Alesha Adamson is the Chief of Health Informatics for the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science (IIMS), and holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA).

Prior to her work at UTHSCSA, Ms. Adamson served as the Executive Director of Technology for Healthcare Access San Antonio, a health information organization that includes 14 hospitals and 40 clinics serving a population of over 1.7 million in the 7th largest city in the country. Ms. Adamson’s past experience also includes work with Oregon Health and Science University, service on the Hi-Tech Crime Team as a Police Reserve Specialist in Portland, OR and service in the Oregon Army National Guard where she received the MG Thomas E. Rilea Award for Inspiration, the SFC Carl Hansen Award for Teamwork, and Soldier of the Year. In addition, Ms. Adamson is published in the areas of computer security and HIPAA compliance.

Ms. Adamson holds her MSc in Computer Science from the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University - an NSA Center of Excellence in Information Assurance recognized by the Committee on National Security Systems and accredited by the Computer Science Accreditation Board. She is a Certified Professional of Health Information Management Systems, holds a Certificate in Project Management, and a BSc in Computer Science with a minor focus in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

Ms. Adamson is a non-executive Director of the Texas Health Services Authority, Chairwoman of the Bexar County Health Information Exchange Task Force, serves on the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) National Privacy and Security Advocacy Task Force, and a non-executive Director for Positive Beginnings, Inc. which serves over 5000 children and their families in the Bexar County region.

Ms. Burke-Bebee is a Senior Health Informatician in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Office of the Secretary, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ASPE is the principal advisor to Secretary Michael O. Levitt on policy development, and is responsible for major activities in policy coordination, legislation development, strategic planning, policy research, evaluation, and economic analysis.

While at ASPE, she was part of the team organizing and facilitating the HHS activities promoting the National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII), which led to the 2004 creation of Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). In 2004, Ms. Burke-Bebee oversaw the 2nd national HIT conference, titled The Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology launching the National Health Information Infrastructure 2004: Cornerstones for Electronic Healthcare. This was a 3-day affair attended by 1,500 participants in Washington, DC and included the release the Department’s Framework for Strategic Action, titled The Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-rich Health Care. The final results of this historic meeting were reported to the NHII Work Group of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) and helped shape the vision of the NHII. Ms. Burke-Bebee recently completed an 18-month study about the barriers and incentives for adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) in physicians’ small practices, titled Economic Analysis of HIT in the Ambulatory Setting.

Ms. Burke-Bebee’s current responsibilities include an ASPE evaluation of the personal health record (PHR) pilot being conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2008-2009 pilot offers CMS fee-for-service beneficiaries in South Carolina access to the HealthTrio on-line tool called MyPHRSC for collecting and using information about their health and health care services.

Ms. Burke-Bebee has been a registered nurse for 26 years and continues to practice periodically at the bedside in the Annapolis community hospital system. She received her Associate Degree in Nursing from the Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, Ohio; her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland; her Master of Science in Nursing Informatics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and her Master of Science in Information Systems from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Simon Cohn is the National Director for Health Information Policy for Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Cohn earned both his BA and MPH degrees at the University of California, Berkeley and his medical degree from the University of California, Davis. He completed his postgraduate medical training at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Cohn maintains an active clinical practice.

Dr. Cohn’s medical informatics interests began in 1984, when he developed widely used computer-assisted medical charting applications using the Apple Macintosh computer for ambulatory and Emergency Department settings in Northern California Kaiser Permanente. He holds two copyrights for these software applications. In 1991 he was named Clinical Information System Coordinator for Kaiser Permanente. In this role he worked with other KP leaders to develop and implement the first national KP Clinical Information Systems Strategy. From 1997-98 he was the National Director for Data Warehousing for KP. Since 1999, he has devoted his energies at KP to health information policy and issues related to encounter data capture. Dr. Cohn was co-investigator on a federally sponsored demonstration project for clinical terminologies. He has published on this topic. In 2002, he was a recipient of a President’s Award from AMIA for his contributions to the field.

Dr. Cohn serves on many national boards and committees concerned with health information policy issues. He is a member of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), the main public advisory committee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on health information policy and HIPAA. He chairs its Subcommittee on Standards and Security. Under his chairmanship, the subcommittee, in addition to its central role in HIPAA implementation, has developed a series of national recommendations on standards for patient medical record information. Additionally, he is a member of the AMA CPT Editorial Panel and the National Uniform Claims Committee (NUCC). He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Patient Safety Data Standards. Previously Dr. Cohn served as a board member of the Workgroup on Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) and Executive Committee member of the Computer-based Patient Record Institute (CPRI). He has now been elected to membership in the American College of Medical Informatics.

Mr. DuPont provides business and technology strategy, planning and management services, and policy and communications advice to clients in the healthcare industry, with an emphasis on health information technology.

Prior to joining Manatt Health Solutions, Mr. du Pont served two years with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). While at ONC, Mr. du Pont analyzed and supported regional, multi-stakeholder collaborations engaged in the secure, accurate, and timely exchange of health information to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery. Mr. du Pont also worked on the effort to develop a nationwide health information network that will provide an interoperable, standards-based architecture for the secure exchange of healthcare information across the country.

Prior to his services at ONC, Mr. du Pont was a Program Manager at the Foundation for the eHealth Initiative where he worked on the Connecting Communities for Better Health program, which provided seed funding and hands-on support to multi-stakeholder collaborations using health information exchange and other information technology tools.

Before working with the Foundation, Mr. du Pont served as a Program Officer for the Department of Commerce’s Technology Opportunities Program, a matching grant program that supported community-based efforts to use technology to improve the delivery of healthcare and other vital human services.

Joy Grossman is the Senior Health Researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), a nonpartisan policy research organization in Washington, DC. Dr. Grossman leads HSC’s qualitative and quantitative research on health information technology (IT), including projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Ongoing IT projects include understanding the value of health plan-sponsored personal health records and claims-based physician web portals; examining physician practices’ use of commercial EMRs for quality reporting and for care coordination; and tracking hospital strategies to assist physicians in purchasing EMRs. Dr. Grossman is also participating in the evaluation of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Electronic Health Records Demonstration. Completed studies include examining stakeholder participation in local health information exchanges (HIEs) and the implications for the HIE role in quality initiatives; hospital-physician web portals and the role of competition in the development of community-wide HIEs; and physicians’ experiences using electronic prescribing systems. Dr. Grossman has 25 years experience in health care and has substantial expertise in all phases of qualitative and quantitative research design, data collection, and analysis. She previously served on Washington State’s Health Information Infrastructure Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Before joining HSC, Dr. Grossman worked at the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission and as an investment banker arranging hospital financings. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Bob Hogan is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and a Family Medicine physician at the La Mesa Medical Offices in San Diego, CA.

In the early 1980s Bob Hogan MD designed and developed with Williams and Wilkens one of the earliest programs marketed for Clinicians, the Drug Interaction Adviser. He subsequently organized the first scholarly clinical software review feature in the United States for the Journal of the American Medical Association, and has subsequently served as the first Software Adviser at JAMA.

His contributions to the literature of biomedical informatics include numerous software critiques for JAMA, editorials and other descriptive overviews for publications including JAMA, American Medical News, California Physician, HMO Practice, and Medical Economics. Currently he is practicing full time in the Departments of Preventive Medicine, Family Medicine, and Urgent Care as a Partner in the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, San Diego Ca. He is sought after as a peer reviewer, consultant, and lecturer.

Progressive, visionary medical leader focused on advancing health outcomes through business model innovations and research, particularly enabled by healthcare data and information technology. Strong track record of relationship building in complex environments, developing strategies and implementation plans creating successful multi-stakeholder projects. Proven team leadership skills demonstrated by successful engagements with the federal government, domestic and foreign non-government organizations (NGOs), health plans, & universities. Demonstrated leader in the convergence of medicine, public health, evidence-based medicine, informatics, policy, and business management to drive the adoption of new care delivery models.

Professional Experience

Pfizer, Inc, New York, NY. (1997- present)
A $49B Global Research-based Biomedical Pharmaceutical Company Medical Executive, Customer Business Unit, Global Medical (2007-Present)

• Lead medical account team for seven 7 national accounts representing over $500M in sustained revenue. Our efforts reinforce the full value of our medicines for these accounts though evidence-based medicine and outcomes research analyses and result in enhanced access to our products.
• Lead the Customer Business Unit’s effort to connect Pfizer’s pipeline products with national account customer leaders. These efforts provide our development teams with current, relevant feedback concerning our development efforts, and future marketing strategies. Ultimately, it results in our medicines being better prepared for the markets in which they will be used.
• Liaise with therapeutic areas (eg: Cardiovascular & Metabolic) to bring a managed care perspective to marketing, outcomes research and sales teams. This provides a managed market point of view on programs, value added projects and outcomes research efforts resulting in improved or retained access for our medicines to patients.

Stephen Palmer serves as the lead policy analyst for the Texas Health Care Policy Council in the Office of the Governor, the Governor’s advisor for health information technology, the acting Project Director for the Texas Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, the Chair of the Texas delegation to the Gulf Coast Health Information Technology Task Force, and an advisory member of the State Alliance for eHealth. Prior to joining the Office of the Governor, Mr. Palmer worked as a Medicaid/CHIP policy advisor to the Deputy Executive Commissioner for Health Services at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Mr. Palmer also previously worked on the policy staff of the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Prior to changing careers into public policy, Mr. Palmer was an information technology consultant focusing on interface programming and database administration. Mr. Palmer received a Bachelor’s degree in physics and philosophy from Rice University and a Masters in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and is currently pursuing a PhD in public policy, also from the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Dr. Rippen has been a leader in health informatics and consumer and clinician use of related technologies for over 15 years. Dr. Rippen has worked with diverse groups on a variety of topics ranging from EMR adoption in physician offices, healthcare quality, ethics, a national health information infrastructure, usability, privacy, and consumer control. Dr. Rippen was the Chief Health Information Officer and Vice President of Health Information Technology for HCA where she led the development of the clinical EHR Program. She served as Senior Advisor for HIT for the Secretary's office at the US Department of Health and Human Services where she was involved with the creation of the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT (ONCHIT). Previously, she was Director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute for RAND supporting the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Director of HIT for Pfizer Health Solutions, and Founder of the HIT Institute for Mitretek Systems, a prominent Washington, DC-based non-profit group. She has been involved with all aspects of HIT including system design, implementation, and clinician adoption.

Dr. Rippen received her medical degree, with honors, from the University of Florida, and completed her medical residency training at Johns Hopkins University where she also received her Masters in Public Health with a focus on health policy and management, epidemiology and biostatistics. She obtained her PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke University. She is Board Certified and has medical licenses in California, Maryland, and Virginia.

Ed Singler is retired from the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services. He was Regional director for the Office of Human Development Services and later Assistant Regional Administrator for the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families. He currently serves on the Executive Council of AARP, Washington State and was president from 2000 until 2006. He was also chairman of Senior Services of King County and served on numerous committees for many years for United Way of King County.

Background
BA Degree in literature from Maharishi International University. Developed VisPlex, a visual language for knowledge exchange. Convener, VisPlex Association. President, Four-Leaf Clover Corporation.

Research Interests
My interests are in the problem of knowledge exchange in large, complex communities of interest and practice. I approach these problems from a complexity sciences perspective, and particularly, tetradic theories of interaction and meaning represented by Ken Wilber, Marshall McLuhan, Richard Pico, R. Buckminster Fuller and others. I am specifically interested, at present, in integrating tetradic models and theories with social network analysis, transaction cost economics, and complex adaptive systems models from complexity science.

Teaching Activities
Support teaching of Introduction to Health Systems using a tetradic systems framework for understanding healthcare systems in the US.

Current Projects
Leading a team developing a knowledge exchange system/network and technology portal for KY bioterrorism readiness.

Service
Work with Kentucky Department of Public Health and other organizations in knowledge exchange.

Gil Thurston is a retired elementary school principal who has also served in several capacities including AARP Washington State Health Coordinator, Board Member and President of the Washington State School Retired Association, charter Board Member and President of the Washington State School Principals Association, Board Member of the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Parent Teachers Association. Gil is presently serving as Chair of the Northwest Senior Services Advisory Board, the Medicare Beneficiary Representative on the Board of Directors for Qualis Health, Board Member of the Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access, and as a Consumer Representative for AccessMyHealth.org.

Brad Tritle was selected as Arizona Health-e Connection’s first executive director in August of 2007. Mr. Tritle most recently served as project manager for Arizona Health-e Connection, and administrator of the Rural Health Information Technology Adoption (RHITA) program, while in the position of Strategic Initiatives Manager at Arizona’s Government Information Technology Agency (GITA). Tritle’s career has been a unique blend of international trade and investment, and strategic leadership at the nexus of technology and community/economic development.