesota Privacy and Security Project, which is conducting a systematic review of Minnesota’s laws and health care organizations’ practices to: 1) Identify the most significant privacy and security issues facing organizations in implementing the electronic exchange of health information; and 2) Develop solutions to eliminate or reduce the privacy and security barriers while preserving and strengthening patient privacy protections.
Prior to joining the Department of Health, Dr. Golden was the chief operating officer for the Midwest Center for HIPAA Education. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. Dr. Golden earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Robert M. Kolodner, MD
On September 20, 2006 Robert M. Kolodner, MD joined HHS as the
Interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT).
He takes the lead at a time when HHS is making steady progress in
advancing the President’s Health IT initiative, and his experience in
patient care, health IT, and government is invaluable to those efforts.
Dr. Kolodner comes from the Veterans Health Administration in the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where he has been serving as
Chief Health Informatics Officer and has been involved with the
development and oversight of VistA – VA’s electronic health records
systems – and My HealtheVet – VA’s Personal Health Record for veterans.
Dr. Kolodner’s long-standing interest in computers led to his early involvement with VA’s efforts to use
automation in support of mental health care. He was a key clinical leader for the Decentralized Hospital
Computer Program, VA’s healthcare information system starting in 1983 as chair of the Mental Health
Special Interest Users Group, in 1989 as co-chair of the interdisciplinary Clinical Record Special Interest
Users group, and in 1991 as chair of the Clinical Application Requirements Group.
In 1993, Dr. Kolodner moved to Washington, DC into a health IT management position as the Director of
the Medical Information Resources Management Office, leading all health automation activities in VA. In
1996 Dr. Kolodner was selected as Associate Chief Information Officer for Enterprise Strategy in the
newly created Office of Information in the Veterans Health Administration.
Since 1997 Dr. Kolodner has been actively involved in overseeing, promoting, and guiding VA activities
related to the establishment of a life-long, comprehensive, computerized clinical record for military
personnel and our nation’s veterans. He fostered the idea for the creation of My HealtheVet – a health
portal for veterans and their families to access health information, tools and services via the Internet. He
was also instrumental in establishing the Federal Health Information Exchange program – an interagency
health technology initiative that supports improving care to veterans – and strengthening the working
relationship between VA and the Department of Defense.
Dr. Kolodner received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from Yale
University School of Medicine. He completed a clinical fellowship in Medicine at Harvard University
School of Medicine and his Psychiatric residency at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr.
Kolodner has medical specialty board certification in psychiatry.
He is a member of numerous professional societies, task forces and editorial boards. He has authored and
co-authored articles, book chapters and books in medical and medical informatics literature and has
lectured on medical informatics throughout the United States.
Mark McCourt
Mark McCourt has been involved with Healthcare IT for nearly 20 years, first as a Product Developer and Development Manager at Sunquest Information Systems (now Misys) and joining the IBM Consulting Group in 1995. Having both a business and technical background, Mr. McCourt has led development efforts for solutions used in a variety of clinical settings and has occupied leadership positions with IBM in numerous Healthcare Consulting and Business Development efforts. His current role is IBM’s Business Development Executive for Clinical Interoperability in the Americas.
Mr. McCourt has a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences from the University of Arizona and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Victoria M. Prescott, Esq.
Viki Prescott is General Counsel and head of Business Development for Regenstrief Institute, a medical research institute whose pioneering work in medical informatics, health information exchange, and healthcare data standardization is recognized nationally.
Viki began her career in the software development field, leading several large-scale projects. She also founded, built and successfully sold a software company. In addition, Viki has expertise in intellectual property law and has practiced law for over 15 years, serving primarily as in-house counsel at such corporations as Mattel Toys and Resort Condominiums International. She also has a consulting background and has assisted several start-up companies in formation, strategic planning, and negotiation of key partnerships. Viki joined Regenstrief in 2003 to fulfill her desire to utilize her software, legal and business development expertise in an effort to make an impact on the delivery of healthcare. Since then, she has gained knowledge and experience through her work in medical informatics on such projects as chronic disease management, clinical messaging, medication history, biosurveillance, public health reporting, e-prescribing, quality measurement (pay-for-performance) reporting, the Indiana health information exchange, and health data standards, such as HL7 and LOINC®.
Viki has also become involved at the national level on electronic health information exchange policy and issues through her work on the Connecting For Health project (as chair of a subcommittee), as primary investigator on ONC’s contract with AHIMA for the study on best practices for state-level health information exchange initiatives and the follow-on project of examining health information exchange services that are financially sustainable, as primary investigator on Regenstrief’s contract from the Indiana State Department of Health for the national contract from RTI for the Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration project (HISPC), and as advisor to ONC on the National Health Information Network (NHIN) prototype project, as well as being a frequent speaker and author on these topics.
Viki is licensed to practice law in Indiana and California. She earned her J.D. degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law and her B.S. in Business from Indiana University.
Lisa A. Robin
Lisa Robin is Vice President of Government Relations, Policy and Education with the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), a national non-profit association of the 70 state medical boards in the U.S. and territories, located in Dallas-Fort Worth. The FSMB employs a full-time staff of 145. Ms. Robin earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Christian University.
During her 12-year tenure, Ms. Robin has been active in policy development and promulgation on issues including as telehealth, the use of controlled substances for the treatment of pain, scope of practice, professional conduct and ethics, Internet prescribing and medical practice, quality of care and maintenance of competence, office-based surgery, complementary and alternative medicine, and license portability. Through the FSMB Research and Education Foundation, she is currently developing a book for physicians on regulatory compliance policy guidelines and practical tools for prescribing opioid analgesics for pain as well as developing an online education network under the Attorney General Prescriber and Consumer Protection Grant Program. She is principal investigator for the FSMB’s license portability grant program addressing licensure barriers that impede the expansion of telehealth services across state lines.
Roxane A. Townsend, M.D.
In May, 2006, Dr. Townsend was appointed as Deputy Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. In that role she serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the Department. Responsibilities include oversight of the major program offices – Public Health, Mental Health, Addictive Disorders, Citizens with Developmental Disabilities and Aging and Adult Services.
Prior to being appointed as the Deputy Secretary, Dr. Townsend served as the Louisiana Medicaid Medical Director. As Medicaid Medical Director, Dr. Townsend had clinical oversight for the Medicaid program. Responsibilities included leadership in Disease Management activities and quality initiatives for the Medicaid program.
Dr. Townsend received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her nursing career was primarily spent in Humana Hospitals across the South. Prior to entering medical school, she was the Associate Executive Director/Nursing at Humana Hospital – Springhill, in Springhill, Louisiana. She then went on to attend and graduate from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Upon completion of an Internal Medicine Residency at LSU/Earl K. Long Medical Center, Dr. Townsend remained at Earl K. Long as internal medicine faculty. Prior to moving to DHH, she became the Chief Operating Officer at Earl K. Long Medical Center and served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer before moving to the Department of Health and Hospitals as Medicaid Medical Director.
Dr. Townsend has been involved in several health information technology projects including the Capital Area Access Partnership, a HRSA funded Healthy Communities Access Program that is focused on using information technology to help improve access to health care for the uninsured and underinsured. In addition, Dr. Townsend serves as the Project Manager for the contract held by DHH with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to develop a prototype electronic health information exchange as part of the Post-Hurricane Katrina efforts to recover and recreate electronic health records for the citizens of Louisiana who were displaced by the storm. Under Dr. Townsend’s leadership, the Department is also contracted with RTI International for the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaborative.
