EDWINA ROGERS

Edwina currently serves as Vice President, Health Policy for The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) in Washington, DC. ERIC advocates the employee benefits and compensation interests of America’s major employers. Additionally, she serves as the Executive Director of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a national multi-stakeholder initiative charged with securing a Patient Centered Medical Home for all Americans.

Edwina has been a public policy expert for over 20 years and has worked for two Presidents and four Senators. She was an Economic Advisor for the current President Bush at the White House during 2001 and 2002 at the National Economic Council, focusing on health and social security policy. Edwina was General Counsel of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the Republican take-over of the Senate in 1994. She worked for Senator Lott while he was Majority Leader in 1999 and she handled health policy for Senator Sessions in 2003 and 2004. Edwina worked on International Trade matters for former President Bush at the Department of Commerce from 1989 until 1991.

Ms. Rogers practiced law in the Washington office of Balch and Bingham from 1991 until 1994. She received her BS in Corporate Finance from the University of Alabama and a JD from Catholic University in Washington DC. Ms. Rogers was a Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard during 1996.

Edwina writes a conservative column for The Georgetowner newspaper in Washington, DC and is a regular strategist on cable news television. She served on the Board of Directors of Semco Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SEN) a natural gas distribution company.

PAUL GRUNDY, MD

Paul Grundy MD, MPH, FACOEM, FACPM is IBM’s Director of Healthcare, Technology and Strategic Initiatives for IBM Global Wellbeing Services and Health Benefits, part of IBM’s Corporate Headquarters Human Resources group. Prior to joining to IBM, Dr Grundy worked as a senior diplomat in the US State Department supporting the intersection of health and diplomacy. He was also the Medical Director for the International SOS, the world’s largest medical assistance company and for Adventist Health Systems, the second-largest not-for-profit medical system in the world.

Dr. Grundy attended medical school at the University of California San Francisco and trained at Johns Hopkins University. He has work extensively in International Aids Pandemic, including writing the United States’ first piece of legislation addressing AIDS Education in Africa.

Dr. Grundy’s numerous awards include: the Department of State Superior Honor Award for handling the crisis surrounding the two attempted coups in Russia and the Department of State Superior Honor Award for work on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Dr. Grundy presently serves on The Medical Education Futures Study National Advisory Board and is Chairman of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), a coalition he lead IBM in creating in early 2006. The PCPCC is dedicated to advancing a new primary-care model called the Patient-Centered Medical Home as a means of fundamentally reforming healthcare delivery, which in turn is essential to maintaining US international competitiveness. Today, the PCPCC represents employers of some 50 million people across the United States as well as physician groups representing more than 330,000 medical doctors, leading consumer groups and, most recently, the top seven US health-benefits companies. Dr Grundy is also the Chair of Health Policy of the ERISA Industry Committee.

JULIE SCHILZ, BSN

Julie received her formal clinical training as a Registered Nurse at the University of Nebraska Medical Center-Omaha and is currently working on her MBA. Her experience collaborating with healthcare organizations and industry stakeholders drives her expertise in care management and quality office system redesign programs, quality reimbursement programs such as Pay-for-Performance and critical knowledge of Patient Centered Medical Homes. Julie is the Manager of the Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) Program and the Colorado Multi-Stakeholder Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot for Colorado Clinical Guidelines Collaborative (CCGC). She is a Co-Chair for the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative Center for Multi-Stakeholder Demonstrations. Julie also serves on the Colorado Medicaid Medical Home Provider Task Force.

SARAH THOMAS

Sarah Thomas is the Director of the Public Policy Institute (PPI) Health Team.  The team works on issues of cost, access, and quality relating to health care reform, Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, private insurance and public health.  Ms. Thomas joined AARP after 13 years of experience in the federal government – at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, where she was deputy director, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  She also has worked for national associations, in state government and for the Advisory Board Company.  Ms. Thomas holds a M.S. in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Carolyn J. Allshouse

Carolyn J. Allshouse, Senior Program Planner at the Minnesota Department of Health coordinates the Minnesota Medical Home Learning Collaborative.  Carolyn has coordinated several Federal Maternal Child Health Bureau grants over the past 12 years and has an extensive history of providing training and information for families of children and youth with special health care needs and the providers who work with families on family-centered care, parent involvement in system improvement and parent/professional collaboration.  

Carolyn has written numerous articles and publications on parent involvement, family-centered care and Medical Home, has served on several committees on a local, state and National level and has been a Coordinator for Family Voices of Minnesota for over ten years.  Carolyn and her husband are the parents of four children; her youngest son, now 23, has complex health care needs and is medical technology dependent. 

JESSIE GRUMAN, PhD

Jessie Gruman is the founder and president of the Center for the Advancement of Health, an independent, non-profit Washington-based policy institute funded by the Annenberg Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and other foundations.

Since it was established in 1992 the Center has worked in collaboration with employers, government, health insurers, clinicians, the media and the scientific community to "build an America where everyone is prepared to live a healthy life and make effective choices about their health care."

Dr. Gruman has worked on this same set of concerns in the private sector (AT&T), the public sector (National Institutes of Health) and the voluntary health sector (American Cancer Society). She holds a BA from Vassar College and a PhD in social Psychology from Columbia University. She is a Professorial Lecturer in the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University and serves on the boards of trustees of the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Center for Information Therapy, the Sallan Foundation and the Public Health Institute.

Dr. Gruman was honored by Research!America for her leadership in advocacy for health research and received honorary doctorates in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University and public service from Northeastern University and Salve Regina University, and the Presidential Medal of The George Washington University. She is a member of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, the Association for Psychological Science and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Gruman is the author of AfterShock: What to Do When the Doctor Gives You – or Someone You Love – a Devastating Diagnosis (Walker Publishing, 2007; http://AfterShockbook.com) a book about how people use scientific information to make decisions about their healthcare, and Behavior Matters: 15 Years of Health Behavior Advocacy, as well as scientific papers and opinion essays and articles published in the national media.

 
DUANE PUTNAM

Duane works within Pfizer’s Customer Business Unit under the Employer Group where he partners with targeted business coalitions, organizations and associations to address issues related to health and productivity.  He works to design interventions and/or advocacy messages that help purchasers become more aware of the benefits of a healthy workforce and the need to reduce financial barriers that would interfere with an employee’s ability to access their physician or to get the appropriate medications.  His goal is to aid employers’ optimize their healthcare spending in order to receive a better return on their healthcare purchases.   He serves on several boards and is a frequent lecturer at American University’s School of Education, Teaching & Health.
Prior to becoming a Director, Duane was with the Pfizer Labs Division from 1979 until 1991 as Territory Sales Representative, District Hospital Representative, Assistant to the Regional Manager, and District Manager.   In 1991, he helped launch the Pratt Division, a new sales division within Pfizer, and from 1992 to 2000 he was Pratt’s Midwest Regional Manager.  During his twenty-nine years with Pfizer, Duane has won eight Vice President’s Management Council Awards, an annual award given for outstanding sales performance to the top performing managers within each division.   In recognition of these accomplishments, he was inducted into Pfizer’s Hall of Fame in 2004.
Duane received his BBA Degree from Ohio University. 
 

ROGER C. MERRILL, M.D.

Dr. Merrill Joined Perdue Farms Incorporated in 1990 as Corporate medical Director and assumed his current position of Chief Medical Officer in 2003. He has been in the active practice of internal medicine in Salisbury, MD for 25 years; additionally he has served as Chief of Staff of Peninsula Regional Medical Center, a 425-bed tertiary care institution, Member of the Board of Trustees of PRMC for eight years, President of the County Medical Society, and on numerous boards of medical and QA organizations, including the Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care (the QIO [formerly PRO] for Maryland and DC).

Perdue Farms Incorporated is the Nation’s 3rd largest integrated poultry processing company and has 18 major processing facilities in 12 states employing 22,000 associates. In addition, there is a substantial recycling and agribusiness division with numerous facilities, primarily in the Southeast.

SANDEEP WADHWA, MD, MBA

Sandeep Wadhwa, MD, MBA, was appointed State Medicaid Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing in March, 2008. Dr. Wadhwa is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver where he continues to sees patients and precept in the Seniors Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital.

Prior to joining the Department, Dr. Wadhwa was the vice president of care management services at McKesson Health Solutions, a business unit of McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 20 company. He worked at McKesson for nine years and while there was responsible for the P/L of its care management services. In this role, he gained extensive experience with Medicaid and Medicare reform and modernization efforts having worked with 10 states on care management programs for fee-for-service clients.

Dr. Wadhwa has been extensively published and interviewed on cost-effectively improving health and functioning of vulnerable populations and persons with chronic illnesses. He has delivered testimony on multiple occasions to the U.S. Congress and worked for the White House in the Office of Policy Development and for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a Doctorate of Medicine from Cornell University in New York and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School in Pennsylvania. He is board certified in both internal medicine and geriatrics. He has also completed a health services research general internal medicine fellowship.

RICHARD SNYDER, MD

Richard Snyder is the Medical Director for Independence BlueCross BlueShield.  He oversees care management and coordination activities, the Healthy Lifestyles prevention programs, the ConnectionsSM suite of disease management programs and credentialing and appeals activity. As Vice President, Quality Management since 1999, Rich led a number of key initiatives including the implementation of the company’s new award-winning ConnectionsSM disease management programs and achievement of NCQA accreditation at the highest level possible for the company’s health plans.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College and Medical Degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Active in his professional field at a national level, Rich chairs the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)’s Review Oversight Committee and the America’s Health Insurance Plan (AHIP)’s Quality and Industry Standards Workshop. He also serves as an NCQA Accreditation Surveyor. In addition, he is a member of several professional associations, including the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, and the Chester County Medical Society.

DAVID NACE, MD

Dr. Nace is vice president and chief medical officer of McKesson Health Solutions, a business unit of McKesson Corp., the world's largest health care services and information technology company.
Prior to McKesson, Dr. Nace was national chief medical officer for Aetna and United Health's employer behavioral health businesses. He has served as chairman of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, and the National Leadership Council. He has advised numerous organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics of the Wharton School of Business, United Nations Business Council, World Federation on Mental Health, World Health Organization, and the International Labor Organization.
Dr. Nace is the author of papers and articles on issues ranging from health promotion and wellness to chronic disease management approaches, and is a nationally recognized speaker on managed care, workplace oriented programs, benefit plan design, health promotion, and work life balance.
 

THE HONORABLE GERALD MALONE

Gerald Malone was the Health Minister of the United Kingdom from 1994-1997.
He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South in 1983, under the Thatcher government, but lost the seat in the 1987 General Election. He re-entered parliament in 1992 and was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Health in 1994 and served in that position until he lost his seat in the General Election of 1997.

Malone was chairman of Regent-GM, one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of generic drugs to the National Health Service (NHS). Currently he is a Non Executive Chairman of Ultrasis, which specializes in computerized cognitive behavioral therapy software.

THE HONORABLE BERNAT SORIA

Bernat Soria Escoms, considered one of the world’s leading experts in stem cell research, was named as Spain’s new Health Minister on 6th July 2007. He qualified as a Doctor of Medicine at Valencia University in 1974, achieving his Doctorate in 1978, and Post-Doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, in Göttingen, Germany, in 1980.

Soria was a Senior Research Associate in the Biophysics Department of East Anglia University, in Norwich, UK, from 1982 until 1984 and an Associate Professor in the Biochemistry and Physiology Departments of the Schools of Medicine of first Valencia University and then Alicante University between 1982 and 1985. He was also Vice Dean of Valencia’s School of Medicine from May 1983 until October 1984, holding the same position, as well as Acting Dean, in Alicante between December 1985 and March 1986. He served as Coordinator of the National Agency of Evaluation between 1991 and 1994 and Chairman of Alicante University’s Physiology Department between 1990 and 1997, as well as Full Professor of Physiology and Biophysics from 1986 to 2005.

Soria was Professor of Physiology at the Miguel Hernández University in Elche from the moment the new university was created in 1997, and also set up the University’s Institute of Bioengineering. His team at the Institute was the first in the world to obtain insulin-producing cells from embryonic stem cells in mice, and later went on in 2001 to successfully apply the same technique with human stem cells.

He was the first President of the European Stem Cell Network created in 2004, and was, until his new appointment as Health Minister, Director of CABIMER – the Andalucía Centre for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Sevilla, the largest such centre in Spain, and the first state-funded institute dedicated to stem cell research. CABIMER, which officially opened in March 2006, is the result of an agreement in 2004 between the Junta de Andalucía, the CSIC Higher Council for Scientific Research, and the Pablo de Olavide University in Sevilla, where Soria holds a Professorship in Physiology. It is one of four centers which the government authorized to carry out stem cell research.

Soria is also the author of three books and has had some one hundred research papers published in scientific journals, is President of the Spanish Diabetes Association and has led a project for pancreatic islet transplants at the Carlos Haya Hospital in Málaga.

His work in his field has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Gold Medal and Award from the Royal Academy of Medicine, the National Research Award from the Spanish Diabetes Association, and the Gold Medal of Andalucía.

TERRY MCINNIS, MD, MPH

Dr. McInnis has over 19 years of senior executive and clinical experience in various medical care and health management segments.  She earned her medical degree from Wake Forest University, completed an Occupational Medicine Residency and MPH at the University of Oklahoma, and is board certified in preventive medicine.  She served in the U.S. Air Force as chief of flight medicine at Patrick AFB, supporting space shuttle operations and air/sea rescues during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Later, as medical director for Columbus Regional Medical Systems, she oversaw employee health and OSHA compliance.  Subsequently, she joined Hughston Clinic, overseeing the establishment of an occupational clinic. Later she joined GE as associate medical director of GE Power Systems and the health care manager for North and South Carolina overseeing the re-bidding of both HMO-POS plans and devising risk/reward contracts with the health plans. Subsequently, as Michelin's corporate medical and safety director, she guided a major restructuring of the healthcare and disability benefits for US employees of Michelin. Before joining GlaxoSmithKline, she founded a consulting practice- Proactive Health Strategies and continued to serve the restructuring of benefits, policies, and employer health decisions with major clients including Fluor, GE, and Michelin.

KATHERINE HAYES

Katherine Hayes has over twenty years of health policy experience at the federal and state levels of government and currently serves as Vice President, Health Policy at Jennings Policy Strategies, Inc. She has served as health policy advisor to Democrats and Republicans in the both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as program consultant to a state Medicaid agency, and has private sector experience as both an attorney and policy advisor.

Prior to joining JPS, Inc., Ms. Hayes served as Health Counsel to Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. Her accomplishments include the enactment of legislation to expand the availability of home and community-based long-term care services for the elderly and individuals with disabilities, to increase private long-term care insurance options and to expand consumer protections in private long-term care insurance.

Ms. Hayes served as Legislative Assistant to the late Senator John H. Chafee (RI) where she staffed the Senator in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health, co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Mainstream Coalition, and chair of the Senate Republican Task Force on Health. During her tenure, she assisted in the development of the Senate Mainstream Coalition health reform proposal, worked to ensure passage of legislation establishing Federally Qualified Health Centers and reasonable-cost reimbursement to those centers under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and severing the link between welfare and Medicaid as part of the 1996 welfare reform legislation.

Ms. Hayes’ private sector experience includes serving as Policy Director to two Catholic health systems, including Ascension Health, the nation’s largest non-profit health care system, and legal practice as an attorney with the Hogan & Hartson, LLC, a law firm based in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Carpenter

Elizabeth Carpenter is a Senior Program Associate at the New America Foundation Health Policy Program where she focuses on the comprehensive health reform initiatives as well as congressional and media relations.  Prior to joining the New America Foundation, she was a Legislative Assistant in the Office of Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) and served as Deputy Field Director for the Senator’s 2006 campaign. Elizabeth holds a bachelors degree in Political Science from Brown University.

MAYRA ALVAREZ, M.H.A.
Legislative Assistant to Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)

Ms. Mayra Alvarez is a legislative assistant for Senator Durbin, the senior Senator from the state of Illinois and the Majority Whip of the U.S. Senate. Ms. Alvarez works on public health, medical research, healthcare workforce, minority health and health disparities, and women and children’s health issues. She previously served as a Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis, chair of the Health Task Force for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Prior to working in the office of Ms. Solis, Ms. Alvarez was a David A. Winston Health Policy Fellow in the office of Senator Barack Obama.   She completed her graduate education at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her undergraduate education at the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Alvarez is originally from southern California.