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| Biographies, State Alliance Members |
The Honorable Phil Bredesen
Phil Bredesen (D) took office as Tennessee's 48th governor on January 18, 2003, delivering on a promise to leave stale political debates behind and focus on achieving real results for families. In November 2006, he was re-elected in a landslide victory – reportedly becoming the first governor in over a century to win all 95 counties in Tennessee.
Bredesen’s strong voter mandate stems, in part, from his commitment to accountability and open government. During his first year in office, Bredesen threw open the doors to administrative budget hearings, allowing taxpayers to see for the first time the decisions that are made on how their money is spent. The Governor also established the toughest ethics rules in the history of Tennessee’s executive branch.
In year one, Bredesen worked with the General Assembly to manage the state through a fiscal crisis without raising taxes or cutting funding for education. By Bredesen’s fourth year in office, Tennessee had passed four balanced budgets, received top rankings from national bond rating agencies and raised its Rainy Day Fund to a record high.
Among other accomplishments, Bredesen raised teacher pay above the Southeastern average and expanded the state’s pilot Pre-K initiative into a program for four-year-olds across the state, led reform of Tennessee's workers' compensation system and invested in retraining programs to help laid-off employees develop new skills, launched the statewide war on methamphetamine abuse with the Governor’s Meth-Free Tennessee initiative, founded the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, and took control of TennCare.
Now, Bredesen begins his second term as Governor with a focus on raising high school and college graduation rates, boosting the economies of Tennessee’s smaller and mid-sized communities, strengthening public education at every level and promoting access to health care and healthier lifestyles for all citizens, especially young Tennesseans.
Before serving as Tennessee's governor, Bredesen served as mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999.
Before entering public service, Bredesen worked in the health care industry. Between research trips to the public library, he drafted a business plan at his kitchen table that led to the creation in 1980 of HealthAmerica Corp., a Nashville-based health care management company that eventually grew to more than 6,000 employees and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company was sold in 1986.
Attorney General Steve Carter
For his second consecutive term, Steve Carter (D) serves as Indiana’s Attorney general. As an advocate for personal privacy, Attorney General Carter was instrumental in working with the Legislature to pass the nation's strongest Do Not Call law. Since taking office, Attorney General Carter has also more than tripled the amount of lost and forgotten assets to their rightful owners. More than $26 million in unclaimed property was returned in 2005 alone. He has also taken an active role in fighting public corruption in Indiana, such as initiating a massive vote fraud investigation with a local prosecutor.
Attorney General Carter is a leader in his field, elected President to the National Association of Attorneys General last June. He now serves on the EWG, the Executive Working Group, which fosters cooperation and communication among US attorneys, county prosecutors and attorneys general.
CommissionerJane Cline
Jane L. Cline was appointed West Virginia Insurance Commissioner January 15, 2001. In addition to her responsibilities as Insurance Commissioner, Ms. Cline serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), as well as Vice Chair of the Management Committee of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission. During her tenure she has held various leadership positions with the NAIC.
As West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, Ms. Cline is responsible for the regulation of the insurance market as well as administering the transition of the state workers’ compensation system from a state monopolistic system to a competitive private system and is now preparing West Virginia’s marketplace for the entrance of private carriers in 2008.
Before her appointment as Insurance Commissioner, Ms. Cline operated a government consulting firm, Jane L. Cline & Associates.
Ms. Cline served as Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from November 1989 to October 1997 where her focus was on making the Division=s services more accessible to all citizens of West Virginia by opening and expanding regional offices. While she was DMV Commissioner she served in several positions with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. She was its treasurer and the President of the Southeastern Zone. She also served on its Board of Directors and its AMMVANET Board of Directors.
Prior to her appointment as DMV Commissioner, Ms. Cline served as Deputy Commissioner for the West Virginia Division of Highways.
The Honorable Herb Conaway
Assemblyman Herb Conaway, M.D. (D) is serving his fifth term in New Jersey’s General Assembly. Assemblyman Conaway represents New Jersey’s 7th District. He is Chairman of the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee and is a member of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Assemblyman Conaway began his career in public service in the medical corps as a United States Air Force Captain. He went on to serve as a general medical officer and as an assistant director of the Primary Care Clinic at the McGuire Air Force Base.
Assemblyman Conaway specializes in internal medicine and practices in Willingboro. He has served as a member of the Medical Society of New Jersey, South Jersey Medical Association, Am Vets 251, and the Retired Officers Association. As a lifelong Burlington County resident, he serves on the Board of Trustees of Family Service of Burlington County and is a former board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington County.
January Contreras
January Contreras served as the Assistant Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), handling intergovernmental relations with the legislature, CMS, tribal governments, and other state agencies. She previously worked as a prosecutor for Maricopa County, where she handled drug, robbery, theft and other criminal cases.
Brian DeVore
Brian DeVore is Industry Affairs Manager for Intel Digital Health Group. He works with senior executives in both the technology industry and state leadership levels to drive policy changes necessary to promote the use of technology in healthcare. Additionally, he is responsible for managing Intel Chairman Dr. Craig Barrett’s AHIC interactions as well as helping Dr. Barrett identify strategic opportunities to promote the use of health IT during his US and international travels.
Prior to joining Intel, Mr. DeVore led Kryptiq Corporation’s Government Affairs/Initiatives efforts positioning Kryptiq as a leader in HIT health policy. He currently serves on the State of Washington’s Health Information Advisory Committee and The Oregon Business Plan’s Healthcare Task Force. Additionally, he has served as a member of eHealth Initiatives Policy Advisory Board.
Prior to Kryptiq, Mr. DeVore was a principle with Myhealthbank, an early entry into the consumer driven health space. Myhealthbank was eventually sold to QCSI/Trizetto.
The Honorable Jim Douglas
Governor Jim Douglas (R) has been serving the people of Vermont for 30 years. Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1972-the same year he graduated from Middlebury College-his influence as a legislator increased quickly, becoming assistant majority leader in his second term and majority leader in his third term at the age of 25. Governor Douglas retired from the state legislature in 1979 to become a top aide to Governor Richard Snelling. In 1980, Governor Douglas was elected Secretary of State, a post he held until 1992-winning reelection five times and receiving the nomination of both parties on three occasions. Governor Douglas was elected State Treasurer in 1994, receiving the nomination of both parties and winning with 94 percent of the vote. He served as Treasurer until being elected Governor in 2002. Governor Douglas has been a member of the Middlebury Republican Town Committee for 30 years.
Over the course of his career, Governor Douglas has received more votes than any other person in Vermont history—a testament to his appeal to voters of all political persuasions. His counterparts elected Governor Douglas as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State and as president of the National Association of State Treasurers. Outside of government and politics, Governor Douglas has been active in many community organizations. He's a past President of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and Porter Medical Center. He was master of his Masonic Lodge, Treasurer of the State 4-H Foundation and President of the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ. He has served on the boards of the Mary Johnson Day Care Center, the Counseling Service of Addison County, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the United Ways of both Addison County and Vermont.
The Honorable James E. Geringer
Governor Jim Geringer (R) was elected as Wyoming’s 30th governor in 1994 and completed his second term in January 2003. Governor Geringer began his career in public service as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked as project officer on space programs integrating space boosters and satellites for both the Air Force and NASA. From 1983 to 1994, Governor Geringer served in the Wyoming Legislature, including six years each in the House and the Senate.
As Wyoming’s 30th governor, Governor Geringer implemented strategic planning tied to performance based budgeting and when he left office, provided Wyoming state government with a budget surplus, one of very few states to make that claim early in 2003.
Governor Geringer’s advocacy for technology in government has centered on the end result of using technology to enhance citizen services, emphasizing the benefits of integrated service delivery and enterprise-wide solutions. That advocacy has led Governor Geringer to join in a full-time capacity with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) the top provider of geographic information systems software.
The Honorable Gayle Harrell
Representative Gayle Harrell (R) was elected to her first term in the Florida House of Representatives, District 81, in November of 2000 and was re-elected in 2002, 2004 and 2006. A resident of Florida’s Treasure Coast for over 35 years, she has been a leader in many civic activities such as Hibiscus Children’s Center, the Barn Theatre, and the HPS – Helping People Succeed.
As a former high school teacher and adjunct professor at Indian River Community College, Rep. Harrell understands the importance of ensuring an accountable educational system for the future of our children and State. During the past 15 years she has worked as a Healthcare Administrator and is the former owner of the Breast Imaging Center. Her experience in health care has made her a leader in setting healthcare policy for the State of Florida.
As a member of the Florida House of Representatives, Rep. Harrell is Chair of the Committee on Health Quality, and serves on the Healthcare Council as well as the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. In addition, she has been appointed to the National Governor’s Association State Alliance for e-Health.
Rep. Harrell has won numerous awards for her legislative service. Among her many awards she has received the Legislator of the Year by the Florida Medical Association, the Legislative Leadership Award by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Legislative Award by the Florida Children’s Forum, an “A” Ranking by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Friend of Free Enterprise Award by the Associated Builders and Contractors, the Legislative Achievement Award by Keep Florida Beautiful, and the Distinguished Legislator Award by the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
The Honorable Richard T. Moore
Senator Richard T. Moore (D) is Senate Chairman of the influential Joint Committee on Health Care Financing in the Massachusetts General Court. As Senate Chairman, Senator Moore was among the principal architects of the landmark Massachusetts health care reform law. One of the key features of the new law was the allocation of $5 million for the state’s e-Health Initiative. He is also widely acknowledged for his leadership in state health care policy and his strong advocacy for patient safety and reduction of medical errors.
Senator Moore is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a member of the NCSL Executive Committee, and co-chair of NCSL’s Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project. The HITCh Project is intended to help legislators around the country understand and support health information technology initiatives.
Attorney General Hardy Myers
Hardy Myers (D) serves as Attorney General for Oregon. Attorney General Myers has also served as Councilor, Metropolitan Service District, and member of the Oregon House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House and Chair of the Committee on Judiciary.
Other civic and professional activities include resident, Portland City Planning Commission, 1973-74; Member, Commission on the Judicial Branch; Chair, Citizens' Task Force on Mass Transit Policy, 1985-86; Chair, Oregon Jail Project, 1984-86; Chair, Oregon Criminal Justice Council, member, State Sentencing Guidelines Board, 1987-91; Chair, Portland Future Focus (city strategic planning process), 1990-91; Chair, Metro Charter Committee (statutory committee that prepared home rule charter for November 1992 regional vote at which charter was adopted), 1991-92; Chair, Governor's Task Force on State Employee Benefits, 1994; Co-chair, Governor's Task Force on State Employee Compensation, 1995; and former member, Oregon State Bar Committee on Continuing Legal Education.
Commissioner Sandy Praeger
Commissioner Sandy Praeger (R) was elected Kansas' 24th Commissioner of Insurance on November 2, 2002 and re-elected to a second term on November 7, 2006.
Commissioner Praeger is responsible for regulating all insurance sold in Kansas and overseeing the nearly 1,700 insurance companies and 65,000 agents licensed to do business in the state.
She was elected previously to the Kansas Senate in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and before that served one term in the Kansas House of Representatives. A resident of Lawrence, Kansas, she served as mayor of Lawrence from 1986-87, and she served on the Lawrence City Commission from 1985-89.
Currently, Commissioner Praeger serves as President-Elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Commissioner Praeger is also a member of the EX-1 Subcommittee for Internal Administration, the Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee and the Life Insurance and Annuities Committee.
Stephen Palmer
Stephen Palmer serves as the lead policy analyst for the Texas Health Care Policy Council in the Office of Governor Rick Perry, the Governor’s advisor for health information technology, and the Chair of the Texas delegation to the Gulf Coast Health Information Technology Task Force. Prior to joining the Office of the Governor, Mr. Palmer worked as a Medicaid policy advisor to the Deputy Executive Commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Mr. Palmer also previously worked on the policy staff of the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Prior to changing careers into public policy, Mr. Palmer was an information technology consultant focusing on interface programming and database administration.
Joy Pritt
Joy Pritts, JD, is an Associate Research Professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, where her research focuses on consumers' rights with respect to their health information. Her research encompasses a broad range of topics including the implementation of the Federal Health Privacy Rule (also known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule), state health information privacy and access laws, the interplay of the federal and state privacy laws, and the access to and use of medical information by financial institutions. She is the primary author of The State of Health Privacy, a 50-state survey of health information privacy statutes, as well as a series of consumer guides that explain in plain English how consumers can obtain their medical records in a post-HIPAA environment. She has testified numerous times before Congress and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics on health information privacy issues. She currently serves on the Privacy and Security Advisory Team guiding the AHRQ-funded nation-wide assessment of state health privacy laws and practices. She is also a member of the Markle Foundation's Connecting for Health Workgroup on Consumer Access to Health Information Exchange.
Dr. Marshall Ruffin
Dr. Marshall Ruffin, MD, MPH, MBA, CPE, FACPE, is a Senior Executive, Strategy and Business Architecture, for the Health and Life Sciences practice of Accenture, LLC. As Senior Executive, Dr. Ruffin specializes in large-scale health information networks, electronic health records and electronic medical record systems.
Recently, Dr. Ruffin led the development a strategic plan for information technologies for a Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. Now he is developing roadmaps to interoperable health information networks for several states and provinces in other countries.
In 2005 he served as the Executive Director of the Interoperability Consortium (Accenture, Cisco, CSC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle) that submitted a detailed plan for the national health information network (NHIN) for the USA in response to a request for information for the federal government. Before joining Accenture in 2003, Dr. Ruffin worked full-time for The Informatics Institute, an educational firm he founded with the American College of Physician Executives in 1994.
Dr. Ruffin has been the Chairman of the Forum on Medical Informatics of the American College of Physician Executives and continues to teach many courses on applied medical informatics.
Wayne A. Sensor
As the CEO of Alegent Health, Wayne Sensor leads the largest faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare system in the region with over 1,200 physicians, and nearly 8,500 employees committed to making healthcare better. Alegent Health is comprised of five metropolitan medical centers, four rural hospitals and 42 primary care clinics with 125 physicians in Nebraska and Iowa.
Since joining Alegent Health, Mr. Sensor has been responsible for a number of innovations and initiatives, including: introducing a new model of consumer-driven healthcare; hiring one of the first Chief Innovation Officers in healthcare; launching the new Alegent Health Community Benefit Trust, which is already providing millions in grants to help community-based organizations better address the needs of the community’s vulnerable and underserved; creating an accelerated decision making tool called Right Track, which is engaging its community and its stakeholders in designing the next generation of healthcare; pioneering a more proactive method for reporting quality data in meaningful, transparent ways that empower consumers to make better-informed health choices; and pledging to offer consumer cost transparency to the community by January 2007.
Wayne Sensor has nearly 25 years of experience in leading major healthcare systems, previously serving as President and Chief Executive Officer at CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
In 1996, Jeanne Shaheen became New Hampshire's first woman governor and the first Democrat elected governor in sixteen years. She was re-elected in 1998 and 2000, becoming only the fourth governor in New Hampshire history elected to three consecutive terms. In 2002 she narrowly lost her bid for the United States Senate. As Governor, Jeanne Shaheen successfully fought to strengthen education from kindergarten through college; improve health care; build New Hampshire's high-tech and international economy; and maintain a fiscally responsible state government.
Before running for office, Jeanne Shaheen taught high school in Mississippi and New Hampshire, owned and managed a small business, and ran several statewide political campaigns.
In 1990, Jeanne Shaheen was elected to the New Hampshire state senate, where she served three terms.
As Governor, Jeanne Shaheen worked to move New Hampshire forward while making sure state government lived within its means. She launched innovative initiatives to save taxpayers' money by lowering the cost of prescription drugs for the state's Medicaid program; reducing worker's compensation costs; and spearheading an effort to upgrade state buildings for energy efficiency.
Among other accomplishments, she fulfilled her promise to pass legislation expanding public kindergarten in New Hampshire; increased the state's investment in local public schools, job training, the University System and community technical colleges, and made the state's largest investment ever in capital improvements for the University System; created a program to put more computers into local schools; fought to reduce electric rates by an average of 16 percent for most New Hampshire families and businesses, keeping the state economically competitive; expanded health care coverage for children, helping parents across New Hampshire buy affordable health insurance for their children; created the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, which works with communities to preserve the state's open space and historic places; and signed into law first-in-the-nation legislation requiring New Hampshire's fossil fuel power plants to take steps to reduce emissions of four pollutants-- nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, carbon dioxide and mercury.
Since leaving office, Jeanne Shaheen has served as a Senior Fellow at both the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. As a Tufts fellow, she developed and taught, with another faculty member, a new course called "Governing in a Partisan Environment," using the lessons learned as governor to describe successful policymaking in divided government. For the past year, Jeanne Shaheen was the National Chair of the Kerry-Edwards Campaign for President. She is currently on the Board of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
Dr. David Sundwall
David N. Sundwall, MD, was nominated by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to serve as Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) on January 3, 2005, and was confirmed for this position by the Utah Senate on January 17, 2005. In this capacity he supervises a workforce of almost 1,400 employees, and a budget of almost $1.8 billion.
Dr. Sundwall previously served as President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) beginning September 1994, and remained in this capacity until May 2003, when he was appointed Senior Medical and Scientific Officer. The ACLA is a not-for-profit organization representing the leading national, regional, and local independent clinical laboratories. Its member companies provide more than 60 percent of the clinical lab testing in the United States done by commercial laboratories.
Dr. Sundwall has extensive experience in federal government and national health policy, including: Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA}, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Assistant Surgeon General in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (1986-1988). He also served as Director, Health and Human Resources Staff (Majority), U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee (1981-1986).
The Honorable Ken Svedjan
Representative Ken Svedjan (R) was first elected to the ND House of Representatives in 1990, and has successfully been re-elected ever since.
Rep. Svedjan was quickly recognized for his administrative and leadership skills in the areas of health care and human services. In only his second term, he was tapped as Vice Chairman of the House Human Services Committee, and assumed the Chairmanship the following legislative session. In 1997, Rep. Svedjan moved to the House Appropriations Committee where he served as Vice Chairman of the Health & Human Resources Section where he continued to serve through 2002. In 2003, Rep. Svedjan assumed the overall Chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. Throughout his 17 years in the ND Legislative Assembly, Rep. Svedjan has been honored often for his legislative leadership.
In addition to his State legislative involvement, Rep. Svedjan has also earned several leadership positions within the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) the largest legislator-member organization in the United States. With NCSL, Rep. Svedjan served three terms as Vice Chairman of NCSL’s Health and Human Services Committee, one term as Chairman of that same committee, one term as Vice Chairman of the Assembly of Federal Issues within NCSL, and has begun his second three-year term as a member of NCSL’s Executive Committee, a 40-member group of legislators from across the United States who serve as the Board of Directors of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Rep. Svedjan is currently in his 30th year of employment with Altru Health System where he currently serves as Public Policy Officer. Since starting with Altru in 1977 (then United Hospital), Ken served as Director of Personnel, as Administrator for Development and Community Relations and President of Altru Health Foundation before assuming his current role as Public Policy Officer.
Dr. Reed V. Tuckson
Dr. Reed V. Tuckson, MD, FACP, is Executive Vice President and Chief of Medical Affairs at UnitedHealth Group where he is responsible for working with all of the Company’s business units to improve the quality and efficiency of health services.
Formerly, Dr. Tuckson served as Senior Vice President, Professional Standards, for the American Medical Association (AMA). He is former President of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles; has served as Senior Vice President for Programs of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; and is a former Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia.
Dr. Tuckson is an active member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and served as the Chairperson of its Quality Chasm Summit Committee and a member on their Committee on the Consequences of the Uninsured. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society.
Thelma McClosky Armstrong
Thelma McClosky Armstrong has over 30 years of experience in the development and management of healthcare delivery services. As director of the Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network, Thelma is responsible for the overall management of a 28-site interactive videoconferencing network providing medical and mental health services, continuing medical and higher education, administrative and telebusiness services throughout eastern and central Montana and northern Wyoming. The Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network received the 2002 American Telemedicine Associations Presidents Award for the Advancement of Telemedicine. This award in given annually to a program for its outstanding and lasting contribution to the field of telemedicine. Ms. McClosky Armstrong is the Past-President of the Montana Healthcare Telecommunications Alliance (MHTA) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).
Sallie Hunt
As the State of West Virginia’s Chief Privacy Officer, Sallie Hunt is responsible for facilitating the Executive Branch’s implementation and compliance with privacy principles and 20 federal and state privacy laws. Ms. Hunt also serves as the Legal Working Group Chair for the West Virginia Health Information Security and Privacy Collaborative and is staffing the West Virginia Health Information Network Board on an interim basis. Previously, she served as the principal advisor to Executive Branch agencies on HIPAA legal matters and directed a team of State agency attorneys and others in HIPAA assessment and privacy implementation. She also served as the Chief Policy Officer for the West Virginia Health Care Authority and was responsible for the Health Planning and Certificate of Need Divisions.
In 1999, Ms. Hunt was appointed to Secretary Herman and Shalala’s congressionally mandated Federal Medical Child Support Working Group. Previously, she served as Commissioner for the West Virginia Bureau for Child Support Enforcement, counsel to both the Health Care Authority and Child Advocate Office, and as a health care attorney at Spilman, Thomas, Battle & Klostermyer.
Ms. Hunt is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the National Association of Chief Information Officers’ Privacy and Security Committee and the West Virginia Bar Association.
Ms. Hunt serves as the co-chair of the State Alliance for e-Health’s Health Information Protection Taskforce.
Dr. Harry Jacobson
Dr. Jacobson is Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University. In that role he functions as the Chief Executive Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Center. The Vanderbilt Medical Center includes the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, four hospitals, and a large faculty group practice; its annual budget is approximately $1.1 billion.
Dr. Jacobson received his M.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1972, completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and specialty training in Nephrology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas. He is Board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Nephrology. In 1978, after two years of active duty in the U. S. Army as Chief of Nephrology at the U.S. Army Surgical Research Center at Brooke Army Medical Center, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He joined the Vanderbilt Medical School faculty in 1981 as Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Nephrology and in 1997, became Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs.
Dr. Robert Kolodner
Dr. Kolodner is Interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Kolodner comes from the Veterans Health Administration in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where served as Chief Health Informatics Officer and was 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. Rhonda Medows
Dr. Rhonda Medows, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health, was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue in December 2005. She begins her tenure at the helm of a $10 billion agency responsible for the purchasing, planning and regulation of health care for over 2.4 million Georgians. The Department is currently implementing several major health care initiatives for Georgia’s Medicaid, PeachCare Health Insurance Program for Kids, and the State Health Benefit Plan for state employees, teachers and retirees. As Commissioner, Dr. Medows is committed to: 1) improving health care delivery systems, and subsequently, the health outcomes of members, 2) empowering health care consumers to make responsible decisions about their health and health care coverage, and 3) ensuring the financial integrity and viability of Georgia’s largest health care programs.
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Rhonda Medows served as the first Chief Medical Officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Region IV Office located in Atlanta. Serving eight southeastern states, the CMS Regional Office has federal oversight of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Programs. CMS is also charged with the survey and certification of nursing homes and continuing care providers (including hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, end-stage renal disease facilities, hospices).
From 2001 through 2004, Dr. Medows served as Secretary of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency was responsible for Medicaid coverage for 2.3 million people and the licensing and regulation of 22,000 health care entities including 25 health maintenance organizations. In addition, Dr. Medows served as Gov. Jeb Bush’s lead on policy development for health care industry issues.
Dr. Medows practiced medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. She has also served as a Corporate Medical Director for Blue Cross Blue Shield in Florida; as the Chief Medical Officer for a multi-State Disease Management Company; and as a Clinical Director of a large pharmaceutical company. Dr. Medows received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Cornell University and her Medical Degree from Morehouse School of Medicine. She completed Family Medicine Residency training at University Hospital at Stony Brook in New York and is Board Certified in Family Medicine. Her teaching appointments have included the University of Florida, Department of Family Medicine and Florida State’s University Medical School.
Kathleen Nolan
Kathleen Nolan was named director of the Health Division in 2004, soon after joining the National Governors Association in the Center for Best Practices. As Division Director, Ms. Nolan directs research, policy analysis, technical assistance and project development for all health issues. The division works with states to share and implement best practices on health care issues facing states including health care quality, health IT, coverage initiatives, public health programs, and long-term care. Kathleen Nolan joined NGA after several years with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, where she was Senior Director for Prevention Policy, and supervised policy work in relevant areas.
Ms. Nolan also worked as a Research Associate with the Institute of Medicine (IOM), where she conducted policy research work in bioethics, disability programs, managed care, and quality improvement. Before moving to Washington, DC, Ms. Nolan served as a Program Specialist in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, with various legislative, regulatory, and policy duties. Kathleen received her M.P.H. from the George Washington University, and her B.A. in psychology from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Anthony Rodgers
Anthony “Tony” Rodgers was appointed by the Governor of Arizona as the Director of the State of Arizona Medicaid/SCHIP programs, known as Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. Prior to being appointed as Director of AHCCCS, Mr. Rodgers was General Manager for WellPoint Health Networks, State Sponsored Programs. As General Manager he was responsible for the Medicaid and SCHIP product lines which had over 1 million members and for State Sponsored Programs health plan operations.
Mr. Rodgers also served as chief executive officer of L.A. Care Health Plan for five years. He was responsible to the 13-person Board of Governors for providing leadership to management and direction in developing the business operations of this local public healthcare entity. Prior to assuming leadership of L.A. Care Health Plan, he served as Director of Maricopa Health System, Maricopa County Health Care Agency, in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1990 to 1995.
Mr. Rodgers completed a fellowship with the National Association of Public Hospitals in information systems management and planning, and served as an adjunct professor in health policy and administration at Arizona State University and the University of Southern California. He currently has an appointment as Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Public Health. He has also served on a number of association boards and state advisory commissions, including most recently the State of California Health Families Program Advisory Board.
Dr. William Stead
Dr. Stead is Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Director of the Informatics Center at Vanderbilt University. In this role, he functions as Chief Information Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Center and Chief Information Architect for the University. The Informatics Center is a unique blend of the units that manage the medical center’s information technology infrastructure, the Department of Biomedical Informatics of the School of Medicine (research and education), the Eskind Biomedical Library (knowledge management), and the Center for Better Health (accelerating change).
Dr. Stead received his B.A. and M.D. from Duke University where he also completed specialty and subspecialty training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. As an undergraduate in the 1960s, he was a member of the team that developed the Cardiology Databank, one of the first clinical epidemiology projects to change practice by linking outcomes to process. As a faculty member in Nephrology, he was the physician in the physician-engineer partnership that developed The Medical Record (TMR), one of the first practical computer-based patient record systems. He helped Duke build one of the first patient-centered hospital information systems. He has led (as PI) two prominent academic health centers, Duke in the 1980s, and Vanderbilt in the 1990s, through both planning and implementation phases of large-scale, Integrated Advanced Information Management System (IAIMS) projects. At Vanderbilt, his team has been successful in creating informatics techniques for linking information into clinical workflow, in overcoming the barriers to technology adoption, and in reducing the cost and time required to implement enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure.
He serves on the Computer Science and Telecommunication Board of the National Research Council. He served as Chairman of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, and as a Presidential appointee to the Commission on Systemic Interoperability.
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