Women are working to shape and enhance the future of healthcare through health IT. These strong female leaders are modernizing administrative healthcare processes, cutting back on inefficiencies, standardizing workflows and more.
Note: This list is not exhaustive, nor is it an endorsement of included leaders or associated healthcare providers. Leaders cannot pay for inclusion on this list. Leaders are presented in alphabetical order.
Contact Anna Falvey at afalvey@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments.
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Meredith Adams, MD. Chair of NIH HEAL Initiative Collective at Advocate Health/Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Charlotte, N.C.). Dr. Adams has a multiple of responsibilities at Wake Forest, including research, leadership and advocacy. She is chair of NIH HEAL Initiative Collective and serves as an associate professor of anesthesiology, AI and translational neuroscience. Dr. Adams oversees a portfolio exceeding $27 million, indicative of her groundbreaking contributions to the field. Through her innovative work, she is revolutionizing healthcare delivery, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to enhance patient care and address disparities in treatment outcomes. Beyond research roles, she has several other leadership roles, including sitting on boards that improve anesthesia and healthcare outcomes for all populations. She is dedicated to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. Dr. Adams is committed to excellence and innovation in the world of health IT.
Sarah Ahmad. CEO at CAQH (Washington, D.C.). Ms. Ahmad assumed the role of CEO at CAQH in 2023. With the most comprehensive provider and member data in the US, the company focuses on aligning the healthcare ecosystem around essential solutions, creating a more connected and less costly experience for all. Ms. Ahmad joined CAQH after holding leadership positions at Humana, Highmark Health, Magellan Health and, most recently, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest pharmacy, health and wellness retailer. In addition to her background and expertise, Ms. Ahmad has a deep and personal commitment to removing barriers to the delivery of care. At every step of her career, she has worked to enable a better experience for providers and patients. Over the past 25 years, Ms. Ahmad has led teams responsible for key enterprisewide functions, including provider network development, product innovation, digital health solutions, strategic partnerships and acquisitions, advanced data analytics and patient care delivery.
Gail Airasian. Chief Strategy Officer at Kyruus Health (Boston). As chief strategy officer, Ms. Airasian leads business development, mergers and acquisitions, and the expansion of Kyruus Health into new markets. She oversees the digital scheduling platform company's business development strategy, including existing partnerships as well as new channels for data distribution and online appointment scheduling. Ms. Airasian has helped lead Kyruus to continue growing, adding 20 leading health systems to its network in 2023. The company now represents nearly 40% of the hospitals and health systems who have achieved level 10 status in CHIME's 2023 "Digital Health Most Wired" program and serves 42% of the country's largest health plans.
Jodi Amendola. CEO of Amendola Communications (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Ms. Amendola is a public relations and marketing communications leader delivering integrated, holistic programs to health IT clients. She founded Amendola Communications in 2003 and has grown the organization to a team of 25 serving over 50 clients nationwide. A thought leader on LinkedIn, a Forbes Agency Council contributor, and a guest on numerous marketing and PR podcasts, she provides insight on how to drive PR and marketing value via best practices and trends. She has led major campaigns for healthcare industry giants and start-up companies, including Cisco, Intel, TriZetto, Allscripts, Medicity, Eclipsys, Health Catalyst, iSirona (now Nant Health), Health 2.0, multiple McKesson business units and more. Ms. Amendola was recently appointed to the board of Chilmark Research and has previously served on the boards of the Arizona and San Diego chapters of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, leading the marketing and communications committee. In addition, she helped found the nonprofit executive women’s health network X2 Health Network and moderates panels for the Health IT Marketing and PR Conference and the IHT2 HIT Marketing Summit.
Amy Amick. CEO of Aspirion (Columbus, Ga.). Ms. Amick has been pivotal in Aspirion's trajectory since stepping into the role of CEO. Within her first year, she has driven the company to over 30% organic growth and championed an aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy, solidifying its position as a leader in the denials management market. Her commitment to client excellence, AI-driven innovation and scalability has driven substantial organic growth and the successful integration of three strategic acquisitions, significantly enhancing revenue recovery for provider partners and fostering sustained success and growth. These accomplishments reflect Ms. Amick’s deep commitment to restoring financial stability for hospitals still grappling with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her leadership and strategic vision have also earned the company the Best in KLAS Denials Management Award. Prior to Aspirion, Ms. Amick held leadership roles including CEO and president at SPH Analytics, president of revenue cycle at MedAssets, COO at MedQuist/M*Modal, general manager at Microsoft Health Solutions Group and senior vice president at Mysis/Allscripts.
Teresa Andrea, RN. Vice President and CIO at Silver Cross Hospital (New Lenox, Ill.). Ms. Andrea oversees all information technology functions for Silver Cross, including technical and infrastructure services, cybersecurity, applications and integration services, clinical applications, financial and administrative applications, end-user technology support and physician support and regulatory compliance. She also leads the organization's digital strategy team and oversaw the rollout of the hospital's online appointment and scheduling tool.
Paola Arbour. Executive Vice President and CIO of Tenet Healthcare (Dallas). Ms. Arbour is executive vice president and CIO of Tenet, overseeing leadership and strategic direction for the health system's IT systems. She also identifies opportunities to support the company's care network with digital technology, data automation and customer experience. In 2018, she headed four strategic imperatives, including the Voice of the Consumer strategy, which made IT a business enabler to achieve companywide objectives and outcomes. She also helped the system launch a vendor revitalization program, re-contracted with Cerner and Microsoft, and launch a self-funded innovation team. Ms. Arbour also serves on the Dallas CIO Governing Board and speaks at many Women in Technology forums.
Lisa Avellino. Chief Information and Technology Officer for Moses Weitzman Health System (Middletown, Conn.). Ms. Avellino is chief information and technology officer for Moses Weitzman Health System. She is tasked with leading the team in the delivery of secure, solution-driven technology and processes to benefit clinicians, educators and researchers. Her work spans statewide community health centers, school-based health programs, the National Institute for Medical Assistant training, the Consortium for Advanced Practice Providers, the Weitzman Research Institute and ConferMED specialty consult services. Ms. Avellino's previous roles include serving as technology strategy program manager for Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner and director of IT operations for Yale New Haven (Conn.) Hospital.
Jamie Babcock. Senior Vice President of Care Services and Operations at myLaurel (New York City). Ms. Babcock is senior vice president of care services and operations at myLaurel, where she heads the delivery of the company’s care model through telephonic, telehealth, and in-field delivery teams, providing the highest standard of care through evidence-based practice and industry standards. She is also responsible for clinical operations and logistics for innovation, scalability and efficiency, as well as clinical outcomes and metrics. She has been a healthcare executive since 2005 and boasts extensive expertise in health plan management, value-based care and clinical operations. Her skills include crafting strategic initiatives, streamlining processes, enhancing performance outcomes and cultivating a collaborative work environment.
Courtney Baker. Marketing Manager for CommonWell Health Alliance (Boston). As marketing manager, Ms. Baker handles the development and execution of strategic marketing initiatives that promote and raise awareness of the CommonWell Health Alliance. She is skilled at translating complex topics into engaging stories. Within weeks of joining the team, she navigated onboarding while one of the largest cyberattacks in health care impacted data exchange on the CommonWell network, and also embarked on her first Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society debut. Outside of her role at CommonWell, she runs a blog called “Unsolicited Advice”.
Jean Balgrosky, PhD. Chief Information Officer for MD Revolution (Solana Beach, Calif.). Dr. Balgrosky is MD Revolution's longstanding CIO, leading the development of its remote care platform in 2013. Her primary initiative was to develop a care platform that could adapt to any chronic condition, integrate with EHRs and remotely connect patients and providers. The platform ultimately became MD Revolution's RevUp. Today, Dr. Balgrosky is CIO and a board member for the company. She also serves on the boards of several other digital health and life sciences companies. She has been in healthcare technology and information systems for over 40 years, holding roles at San Diego-based Scripps Health and Silver Spring, Md.-based Holy Cross Health System. Dr. Balgrosky has also been passionate about helping other women enter the health IT space. She has overseen investments in more than 20 seed and early-stage companies. Dr. Balgrosky also teaches health information systems and technology at UCLA in Los Angeles.
Denise Basow, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer for Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Dr. Basow is executive vice president and the inaugural chief digital officer for Ochsner Health, where she is tasked with growing an expanding suite of digital programs like virtual care and remote patient monitoring. An ultimate goal in her role is the enhancement of access and convenience of primary and specialty care. She brings over 25 years of experience in digital health innovation to her role, having long been driven by her passion to improve healthcare.
Heather Bassett, MD. Chief Medical Officer at Xsolis (Franklin, Tenn.). As chief medical officer at Xsolis, Dr. Bassett oversees the company's data science and clinical services functions and directs its AI and machine learning strategy to address operational challenges for health systems and plans. She leads a team of physicians and data scientists and spearheaded the development of the Care Level Score, which integrates clinical expertise and data science to provide a numerical representation of the appropriate care status for each patient. Additionally, she manages Xsolis' denials management team, data science team, and its No. 1 Best in KLAS physician advisor program.
Kristen Beatson, RN. Vice President of Electronic Measures at Medisolv (Columbia, Md.). Ms. Beatson leads Medisolv's team to help hospitals and other healthcare providers prepare for digital measurement. She and her team work with healthcare quality leaders to assess and analyze workflows, evaluate data for the purpose of validation and compliance, and submit data on behalf of hundreds of hospitals each year to regulatory bodies, including CMS and The Joint Commission. She has led the client services team for Medisolv for the past 13 years, serving first as director of electronic measures, now as vice president of electronic measures. She led the team that worked with the Yale New Haven Services Corporation to validate the core clinical data elements, which CMS now requires every eligible acute care hospital to submit as a part of the Inpatient Quality Reporting program.
Therasa Bell. Co-founder, President and Chief Technology Officer of Kno2 (Boise, Idaho). Combining her passion for healthcare and extensive technology expertise, Ms. Bell created Kno2 as market forces began to drive more effective, lighter-weight healthcare solutions. She is known for three things: her focus on driving interoperability, her ability to simplify the complexities of data sharing and clinical workflows, and her commitment to serve that infuses her interactions with everyone and powers the company’s purpose to democratize healthcare communication for all, enabling the secure, effortless, and maximized exchange of patient information. A true inventor at heart, Ms. Bell is responsible for Kno2’s innovation, vision and engineering, and holds six patents for patient information exchange.
Theja Birur. Founder and Chief Technology Officer for 4L Data Intelligence (San Ramon, Calif.). Ms. Birur is founder and chief technology officer for 4L Data Intelligence, a company that helps healthcare organizations enhance quality and lessen costs via process automation and data management. Her primary accomplishments include pioneering the application of automation and AI to streamline non-clinical processes in healthcare, such as claims denial and prior authorization. Under her leadership, 4L Data has made significant strides in combating fraud, waste and abuse through AI. She is also passionate about shaping a more equitable, diverse and inclusive healthcare landscape, and is actively working to bridge the gaps in clinical trial participation. Ms. Birur is the inventor of the patented Integr8 AI intelligence platform. She brings 20 years of experience in analytics and AI to her current role, including positions in the government sector and as a management consultant.
Jennifer F. Bollinger. Senior Vice President and Chief Brand and Consumer Officer at Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Ms. Bollinger leads the marketing, communications, patient experience, consumer strategy and access to care teams for Sutter Health, aiming to elevate the health system's brand and increase consumer engagement through the delivery of a more connected patient experience. She and her team led the development of a refreshed health system brand and made significant digital enhancements. In just her first year, Sutter made comprehensive upgrades to its EHR, patient-facing online portal, digital waitlist and "fast pass", reducing the average time programs took to connect patients to care by 19 days. In addition, there has already been a 94% reduction in in-basket messages related to appointment cancellation requests. Prior to joining Sutter, Ms. Bollinger was senior vice president and chief consumer officer at New Orleans-based Ochsner Health. She is an active participant in the American College of Healthcare Executives and Leadership Institute and serves as an advisor to the Young Entrepreneurs Organization’s southeast regional chapter.
Jackie Brusch. Vice President of Marketing at Emporos (Charlotte, N.C.). Ms. Brusch is vice president of marketing at Emporos, a pharmacy commerce system that uses cloud- and browser-based point of sale solutions to help outpatient, inpatient and specialty hospital pharmacies increase safety, efficiency and profitability. In her role, she leads strategic company growth initiatives, including commercial go-to market activities for new products. Over an 18-month timeframe, she launched a mobile, browser-based point of sale and a light-guided automated will call solution. She is also responsible for the company’s digital marketing programs, including the creation of informative webinars as well as engaging digital content. Ms. Brusch joined Emporos in 2022 and built the marketing function from the ground up. In the first quarter of 2024, 45% of the total company pipeline was influenced by her marketing efforts. In February 2024, she was promoted from senior director of marketing to her current role as vice president of marketing. Ms. Brusch was born with spina bifida and is a member of the Spina Bifida Association of America’s Marketing and Communications Advisory Council.
Liz Buckle. Director of Product at CommonWell (Boston). Ms. Buckle is responsible for ongoing maintenance and improvements to the technology that powers the CommonWell nationwide network, which enables the sharing of health data for more than 231 million unique individuals. She oversees the execution of the network's vision and roadmap, both with the expansion of new use cases and enhancing existing ones. Additionally, she is at the forefront of member recruitment, onboarding and retention. She also occasionally serves as a spokeswoman and presenter. She was instrumental in ensuring CommonWell’s approval to become a Qualified Health Information Network as part of Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. She also oversaw the shift from the network's former technical service provider to its current one. Ms. Buckle is also involved in shaping the interoperability landscape outside of CommonWell, serving as a member of the policy/technical advisory group for TEFCA and the advisory council for Carequality.
Amanda Bury. Chief Commercial Officer for Infermedica (Denver). Ms. Bury is chief commercial officer of Infermedica, an AI-powered healthcare software company that assists doctors in efficient, safe and reliable care delivery. In her role, she leads commercial activity and formulates the go-to-market strategy across more than 30 countries. She is also key to the company's partner integrations and helps adapt technology for health systems, payers and employers. Her extensive background in healthcare IT, including previous leadership roles at TeraRecon and Kyruus, enables her to bridge the gap between advanced technology solutions and health systems to enhance patient acquisition, activation and engagement. Ms. Bury is also a Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development board member and the Arthritis Foundation corporate chair. She is a sought-after speaker at major industry conferences, and has engagements at SHSMD, Dreamforce, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Elevate PX, Health Action Council and American Telemedicine Association in 2024.
Sherry Buxton. Vice President of IT Clinical Products and Chief Nursing Information Officer for Orlando (Fla.) Health. Ms. Buxton's dual role as vice president of IT clinical products and CNIO for Orlando Health entails the oversight of more than 250 team members and consultants in the management of Epic EHR and other clinical products. Under her leadership, the system has used Epic to streamline health data and elevate clinical, quality, safety and operational excellence. Her work has resulted in the system receiving several perfect rankings from healthcare technology associations in 2023, including the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society stage 7 designation, a level 10 for Epic’s Gold Stars Award, and a level 10 from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Prior to leading the implementation of Epic, Ms. Buxton served as the chief surgical services officer at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center and its level one trauma center for more than 18 years.
Bobbie Byrne, MD. Executive Vice President and CIO of Advocate Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Dr. Byrne has more than 15 years of experience in clinical informatics and 10 years of professional practice experience. She is CIO of 69-hospital Advocate Health, the nation’s 3rd largest not-for-profit, integrated health system, formed by the combination of Milwaukee and Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Aurora Health and Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health. Before the combination, she was CIO of Advocate Aurora Health, which she joined in 2017.
Debora Cancilla. Executive Vice President of Data Strategy and CIO of Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). In her role at Temple University Health System, Ms. Cancilla provides strategic planning, daily management, and oversight for all technology-related activities and services. While serving as senior vice president and CIO for Grady Health System in Atlanta, Ms. Cancilla developed and delivered a two-year IT strategic plan designed to elevate quality and patient experience and completed a wholesale replacement of the system's network, phone system, and desktop computing environment. She has previously served as vice president and CIO for Atlantic Health System and senior vice president and CIO for Pinnacle Health.
Marcy Carty, MD. President and Chief Medical Officer for myLaurel (New York City). Dr. Carty is president and CMO for myLaurel, a healthcare organization specializing in acute care provision from the comfort of patients' homes. In her role, she oversees the company’s clinical and core operations, implementation and care outcomes. She also ensures that operational improvements are underpinned by proven technology. Prior to joining myLaurel, she has held leadership roles at Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Cityblock Health, Arlington, Va.-based Evolent Health, Boston-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Dallas-based Steward Health.
Courtney Caufield, DNP, RN. Chief Nursing Officer and Informaticist at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital (Los Angeles). Ms. Caufield has nursing and clinical oversight over Cedars-Sinai's Marina del Rey Hospital. She oversees professional practice, leads innovation and has established a clinical informatics committee, leveraging experience in nursing and informatics gleaned both in and out of healthcare. She has built paper charting conversion EHR systems from multiple vendors, led innovation and technology advocacy groups, established meaningful use best practices and more recently established clinical informatics clinical user shared governance committees. She currently is assisting to build “the hospital of the future” in a brand new facility for del Rey, aiming to provide advanced decision making, virtual care, and family- and patient-centered technology standards. She is also a pediatric nurse and formerly served as CNO with Renton, Wash.-based Providence Healthcare.
Michelle Charles, MSN, RN. Senior Vice President and CNIO of Virtual Care at Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.). Ms. Charles oversees all nursing informatics and virtual care at Parkview Health, which entails the disciplined and standardized management of various projects. She is also responsible for the virtual care department, which handles virtual sitting, virtual nursing and telemetry monitoring. She assisted the system with its plan to instsall cameras in patient rooms, initiated a virtual sitting program, helped with a clinical mobility project for improved communications via IPhones and more. Over three years, her work in virtual nursing has helped Parkview Health achieve an 81 percent reduction in C. difficile and a 76 percent reduction in the standardized infection ratio, ultimately leading to safer patients and less costs.
Cynthia Church. Chief Strategy Officer at Xealth (Seattle). Ms. Church is a founding leader of Xealth. She is responsible for the company's diversified growth and revenue opportunities, as well as the Xealth partner community program, working with health systems and their chosen digital health partners to achieve their goals. She leverages her network and expertise to identify and pursue strategic partnerships, opportunities and collaborations with channel partners, as well as source new sources of revenue from health insurers, pharmaceutical companies and employers. She has more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership, driving growth, building brands, launching new healthcare products and more. Her experience also includes U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions activity, corporate venture capital, strategy and planning, human resources and change management. Ms. Church helped to build Xealth from a seed stage to a leading digital health platform within five years, growing from five clients to nearly 30 health system clients. She also drove revenue growth and assisted in the diversification of revenue sources to include pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. Before joining Xealth, Ms. Church drove revenue growth for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Beth Cooper. Vice President of Marketing and Sales at KNB Communications (Stamford, Conn.). Ms. Cooper serves as vice president of marketing and sales at KNB Communications, a communications agency specializing in healthcare and health IT. She is responsible for the ideation, creation and execution of marketing strategies for top health IT industry leaders. Her work drives growth and generates leads for health IT clients via creative campaigns and marketing strategies. She also counsels health IT companies on brand development, messaging in the marketplace and digital strategy. Through her 20-year career, she has helped form groundbreaking strategies, transform startups into market leaders and more. She was named Marketing Person of the Year by Health IT Marketing Community in 2021.
Terri Couts. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at The Guthrie Clinic (Sayre, Pa.). As chief digital officer, Ms. Couts is exploring avenues for digital expansion at The Guthrie Clinic. In addition, she is responsible for not only adopting new digital technologies but also influencing how people, processes and technology can enable the final vision. She is helping to redefine healthcare delivery by implementing virtual care teams, patient monitoring tools, transmission of imaging results and more. Ultimately, the new care delivery system she is working to create in the Guthrie Pulse Center is a unique, one-of-a-kind method of attaining shorter hospital stays, improved results, fewer transfers and improved patient satisfaction.
Sherry de Cuba. Chief Compliance and Culture Officer at Greenway Health (Tampa, Fla.). Ms. de Cuba leads Greenway in meeting the regulatory requirements for its software and digital products. She manages Greenway's corporate integrity with the Department of Justice as well. She helped Greenway to achieve an EHR certification in 2023, showing a commitment to CIA compliance. She joined Greenway in 2019 after serving as chief information and compliance officer at Vero Beach, Fla.-based Treasure Coast Community Health.
Marguerite "Maggie" Cunningham, DNP. Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer for Inova (Falls Church, Va.). Dr. Cunningham serves as vice president and CNIO for Inova, leading multidisciplinary teams in EHR transformation to improve clinical care delivery, promote better patient outcomes and decrease healthcare costs. Her expertise lies in using EHR for research and clinical transformation, especially as it pertains to improving clinical outcomes and decreasing the burden of provider documentation. Dr. Cunningham's most recent endeavors involve leading large-scale improvement events aimed at alleviating nursing and team member burden and restoring joy to the clinical workplace. She played an instrumental role in the creation of the Inova Nursing Innovation Accelerator, which assembled over 400 frontline nurses and team members to tackle some of healthcare’s biggest opportunities. Other accomplishments include establishing a virtual nurse model, creating virtual nurse coaching for new graduate nurses, promoting a model for increasing Epic Rover adoption, spearheading the deployment of new smart devices, creating a nursing informatics liaison program, standardizing clinical communication across hospitals and clinics, and much more. Dr. Cunningham holds professional memberships on numerous committees and has been a faculty associate for the University of Maryland School of Nursing since 2019.
Kimberley Darling. Chief Revenue Officer at Recuro Health (Dallas). As CRO, Ms. Darling leads Recuro in tailoring revenue strategies to suit the telehealth industry, identifying lucrative market opportunities, devising pricing strategies. She oversees sales and business development and manages sales teams, strategic partnerships and works to streamline processes through technology. Ms. Darling is a seasoned entrepreneur and inventor with more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and technology, and has created four U.S. patents, focusing on healthcare data, payments, and engagement.
Myra Davis. Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Texas Children's Hospital (Houston). Ms. Davis acts as executive vice president and chief information and innovation officer at Texas Children's, the largest pediatric hospital in the nation. She guides over 500 IT professionals and biomedical engineers and advances the information services department. Recently, she launched and proliferated the hospital's new innovation strategy, one that will drive growth for the organization via a portfolio of investments. Ms. Davis has served in a variety of roles during her 20-year tenure at Texas Children's, including director of customer support and vice president of information services.
Wendy Deibert, BSN, RN. CNO for Caregility (Eatontown, N.J.). Ms. Deibert's role as chief nursing officer allows her to help vendors, health systems and clinicians integrate virtual care into their care delivery methods. She wields both clinical and technical expertise, which she applies to ensure that Caregility's virtual care platform, applications and telehealth solutions are clinically sound and meeting the needs of end users. She also heads the virtual care program development for Caregility hospital and health system customers, acting as a consultant for virtual care strategy, roadmapping, implementation and project management. Throughout the course of her career, she has developed telehealth teams, converted critical care beds to electronic technology, launched telestroke site programs, launched telehealth initiatives and more.
Carina Edwards. CEO of Kipu Health (Coral Gables, Fla.). Ms. Edwards is CEO if Kipu Health, a behavioral health software company. With more than two decades of healthcare technology experience, Ms. Edwards has spearheaded Kipu's development of its DEI program, which was recently rated a 4.65 in an internal employee survey. Ms. Edwards uses her knowledge of the healthcare ecosystem and her extensive leadership experience to advance the role of technology in treatment, patient engagement and outcomes. She also currently sits on the boards of BeyondTrust and Kofax. She has previously served as CEO of Quil, a joint venture between NBCUniversal and Independence Blue Cross and as senior vice president of customer operations and corporate development at Imprivata.
Nada Elbuluk, MD. Director of Clinical Impact at VisualDx (Rochester, N.Y.). Dr. Elbuluk joined the VisualDx team to support the company's mission of improving the healthcare experience for patients of color and enhancing diagnostic accuracy, a mission that has driven most of Dr. Elbuluk's career. At New York University School of Medicine in New York City, she spearheaded the founding of the pigmentary disorder clinic for the dermatology department and was the diversity ambassador. At the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, she trains both students and residents on how to diagnose and treat patients of color and works to raise awareness of where medical education continues to fall short.
Sandra Elliott. Chief Innovation and Commercialization Officer at Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. Ms. Elliott is responsible for developing a culture of innovation within Hackensack Meridian Health and bringing in transformative solutions to support the system's strategic planning. She is always thinking about growth and adding value to her organization, making risks or investments, and finding the best opportunities for future growth. Ms. Elliott is also involved in emerging research and publishes articles in healthcare and business magazines.
Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Children's National Health System (Washington, D.C.). Dr. Eskandanian is responsible for Children's National's Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization as well as the research operations for the Sheikh Zayed Institute and the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, which will open in 2020. Dr. Eskandanian is also the executive director of National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, an FDA-funded consortium focused on accelerating the time to market for pediatric devices.
Judy Faulkner. Founder and CEO of Epic Systems (Verona, Wis.). Ms. Faulkner founded Epic in 1979 and continues to serve as CEO. The company has grown significantly over the past decade and reported $2.9 billion in 2018 sales. The EHR vendor of choice for many of the top hospitals and health systems in the nation, Epic supports medical records for more than 250 million patients. She was named one of Forbes' America's Top 50 Women in Tech 2018.
Virginia Feldman, MD. Co-Founder and CEO of Nexus Health Resources (Middletown, N.Y.). Dr. Feldman is responsible for the strategic direction of Nexus Health Resources, a company she co-founded, which is focused on automating communications and optimizing reimbursement. Prior to founding Nexus, Dr. Feldman co-founded Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, which generated $5 million in revenue.
Helen Figge, PharmD. Chief Strategy Officer at Medicasoft (Arlington, Va.). MedicaSoft named Dr. Figge chief strategy officer in 2018. She also serves in senior advisory roles to organizations across the U.S. and sits on committees and boards for HIMSS, NAHDO and other organizations. She also is the executive in residence for MCPHS University and first woman elected president of the HIMSS NYS Chapter in its 32 year history. Prior to joining MedicaSoft, Dr. Figge worked for AmerisourceBergen, Allscripts and Alere; she also supported and guided several health IT start-up companies.
Rebecca Fletcher. Vice President of EHR and Patient Financial Systems at Baptist Health South Florida (Coral Gables, Fla.). Ms. Fletcher acts as a point person for all digital and technological matters within Baptist Health South Florida. She works to promote EHR adoption and success, while navigating any challenges that arise internally or externally. To further support the success of new technology integration, she builds and maintains close relationships with stakeholders throughout the organization. Ms. Fletcher champions innovation by choosing technologies that greatly improve clinical outcomes or streamline workflows.
Kathy Dalton Ford. Chief Product and Strategy Officer of Project Ronin (San Mateo, Calif.). Ms. Ford serves as the chief product and strategy officer of Project Ronin, which collects, correlates, and contextualizes data to support efficient cancer treatment decisions at the point of care. She handles the ideation and commercialization of the solution to the market and also oversees strategy and customer success operations. She also volunteers as an advisor on the HLTH Foundation CSweetner Program, where she was selected with other healthcare industry veterans to offer guidance on a range of business growth and professional growth for members within the healthcare industry. She is a member of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation.
Renee Fosberg. Vice President and CIO of Emerson Hospital (Concord, Mass.). Ms. Fosberg has over 25 years of experience in healthcare information systems. In her current role as senior director and CIO, Ms. Fosberg implements Emerson Hospital's IT and telecommunication systems strategy and has guided the health system through adopting an EMR platform. Under her leadership, Emerson Hospital was named a HIMSS Analytics stage 6 hospital, the second-to-last stage in HIMSS' measurement of EHR adoption and usage.
Priscilla Frase, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at Ozarks Healthcare (West Plains, Mo.). Dr. Frase plays a role in many of Ozarks Healthcare's clinical successes. She has introduced digital processes that efficiently bring its unique programs and specialty-focused areas onto the hospital’s Expanse EHR platform. This includes the organization’s behavioral program, and its new Crisis Stabilization Center. Dr. Frase brings key stakeholders together to build a foundation that bridges the gap between people and their technology. She consistently seeks out ways to deploy IT to bring clinicians closer to their patients. She has been instrumental in leading change at Ozarks, introducing new digital processes that bring efficiencies to programs. She has continually guided Ozarks on its path to advance safe, coordinated, quality care through new technologies and service offerings. The EHR she helped implement has contributed to a 34% increase in physician satisfaction, and overall rates of provider burnout have decreased by 10%.
Linn Foster Freedman. Chair Privacy, Cybersecurity and AI Teams at Robinson+Cole (Providence, R.I.). Ms. Freedman focuses her law practice on data privacy and security, cybersecurity and complex litigation across multiple sectors, including healthcare. She works with her clients for data breach preparedness and assists with developing and training data breach response teams. She is nationally ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the privacy law area. Ms. Freedman also chairs the firm's data privacy and security team.
Meghan Gaffney. CEO and Co-founder of Veda (Madison, Wis.). As CEO and co-founder, Ms. Gaffney is instrumental in shaping Veda into a pioneering force in the data automation sector and a key player in the provider data management market. She oversees the strategic direction of the a Series B company, steering it through significant growth phases and forming partnerships with commercial plans and industry giants like Humana. Her leadership has also contributed to the company's recent achievement of third-party validation for its AI technology. With over 15 years of experience in healthcare policy, Ms. Gaffney is adept at navigating complex regulatory environments and leveraging technology opportunities to address pressing issues such as "ghost networks" in healthcare provider directories. A 2023 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women, Ms. Gaffney also contributes to the Entrepreneur Leadership Network and shares her insights on venture capital dynamics within the digital health startup ecosystem.
Cindy Gaines, MSN, RN. Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Lumeon (Boston). In 2021, Ms. Gaines assumed the role of chief clinical transformation officer at Lumeon, believing that the organization's care orchestration technology had the potential to truly transform healthcare systems and patient care by automating manual tasks. As she leads the company's team of clinical and operational experts, she is bolstered by her 30-plus years of healthcare experience and knowledge. Ms. Gaines works with clients to optimize the solution's ability to integrate real-time data, apply clinical knowledge and employ intelligent automation, all with the end result of helping providers give the end patient personalized, quality care.
Anika Gardenhire, RN. Chief Digital Information Officer for Ardent Health (Nashville, Tenn.). As chief digital information officer, Ms. Gardenhire oversees the development and implementation of Ardent Health's digital strategy across the organization’s 30 hospitals and more than 200 sites of care. An experienced nurse and clinical informatics leader, she integrates digital initiatives into the organization's strategic plan, leveraging data to support digital transformation. She also oversees the IT infrastructure and systems, as well as data strategy and governance. Under her guidance, the organization continues to streamline clinical workflows and standardize processes, thus enhancing clinician collaboration enterprisewide and improving patient care access and outcomes. Recently, Ms. Gardenhire led the organization through the recovery of a cyber-attack, and the technology teams she helms won the internal recognition as department of the year. She is also a speaker and thought leader, regularly sharing her insights on healthcare digital transformation at industry conferences and forums.
Ashley Glover. CEO at WebPT (Phoenix). Ms. Glover joined WebPT as CEO and board member in November 2021, bringing with her extensive experience in successfully developing, scaling, and operating large software-as-a-service and technology companies. As CEO, Ashley focuses on developing innovative strategies to guide WebPT to its next stage of growth, and continuing to improve upon the ways in which WebPT serves the rehab therapy industry at large.
Kim Gordon. Senior Vice President of Care Delivery Applications at Corewell Health (Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich.). Ms. Gordon is responsible for integrating Corewell's new digital solutions and applications to transform healthcare for patients in Michigan. Under Ms. Gordon's leadership, the system delivered virtual care integrated with its core platform and streamlined virtual tumor boards that saved 800-plus hours of clinician time annually. She also established a multi-year plan for integrating Epic software system wide.
Lisa Grisim. Vice President and Associate CIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Medicine Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Ms. Grisim has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology. She joined Lucile Packard Children's in 2002 with a background in nursing as well as information systems. She focuses on EMR optimization and helped lead the hospital to develop an adopt Lean tools and techniques. Ms. Grisim's team of more than 100 employees and consultants helped the system earn HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Level 7 and the HIMSS Davies Award for the use of EMR data to improve patient outcomes and decrease costs.
Joy Grosser. CIO of SSM Health (St. Louis). Ms. Grosser has more than 20 years of experience in senior IT leadership. In her current role, Ms. Grosser leads the strategy and operations for all information technology and security across 23 hospitals. The system has more than 650 physician offices, more than 13,900 providers and 40,000 team members. Before joining SSM Health in 2020, Ms. Grosser was the CIO of UW Medicine in Seattle and Cleveland-based University Hospitals.
Michelle Hager. Managing Partner at Blue Cirrus Consulting (Greenville, S.C.). Michelle Hager has over 20 years of experience in healthcare IT and is currently the managing partner at Blue Cirrus Consulting. She is active in Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, having held various leadership roles within the South Carolina chapter and the advisory board for the Center for Policy and eLaw. She was recognized by the American Telemedicine Association in 2022 by being inducted into the College of Fellows. She has worked diligently through HIMSS to educate the industry and the public on healthcare IT public policy and future IT strategic directions, including telehealth policy.
Mandy Halford, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Covenant Health (Knoxville, Tenn.). Dr. Halford is responsible for leading consumerism, virtual care and overall information strategics at Covenant. Dr. Halford shares responsibility for the operational, personnel and financial leadership of IT departments alongside the health system's CIO. She also leads technology and operational processes at the system. She has developed and implemented Covenant's new EHR records system, redesigned workflows and overseen physician and staff technology training. In 2023, she was appointed chief medical officer of the system after eight years as senior vice president and CMIO.
Amanda Hansen. President of AdvancedMD (South Jordan, Utah). During Ms. Hansen's tenure, she has held multiple positions in business development, sales, service, finance and strategy which have yielded a host of professional accomplishments. She is passionate about increasing operational effectiveness and profitability and driving continual growth while improving patient care and access to healthcare through innovative software solutions. Ms. Hansen’s competitive edge, positive outlook and solution-oriented approach have made a noticeable impact on the vision, direction and achievements of the organization. She played a critical role in Global Payments’ recent $700 million acquisition of AdvancedMD from Marlin Equity Partners.
Leanne Harvey. CIO of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston). Ms. Harvey serves as CIO for Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, where she leads the planning, support and implementation of enterprise information systems. Ultimately, her work aims to improve efficiency, support expansion of the organization into the community, enhance data and operations visibility, and mitigate risks. She also supports clinical and business operations at the local and clinical level to achieve effective and affordable IT solutions. Notably, Ms. Harvey and her team debuted a custom-built telehealth platform that melds with the organization's EHR, enabling providers to easily schedule, launch, document and bill for visits.
Tammy Hawes. Founder and CEO at Virsys12 (Brentwood, Tenn.). Ms. Hawes founded Virsys12 in 2011 and continues to lead the company as its CEO. Under her leadership, the company was named one of Inc. 5000's fastest growing companies to watch in 2023. It has become a leading software company specializing in applications for providers, health plans and specialty networks. Amidst the ever-evolving healthcare regulatory landscape, including the implementation of key initiatives like the No Surprises Act, Pricing Transparency and value-based care, Ms. Hawes has empowered Virsys12 and its software to anticipate and adapt to industry legislation, all while delivering substantial returns on investment for customers. The software has helped to eliminate inefficiencies in provider data management and create an optimized experience for provider onboarding, credentialing and contracting processes, all of which results in lower costs and reduced time to build and manage networks. Ms. Hawes also prioritizes diversity and inclusion at Virsys12, ensuring that the company maintains a positive culture that allows all employees to flourish.
Meghan Hendricks. Vice President of Technology at Ascension (St. Louis). Ms. Hendricks joined Ascension in 2018. She leads a team of regional technology officers that partner with Ascension facilities nationwide to develop strategies and remove technology friction to enhance healthcare. She is in charge of clinical informatics, support for mergers and acquisitions, and the strategic construction team. She has over 20 years in the healthcare industry, with experience in both patient care delivery and payer technology solutions. She also regularly collaborates with clinician and operational leaders at Ascension to develop solutions aligned with strategic goals. During her time at Ascension, she has provided executive sponsorship for initiatives ranging from modernizing the clinical training approach, to improving the technology connection for new operational leaders. She also played a key role in setting the direction for end-user technology needs when Ascension needed to quickly transition 30,000 associates to remote work during the pandemic.
Donette Herring, RN. CIO of ECU Health (Greenville, N.C.). Ms. Herring has served in her current role with ECU Health, formerly Vidant Health, for more than 10 years. Before that, she served as the CIO of Catholic Health East, now known as Trinity Health. Ms. Herring was pivotal in developing and executing Catholic Health East's system-wide IT strategy. She has more than 27 years of experience in healthcare CIO roles.
Shana Hoffman. President and CEO at Lucet (Kansas City, Mo.). At Lucet, Ms. Hoffman is responsible for steering the company’s growth and strategic direction to close health equity gaps, ensuring that even the most vulnerable populations have access to essential behavioral healthcare. Prior, Ms. Hoffman has served as an electrical systems engineer, contributing to Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet production line. This experience afforded her practical exposure to implementing technology systems geared towards enhancing productivity and efficiency. In 2023, she led New Directions Behavioral Health and technology company Tridiuum through a merger to form what is now Lucet.
Melissa Hosey, MSN, RN. System Director of Clinical Workforce at Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Hosey took steps to revolutionize the health system, initiating a digital journey, achieving short-term staffing goals and laying the groundwork for a long-term staffing model moving forward. She overhauled the system's talent acquisition strategy and expanded in-house staffing technology to manage recruitment and retention.
Romy Hussain. Vice President of Data, Machine Learning and Analytics at Cohere Health (Boston). In her role, Ms. Hussain leads a team of data analysts and machine learning engineers who are pioneering prior authorization decision and workflow automation solutions for the healthcare industry. Ms. Hussain manages a team of 50 nationwide and has been instrumental in enabling Cohere's intelligent prior authorization platform, which combines responsible AI, machine learning, deep clinical expertise and real-time data to simplify and expedite approval for patient care. She also serves as a member of the American Society of Health Economists' scientific review committee and of the Healthcare Informatics Management System Society.
Sheeza Khawar Hussain. Chief Growth Officer at SteadyMD (St. Louis, Mo.). Ms. Hussain leads the commercial team at telehealth company SteadyMD, including business development, sales and marketing. She has a strong business background, starting out as an engineer and moving into marketing and general management. She assumed the role in March 2023.
Karen Ignagni. CEO of EmblemHealth (New York City). Ms. Ignagni leads EmblemHealth, a nonprofit health insurance company that serves around 3.1 million people in New York. She joined the company in 2015 after serving as president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans where she worked with the White House and Congressional leaders to develop healthcare reform legislation. In addition to her work with EmblemHealth, Ms. Ignagni sits on the Governor's Council on Women and Girls as well as the New York Department of Financial Services Insurance Advisory Board.
Sarah Jacob. Chief Product Officer at MedBridge (Bellevue, Wash.). As chief product officer, Ms. Jacob leads MedBridge's product strategy and product organization. She manages several teams in this function, including product management, product design, product operations and go-to-market strategy. In her role, she works to understand customer needs, market forces and competitive solutions, along with product and feature development for MedBridge platforms. In her first year at the company, she led the company into the digital musculoskeletal arena through the development of a new patient engagement solution. The AI-enabled product increases its users' ability to see more MSK patients and reduces downstream hospitalization costs.
Heidi Jannenga, DPT. Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of WebPT (Phoenix, Arizona) Since the company launched in 2008, Dr. Jannenga has guided WebPT through exponential growth. It is now the fastest-growing physical therapy software in the country, employing more than 800 people and serving more than 100,000 therapy professionals at more than 27,000 clinics. In 2017, she was honored by Health Data Management as one of the most powerful women in IT, and she was a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2018, she was named the Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year at the Arizona Technology Council’s Governor’s Celebration of Innovation. Her latest venture is called Rizing Tide, which is a foundation dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusiveness in the physical therapy workforce.
Sandra Johnson. Senior Vice President of Client Services at CliniComp (San Diego, Calif.). Leveraging 20 years of EHR delivery and optimization experience, Ms. Johnson serves as senior vice president of client services at CliniComp. She has been working at CliniComp for almost 13 years, taking on progressively responsible roles. In her current role, she oversees all aspects of client services, including account management, application support, clinical services, customer learning and development, cybersecurity and project management. Ms. Johnson manages the strategic planning, implementation and optimization of the company's EHR solution suite, as well as its disruptive system-as-a-service delivery model across market segments. Her work was instrumental in the smooth system transition to the new version of the EHR solution for 100-plus customers over 18 months. Her strategic leadership aids the company in best practices, process improvement and business reengineering initiatives across every department. Ms. Johnson is an active member of Chief, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. She is also an executive board member for Notre Dame Academy.
Theresa Kalem. Founder and CEO of Healthcare Retroactive Audits (Doral, Fla.). Ms. Kalem is chief executive and founder of Healthcare Retroactive Audits, a technology-driven company specializing in revenue recovery for healthcare systems. She has been responsible for the implementation of day-to-day operational structures and the development of the company's proprietary software since its inception in 2002. She works directly with leaders of major client health systems to help develop operational efficiencies, financial planning processes and strategic planning for revenue enhancement. Ms. Kalem has extensive experience with medical claim payments, protocols, policies and coding, and is familiar with all major medical management software. She is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the American Association of Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems, and the Doral Chamber of Commerce.
Aarti Karamchandani. Chief Growth Officer at MacroHealth (Kirkland, Wash.). Ms. Karamchandani leverages her extensive healthcare experience and expertise to drive innovation, transformation and preparedness for change throughout the healthcare industry. She champions the use of data, analytics and technology solutions alongside appropriate operational models to lay the groundwork for innovation. She is responsible for strategic planning, business development, health analytics and innovation advancement at MacroHealth. She determines how best to capitalize on future landscapes across payer-provider dynamics, self-insurers and more. As chief growth officer, she oversees initiatives that have led to 70% year-over-year growth for the company and has earned the company recognition from industry leaders like Gartner. Additionally, she has played pivotal roles in organizations such as Cedar Gate Technologies, BCBSA, HCSC and IBM, where she contributed to investment, product development, customer management, sales, and mergers and acquisitions. She also serves on advisory boards for private equity and professional services firms, offering insights and guidance on health IT, value-based care and scaling hyper-growth companies.
Anjali Kataria. CEO and Co-Founder of Mytonomy (Bethesda, Md.). Ms. Kataria is a serial entrepreneur and healthcare executive, bringing extensive expertise in both public and private sectors to her role as the CEO and co-founder of Mytonomy, her third venture-backed company. She leads the rapidly growing enterprise software firm that is revolutionizing patient engagement for improved well-being and access to care. Mytonomy’s video-based patient-education technology is currently used in more than 70 hospitals, 200 clinics, and 15 academic medical centers across the US. Thanks to her guidance, Mytonomy was listed on the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing US companies in 2020-22. Recognized for her innovative mindset and impactful contributions, Ms. Kataria has garnered prestigious awards such as the FDA Commissioner's Award for Innovation and the "Top 40 Under 40" in Washington, D.C. in the Washington Business Journal.
Rebecca Kaul, PhD. Senior Vice President of Chief Digital Innovation and Transformation of Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Dr. Kaul is responsible for digital innovation and transformation at Northwell Health. Dr. Kaul has previous experience as the vice president and chief innovation officer of MD Anderson in Houston. She has also served as chief innovation officer and president of UPMC Development Center, where she developed the program's portfolio of partnerships, investments and new companies.
Terri Keeling, DSc. Vice President of EHR, Clinical, Access and Revenue Solutions for IT at University Hospitals (Cleveland). Dr. Keeling brings expansive IT experience to her role as vice president of EHR, Clinical, Access and Revenue Solutions for IT at University Hospitals. Most recently, she served on the program leadership team for the implementation of a new EHR for the entire health system, the largest single project endeavor in the system’s 157-year history. The implementation, which reached stabilization within three weeks of go-live, involved more than 27,000 caregivers, 5,000 providers, 100 workgroups, 50 EHR modules, 400 interfaces, 20,000 devices and 20 terabytes of converted legacy system information. Dr. Keeling also created and implemented methodology to systematically identify and address technology incompatibilities, architecture problems and machine images impacting the ambulatory practice environment. In addition, she developed a sustainable end-user support peer network, which encompasses 260-plus practices and 9,000 end users. Dr. Keeling's work also led to a defined strategy for manual processes removal, telehealth implementation, consumer-facing scheduling, online billpay, referral management, an onboarding and reinforcement program, an IT strategy to support population health for the UH ACO, and automated testing for applications.
Janice Kelly, RN-BC. President of AORN Syntegrity (Denver). Ms. Kelly leads AORN Syntegrity, which provides evidence-based perioperative information for EHRs. The solution includes standardized scheduling procedure list, standardized nursing documentation content and care planning. Ms. Kelly has experience as the governing director for AORN and regional chief nursing informatics officer at Providence Health & Services Alaska Region.
Gail Keyser, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President, Associate CIO and Chief Application Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Ms. Keyser brings over 30 years of experience in healthcare to her role as Hackensack Meridian Health's senior vice president, chief application officer and associate CIO. During her tenure with Hackensack Meridian, she has established an efficient IT organization delivering $3 million in yearly savings. She directed the implementation of Epic's electronic health record to nine acute care hospitals in 14 months, being the first in the industry to achieve that milestone.
Lee Ann Kincaid-Wood. Director of Clinical Applications at Memorial Hermann Health System (Houston). As the director of clinical applications at Memorial Hermann Health System, Ms. Kincaid-Wood engages clinical and operational decision makers, ideates and implements the Epic Ambulatory strategy, and designs teams to support the application afterwards. In alliance with operations and executive leadership teams, she helmed the design of the Community Connect model, which is a ground-up approach to technology integration, contracting, payment scheduling and design. She also provides leadership support for the legacy Cerner application, acts as a liaison for the Texas Medical Center for Innovation and contributes to the Memorial Hermann Innovation Committee.
Amy Knight, MD. CMIO at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (Baltimore, Md.). Dr. Knight has served as CMIO for Johns Hopkins Bayview since 2016, and co-chairs three committees for Johns Hopkins Medicine. Dr. Knight is a practicing hospitalist, caring for patients and increasing practice efficiency. She is also the chair of the American Medical Informatics Association's CDS working group. She is dedicated to EHR excellence, leading several initiatives for Johns Hopkins including ensuring attention to incidental imaging findings and documenting peri-procedure code status and patients’ goals for their care.
Jeri Koester. Chief Information and Digital Officer of Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System. Ms. Koester has worked with Marshfield Clinic for years, and is now overseeing the long-term information services needs and technology vision for the system. She has experience developing IT strategy, software development and hardware acquisition and integration. Ms. Koester was able to generate at least 6 percent savings with her team in 2019 on operational improvements. She has led several key initiatives, including expanding IT business management practices to support the system's strategic planning and a 50 percent reduction in cost for data connectivity between remote sites and its data center.
Lauren Koniaris, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Dr. Koniaris serves as chief medical informatics officer of Hackensack Meridian Health, where she helped lead the Epic rollout at network hospitals. Dr. Koniaris continues to work clinically after hours on nights and weekends with the medical critical care team at Hackensack University Medical Center, the network's flagship hospital that was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in its region. In December 2013, Dr. Koniaris was part of the inaugural group of physicians to become board-certified in clinical informatics, a new subspecialty offered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
Stephanie Lahr, MD. President of Artisight (Chicago). Dr. Lahr is president of Artisight, a software company with an AI-driven platform that serves as a central hub for smart hospitals. She has direct responsibility for all commercial areas of the company including sales, marketing and PR, as well as indirect responsibility for partnerships, client success and product development. She also acts as primary spokesperson and thought leader for the company. During her first year with the company, she executed a branding and messaging campaign to enhance market visibility, established a marketing strategy, led a website rebuild, established a new direct sales model and revised the licensing model to better align with the current cost pressures in health systems. She is now leading efforts on a revised go-to-market strategy and ensuring alignment with customer success support, as the company has grown its health system client base from four to 12 during her tenure. Prior to joining Artisight as its inaugural president, Dr. Lahr was serving as CIO and CMO for Rapid City, S.D.-based Monument Health.
Pamela DeSalvo Landis. Senior Vice President of Digital Engagement at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Ms. Landis has oversight of Hackensack Meridian Health's digital marketing, consumer research and analytics, and digital technology team. Her efforts are dedicated to improving ease and management of care for patients and clinicians. Her team handles the system's digital marketing tools and initiatives, patient access technology and unified communications, digital front door technology and patient engagement tech. Since joining the system in 2019, Ms. Landis has been tasked with building a new digital engagement team and program, as well as shaping the strategy, scope and budget for the program. She created a centralized omni-channel contact management center for 17 hospitals and 350 physician practices in under a year, which includes new telephony, team, and modern digital tools like a patient texting program. Her other leadership positions include serving on the board of advisors for Ohio University College of Communications and sharing her insights in health IT at various speaking engagements. Ms. Landis has lent her expertise in IT to four health systems since 1996, including Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health, and now Hackensack Meridian Health.
Melissa Lawlor. Director of Cybersecurity Governance, Risk and Compliance at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Ms. Lawlor focuses on designing, developing and deploying security initiatives that contribute to a better security posture for the whole organization. She has developed and executed a multi-year plan to remediate security assessment findings, lead efforts to adapt and develop security controls and sponsor the first enterprisewide cybersecurity incident management plan.
Kristen Lawton. Chief Nursing Officer at Equum Medical (New York City). Ms. Lawton is an experienced nursing leader with a strong foundation in telehealth operations and enterprise virtual care. She has progressed through significant leadership roles, including vice president of nursing and regional nurse executive. Prior to joining Equum Medical, she has served as a nurse executive for regional health systems in New York State. Ms. Lawton's expertise is instrumental in enhancing large system leadership and emphasizing organizational excellence and patient-centered care in support of Equum's acute care telehealth programs.
Jan Lee, MD. CEO of Delaware Health Information Network (Dover). Dr. Lee oversees the Delaware Health Information Network, a statewide clinical health information exchange with a budget of around $8.5 million. She has experience working with hospital, ambulatory practice and health plan leaders to aggregate clinical data into a longitudinal health record. Dr. Lee has a background as a family practice physician and spent time as vice president of knowledge base and content for NextGen Healthcare before taking on her current role.
Tzielan Lee, MD. Associate Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Practice at Stanford Medicine Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Dr. Lee supports clinical informatics and information systems for Stanford's ambulatory services. Since 2021, Dr. Lee has worked with the ambulatory care team to deliver high-quality, coordinated and efficient care across departments. She strikes a balance between information system innovation and connecting with patients to improve outcomes. She understands how to use technology systems and emerging technology capabilities like telemedicine to develop effective care models that support both patient and workforce experiences.
Chun Li, PhD. Vice President and Head of Clinical Informatics at Availity (Jacksonville, Fla.). Dr. Li guides the design and development of Availity's data upcycling platform and associated applications. Under her leadership, the company has achieved dual certification for their quality measure reporting application by the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Dr. Li has co-authored several research articles in peer-reviewed journals about interoperability and data quality.
Nora Lissy, RN. Vice President of Healthcare Consulting and Implementation at Dimensional Insight (Burlington, Mass.). Ms. Lissy brings 30 years of healthcare experience to her role as vice president of healthcare consulting and implementation at Dimensional Insight. She assists the company's healthcare customers in articulating and achieving their business intelligence goals. She guides clients through validation and completion, and provides insight and guidance for future projects. In 2017, Ms. Lissy was the recipient of Health Data Management’s Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT for HIT Vendor Executives award. Before joining Dimensional Insight, Nora had an extensive healthcare career as a clinician, nursing director and decision support director in finance, patient safety and information technology. She has been a registered nurse for over 30 years.
Sophy Lu. Senior Vice President and CIO for Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Ms. Lu serves as the senior vice president and CIO for Northwell Health. Her role requires her to handle the strategic direction, talent, information, security, technology and services delivery as it pertains to digital transformation for the health system. Before joining Northwell Health in 2010, Ms. Lu accumulated over 20 years of experience in healthcare and global IT. She served in several roles during her time with the system before her appointment to CIO in July 2022.
Susan Machutt, MSN. Vice President and Medical Director at Discern Health (Aliso Viejo, Calif.). In her role, Ms. Machutt is responsible for leading the predictive data model company's clinical side, overseeing her team of all-clinical staff. Ms. Machutt leads this clinical team by leveraging her clinical expertise and years of bedside patient experience. She ensures that the data science team is using their information to build models that accurately classify risk, are clinically relevant and are explainable to end users. One of her most notable accomplishments has been her development of a modeling system designed to provide an individualized, multidimensional health risk assessment. Beyond her role at Discern, Ms. Machutt is a certified adult nurse practitioner with more than 17 years of clinical practice experience. She is also an active member of the American Academy of Insurance Medicine.
Laura Marquez. Senior Director of Digital Transformation for University of Utah Health (Salt Lake City). Ms. Marquez leads the strategy, operations and execution of digital transformation efforts for University of Utah Health. Her efforts have transformed the system into a more consumer-friendly, accessible, digital-first, secure, clinically successful and financially stable organization. The digital transformation roadmap that she developed has shifted the organizational mindset regarding digital's place within the healthcare delivery system, and how it impacts value within and beyond the clinical setting. Ms. Marquez leads several teams in pursuit of the system's digital goals, and has created an agile architecture that serves as an engine for change.
Nicole Martinez. Chief Nursing and Information Officer for RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange N.J.). As the CNIO for RWJBarnabas Health, Ms. Martinez oversees key partnerships and essential strategic plans to optimize clinical care. She is tasked with developing and implementing nursing protocols and alert systems, as well as facilitating partnerships to transform clinical practice. By developing structures, tools and processes that give voice to the customer, Ms. Martinez ensures that customers are the driving force behind institutional change throughout the health system. She leads the nursing and allied health collaborative with over 650 clinical operation members and co-chairs the system's clinical data governance workgroup. In response to national staffing shortages, Ms. Martinez and the nursing executive team updated the nursing care model to leverage the role of the licensed practical nurse and ensure technology support. In the past year, she has facilitated the design of EHR-based alerts and rules to drive adherence to the system clostridiodes difficile protocols, reducing the system infection rates by 49%. She also implemented Epic EHR from Allscripts and Cerner across the organization to optimize evidence-based patient centered care. In addition, she was able to reduce nonactionable clinician alerts within the EHR by 10 in 2024.
Mandy Mason. Global Leader of Healthcare Provider Transformation at Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.). Ms. Mason leads the development of creative solutions that aim to tackle the toughest challenges facing healthcare utilizing the best-in-class Microsoft technology. Her work is backed by her deep expertise of healthcare operations, financial transformation, strategic planning, human-centered design and more. Most recently, Ms. Mason led product development on a groundbreaking healthcare staffing tool that uses AI and machine learning. The achievement earned national recognition.
Novlet Mattis. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer for Orlando (Fla.) Health. At Orlando Health, Ms. Mattis has oversight of a $300 million-plus budget and 1,000-member team. She is also responsible for data and analytics, enterprise resource planning, supply chain, technology innovation, IT security and resiliency, and organizationwide facility security. Ms. Mattis and her team's accomplishments include the development of a screening tool that identifies high-risk traumatic brain injury patients. She also led the technology portfolio's transformation over five years, including the implementation of Epic EHR, the modernization of the underlying infrastructure and the adoption of AI capabilities. Before joining Orlando Health, Ms. Mattis served as vice president of IT at Ascension Information Services in St. Louis.
Shereese Maynard. Chief Marketing Officer at HIT Like A Girl Pod and Founder of AskShereese.Tech (San Diego). Ms. Maynard brings over 20 years of experience in the health IT field to her roles. She acts as an advisor to companies nationwide, guiding their growth and development. In addition, she creates content for health IT brands to bridge the gap between complex technology and end-users. As chief marketing officer for the HIT Like a Girl Pod brand, Ms. Maynard carefully constructs strategic marketing plans and content initiatives to help the brand uplift and celebrate women in the industry, elevate the brand's reach and impact, and inspire future generations of women in the field. Her deep experience navigating the health IT landscape as a woman of color injects a fresh, much-needed perspective to a field often dominated by a homogenous viewpoint.
Sheree McFarland. CIO of West Florida at HCA (Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla.). Ms. McFarland oversees health IT for 16 hospitals and more than 50 physician practices and other facilities for HCA's West Florida region. In this role, Ms. McFarland provides strategic planning, budgeting and project management support for the health system. She has previous experience as director of IT for Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Pamela McNutt. Senior Vice President and CIO of Methodist Health System (Dallas). Ms. McNutt has nearly 30 years of health IT experience. In addition to her responsibilities as senior vice president and CIO of the four-hospital Methodist Health System, Ms. McNutt serves as a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Data Initiative Executive Committee and the State of Texas' Health Care Information Council Hospital Data Collection Workgroup.
Theresa Meadows, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President and CIO at Cook Children's Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas). Ms. Meadows leads a team of more than 350 members covering areas such as infrastructure, applications, telecommunications and program management. She served as a regional director for Ascension Health Information Services, where she led software implementations. Ms. Meadows served as the co-chair for the Health and Human Services Healthcare Cybersecurity Task Force. In 2019, Ms. Meadows received the CHIME Federal Public Policy Award for her work in cybersecurity.
Kim Mendez, EdD, RN. Senior Vice President and Corporate CIO at NYC Health + Hospitals (New York City). Dr. Mendez assumed the role of corporate chief information officer at NYC Health + Hospitals in April 2020. She has continuously acted as an industry pioneer throughout her career, blazing new trails in her previous roles as chief health informatics officer and corporate chief nurse executive as well as her current position. Her main goal is to transform the organization into a fully integrated, equitable system that has accessible services, cutting edge technology and unparalleled access for community members. In pursuit of this goal, she applies a patient-centered approach to the system's IT strategies.
Amy Merlino, MD. Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino joined Cleveland Clinic in 2010 as director of clinical informatics and became CMIO in 2017. Her medical background is in obstetrics and gynecology, and she has certification in preventative medicine as well as clinical informatics. In 2018, Crain's Cleveland Business named Dr. Merlino among its list of Notable Women in Technology.
Brandi Meyers. Vice President of Revenue Operations for MDClone (Beer-Sheva, Israel). Ms. Meyers is MDClone's vice president of revenue operations, where she leverages more than 20 years of experience in healthcare technology to drive transformational change. She joined the company, which uses a self-service platform to enable dynamic data exploration for healthcare systems, in 2023. In her role, she aims to improve community health and patient outcomes through cross-functional efforts that span business development, customer experience and market strategies. Before joining MDClone, Ms. Meyers held leadership roles at Deloitte & Touche, Cerner and Oracle.
Tiffani Misencik. Chief Revenue Officer at Greenway Health (Tampa, Fla.). Ms. Misencik is responsible for sales operations, marketing and client success at Greenway. She focuses on improving the patient experience driving provider success. She has also implemented growth strategies and led cross-functional teams for Greenway. She has more than 20 years of experience in health IT.
Wendy Mortimore, MD. CMIO at UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Dr. Mortimore is board-certified in clinical informatics and has been practicing primary care and pediatrics for over 15 years. At UnityPoint, she focuses on EHR governance, strategy and optimization. She also leads technology projects and co-chairs the digital governance council for UnityPoint, which focuses on achieving data-informed goals and enhancing the care experience at the health system.
Kristin Myers. Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Ms. Myers has direct oversight over Northwell Health's enterprise digital services organization, consisting of approximately 2,400 team members and an annual budget of approximately $1 billion. Her scope of responsibilities spans digital experience, infrastructure, cloud services, cybersecurity and more. She joined the organization at the beginning of 2024 and seamlessly integrated herself. She is already making a significant positive effect by gaining deep organizational understanding, refining strategies and operating models, and addressing critical priorities for the health system. Previously, she served as chief digital and information officer and dean for digital and information technology at Mount Sinai Health system from 2004 to 2023.
Ivana Naeymi-Rad. COO of Intelligent Medical Objects (Rosemont, Ill.). Driven by a desire to drive change and improve the patient care journey, Ms. Naeymi-Rad joined Intelligent Medical Objects in 2012. In her role as COO, she leads the company's software engineering, content development and delivery, project management and enterprise IT departments. She has built best-in-class teams that are driving significant change in healthcare, from improving clinical documentation at the point of care to making patient information fit-for-purpose across the healthcare ecosystem. Ms. Naeymi-Rad is also a thought leader in the health IT industry as well as a mentor for women in their early careers.
Carrie Nelson, MD. Chief Medical Officer for KeyCare (Chicago). Dr. Nelson is chief medical officer for KeyCare. There, she leads clinical efforts to deliver the first Epic EHR-based virtual care solution to provide urgent care, behavioral health, virtual primary care and subspecialty care to 15 large health systems with 130 hospitals across the nation. With a tech-enabled, team-based approach, she aims to lead KeyCare in expanding care access, decreasing provider workloads and improving financial performance. She also serves as an advisor to healthcare startups. Dr. Nelson has built deep experience in quality and patient safety throughout her career, including over 28 years as a family medicine physician and leadership roles at Advocate Aurora Health and Advocate Physician Partners. Dr. Nelson has also served as president and board chair of the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, and chairperson for American Academy of Family Physicians Commission on Science and Health of the Public.
Jamie Nelson. Senior Vice President and CIO of Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Ms. Nelson took the helm of Hospital for Special Surgery's IT department in April 2012. Since then, she has revamped the team, growing ranks and creating new leadership positions like CMO, chief technology officer and chief information security officer. Under her leadership, the orthopedic hospital completed an EHR installation in January 2016 and earned HIMSS stage 7 certification in November 2017. The hospital earned the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence for IT last year. Before HSS, Ms. Nelson held IT leadership positions at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, where she served as CIO, and NewYork-Presbyterian, where she served as vice president of IT.
Lynn Nemiccolo, RN. Chief Customer Officer for MCG Health (Seattle). As chief customer officer for MCG Health, Ms. Nemiccolo oversees all client relationship, implementation, training and support needs for the company's guidelines and software. Her team handles the client experience throughout using evidence-based solutions. She has overseen the expansion of MCG Health’s customer base, which has grown by 200 hospitals per year for the past 10-plus years. Under her leadership, the company has grown to include over 3,100 U.S. hospitals, a majority of health plans, plus many federal agencies. Ms. Nemiccolo's team has also been responsible for implementing the nation’s first scalable prior authorization automation platform between a payer and provider using HL7 Da Vinci Project FHIR standards. Her strong leadership has resulted in an 86% customer retention rate for the company.
Colleen Nicewicz. CEO of Groups Recover Together (Burlington, Mass.). Since taking over as CEO in January of 2020, Ms. Nicewicz has grown the footprint of Groups Recover Together by 38 percent, opening 21 new care locations throughout the United States in 2020, with an additional 50 locations on the horizon. She was the visionary behind the company’s transition to virtual care, which led to a 56 percent increase in membership year over year – all during a time when the pandemic is making it more difficult to access effective treatment. She oversaw a $60 million series C funding round in 2021, led by Oak HC/FT, and she leads a nationwide clinical team with a curriculum that drives an ongoing patient/member NPS score of 82.
Jeana O'Brien, MD. CMIO of Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas and Temple, Texas). Dr. O'Brien plays a key role in driving Baylor Scott & White's data-driven future as CMIO. She has a background in information services and clinical informatics, and works to deliver technology solutions to support clinical practice and research. She was part of the health system's efforts to unite 51 hospitals and more than 7,500 providers under a single EHR system and continues to strive for transparency in her approach to organizational change management. Throughout her career, Dr. O'Brien has helped the health system achieve HIMSS Level 7 Award for multiple hospitals and clinics.
Sonja O'Malley. Senior Director and Digital Health Domain Lead at Cleveland Clinic. Ms. O'Malley is responsible for driving business development and partnering to bring digital health innovation to the market for patients and caregivers worldwide. She serves as an innovation champion and change agent to create and sustain an enterprisewide culture of innovation with transparency, communication and accountability at Cleveland Clinic. She partners with Cleveland Clinic leadership to create an innovation ecosystem inclusive of both internal and external teams to bring discoveries from bench to bedside. She also works with innovators to solve challenges, coach innovators, chart a path through product creation and validation, and develop go-to-market strategies with the optimal industry partner or via new business formation. Ms. O'Mally manages a portfolio of revenue cycle optimization, clinical decision support, patient monitoring, and hospital operations technologies to optimize workflow, reduce the administrative burden, and proactively diagnose and treat patients. Portfolio management includes proactively assessing emerging technology trends, identifying opportunities aligned with Cleveland Clinic’s strategy and goals, and advancing solutions to maximize impact and value to both Cleveland Clinic and broader healthcare community. In addition, she serves many key adjacent roles related to business advisory, corporate compliance, data governance and board member/observer. She has 20 years of experience in technology and healthcare. She is also an advocate for up-and-coming innovators and entrepreneurs. She actively seeks new ways to help patients through AI, revenue cycle coding and clinical documentation pathways.
Natalie Pageler, MD. CMIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Medicine Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Dr. Pageler brings experience as a pediatric and obstetrics physician and administrator to the role of CMIO. She leads the hospital's digital health program, which aims to transform the model of care for pediatrics and obstetrics. Dr. Pageler helped lead Stanford Medicine Children's Health to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 recognition for inpatient and ambulatory surgery in 2015 as well as the HIMSS Davies Award in 2017. Dr. Pageler is an advocate for thoughtful and appropriate patient engagement tool development for pediatric patients and families. She is also the program director for Stanford School of Medicine's clinical informatics fellowship.
Maggie Pena. Chief Experience Officer at Interlace Health (St. Louis, Mo.). Ms. Pena is responsible for the overall leadership, management and strategic direction of the client services team at Interlace, a privately held IT firm that automates healthcare and paperwork processes. She leads one third of Interlace Health’s employees, leads the customer support team, its customer implementation strategy and the company’s managed services program. In 2018, she launched the Interlace Health Customer Success Council, a council comprising 15 customers who meet quarterly to advise on products, solutions and share best practices.
Kate Pierce. Executive Director of Subsidy Programs at Fortified Health Security (Franklin, Tenn.). Ms. Pierce's core responsibilities include leading the charge in healthcare cybersecurity strategy, awareness and funding advocacy. As executive director of Fortified's subsidy program, she combines her more than 30 years of healthcare IT experience with 13 years in cybersecurity. She actively engages with the Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group and the 405(d) working group. Ms. Pierce's extensive experience led to her being asked to testify before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the cybersecurity challenges small and rural hospitals face. Since then, she has continued her advocacy at the federal and state levels to fortify cybersecurity within healthcare organizations across the country.
Kelly Piper. Vice President of Product at Curation Health (Annapolis, Md.). Ms. Piper oversees the development and enhancement of Curation's product portfolio to help payers and providers improve value-based care outcomes. She ensures the company's products align with market needs, meet quality standards and drive business growth. Curation was founded by healthcare veterans and clinicians to help providers and health plans effectively navigate VBC with high-impact clinical insights. In her leadership role overseeing product innovation, Ms. Piper ensures the platform meets the needs of current and future customers who are providers and health plans in the VBC space. In her over five years at Curation Health, she has been in advancing positions within the organization, including as a key member of the team that developed and optimized a platform to help physicians uncover open gaps in care, suspect conditions, and hierarchical condition categories to improve provider incentive program performance. She first joined Curation in its founding year, 2018 and was promoted in 2023. With a strong background in finance and consulting, Ms. Piper has helped Curation Health innovate its platform while scaling the patient lives managed on the platform by 40 times since 2018. Ms. Piper is currently working with her teams to develop predictive insights through machine learning, which identify patients who are at risk for high-cost events, such as stroke or emergency department utilization, and tee up these insights for their clinicians to take life-saving preventative measures.
Gina Puglisi, MD. Medical Director for myLaurel (New York City). Dr. Puglisi serves as medical director for myLaurel, a pioneer in the at-home health space. She plays a pivotal role in molding clinical services and ensuring seamless coordination between providers and responders through the use of technology. She brings prior experience as an emergency medicine physician and previously was regional director for hospital medicine at Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Physician Services, where she championed initiatives in population health and pioneered bundled payment programs with Medicare.
Heidi Raines. Founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners (New Orleans). Ms. Raines is the founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners, a software company that safeguards patient and employee safety. She steers the continuous evolution of the company's software, and oversees the team that incorporates user feedback and data analysis to drive improvements. Ultimately, her work guides the company in addressing real-world challenges and in enabling healthcare organizations to achieve safer care, improved outcomes and increased cost savings. Under her leadership, the company has seen 50% to 75% annual growth rate since its inception in 2015, coupled with a 97% client retention rate over eight years. Beyond internal operations, Ms. Raines collaborates with industry influencers, policymakers, investors and regulatory bodies. She is pushing the industry forward through meaningful and innovative conversations about safety, efficiency and patient-centered ecosystems. Her book, Shared Voices: A Framework for Patient and Employee Safety, became a Forbes Books and Amazon bestseller when it was published in 2023.
Aarti Ravikumar, MD. CMIO at Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Dr. Ravikumar serves as CMIO at Atlantic Health System, acting as a key link between the information services and support departments and the system's over 4,800 physicians. Her role entails overseeing multiple teams and workgroups to ensure that physicians are educated properly ahead of any upcoming initiatives that impact how technology is used to improve patient care, streamline documentation or maintain regulation compliance. Under her leadership, dozens of technology solutions have been implemented to improve patient experience, patient privacy, and patient diagnosis and treatment. She has been at the helm of the Epic electronic medical record system implementation at Atlantic Health, which has in turn helped combat physician burnout by reducing the load of documentation.
Nishi Rawat, MD. Chief Clinical Officer at Bamboo Health (Louisville, Ky.) and Co-Founder of OpenBeds. Dr. Rawat is Bamboo Health’s chief clinical officer, where she evolves Bamboo Health’s solutions to address the needs of customers and partners across healthcare. She has been fundamental in scaling the company’s behavioral health solutions, which support the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline and connect individuals to care in real-time. Dr. Rawat also co-founded OpenBeds, which provides insight into local inpatient and outpatient bed availability, improving access to treatment. OpenBeds, which was acquired by Bamboo Health, is currently live in 15 states. Previously, Dr. Rawat partnered with the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Shatterproof to create the Addiction Treatment Needs Assessment. Dr. Rawat also served as a critical care physician and faculty within Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Julia Regan. Founder and CEO of RxLightning (New Albany, Ind.). As the founder and CEO of RxLightning, a healthcare company aiming to broaden access and lower costs for specialty medications, Ms. Regan is tasked with setting company vision and strategy, leading the entire team and company culture, ensuring stakeholder engagement and more. She raised $17.5 million from investors over the past year, including McKesson Ventures, Novartis, LRV Health, and more. Prior to founding RxLightning, she helped build and launch the core infrastructure for digital prescription transactions. Ms. Regan's extensive experience in the field, including the development of real-time benefit check standards and the creation of new price transparency platforms, has established her as a thought leader in health IT. She writes bylines for HIStalk and MedCity News, speaks on dozens of healthcare podcasts, and presents at conferences nationwide.
Allison Reichenbach. President at Interlace Health (St. Louis, Mo.). Ms. Reichenbach is the president of a 30-year-old privately held healthcare IT firm that automates paperwork and workflows for physicians. She joined Interlace in 2012 with limited healthcare experience and has since built up Interlace's company culture, organizational development and has doubled the number of female executives at the company. She is currently leading Interlace's migration to cloud-based platform Nova.
Stephanie Rock. Vice President of Product at Intus Care (Providence, R.I.). Ms. Rock leads the product and design teams at Intus Care to ensure the company's offerings align with the needs of value-based care teams serving complex older adults. Her role involves overseeing the strategy and execution of Intus Care's products, focusing on driving value-based care results and creating a best-in-class user experience for overburdened teams. She also plays a crucial role in expanding the company's care offerings and in setting the company's priorities. Ms. Rock previously spent seven years advancing product and analysis roles at Chicago-based Oak Street Health, a Medicare primary care network.
Jackleen Samuel. President and CEO of Resilient Healthcare (Plano, Texas). As president and CEO of Resilient Healthcare, Ms. Samuel drives strategy, sales, corporate development and more for the early-stage company. Her leadership and ability to improve patient care using cutting edge technology has established Resilient Healthcare as a leader at the intersection of healthcare and technology. The company is focused on providing high quality hospital-at-home services and simultaneously optimizing operational efficiency and profitability. An entrepreneur and leader at her core, Ms. Samuel has also started and led a post-acute rehabilitation company and a neurology therapy clinic, while being part-owner of a physical therapy management company as well.
Laura Sankey. Chief Program and Strategy Officer at Altarum (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Ms. Sankey provides strategic oversight for Altarum's population health and public health systems divisions. With 30 years of experience in health-related IT, managed care, business strategy and operations, she is known for her expertise in developing and executing strategic initiatives. In her role, she collaborates closely with the executive leadership team to define and prioritize strategic objectives and drive strategies that address health equity issues. She strengthens public health IT infrastructure by leading the team and clients in data integration, ensuring timely reporting and leveraging new technologies. Under Ms. Sankey's guidance, Altarum collaborates with local jurisdiction as well as state and federal partners to identify gaps in the existing structure, formulate strategies and implement solutions.
Julie Sarinelli. Executive Director of Information Technology at Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Ms. Sarinelli leads all core activities related to staffing, budgeting, planning, execution and support of clinical application teams at Atlantic Health System. She is responsible for overseeing clinical application system maintenance, support, optimization, and over 40 integrated clinical systems, with Epic EHR as the most notable technology system under her purview. She also partners with leaders across Atlantic Health System on all government, regulatory, quality and IT patient safety initiatives to ensure compliance and continued optimization of clinical processes and procedures. Ms. Sarinelli has been with Atlantic Health System for 29 years. Prior to assuming her current role, she was the director of inpatient clinical systems. Her major career accomplishments include implementing predictive analytics models for early identification of patient deterioration and sepsis, streamlining inpatient documentation to improve efficiency and decrease documentation burden, making key documentation points more easily accessible through big board electronic displays, and providing culturally sensitive care through the collection of demographic information.
Roberta Schwartz, PhD. Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Houston Methodist. Ms. Schwartz is responsible for addressing the needs of Houston Methodist using novel technologies and unique approaches. Artificial intelligence, data sharing and patient-focused systems are all innovations that she aims to implement in order to transform healthcare. She has been with Houston Methodist since 2001 and has been praised for her incredible work ethic and generosity with her time.
Priti Shah. Chief Technology and Product Officer at Iodine Software (Austin, Texas). Ms. Shah is the data science, engineering and product-development leader for Iodine Software, an AI innovator in the healthcare field. She is responsible for dozens of technical team members and is helping Iodine grow its AI footprint across more than 900 hospitals. She is responsible for the AI platform's strategic vision and was instrumental in creating the industry's first AI-powered software specifically for care utilization management. She often is the company's main spokesperson, conducting multiple media, podcast and other multimedia interviews on behalf of the company. Ms. Shah is also a woman in tech mentor and has shepherded the careers of many rising female data scientists. She previously formed women in action leadership programs, which were learning programs designed to help women managers at every level.
Christine Slocumb. Chief Growth Officer of Supreme Optimization (Groton, Conn.). Ms. Slocumb is chief growth officer for Supreme Optimization, a healthcare marketing company that works with life science and biotechnology clients. In her role, she orchestrates the strategic direction and expansion efforts of the company and its owned brands. She identifies emerging business opportunities, drives innovation and broadens market presence in the competitive health IT and life sciences domains. To spearhead growth strategies, she leverages a keen understanding of advanced data analytics, cutting-edge digital marketing techniques and customer engagement strategies. The award-winning agency Ms. Slocumb founded in 2001, Clarity Quest Marketing, was recently sold to Supreme Optimization. She also authored a book, Stop Starvation Marketing: 23 Power Moves for Health Tech and Life Sciences, which outlines her insights and strategies for success in healthcare IT marketing.
Laura Smith. Vice President and CIO of UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Ms. Smith is responsible for the IT division of UnityPoint Health, which includes a team of 600 IT professionals in several locations, the oversight of a $179 million IT operating budget and delivery of an IT portfolio of projects each year. Her team spent 2018 launching a multifactor authentication system to all team members, providers and independent providers to ensure hospitals are safe from cyberattacks.
Susan Solinsky. Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Ellipsis Health (San Francisco). Through her work at Ellipsis Health, Ms. Solinsky helped create a multidisciplinary team through her commitment to recruiting talent from different training backgrounds and diverse dimensions of society. She empowers Ellipsis to help reduce crisis events for every person, regardless of socio-economic status, pre-existing health conditions or geography, to access mental health care. She has helped Ellipsis raise $26 million in series A funding to further its measurement-based approach to identifying and quantifying behavioral health conditions and expand its voice vital sign to address the mental health of children and adolescents.
Kate Sowerwine, MD. Chief Medical Officer at Recuro Health (Bryan, Texas). Dr. Sowerwine is a healthcare leader with a history of impactful roles across various sectors. Currently, she serves as the chief medical officer at Recuro Health, where she drives innovation in telemedicine. She has also spearheaded initiatives to make telemedicine more accessible and user-friendly for patients. Prior to her tenure at Recuro Health, Dr. Sowerwine held the position of CMO at WellVia Solutions. She also continues to practice as an allergist alongside her leadership roles.
Leah Sparks. CEO and Founder of Wildflower Health (San Francisco). Ms. Sparks is CEO and founder of Wildflower Health, a company with over 100 full-time employees delivering digitally-enabled care for women and families across the U.S. The company also partners with health plans like Anthem and Cigna, as well as almost 150 hospitals. Ms. Sparks has led the company in analyzing $1.65 billion worth of healthcare claims and over 150,000 birth episodes. Using this data, the company launched a value-based maternity bundle to help payers and providers customize the actuarial model to their patient population, the first-ever in the industry. Ultimately, Ms. Sparks and her work with Wildflower allows the company to predict and therefore mitigate complications in high-risk patients.
Tressa Springmann. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer of LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). Ms. Springmann became chief information officer for LifeBridge Health in 2012 and assumed the chief digital officer role in 2020. She is also senior vice president, overseeing health information management and the system's call centers. Under her leadership, the system is transforming marketing and information system functions to create a digital front door in support of increased access to information and an improved customer experience. Prior to joining LifeBridge, Ms. Springmann served as vice president and CIO for Townson, Md.-based Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
Michelle Stansbury. Vice President of Innovation and IT Applications at Houston Methodist. Ms. Stansbury oversees innovation projects for Houston Methodist's eight hospitals while also overseeing day-to-day operations of systemwide IT applications. She helped the health system to deploy the digital program Epic, and launched its center for innovation in 2018. She focuses on combining innovation and technology to address the nation's biggest healthcare challenges.
Jennifer Stemmler. Chief Digital and Information Officer at Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.). Ms. Stemmler leads the systemwide strategy for technological and digital transformation, overseeing all technology for the health system including operations, digital solutions, clinical and business applications, cybersecurity, virtual care platforms and innovation. She led the development of Adventist Health’s digital forward, consumer-centric transformation designed to create exceptional experiences for providers, patients and consumers across the care continuum.
Lisa Stump. Senior Vice President, Chief Information and Digital Transformation Officer at Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, Conn.). Ms. Stump is responsible for all ITS at Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine. While crafting strategy with system leadership, she must consider information and digital solutions as well as operational efficiencies and improvements. As CIO, Ms. Stump has led the effort to transition to electronic medical records, and has utilized AI, data and new technologies to drive the overall growth of the health system. She is also involved in the creation of the health information exchange at the state level.
Kathy Sucich. Vice President of Marketing for Dimensional Insight (Burlington, Mass.). Ms. Sucich is vice president of marketing at Dimensional Insight, which is a 2024 Best in KLAS honoree in data and analytics platforms and the No. 1 ranked company by KLAS Research 10 times since 2009. In her role, she handles branding, events, content and communications strategy to ensure that hospitals and health systems are aware of the company's products and services. In 2020, Ms. Sucich created the Smarter Healthcare Podcast, where she interviews innovators in the healthcare field. She serves as both its host and executive producer. Prior to her current role at Dimensional Insight, she held progressive roles at the organization since 2013.
Lauren Thames. Vice President of Product Management at Clearwave Corporation (Atlanta). Ms. Thames is vice president of product management at Clearwave, a comprehensive patient revenue platform that helps healthcare organizations streamline scheduling, accelerate patient intake, automate insurance verification and produce financial transparency. In the ever-changing healthcare industry, she leads the seamless delivery of top-tier products and services. Her work was instrumental in the 2020 launch of Clearwave patient self-scheduling and the 2022 launch of Clearwave Communications, products that allowed the company to become an all-in-one patient revenue platform. Ms. Thames has been with Clearwave for almost 19 years.
Wendy Thorpe. Executive Director of IT at McAlester (Okla.) Regional Health Center. Ms. Thorpe's role at McAlester Regional Health Center consists of overseeing clinical application, technology management and internal communications. She manages IT security and multiple IT committees. A believer that IT security is the biggest threat in IT today, she works to combat these challenges with education and training.
Cathy Turner. Chief Marketing and Nurse Executive at Meditech (Canton, Mass.). Ms. Turner is an advocate for healthcare technology and improving its safety and clinical efficiency. She leads the Meditech marketing team to ensure clear, consistent messaging and information is reflected across all channels, both internally and externally. She plays an important role in Meditech's nurse informatics program, which she launched and continues to support. The program operates across all of Meditech's divisions to guarantee nurses have a representative voice. She regularly collaborates with nursing executives at customer sites and industry organizations. Ms. Turner is also a longtime champion of EHR utilization, as she supports healthcare professionals in using their systems to improve clinical workflows and reduce staff burdens. Ms. Turner also serves as an advisor on Meditech's patient safety review board and customer patient safety advisory board. She first joined Meditech in 1991 as its associate vice president, holding the role for 32 years before becoming chief marketing executive.
Sara Vaezy. Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Digital Officer of Providence (Renton, Wash.). Ms. Vaezy is responsible for system strategy and digital innovation for Providence, which includes 52 hospitals, over 900 clinics and 5 million unique patients. She is the architect of the integrated delivery network's digital innovation model, which has resulted in over 150 partnerships and the incubation of valuable technologies for Providence and other health systems. She is also active in the broader healthcare industry, serving as a board director for the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a member of the Frist Cressey Ventures Collective’s inaugural class, a member of Forbes Business Council and more.
Kristen Valdes. Founder and CEO at b.well Connected Health (Baltimore, Md.). In 2016, Ms. Valdes launched B.well Connected Health, named after her daughter Bailey, to empower healthcare consumers. In 2020, B.well was announced as the only startup to participate in real-world testing of the CARIN Blue Button data model and draft implementation guide. The other organizations were Anthem, Apple, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and several regional BCBS plans, Google, Humana, Microsoft, UPMC Health Plan, and the states of North Carolina and Washington. Accenture and Springboard Enterprises named Ms. Valdes one of four "2020 Women Transforming Industries" award winners on Oct. 22.
Grace Vinton. Account Director and Media Relations Specialist at Amendola Communications (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Ms. Vinton brings expertise in healthcare communications, patient advocacy, public relations, sales, marketing coordination and implementation to her role at Amendola Communications. She is passionate about helping innovative thinkers in the healthcare field showcase their transformational ideas. She has worked with a number of clients and also serves as a guest host for San Diego-based HIT Like a Girl Pod via "HITea With Grace", which highlights the contributions of women in healthcare.
Helen Waters. Executive Vice President and COO at Meditech (Canton, Mass.). Ms. Waters plays a pivotal role in defining Meditech's strategic direction, as well as setting operational priorities and overall communication plans. She is at the forefront of ongoing customer engagement, product direction, business partnerships and executive oversight within the company, reporting directly to its CEO and president. She has previously worked with healthcare organizations of all sizes across markets in the U.S. and internationally, helping them to leverage health IT to provide efficient, accessible, high-quality care at lower cost. Under her leadership, Meditech has used technology to improve the lives of providers and patients by keeping value, integration and the user experience at the core of their IT development efforts. Ms. Waters had a leading role in pushing the development of Meditech's web-based Expanse platform to be intuitive and user-friendly. She also guided the rollout of the Expanse Ambulatory solution. In recent months Ms. Waters has been driving innovation at Meditech by championing genomic medicine, AI, cloud computing, and other forms of advanced, interoperable health records and technology. She believes that healthcare organizations of all sizes, in all regions of the world should have access to cutting-edge EHR technology. In the last year, she has facilitated key partnerships with Meditech and other technology leaders, including with Google Health, bringing together the power of the Expanse EHR platform with Google’s search and summarization capabilities.
Kathy Weiler. Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial and Growth Officer at Amwell (Boston). Ms. Weiler is the executive vice president, chief commerical and growth officer at Amwell. She is responsible for directing the company's growth strategy, leading strategic initiatives, and driving business development, sales, account management, commercial enablement, marketing, and strategic and channel partnership teams. Before joining the Amwell team, she acted as chief consumer officer at Boston-based Optum.
Brenda White. Vice President of EHR at Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.). Ms. White is responsible for overseeing the information systems team responsible for managing the Epic EHR system at Parkview, which comprises 14 hospitals and more than 300 physician offices and other centers. Her team is responsible for installation, implementation and maintenance of Epic, as well as any third-party software solutions in clinical and revenue applications. She is also responsible for overseeing the health information management team. In summer 2023, for the first time, Parkview was recognized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society with a Stage 7 certification, the highest designation possible.
Laura Wilt. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Ms. Wilt joined Sutter Health as its senior vice president and chief digital officer in March 2023. In her role, she is responsible for the health system’s digital strategy, information services, design, innovation and data analytics. She has been an integral member of the leadership team that is launching the system’s new innovation center, which is set to open in the first quarter of 2024. She recently oversaw the launch of Scout by Sutter Health, a first-of-its-kind non-clinical mental health app designed for youth and their caregivers. In addition, she is guiding the system’s improvement of its EHR system using AI and machine learning. Prior to joining Sutter Health, Ms. Wilt served as system vice president and CIO of Ochsner Health in New Orleans.
Mariann Yeager. CEO of The Sequoia Project. Ms. Yeager is an industry leader and health IT visionary who founded The Sequoia Project, a public-private collaborative formed to advance secure nationwide health information exchange. The project has served as the Recognized Coordinating Entity to support the implementation of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, established the eHealth Exchange as the largest nationwide health information exchange, and created and advanced other initiatives such as Carequality, Interoperability Matters, and other programs to advance electronic health data access for U.S. citizens. Ms. Yeager has contributed to virtually every major health interoperability initiative that has occurred during the past 20 years.
Karley Yoder. General Manager and Chief Digital Officer, Ultrasound at GE Healthcare (Chicago). Ms. Yoder spent time as vice president and general manager of artificial intelligence at GE Healthcare before moving into her current role. She has experience overseeing artificial intelligence strategy and product implementation for GE Healthcare's product portfolio. She leads internal project management as well as partnership activities related to developing a healthcare-specific platform for creating deep learning models that are integrated into the company's product lines. She has previous experience at Apple Health and Doctor on Demand.
Kathy Young. Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations for Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Ms. Young is Hackensack Meridian Health's vice president of infrastructure and operations, a role that entails infrastructure engineering, project oversight and operational support. She oversees the advancement of technologies in all areas of infrastructure and operations to support the health network’s 18 hospitals and more than 500 ambulatory care locations, assisted by a team of more than 200. She plays an instrumental role in executing HMH’s strategic initiatives, such as the organization's migration to Google Workspace and ChromeOS to improve security, reduce costs and streamline support. She also helped launch the data center workload migration to Google Cloud Platform. Ms. Young formally joined the HMH team in 2022 after serving as a consultant since 2019. The majority of her 30-year IT career has been devoted to helping healthcare organizations execute transformational programs such as EHR implementations, infrastructure modernization initiatives, and merger and acquisition consolidations. Ms. Young also serves as a member of the Google Cloud Women’s Executive Network and as a member of the alumni group at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.