Summer Allen, MD
Director of Patient Experience
Mayo Clinic

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Session: Working with Health Care Teams to Improve the Experience of Patients

Bio: Summer Allen, MD is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and consultant in Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Allen serves as Medical Director of Patient Experience for the Mayo Clinic Health System (Southeast Minnesota region). Previously, she led Patient Engagement for the Mayo Clinic Office of Population Health Management. Dr. Allen has been with the Employee and Community Health practice in Rochester since 2010. Her practice comprises the full spectrum of family medicine with an obstetrical practice that focuses on patient education and women’s health. She received her BA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, graduated from Mayo Medical School and completed her Family Medicine residency training at Mayo Clinic in Kasson, Minnesota. Her research interests include understanding how to engage patients, improve their experience and healthcare delivery innovation. She is involved in the Knowledge Education Research (KER) unit at the Mayo Clinic to understand the impact of Minimally Disruptive Medicine and Shared Decision Making in practice. In her role as medical director for Patient Experience she has been involved in the assessment, support and innovation of the experience of our patients across the enterprise.

Lisa Allen, PhD
Chief Patient Experience Officer
Johns Hopkins Health System




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Session: Implementing a 10-Question Survey: Dos and Don’ts and Strategy Discussion

Bio: Lisa Allen, Ph.D. joined Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) in September 2014 as the first Chief Patient Experience Officer. In this role she has oversight and responsibility for enhancing and continually improving the overall experience of patients and families by coaching, utilization of best practices, transparency, reporting, and system collaboration. She focuses on person and family centered care and engagement. Her position sits within the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Her team consists of Coaches, Advocates, Volunteer Services, and Patient and Guest Services. She has her Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology and Community Medicine, a Green Belt in Lean, and is a Certified Executive Coach. Dr. Allen was named in the Becker’s Hospital Review list as 130 women hospital and health system leaders to know for 2015 -2017 and a Top 30 CXO in 2018.

Teresa Anderson, PhD, RN,
NE-BC
Vice President of Quality
Vidant Health



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Session: Situational Awareness: Crucial Circumstances That Lend Themselves to High Reliability

Bio: Teresa currently serves as Vice President for Quality at Vidant Health and has over 22 years of nursing experience. Teresa has a PhD from East Carolina University and is a Board Certified Nurse Executive. Teresa has been in her current role for over 4 years with variety of nursing and executive experience from cardiac to medicine to home health and hospice.

​Deborah Armstrong, ​FACHE
Chief Executive Officer
Piedmont Henry Hospital




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Session: How to Give Your Safety Coaching Program More Muscle

Bio: Deborah Armstrong became the Chief Executive Officer of Piedmont Henry Hospital in October 2016. She joined Piedmont Henry in May 2016 as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to coming to Piedmont, Deborah served as CEO of Rockdale Medical Center, now Piedmont Rockdale Hospital. Armstrong has more than 30 years’ experience in healthcare operations, her early work centering on rehabilitation services and with organizations including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Georgia Baptist Medical Center/Atlanta Medical Center. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Jane Arnold, MSA, MA, OTR/L
Vice President of Operations
UnityPoint at Home




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Session: Using Transparency of Data to Improve Communication at Your Organization

Bio: Jane Arnold is a passionate healthcare leader with over 15 years of healthcare leadership experience. She has a Master’s of Science in Administrative Studies from the University of South Dakota and a Master's of Occupational Therapy from the College of St. Catherine's-St. Paul, MN. She is currently serving as the Vice President of Operations at UnityPoint Health-Sioux City and has held several roles there including Regional Vice President of Operations for UnityPoint at Home in Sioux City, IA and Fort Dodge, IA and Director of Inpatient/Outpatient Ancillary Services. She joined as a staff Occupational Therapist after completing her fieldwork experience. She has led her homecare team to awards including 2017 Most Improved and Highest Achievement in Communication between Providers & Patients within UnityPoint Health as well as 3.2% improvement year over year. She is known for her drive and passion to deliver exceptional patient experience.

Mary Jo Assi, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, FANN
SVP, Clinical Excellence Solutions & Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Press Ganey

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Session: Common Threads: Aligning Your Workforce around the Patient Promise

Bio: ​Mary Jo Assi is responsible for leading strategies to improve the health care practice and work environment, strengthen caregiver resilience and engagement and deliver compassionate, connected care. During her 35-year career in nursing, Assi has led several groundbreaking nursing initiatives at the national level, including the creation and launch of the American Nurses Association’s Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation Grand Challenge, a social movement aimed at improving the health of the nation’s 3.6 million nurses. She holds a doctoral degree in nursing practice from George Washington University, and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Emily Babson, ​RACR
Employment Specialist
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital



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Session: Recruitment to Retention and Everything in Between

Bio: Emily Babson serves as an Employment Specialist at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is a Michigan native and she attended Central Michigan University studying Integrative Public Relations. Emily's primary focus is on Nurse recruitment, but her other great passions lie in succession planning, diversity/inclusion and developing talent pipeline initiatives. Over the last 5 years at Mary Free Bed, Emily has recruited over 200 nursing professionals, doubling their staff. She has overseen projects to reduce nursing turnover and has assisted in increase nursing engagement scores. Emily is actively involved in the West Michigan Health Care Careers Council and serves as the Healthcare Representative for MI Career Quest. When Emily is not restoring Hope and Freedom through rehabilitation she enjoys spending time with her husband and two small children.

​Ann Bailey, MBA
Senior Manager, Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Pre Conference - Developing a Successful Patient Experience Strategy: Why Tactics Alone Won’t Get You to Success

Bio: Ann Bailey is a senior managing consultant at Press Ganey, who has worked in the health care industry for more than 25 years developing expertise in clinical, operational and community health improvement. Prior to joining Press Ganey in 2016, Ann led her own health care consulting practice, partnering with health care providers to improve organizational performance through educational and idea-exchange programs for frontline staff and health care executives. Previously, she worked as Director of Commissioning for the Kensington & Chelsea Primary Care Trust of National Health Service in London. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Colby College and a master’s in business administration from Boston University.

​Andrea Barberi, ​MBA/MHA
Clinical Data Analyst
Atrium Health




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Session: Prioritizing Top Safety Risks in the Ambulatory Setting

Bio: Andrea is a Senior Clinical Data Analyst for Atrium Health's Patient Safety department. Andrea has been with Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas Healthcare System) for 6 years. Prior to joining the health care industry, Andrea was employed by United Technologies Company as a technical sales engineer before she moved into the role of Lean Associate. There, Andrea gained the knowledge and skills to breakdown complex, organizational problems and identify system actions to drive results and improve outcomes. Andrea has continually exemplified these learnings in the healthcare setting by increasing the communication of error in the ambulatory setting, as well as drive a reduction in laboratory diagnostic safety events. Andrea has a passion to build systems & tools to assist result-oriented people reach their goals and statistically see their efforts impact outcomes. 

Andrea holds a BS in Interdisciplinary Engineering & Management from Clarkson University and a Master’s degree in Business and Health Administration from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.

​Jennifer Barlow, ​MPH, RN
Nursing Unit Director
Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital




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Session: Creating Collaboration: The Hospitalist-Steered Multidisciplinary Partnership

Bio: Jennifer Barlow serves as the nursing Unit Director for the acute care units that specialize in Neurovascular/Stroke/GI issues at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Jennifer was a bedside nurse on the GI unit for 7 years before obtaining her Master’s in Public Health and moving from Emory University clinical nursing education to Emory Healthcare nursing leadership. Jennifer has witnessed firsthand the patient confusion that results from health care communication gaps. The collaborative multi-disciplinary rounding approach for the patients being covered by hospitalist has strengthened the patient’s confidence in having a team that is working together in get them better. Jennifer works with nurses and doctors in the collaborative team to ensure that the model remains effective keeping with the patient/family centered focus and improving with communication between those involved in the patient’s care.

​Kellie Barr, ​BSN, RN
Patient Experience Manager
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore




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Session: Improving Communication with Nurses through the Compassionate Connected Care Model

Bio: Kellie Barr currently serves as Patient Experience Manager for Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. In this role, she is responsible for leading and supporting patient experience planning and improvement initiatives. She functions as a positive change agent; providing guidance to Nursing Leadership and staff as an internal consultant.

Kellie is a Registered Nurse with nearly 2 decades of healthcare experience. She is passionate about patient and family centered care. She successfully partnered with Nursing Leadership to implement best practices and improvement initiatives like Compassionate Connected Care which led to Sinai being recognized by Press Ganey as among the top 30% of improvers for FY 2017.

Prior to Sinai Hospital, Kellie served as Practice Administrator for 11 years for a local FQHC and non-profit community health center. As the Practice Administrator Kellie was not only responsible for daily operations and fiscal management, but patient satisfaction as well. She successfully managed the transition into acquiring Patient Centered Medical Home status with NCQA and introducing best practices to improve patient satisfaction.

Kellie earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Coppin State University.

​Lois Bentler-Lampe, ​MS, RN-BC
Chief Nursing Officer / Vice President, Clinical Operations
OSF Healthcare – Home Care



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Session: Culture as a Catalyst for Improving Workforce Commitment

Bio: Lois has a clinical nursing background in medical-surgical, pediatrics, emergency, home health and wellness as well as faculty in a baccalaureate nursing program. She has held many leadership roles within OSF Healthcare: her current role of Chief Nursing Officer for Home Care, Interim CNO for the System, Director of Education for the System, and Director of Professional Development for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. 

Lois has facilitated culture change leading to achievement of employee engagement scores within Home Care, which includes approximately 700 employees, of the 95th and 96th percentile rank in 2016 and 2017 respectively. She is passionate about leading people to provide great service to those they come in contact with – both patients, families and co-workers - and has presented at many national conferences.

Jonathan Berry, MD,FACP, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI
Interventional Cardiologist, Cone Health Medical Group HeartCare; Member, Cone Health Medical Staff, The Moses
H. Cone Memorial Hospital
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Session: Achieving Top Decile Physician Engagement

Bio: Dr. Jonathan Berry has practiced interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular medicine in central North Carolina for more than 25 years. His areas of interest include interventional cardiology, invasive and non-invasive peripheral vascular medicine, critical limb ischemia, carotid stenting and heart disease in women. Dr. Berry practices with Cone Health Medical Group HeartCare. He holds a medical degree from the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He completed residency at Duke University - Dept of Medicine, and fellowships at both Duke University - Dept of Cardiology and University of Michigan Hospitals. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Berry is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology.  He is a clinical professor of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. 

Nancy Billington, RN, MSN-L
Administrative Director of Patient Care Services and Perioperative
Valley View Hospital



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Session: Organizational Culture: Reinvigorating and Sustaining Your Safety Coaches

Bio: Nancy Billington RN, MSN-L has been in her nursing career for 29 years. She was a teacher for 2 years prior to returning to nursing school. Nancy was born and raised in Montana. Her career has taken her to Utah, Tennessee and Colorado. Nancy is well versed in leadership through excellence and an engaged transformational, servant leader. She is diverse in clinical experiences and successful in process improvement, program development & relationship building with valuable partners that support growth efforts.

Karen Birmingham, PharmD
Patient Safety Officer
Kaiser Permanente




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Session: High Reliability Training: Moving Clinical and Non-Clinical Staff from Knowledge to Habit Formation

Bio: Karen Birmingham received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1999. During pharmacy school, she also worked as a research specialist in pulmonary medicine, investigating the effects of heparin and other anti-thrombotics on pleural mesothelial cells. After two years of critical care training as a pharmacy resident, Karen joined Northeast Georgia Health System in 2001 as a critical care clinical pharmacist and helped launch their new cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology programs. In 2006, she moved to Seattle and took a position as a clinical pharmacy coordinator with Group Health. Karen became a pharmacy manager in 2009 and then managed the pharmacy infusion program and medication safety until 2017. In March 2017, Group Health was acquired by Kaiser Permanente. In July of that same year, Karen was given the opportunity to assume the role of Patient Safety Officer at Kaiser Permanente Washington and currently leads the safety team.

​Charles Bissell, ​MD
Section Chief, Department of Surgery (Western Region)
Carilion Clinic



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Session: Including Patients in Decision Making

Bio: Dr. Charles Bissell is a midwest native who completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio while playing Division III tennis.  He went on to attend medical school at the University of Michigan on a Navy Health Professions Scholarship.  After receiving his medical degree, Dr. Bissell finished surgery residency at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, CA and a fellowship in laparoendoscopic surgery at the University of Texas - Houston Health Science Center. He also completed Navy Flight Surgery training in Pensacola, FL.

Dr. Bissell's military service earned him naval commendation medals and included deployments in two Persian Gulf wars. He was the flight surgeon for Carrier Air Wing Five on the USS Independence home ported in Japan and served as the solo surgeon at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Keflavik, Iceland from 1998 - 99. 

Dr. Bissell specializes in advanced laparoscopic surgery. He was head of the Division of Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery at Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA before joining Carilion Clinic in Christiansburg, VA in 2003. In addition to being the Section Chief of Surgery (Western Region), he is the Medical Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery and Associate Medical Director for Quality and Patient Safety. Dr. Bissell's other leadership positions include past Medical Staff president at Carilion New River Valley Center (CNRVMC) and he is currently serving on the hospital's Board of Trustees. He finds professional fulfillment in quality and continuous improvement efforts. He has been awarded "Best Bedside Manner" several times by a regional health publication.

Dr. Bissell is an assistant professor for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as well as for the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM). 
In his free time, Dr. Bissell enjoys spending time with his wife and four children.  They are a physically active family who enjoy snow and water skiing, soccer, and time on the lake.  He has coached many soccer teams over the years and now watches from the bleachers as his children have advanced to travel soccer and playing at the Division I college level.

Brian Brasser, MSA, BSN, RN, FACHE
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Spectrum Health Delivery System

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Session:  Transforming Patient Centric Care by Inspiring Leadership at Every Level Bio: Brian joined Spectrum Health in 1990, working summers and weekends in the shipping and receiving department while completing a Bachelor of Science in nursing at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating, Brian was a nurse and nurse leader in the cardiovascular services department at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital. In 2004, Brian transferred to Spectrum Health Kelsey Hospital, where he assumed the role of chief operating officer. In 2007, he was named chief nursing officer of Spectrum Health United and Kelsey hospitals and served as president from 2013 until he joined the Nexus leadership team in 2016. He was appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer of Spectrum Health Delivery System in 2017.

He earned his Master of Science in administration at Central Michigan University. In 2014, Brian was named a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

​Vikki Bridgford, ​​RN
Clinical Manager
UnityPoint Health at Home




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Session: Using Transparency of Data to Improve Communication at Your Organization

Bio: Vikki Bridgford went to high school at Le Mars Community School in Le Mars, Iowa.  She graduated from St. Joseph Mercy School of Nursing in Sioux City, Iowa with her Diploma in June of 1985.  In August of 2012 she obtained her BSN at Allen College in Waterloo, Iowa.

After becoming an RN she has worked in multiple positions in critical care as a staff nurse.  A nurse manager in Post Critical Care, Acute Rehab, and Orthopedics.  She obtained her Accreditation in Rehab Nursing while she was manager in that unit.  Currently for the last four years she has worked as a Clinical Manager in Home Care managing Skilled Nursing, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, Social Worker and Home Health Aides.  She has moved the Quality scores to a 4.5-5 Star rating and her Press Ganey Scores continue to climb.  She has worked for over 32 years for UnityPoint Health and enjoys what she is doing

​Nell Buhlman, MBA
Chief Strategy Officer
Press Ganey




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Session: Integrated Analytics to Identify Transformation Priorities

Bio: Nell joined Press Ganey in 2010. As Press Ganey’s Chief Strategy Officer, Nell oversees Corporate Strategy and Product Management in addition to the Research & Analytics function. The company’s clinical products business unit, which comprises data collection, reporting and analysis tools that enable clients to measure, assess, and improve quality of care, as well as meet a broad range of reporting mandates. This suite of solutions includes the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®), Clinical Quality eMeasures, and patient reported outcome measures. Nell served in a lead role on the product team that created Press Ganey’s highly acclaimed Value-based Purchasing (VBP) Calculator, which is used by hundreds of hospitals throughout the U.S. 

Nell is a sought-after speaker, frequently lecturing to industry audiences on topics including differentiating practices of top performing hospitals, the relationship between nursing practice and outcomes, patient experience, and strategies for success under payment reform.

Prior to Press Ganey, Nell spent 16 years at the Quality Indicator Project, a leading provider of quality measures reporting and consulting services. At the QI Project, Nell was vice president for business development, overseeing marketing, communications and strategic partnerships. Nell started her career at The Advisory Board Company, a Washington DC-based healthcare management consulting firm. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College and an MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

​Bill Britton, Operational Vice President, Finance
Delaware Valley Nemours

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Session: Patient Responsibility: Patient Centered Process Improvement in the Revenue Cycle

Bio: Details Coming Soon

​Kerry Butler, PharmD, MBA 
Consultant
Press Ganey




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Session: High Reliability Institute : Next-Generation Interventions for Safety and Reliability

Bio: Kerry Butler is a Consultant with HPI. Kerry began his career as a clinical pharmacist, specializing in critical care and metabolic support, and eventually became the Quality and Medication Safety Officer at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital, a large tertiary care community hospital located in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he developed expertise in the development, deployment, and implementation of comprehensive culture change, including diagnostic assessment, intervention and building accountability systems. These systems were later deployed throughout Ascension Health as part of its Call to Action, Healthcare That Is Safe via Healing Without Harm. During that time, Kerry and his teams received awards and recognition for several years by Joint Commission, Ascension Health, and Saint Thomas Health Services for exceptional performance in patient safety.

Following a passion for learning from the best practice examples of high reliability organizations across multiple industries, Kerry became a Senior Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and served as a Team Leader and Scorebook Editor for the program. Kerry holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences and a Master of Business Administration from the Jack C. Massey College of Business at Belmont University.

Karen Byrnes, MSN, RN, CPXP
Director of Patient Experience
Dignity Health




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Session: Safety and Patient Experience: High Reliability Practices in Pursuit of Integrated Excellence

Bio: Following years of bedside nursing, Karen Byrnes has directed the patient experience for the past 9 years. She became involved with PHI high reliability work in 2016, as one of the facilitators of 4 hour sessions to all employees. As Dignity Health continues its journey towards high reliability, and zero patient harm, expansion of its vision now includes patient and employee experience in its high reliability work.

Joseph Cabral, ​​​MS
Chief Human Resources Officer & President of Workforce Solutions
Press Ganey


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Session: Common Threads: Aligning Your Workforce around the Patient Promise

Bio: Joseph Cabral is the chief human resources officer and president of workforce solutions at Press Ganey, a position to which he brings significant experience driving cultural transformation and caregiver engagement to support Press Ganey’s broad client base.

Most recently, Joe was chief human resources officer at Partners HealthCare, one of the largest diversified health care service organizations in the United States. With more than 20 years of experience developing and executing strategies that enhance cultural and organizational change, Joe has spent more than a decade driving business objectives, vision and values forward in all aspects of talent management and human resources in order to achieve the organization’s goals. Prior to Partners HealthCare, Joe served as chief human resources officer at Cleveland Clinic and at Northwell Health, and he has held key HR leadership roles at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Joe holds an MS degree in quality systems management, has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts and has served as a Baldrige Examiner as well as on New York’s Regional Economic Development Council. He has been cited by Time, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes and other industry publications for his expertise in human resources best practices, and in 2014 he received the CHRO of the Year Award from HRO Today.

​​Chaise Camp, MBA, MA, MS, MA
Executive Director
Nebraska Medicine




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Session: Using an Innovation Mindset to Create Best Practices and Impact Patient Experience

Bio: Chaise Camp is the Executive Director of Patient Experience at Nebraska Medicine. A social scientist by background, Chaise invested 14 years in post-graduate studies of human behavior and decision-making and has obtained 4 Masters' degrees along the way in clinical psychology, political science, international affairs, and business. He has taught at Indiana University and the University of Kentucky. 

Chaise has spent the last 10 years working exclusively to improve the experience for patients and care staff. He is the creator of "Control Your Day" and "Enjoy Your Day"--programs that have consistently achieved top-decile rates of improvement in patient satisfaction.

Brian Carlson
Chief Patient Experience Officer
Vanderbilt University Medical Center



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Session: Finding the Patient Voice During Times of Disruptive Change

Bio: Brian Carlson currently serves as the Senior Director of Patient Experience for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Mr. Carlson joined Vanderbilt in 2007 as the Administrator for the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, he was the CEO/COO of a multispecialty physician group practice in Western New York. Mr. Carlson began his professional career at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation in Chicago. In his current role, Mr. Carlson oversees and directs the strategic and operational components of the organizations Patient Experience program and VUMC’s Service pillar.

​Jeremy Carr, ​MBA
Patient Experience Advisor
Nebraska Medicine




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Session: Using an Innovation Mindset to Create Best Practices and Impact Patient Experience

Bio: Jeremy Carr is a Patient Experience Advisor working with the Primary Care clinics at Nebraska Medicine, and he has been with the organization since 2016. He has been working in the field of Patient Experience since 2004, and his passion for this work comes from the confluence of his professional experiences and his personal experiences as a caregiver for his chronically ill wife. His goal is to empower providers and staff to make authentic connections and build trust with patients that have been impacted by illness. Jeremy obtained his BA from Emory University in 2003 and his MBA from University of Nebraska Omaha in 2016.

Jason Chang, ​​​M​BA
Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer
The Queen’s Medical Center



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Session: Reaching Organizational Goals by Breaking Free from Endless Tactics

Bio: Jason is the Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer of the Queen's Health Systems, overseeing hospital and health care operations. Prior to Hawaii, he worked for Universal Health Services, serving as the CEO of McAllen Heart Hospital and McAllen Medical Center and COO of Edinburg Regional Medical Center located in southern Texas.

Jason has over 13 years of experience in executive administration working in both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals based around California and Texas. Throughout his career, he has been driven by a passion for improving access to care, improving systems of care and aligning health care with the patient's experience.

Ingrid Cheslek, ​​​M​PA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Clinical Operations Officer Chief Nursing Officer
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital

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Session: Recruitment to Retention and Everything in Between

Bio: Most recently serving as the Chief Clinical Operations Officer and Chief Nursing Officer at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ingrid has been involved in healthcare for over 35 years with 15 years in executive leadership. Combining her nursing experience with executive leadership in clinical operations, Ingrid has been able to provide leadership that is focused on relationships, execution and operational efficiency. Ingrid has been a national speaker for the past 20 years and is Nursing Executive Advanced - Board Certified.

Calvin Chou, ​​​MD, PhD
Vice President, External Education
Academy of Communication in Healthcare


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Session: ​Workshop - Improving Physician Communication: Strategies to Build a Relationship-Centered Culture

Bio: Calvin Chou, MD, PhD is Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, and staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in San Francisco. As Vice President for External Education for the Academy of Communication in Healthcare, he is recognized internationally for his work to enhance communication between patients and physicians. He has delivered communication skills curricula for providers at health systems across the country, including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Stanford, NewYork Presbyterian, and Texas Children's Hospital. 

He is co-editor of the book Communication Rx: Transforming Healthcare Through Relationship-Centered Communication.

Craig Clapper, ​​​​PE, CMQ/OE
Partner, Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Virtuous Cycle of Safety: A Focus on Safety Drives Outcomes in Quality, Experience, Engagement, & Efficiency

Bio: Before he started with Press Ganey, Craig was a founding Partner and the Chief Knowledge Officer of HPI. Craig has over 25 years of experience improving reliability in nuclear power, transportation, manufacturing, and health care. He specializes in cause analysis (including nuclear power events and component failures, commercial aviation components, and the Texas A&M bonfire structure collapse), reliability improvement (including Feed Water & Main Turbine systems in nuclear power, manufacturing at Baker Hughes, and chemotherapy processes at St Jude’s Children’s Hospital), and safety culture improvements (for Duke Energy, US Department of Energy, ABB, Westinghouse, Framatome ANP, Sentara Healthcare, and others). He now is the lead consultant on several safety culture engagements for health care systems. 

Prior to forming HPI, Craig was the Chief Operating Officer of Performance Improvement International, Chief Engineer for Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station and Systems Engineering Manager for Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station. He is a registered professional engineer in Arizona, has a Master in Business Administration, and is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence by the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

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Session: Building Readiness for Change: An Air Force Medical Services High Reliability Panel Discussion

Bio: Col Clark executes HQ/USAF SG's Trusted Care strategic vision across the AFMS for 43K Amn w/ $6.1B budget. She oversees implementation of Trusted Care across 11 MAJCOMS & 76 MTFs and integrates/synchronizes efforts with other SG strategic initiatives. In coordination with other SMEs, oversees execution of Trusted Care training and serves as advisor and mentor for MAJCOM SGs, MTF/CCs and other staff on the implementation of high reliability safety practices, lean leadership methods, and patient engagement practices at the MTF level. Supports training and curriculum development for AFMS Airmen in reliability science, continuous process improvement, and patient engagement. Develops strategic measures to assess training completion, system-wide Serious Safety Event Rates, and utilization of reliability-based behaviors. Collaborates with SG 3/5 and clinical leaders in the development of policies and framework for standard work across the AFMS. Colonel Clark grew up in New Hampshire, and entered the Air Force in April 1998. She served as an inpatient nurse obstetrical nurse, a flight commander, and a chief nurse in major medical treatment facilities, small hospitals and deployed locations.

Jennifer Cluppert
Patient Safety Coordinator II
Atrium Health




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Session: Prioritizing Top Safety Risks in the Ambulatory Setting

Bio: Jennifer is a Patient Safety Coordinator II with Atrium Health's Patient Safety Department. She has been with Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas HealthCare System) for thirteen years. Prior to joining Atrium she was a Health Compliance Officer with South Carolina OSHA, in which she was responsible for general safety, complaint and accident investigations. In Jennifer's current role she focuses on leading the Ambulatory Cause Analysis program. She has a passion for looking at the process and creating a blame free culture. She believes a bad process will beat a good person every time. Jennifer brings 20 years of Safety experience with 11 years in the Ambulatory setting. She has held different roles within Atrium including Environmental Health and Safety Manager and Facility Safety Officer. Jennifer has a unique ability to take complex problems and break them down to actionable step, keeping end user in mind.

Jennifer has a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry with a minor in Math from College of Charleston.

Bonnie Clipper, ​​​​ DNP, RN, MA, MBA, CENP, FACHE
Vice President,  Practice and Innovation
American Nurses Association (ANA)

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Session:  Nursing Leadership Pre-Conference Meeting

Bio: Dr. Clipper is the VP, Practice & Innovation for the American Nurses Association. Prior to this role, she served as a chief nurse executive for 20 years. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse alumna and an ASU/AONE Executive Fellow in Health Innovation Leadership alumna. Bonnie is a strong advocate for bringing nurses into the innovation space and is responsible for advancing the ANA's innovative approaches to nursing practice and work environment.

Laura Cooley, ​​​​PhD
Senior Director of Education and Outreach
Academy of Communication in Healthcare


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Session: Improving Physician Communication: Strategies to Build a Relationship-Centered Culture

Bio: Laura Cooley, PhD is the Director of Education and Outreach for The Academy on Communication in Healthcare (ACH). She earned a doctorate in health communication and currently leads efforts for outreach and development to support the ACH mission by collaborating with institutions to develop and deliver customized communication skills training programs. She has presented nationally to many institutions on this topic.

Audrey Cortez, ​​​​ RN, MSN
Director of Patient Experience 
Peterson Health


 

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Session: How Do we Stay Sane Enough to Care? The Need for Caregiver Resiliency in the ED.

Bio: Audrey Cortez RN, MSN is the Director of Patient Experience at Peterson Health in Kerrville, Texas. She has over 20 years of nursing experience, most in administrative roles, including Chief Nursing Officer. Her professed passion is involving patients and family as partners in care, engaging staff to truly connect to the people they care for, and providing the best patient experience, one touch point at a time. Currently she is working to improve the culture of compassion at her organization through providing best practice-based resiliency workshops for staff and providers.

Sara Criger, ​​​​​MHA
Senior Vice President, North Region and President, Mercy Hospital
Allina Health


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Session: Advancing Our Commitment to Care: Implementing a Service Training & Sustainability Program at Your Organization

Bio: Sara is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years in health care leadership, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration. Her first role in health care was as a certified medical assistant in a large multi specialty private physician practice, where she worked while attending college. She credits the experiences of serving patients directly and working as a frontline care giver along side of others as the single largest influence on her own commitment to care and serve care team members as a leader every day. Recognized for her passion to lead and improve care and experience for patients, staff and providers, Sara moved into leadership in the physician practice setting, and eventually into hospital leadership, first as Vice President of Ambulatory Services University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, and then as President/CEO of two prominent twin cities hospitals prior to joining Allina Health in 2012.

Sara currently serves as Sr. Vice President of Operations and President, Mercy Hospital, a 450 tertiary hospital in the twin cities north metro.  She also serves as the executive sponsor for hospital patient experience and as the executive sponsor supporting the Mental Health and Addiction Clinical Service Line for Allina Health.  Her determination to support "Advancing Our Commitment to Care" curriculum increased significantly after a devastating 7 week nurses strike across Allina twin cities metro hospitals in the fall of 2016. Healing was needed for everyone and this was the perfect forum to begin that journey.

Cassandra Cuesta, MHA, CPXP
Senior Manager of Patient Experience
Temple University Hospital



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Session: Journey to Engagement: Strategies to Improve Patient and Staff Experience

Bio: Cassandra Cuesta, MHA, CPXP, Senior Manager, Patient Experience, Temple University Hospital (TUH) directs the Office of Patient Experience which consists of 20 FTEs and 100 At Your Service Volunteer Interns from Temple University. In her role, Ms. Cuesta serves as an internal consultant to inpatient and outpatient areas of TUH by analyzing patient satisfaction data trends and providing industry best practices to her multidisciplinary teams. These teams are service line driven and focus on enhancing the patient experience throughout the continuum of care. Ms. Cuesta is a key resource for TUH’s Magnet journey and works closely with Nursing Leadership to educate nursing staff about patient experience, patient satisfaction and CAHPS. Within the Office of Patient Experience, Ms. Cuesta’s attention has been on improving employee engagement and developing customer service standards. In this past fiscal year, Ms. Cuesta became the leader educator for a customer service and empathy training program that she rolled out across the Temple Health System. Ms. Cuesta leads the TUH Patient Experience Committee; a multidisciplinary committee comprised of TUH senior leadership including physicians, nursing, clinical and non-clinical staff. Ms. Cuesta is an active member of the Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Committee, the TUHS Patient Value Council, and participates in leadership rounds with TUH Senior Leadership. Ms. Cuesta has been a presenter at the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Conference, Press Ganey Regional Conferences, Healthcare Improvement Foundation and Vizient Clinical Connections Summit. Outside of work, Ms. Cuesta is an active member of the Delaware Valley Chapter of ACHE, involved in alumni relations with the University of Scranton, enjoys traveling and spending time with her Chihuahua, Valentino.

Christine Cunningham, ​​​​​​MBA, CPXP
Administrative Director, Office of Patient Experience
Stanford Children's Health


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Session: Nurse Leader Rounding: Positive Impact on Patient Loyalty

Bio: Christine Cunningham (MBA, CPXP) is currently Administrative Director for the Office of Patient Experience at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford-Stanford Children’s Health. As a leader, Cunningham develops and implements strategies designed to promote the organization's evolution towards a more patient and family-centered culture, while maintaining focus on the team and staff experience. She is committed to ensuring an extraordinary human experience, this includes patients, families, caregivers, and all team members.

Notable accomplishments include:

Planning and visioning of the recent opening of the hospital expansion at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The hospital expansion added 521,000 square feet to the hospital campus as they transitioned from shared to single private rooms for pediatric units and is now the west coast’s first LEED Platinum children’s hospital.
Collaborator, contributor to the Integrated Strategic Planning Committee for Stanford Medicine 2025 Vision. 

Cunningham has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare field as Vice President of Marketing, Customer Service and Business Development for various medical device companies. She’s devoted her career to women and children’s health and she continues to be a strong advocate in this field. 

Cunningham is on the advisory board for the Next Generation Patient Experience Committee, a reviewer for the Journal of Patient Experience and is asked to present at national conferences. As part of the inaugural Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) class, Cunningham is among other leaders who influence the systems, operations, and behaviors that cultivate consistently positive experiences.

Nancy Curdy, ​​​​MSN, MS, RN, CPHQ, CPPs
Director of Patient Safety
Piedmont Healthcare



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Session: How to Give Your Safety Coaching Program More Muscle

Bio: Nancy is celebrating her 40th year as a nurse, with extensive clinical background in ICU. She served 16 years at the bedside and 11 years as a certified Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist and Adult Nurse Practitioner.

She then began work with Quality and Patient Safety, achieving certification in both, and eventually becoming Director of Patient Safety at several healthcare systems. Currently her work involves facilitating teams to implement the system patient safety program, Always Safe, at each of the 11 hospitals in the system. The system has appreciated at reduction in SSER of 84% over the past 2 years.

Chrissy Daniels, ​​​​​MS
Partner, ​Medical Practice Solutions
Press Ganey



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Sessions: Workshop - The Sharp Point of Health Care Consumerism / Principles to Transform Medical Practice

Bio: Chrissy Daniels is a national thought leader in patient experience and health care value. She joined Press Ganey in August, 2017 and brings to her role of consulting partner more than 20 years of expertise in advancing the patient experience and building an engaging and collaborative culture. She is also widely recognized for her pioneering work in the areas of consumerism and physician performance data transparency. 

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Chrissy was Director of Strategic Initiatives at University of Utah Health Care, responsible for teaching and coaching physicians, leaders and staff on the importance of patient experience as a measure of quality. In this role, she was also responsible for designing the University of Utah Health Care’s online physician review process, making the system the first in the country to electronically survey its patients and post the results publicly online. In addition, Chrissy worked closely with hospital, physician and executive leadership to drive culture change around improving patient experience and value in every encounter across the system. This work resulted in system-wide initiatives targeting leadership and team development, communication, and motivation which evolved into a model for cultural transformation.

James Demetriades, ​​​​​MBA
Vice President of Operations
Penn Medicine Princeton Health




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Session: Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Building a Culture of Excellence

Bio: James G. Demetriades, MBA, is Vice President, Operations, of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. As a member of the Princeton Health Senior Management team, Mr. Demetriades is responsible for surgical services, including Pre-admission Testing, Admitting, the ORs, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Anesthesia, the Post-anesthesia Care Unit, Endoscopy, Cystoscopy, Pain Management and all surgical service lines; the Interventional Suite, which includes Interventional Radiology, the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, and Vascular Services; Pharmacy Services, Laboratory and Pathology Services, Radiology and Diagnostics and Edward and Marie Mathews Center for Cancer Services; and the Princeton Medical Center Breast Health Center.

Mr. Demetriades rejoined Princeton Health (formerly Princeton HealthCare System) in his current position in 2010, after serving as Vice President for Trauma and Surgical Services at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure at Reading, Mr. Demetriades worked for six years at Princeton Health, progressing from Manager of Contract Management, to Administrative Director of the former University Medical Center at Princeton Surgical Center, to Executive Director of Surgical Services.

He came to Princeton Health from HealthSouth, where he served as Regional Director, Commercial Operations and Managed Care. Mr. Demetriades began his career in healthcare with an administrative residency at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, Pa.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Demetriades earned a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration and was valedictorian of Scranton’s Panuska College of Professional Studies. He earned his MBA from the Fox School of Business at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Mr. Demetriades is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

​Gia DeMichele, ​​​​​MA
Program Manager, Culture of Safety
Dignity Health – Chandler Regional & Mercy Gilbert Medical Centers

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Session: Safety and Patient Experience: High Reliability Practices in Pursuit of Integrated Excellence

Bio: Gia DeMichele has had a passion for safety and high reliability since childhood. She studied and received her BS in psychology from Davidson College, where she was first introduced to the formal study of high reliability and organizational change. From this time she was inspired to deepen her knowledge in the field, pursuing her Masters (achieved) and PhD (in-progress) in Organizational Behavior and Change Management. She has worked with Dignity Health for three years and has spent the majority of this time leading the work to become a high reliability organization at two of Dignity Health’s hospitals in Arizona.

​James Demopoulos, ​​​​​MHA
Senior Vice President / Chief Operating Officer
Lehigh Valley Physician Group



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Session: Solving for Access by Using the Voice of the Patient and Lean Approaches

Bio: James "Jim" Demopoulos, MHA, is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Lehigh Valley Physician Group .

Jim has over 30 years of experience in group practice leadership roles within some of the largest and most well respected health care systems in the Northeast. Jim's tenure includes 20 years in group practice roles within the NYC Metropolitan Area at NYU Medical Center, The North Shore-LIJ Health System (now Northwell) and The State University of New York Health System; as well as leadership roles for the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and its Johns Hopkins affiliated programs and as the National Physician Service Line Leader for the Studer Group. Jim's experience includes leading large group practices within large complex health systems and has included overall operations leadership, ACO/PCMH and other Population Health Initiatives, strategic and business development, national consulting, Epic implementation and optimization, and leading patient experience, engagement and access initiatives.

​Christ​ina Dempsey, ​​​​​​MSN, CNOR, CENP, FAAN
President, Clinical Excellence Solutions and Chief Nursing Officer
Press Ganey

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Session: Strategies to Foster RN Resilience & Reduce Burnout

Bio: Christina (Christy) Dempsey is the Chief Nursing Officer for Press Ganey Associates, Inc. and is responsible for providing clinical guidance to help clients transform the patient and caregiver experience with Compassionate Connected Care ™. Christy is a registered nurse with over three decades of healthcare experience regularly speaking and publishing nationally and internationally on nursing, perioperative and emergency services management, medical practice, supply chain and materials management, and physician/hospital collaboration. She serves as faculty for the Missouri State University Dept. of Nursing and holds master’s degrees in both business and nursing and certifications in both perioperative nursing and executive nursing practice. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Her book, The Antidote to Suffering: How Compassionate Connected Care Can Improve Safety, Quality, and Experience, was released on November 3, 2017.

Thomas "Dusty" Deringer, ​​​​​​PhD, MS
Vice President of Patient Experience
Compass One Healthcare


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Session: Support Services Workers: The Unsung Heroes in Patient Experience

Bio: Dusty Deringer serves as Vice President of Patient Experience at Crothall Healthcare, responsible for leading patient experience strategy, operations and outcomes. With more than a decade of executive experience in hospital operations in South Carolina, Wisconsin and Missouri, he is an expert in service excellence and patient access. Deringer holds a master’s degree from Missouri State University and is a doctoral candidate at The Chicago School.

​Dhaval Desai, ​​​​​​MD
Director of Hospital Medicine
Emory Healthcare / Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital



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Session: Creating Collaboration: The Hospitalist-Steered Multidisciplinary Partnership

Bio: Dhaval Desai was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and completed his undergraduate studies at Emory University. He completed medical school at American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, performed his clinical years of Medical School in New York City, and had the opportunity to rotate through various different community hospitals. He completed his residency at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio in combined Internal Medicine & Pediatrics and became Board Certified in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics in 2012. After briefly working in Ohio, he joined Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital in 2012 as a Hospitalist and serves currently as the Director of Hospital Medicine.  Dhaval also works at CHOA several times per year as a Pediatric Hospitalist.

Nikole DeVries, ​​​​​​​MSN, RN, CPHQ
Director of Performance Improvement & Patient Engagement
Southwest Healthcare System


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Session: Patient Experience: Making Performance Improvement more Meaningful through Cultural Transformation

Bio: Nikole DeVries currently serves as the Director of Performance Improvement and Patient Engagement for Southwest Healthcare System; a 250 bed, two hospital system located in Southern California. Nikole has a true passion for performance improvement and believes that the key to optimal patient outcomes is successful engagement of employees and patients. Nikole is a registered nurse and Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in Nursing and Healthcare Education from the University of Phoenix.

Rob Douglass, ​​​​​​​M​NE
​Consultant
Press Ganey


 

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Session:  High Reliability Institute: Leading for a Safe and Reliable Culture

Bio: Rob Douglass came to Press Ganey from the FirstEnergy Corporation where he held various roles in the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and Electrical Generating Fleet from 2008 - 2016. Rob’s roles at FirstEnergy ranged from acting Director for Safety and Human Performance to project manager, team leader and functional area manager in Safety, Human Performance and Work Management. Rob’s leadership and improved use of human performance and safety techniques led to millions of dollars in cost reduction and achieving the best safety performance in FirstEnergy history in 2015.

Prior to FirstEnergy, Rob served in the U.S. Navy from 1987 - 2007, culminating in command of the fast attack nuclear submarine USS ALBUQUERQUE (SSN-706). ALBUQUERQUE received multiple awards for tactical and nuclear excellence, plus highly successful execution of global operations during two deployments and was the top submarine in the Atlantic Fleet in 2006.

Rob earned a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor following a bachelor’s degree in Marine Engineering from the United States Naval Academy.

​​Chevaunne Edwards, ​MPH, ​CPHQ, LSSGB
Lead Patient Experience Data Analyst
Johns Hopkins Health System


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Session: Implementing a 10-Question Survey: Dos and Don’ts and Strategy Discussion

Bio: Chevaunne Edwards is the Lead Patient Experience Data Analyst for the Johns Hopkins Health System, where she works with multidisciplinary teams to help them understand and improve the experience of their patients. 

Chevaunne believes that there are many reasons for improving patient experience, but the most important is that it holds intrinsic value to patients and families and therefore is an important outcome in its own right. She has combined her love of survey design with her statistical training to help patients tell their stories and express their needs using data. 

Chevaunne holds a MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Marie Elivert, ​​​​​​​RN, BSN, MPA
Chief Experience Officer
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens




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Session: Crafting a Successful Patient and Family Experience: Patient Experience Is the Brand

Bio: Since 2007, she has assumed the role of Senior Associate Executive Director at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens. In collaboration with Deputy Executive Director for Patient Care Services/Nursing she ensured smooth operations within nursing, Respiratory Care, Care Management, Patient Relations and Pastoral Care. She has fostered a culture of patient/family centered care in NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens for continuous improvement of patient experience and was appointed Chief Experience Officer in 2013. During the past three years, she has assessed several issues that have inhibited patient experience and converted them into actionable behaviors.

Her past experience includes director of critical care for at Franklin Hospital/Northwell, Chief Nurses at North General Hospital and Director of Quality at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Hospital. These past experiences and a love for learning have shaped her leadership abilities.

She earned her Master’s in Public Administration at Long Island University, Brentwood, NY and her Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Hunter College, New York NY. She has a certification in Bioethics completed in 2009, and is recipient of the award of the Director. She completed a Fellowship with America’s Essential Hospitals in 2013 and a fellowship in Leading High Performing Organizations in 2016.

Her expertise is in helping organizations to create a work environment that supports human development, team building, collaborative practice, quality, safety and patient experience.

Kari Engholm, MHA
Sr. Director, Dental Care Delivery – Interim
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the North West


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Session: Integrated Teams Walk the Patients’ Journey for Access Improvement

Bio: Kari joined Kaiser Permanente in 2002 and was promoted to Director of Operations in October, 2012, and is currently serving as Interim Senior Director of Dental Care Delivery. Prior to that she was a one of two Operations Managers overseeing the program, and had been a Dental Office Manager.

Kari brings more than 16 years of operations experience to the Dental Program, where she uses her training in process improvement theory and techniques to support the Dental managers in their co-leadership role with the Unit Based Teams. She has also been instrumental in supporting and applying performance management techniques to reach program performance targets.  In 2017 she became a certified lean six sigma green belt.

Kari has a bachelor's in Business Administration and a master's in Healthcare Administration.

Eileen Esposito, ​​​​​​​​DNP, MPA,
RN-BC, CPHQ
Vice President of Ambulatory Clinical Practice & Quality
Catholic Health Services of Long Island (CHSLI)

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Session: Applying Safety Strategies to the Ambulatory Physician Environment

Bio: Eileen Esposito is VP of Ambulatory Clinical Practice and Quality for Catholic Health Services of Long Island, a six hospital health system with over 75 employed physician practices and an ACO composed of over 1,100 employed and IPA providers. 

In her role, Dr. Esposito focuses on strategies and solutions to bring organizational operations into alignment with newer models of care and reimbursement. This includes analysis and workflow modifications to assure success with MIPS/APM for the ACO and value-based purchasing contracts across payers, providers and sites of service.

Dr. Esposito is well-versed in health policy and helps providers to understand the paradigm shift behind the need to transition from an RVU-driven volume-based system to one where value and appropriateness drive efficient patient-centered care.

Dr. Esposito’s most recent publication explores the role of patient engagement and patient self-determined goals in creating the longitudinal plan of care, she is co-author of the Population Health Management Chapter of the Care Coordination/Transition Management textbook and she is preparing an update to the evidence-based practice and performance improvement chapter of the ambulatory core curriculum. As a published author Dr. Esposito lectures both nationally and internationally on various quality topics. She is currently an appointed member of NQF’s National Quality Partners Leadership Consortium and serves on the board of the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care.

Katie Foley
Senior Specialist, Patient Safety
Cancer Treatment Centers of America®, Comprehensive Care and Research Center, Chicago


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Session: Building a High Reliability Organization, One High Reliability Unit at a Time

Bio: Katie Foley began working in patient safety in 2003 and began more extensive training with HPI in August 2012. Within the next year her patient safety program was developed and rolled out to staff. Her organization started its journey with a 6.27 Serious Safety Event Rate (SSER) baseline declared in August 2013 and through April 2018 hold a 1.50 SSER. She presented at the Philadelphia 2015 and Chicago 2016 Safety Summits sharing their success. The move to merge High Reliability into their program began in November 2015 and the move to incorporate High Reliability Units May 2017.

Mickey Foster, ​​​​​​​​​MA
President, Moses Cone Hospital
EVP, Cone Health




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Session: Achieving Top Decile Physician Engagement

Bio: Mickey Foster was named president of The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, the flagship of Cone Health, in July 2014. He is also senior vice president at Cone Health. Foster previously served as president of Annie Penn Hospital. He has served in senior leadership roles at Maria Parham Medical Center, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Randolph Hospital and Moore Regional Hospital.

During Foster's tenure as president of Moses Cone Hospital, a 517-bed Level II Trauma Center with centers of excellence in orthopedics, neurosciences, stroke, and heart and vascular care, the hospital has achieved national prominence for medical excellence and patient safety. In 2018, Moses Cone Hospital was ranked top 5 in the nation and number 1 in North Carolina for medical excellence in overall surgical care by CareChex, an information service of Quantros, Inc. 

Foster is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves on the Board of Visitors of East Carolina University and is a member of the Guilford Technical Community College Foundation Board. He has served on the executive boards of numerous regional nonprofit organizations. Foster received his master’s degree in health services administration from Central Michigan University and his bachelor's degree from East Carolina University.

Anne-Claire France, ​​​​​​​​​PhD, CPHQ, MBB, FACHE
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Quality & Safety
Memorial Hermann Health System

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Session: Ambulatory Quality and Safety: Realizing the High Reliability Journey beyond Hospital Walls

Bio: For over twenty five years, Anne-Claire France has specialized in improving performance in health care systems using robust process improvement methodologies. A Master Black Belt Lean Six Sigma professional, she has trained and coached master black belts, black belts, and green belts, and worked with organizations to streamline processes and improve safety and quality.

At Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, she has actualized the process improvement ideas of front-line clinical staff and designed and executed many projects that decrease cost and improve patient safety, clinical outcomes, and customer and staff satisfaction. From 2007-2011, she served as a consultant for Healthcare Performance Improvement (HPI) where she worked with health care organizations in their culture of safety transformations by engaging leaders in establishing management systems and behavioral-based expectations; and by using methods derived from high-risk but reliable industries.

Anne-Claire received her master’s and PhD degrees from Vanderbilt University and completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. She is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is certified in health care quality and health care administration. She is also the recipient of two research service awards from the National Institutes of Health and, in 2018, received the American College of Healthcare Executives Regent’s award for Leadership.

Christina Freese-Decker, MHA, MSIE, FACH
Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer
Spectrum Health


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Session: Transforming Patient-Centric Care by Inspiring Leadership at Every Level

Bio: Tina Freese-Decker is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Spectrum Health, a $6 billion, nationally recognized health system that includes a medical group, health insurance and hospitals. Under Tina’s leadership, Spectrum Health has focused on building community partnerships and implementing innovative solutions to address the health needs of the community it serves. Driven by her passion and empathy to improve health and make access easier for all, she has been instrumental in transforming Spectrum Health into the expansive and integrated health system it is today.

During her 15+ years serving Spectrum Health, Tina has developed a strong reputation for her forward-thinking visionary strategies, sound business acumen, successful execution, high integrity, authenticity and collaboration. Her unique breadth and depth of experience includes leadership roles such as chief strategy officer and president of Spectrum Health Hospital Group. She is known as a change agent who has the judgment and experience to innovate and challenge the status quo, while thoughtfully focusing the organization on high-value strategies, as evidenced by her role in leading the development of MedNow, the organization’s successful virtual health solution. She is committed to leveraging the value of an integrated health system so consumers can access affordable care more conveniently and engage in monitoring their health status more easily. Tina wants consumers to think of Spectrum Health not only when sick or injured but also when they want to stay healthy and well.

Tina is known as an excellent developer of high-performing talent and teams. Her dedication to identifying, cultivating and promoting high-potential talent is evidenced in the pipeline of successful leaders throughout the organization. Tina is an industry leader and engaged member in the community actively focused on health, wellness and education opportunities. 

Tina is the proud recipient of Modern Healthcare’s 2018 Top 25 COOs, Managed Healthcare Executive’s 2018 Emerging Industry Leaders, Crain’s Detroit Business 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan in 2016, and three times as the Grand Rapids Business Journal's 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan.

Becky Fritz, ​​​​​​​​​MPH
President, Director of Department of Surgery
Carilion Clinic



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Session: Including Patients in Decision Making

Bio: Becky Fritz serves as the Director for the Department of Surgery at Carilion Clinic. Becky graduated in 1994 with a B.A. in Psychology and Women's Studies from University of Virginia. While volunteering in college with a battered women’s shelter, Becky learned about the healing power of compassionate and respectful communication and pursued a career in healthcare. While working as a health educator, Becky earned a Master of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000. She implemented her first patient experience initiative in 2004 after attending a Baptist Health Care conference and reading "If Disney Ran Your Hospital" when she embraced the importance of consistency, key messages, and patient perception. She has worked in leadership roles in large health care organizations including Novant, Atrium Health and Carilion Clinic. Her patient experience work with her team earned a PRC achievement award in 2016. Becky and her husband Rob have three daughters and a son, and enjoy traveling and hiking. They live in Blacksburg, VA.

Deborah Fulbrook, ​​​​​​​​​EdM, MHS, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer / Executive Leader, Patient Experience & Service Strategic Priority
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital

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Session: Building a Partnership between Nursing and Support Services

Bio: As an experienced senior nursing leader and recognized healthcare professional, Deborah routinely collaborates with colleagues to achieve optimum outcomes and goals. In her current position of CNO, she is the executive leader of the Patient Experience and Service strategic priority. This allows her to interface with patients and families as well as influence nurse and hospital leaders to represent the voice of the patient. In addition, she routinely coaches others and receives coaching from her colleagues in order to maintain a balanced perspective of the patient experience.

Danita Gainer
​HR Development Coordinator
UF Health Shands Hospital




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Session: Engaging Leaders at All Levels for Tier 3 Success

Bio: Danita M. Gainer is a member of the UF Health Shands Human Resource Development team. She serves as a coordinator responsible for coordinating and facilitating classes such as Leading Effective Meetings, Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator, Feedback IS a Gift!, and Hospitality Service & Standards of Behaviors for UF Health employees throughout North Central Florida.

Danita has been with Shands for over 23 years. In her career, she has learned to navigate processes, procedures, team dynamics, and project management. She is passionate about community involvement as well; having volunteered and/or led initiatives geared to support and empower, particularly, Gainesville’s women and girls. She believes the key to success in many of life’s opportunities is interpersonal communication and begins with a genuine respect for everyone’s role on the team.

She's participated in 4 years of assisting in the administration of the survey and its results. Each year has provided an opportunity to aid teams to become more structured and better able to support each other. Danita likes to have fun while getting the job done and is eager to attend and present at her first national conference!

Ryan Garvey, ​​​​​​​​​MBA, BSN, RN
Director of Women’s and Infants’ Services
Sibley Memorial Hospital



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Session: Focus on Safety and the Experience: Nursing’s Avenue to Always in Women’s and Infants’ Services

Bio: Ryan has been a Sibley family member since September 2007, where she joined the Family Center Care Unit (FCCU) as a staff nurse. Four years later Ryan became the Nurse Manager of FCCU. Currently, Ryan is the Director of Women’s and Infants’ Services. Ryan is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She received her BSN from Villanova and MBA from Marymount University.

Diane Gaylord, ​​​​​​​​​​RN, BSN, CCM
Manager of Care Management Department
Saratoga Hospital



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Session: Keeping Heart Failure Patients Engaged and at Home: Avoiding Hospital Readmissions

Bio: Diane Gaylord is the Manager in the Care Management Department at Saratoga Hospital, a 171 bed community hospital. Diane brings over 30 years of clinical expertise to her position including trauma/burn ICU, pediatric ICU, Nursing Administrative Supervisor and Emergency Department nursing. She worked as an Emergency Department care manager prior to her current position. 

Diane is an established leader on several of the hospital-based collaboratives for best practices. She has been instrumental in the development of standards of communication with community organizations. Through this communication she has improved cross-setting partnerships as well as insurance payers’ relationships which led to decreased readmissions and improved patient outcomes. She is a member of the Saratoga County Prediabetes Coalition and the hospital’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program (DSRIP). She has participated in numerous LEAN projects to improve hospital throughput and patient satisfaction. 

Diane is a 1985 graduate of Albany Medical Center School of Nursing. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the State University of New York Empire State College in 2017. She is board certified as a Certified Case Manager and holds current certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life support.

Renee Ghaheri
​​​​​​​​​Injury Prevention Specialist
Sharp HealthCare




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Session: Redefining Workforce Safety by Adopting a Patient Safety Approach

Bio: The role of Injury Prevention Specialist is not only unique to Sharp Healthcare, but to the healthcare industry in general. As the creator of a new, High Reliability Organization-inspired investigation process, Renee has seen first-hand the rewards of Sharp’s long-term commitment to workforce safety. This presentation will provide attendees with an overview of how Sharp Healthcare’s willingness to “think outside the box” has strengthened injury prevention efforts, identified program gaps and helped reduce injury rates.

​Lesli Giglio, ​​​​​​​​​​RN, MPA, CPHRM, CPPS
Vice President, Risk Management & Patient Safety Chief Privacy Officer
Catholic Health Services of Long Island
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Session: Applying Safety Strategies to the Ambulatory Physician Environment

Bio: Lesli Giglio has over 25 years of experience in the Risk Management and Patient Safety Field. She holds a certification in Risk Management as well as Patient Safety. She is presently the System Vice President for Risk Management/ Patient Safety and Chief Privacy Officer at Catholic Health Services of Long Island. Prior to this position she was the Director of Risk Management and Regulatory Affairs at St Francis Hospital. She began her career at FOJP, a Risk Management organization in NYC, working as a consultant for Mt Sinai Medical Center and Long Island Jewish Medical Center. In her current position she converted the Catholic Health System paper incidents into an electronic database, which earned her the PRI Best Safety Practice Award and was a poster presentation at the 2012 ASHRM conference. 

In 2015 she was a recipient of an ASHRM research grant titled “Will Engaging Patients and their Families, in Identifying Real Time Patient Safety Issues, through the Use of Kiosk Technology, Improve Patient Engagement and Reduce the Occurrences of Incident Reports on Two Medical/Surgical units?” 

Lesli is currently President Elect for The Association of Healthcare Risk Management of New York (AHRMNY). She has over 25 years of experience in the risk management.

​Barry Goldberg, ​​​​​​​​​​​MD, MBA, FACC, FAAP, FASE
Chief, Pediatric Cardiology – Southside Hospital
Northwell Health Physician Partners

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Session: Using Transparency to Enhance the Patient-Doctor Experience

Bio: Barry Edward Goldberg, MD, MBA, FACC, FAAP, FASE is dually board certified in Pediatric Cardiology and General Pediatrics. He is Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Southside Hospital, a member of Northwell Health, a position he has held since 2014. His areas of interest are in the noninvasive diagnosis of congenital heart disease, prevention of sudden cardiac death in children and improving the cardiac health of adolescents. 

He received his BA in Physical Chemistry from New York University, and his MD from Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. He received his MBA in Health Care Management from Hofstra University in May 2018.

He completed his residency at Cohen Children’s Medical Center (which at the time was known as Schneider Children’s Hospital) He was chosen as the 4th year Senior Chief Resident before going on to complete a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at Cohen Children’s. After fellowship he was named Attending Pediatric Cardiologist at Cohen Children’s, a position he held until 1997, when he was recruited to become Director of Pediatric Cardiology and Director of The Center for Pediatric Specialty Care at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip.

Dr. Goldberg is a member of Northwell Health Physician Partners Board of Governors and is Chair of the Physician Partners Sub-committee on Patient Experience working to improve physician - patient interactions and outcomes.

He is the three time recipient of the Northwell Health Physician Partners Patient Choice Award in 2015, 2017and again in 2018, placing among the top 5 physicians in the Medical Group in patient satisfaction (Note in 2018 the award criteria was expanded to 21 physicians).

He is the founder of the B.E.A.T program which is jointly sponsored by Southside Hospital and Gavin’s Got Heart (a 501c charity) to screen and educate high schools students about heart health and wellness. 

He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society of Echocardiography.

He is married to Karen Hendler-Goldberg, MD an ophthalmologist and lives in Plainview, NY. He has two children Jessica and Jonathan.

​Rebecca Guess, ​​​​​​​​​​​M​S
​Quality Analyst, Team Lead
Baptist Health Medical Group




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Session: Rewards and Recognition in an Era of Improvement Opportunities

Bio:  Rebecca J. Guess, MS, brings fifteen years of data analytics experience to her role as Quality Analyst, Team Lead for the Baptist Health Medical Group. As an analyst, she has oversight of the quality metrics and compensation for quality incentives, managing multiple internal consulting projects, and creating and maintaining patient experience data and reports for senior leadership. 

Prior to joining the Baptist Health Medical Group, for eight years she worked as a senior data analyst for Deyta in Louisville, KY. Deyta is a leader in healthcare satisfaction management and clinical quality improvement. Rebecca was responsible for developing a national benchmarking project, while working with specialized healthcare clients to create and develop custom metrics, surveys and research studies. Previously, she worked as a senior clinical information analyst in Clinical Informatics at Norton Healthcare. Her accomplishments included designing and implementing statistical analyses for various case mix and risk factors.

​Carole Hackett, ​​​​​​​​​​RN, BSN, ​EdM, CPLP
Senior Vice President, Human Resources/CHRO
Houston Methodist


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Session: Pathway to Unparalleled Employee Engagement

Bio: Carole Hackett serves as Senior Vice President at Houston Methodist. In her current role she leads the Human Resources and Wellness function for the 8 hospitals of the Houston Methodist System, 2 Physician Organizations, Houston Methodist Research Institute, and Houston Methodist Global. She is also the Executive Sponsor of the Center for Performing Arts Medicine. Prior to her current position, Carole was Vice President of Human Resources/Operations for Houston Methodist Hospital, Physician Organizations, Research Institute, and Houston Methodist Global along with several hospital departments. The majority of her career was at the Cleveland Clinic Health System in a variety of executive roles in Human Resources, Organizational Development, and Nursing. Carole has a strong history in developing leaders and Houston executives across many organizations, and is passionate about helping people at Methodist reach their highest potential.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bowling Green University and an EdM in Human Resources Development with specialization in Global HR Development and Instructional Technology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is certified as a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance.

​Ivanka Hanley, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MEd
Senior Education Specialist
University Health Network




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Session: Simulating High Reliability Leadership Using a Multimodal Education Approach

Bio: Ivanka Hanley is a Senior Education Specialist working within the Caring Safely team at University Health Network (UHN). Ivanka has over 7 years of experience aligned with patient safety starting as an analyst in Clinical Risk Management. Since then she has continued to expand her responsibilities and experience working as an Accreditation Specialist as well as a Patient Safety & Quality Improvement Specialist. 

Ivanka obtained her Bachelor of Science with a specialty in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa then moved to Toronto to pursue a postgraduate diploma in Wellness and Health Promotion, which resulted in an internship at UHN. In 2014, Ivanka successfully completed her Masters in Adult Education and Community Development through the University of Toronto, a goal stemming from her love of teaching.

Ivanka was successful in pursuing the role of Senior Education Specialist in November 2017 and has since been responsible for leading the Safety Coach Program across the 4 UHN hospitals. She is also heavily involved in supporting the development and implementation of High Reliability Caring Safely education for staff, physicians, leaders and learners.

​​Patricia Haresign, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MS, BSN, RN-BC
Patient Experience Nurse Specialist
Sibley Memorial Hospital


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Session: Focus on Safety and the Experience: Nursing’s Avenue to Always in Women’s and Infants’ Services

Bio: Over 40 years of experience as a Registered Nurse including roles as Nurse Leader, Education and Professional Development Nurse Specialist and as a Clinical Adjunct faculty member at Marymount University.

In the last 10 years, Mrs. Haresign’s passion has been focused on the improvement of the patient and family experience. She has been instrumental in developing strategies, best practices and communication skills for staff to support service excellence and patient and family centered care. She Is currently leading efforts to implement a practice model based on the framework of Relationship Based Care.

Mrs. Haresign is a member of the Patient and Family Advisory Council at Sibley Hospital and has successfully integrated PFAC members into housewide Quality, Safety and Patient experience Committees to ensure that we are hearing the voice of the patient.

Patricia received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia Master of Science in Organization Development (OD), Marymount University, Arlington Virginia and Post graduate certificate in Nursing Administration from Villanova University.

She is also Board Certified as a Gerontological Nurse and in Nursing Professional Development. 

Her certifications in MBTI (Myers Briggs) and EQi2.0 (Emotional Intelligence) and in Health and Wellness coaching from Georgetown University have been a great foundation for her work in building resiliency in nursing staff so they may better care for patients and their families.

​Debbie Hatmaker​​​​​​​​​​​,PhD, RN, FANN
hief Nursing Officer
ANA Enterprise

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Session: Building Readiness for Change: An Air Force Medical Services High Reliability Panel Discussion

Bio: Dr. Debbie Hatmaker, a nationally known nursing leader, is the Chief Nursing Officer of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Enterprise, which consists of the ANA membership organization representing the nation’s 4 million registered nurses; the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which promotes excellence in nursing and health care globally through credentialing programs; and the American Nurses Foundation, ANA’s charitable arm.

Dr. Hatmaker’s diverse practice experience serves her well as an advocate on behalf of patients, nurses, and the profession. After an early career in public health and maternal-child health, she was on faculty at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing for 16 years and practiced as a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) and SANE educator.

​Mackenzie Henry, ​​​​​​​​​​​​JD, MSHA
Director of Patient Care Operations
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare


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Session: Safety Starts with Me: A Hybrid Approach to Error Prevention Training

Bio: Mackenzie Henry serves as the Director of Patient Care Operations for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2008, Mackenzie has served in various leadership positions within Methodist, including system leadership of clinical service groups, including Emergency Departments, Radiology and Perinatal Services. In her current role, she is the operational lead of the safety and high reliability initiatives of MLH. Mackenzie has served as a member of the Board of Examiners for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, as well as being a recipient of the Greater Memphis Chamber Quality Cup award.

​Mary Herold, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RN, BSN
System Clinical Program Operations Manager
MedStar Health



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Session: Integrating a Systemwide Approach to Safety Event Classification® (SEC®)

Bio: Mary Herold is a Clinical Safety Program Operations Manager for MedStar Health. Mary has spent most of her career at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as a Manager for the Medical Intensive care unit and as a Risk Manager. Mary assisted with the initiation of Patient Family Advisory Council for Quality and Safety at MedStar Georgetown University hospital and continues with an active role on this council. She brings her clinical knowledge as well as risk assessment skills to this position. Mary received her BSN from George Mason University.

​Mike Heyner ​​​​​​​​​​
​Managing Engagement Advisor
Press Ganey



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Session:  Unlocking Emotional Intelligence: Practical Strategies for Building Self-Awareness

Bio: Mike Heyner is an Engagement Advisor with Press Ganey Associates. As an Engagement Advisor, Mike supports client organizations throughout the survey process and beyond. With a focus on performance improvement and effective action, Mike leverages his hospital and corporate experience to develop real world, results-driven improvement strategies. His expertise in communication, education and statistical reporting enable him to summarize and simplify data to make it both understandable and actionable. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Masters in Counselor Education from the University of Florida, Mike began his healthcare career as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Specialist.

With a focus on problem resolution and positive change, Mike would soon address problems on a larger scale as the EAP’s Director of Training & Development. He eventually started his own training and development company, which enabled him to work with companies from a variety of business sectors including education, manufacturing, bioscience and transportation. Mike also developed relationships with several national healthcare systems, one of which hired him to create, deliver and support patient loyalty and organizational development efforts across their 70 hospital network. It was in this role that Mike first developed a strong relationship with Press Ganey, serving as a primary contact for all patient, employee and physician surveying processes.

​Susan Hernandez, ​​​​​​​​​​​​ MBA, BSN, RN
Health System Chief Nurse Executive
UT Southwestern University Hospitals

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Session: Nursing Leadership Preconference Meeting

Bio: Susan Hernandez, MBA, BSN, RN currently serves as the Health System Chief Nurse Executive for UT Southwestern Medical Center, where she oversees the nursing practice for approximately 2,500 nurses throughout two University Hospitals and 58 ambulatory clinics.

Ms. Hernandez joined UT Southwestern in June 2014 as Chief Nursing Officer for University Hospitals, before assuming her current role as Health System Chief Nurse Executive in 2016. During her tenure at UT Southwestern, she has led the transition of nursing from St. Paul University Hospital to William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital and has expanded the nursing education program to enhance the quality of care across all disciplines. She also led an important external review of nursing practice by a panel of acclaimed national experts tasked with developing a plan to create a culture of nursing excellence at all sites of patient care at UT Southwestern.

Under Ms. Hernandez's leadership, UT Southwestern achieved Magnet status in 2016. Magnet principles align seamlessly with her leadership style. She is passionate about the well-being of not only our patients, but also our staff, and advocates for the voice of the nurse through all levels of the organization. Her commitment to developing future leaders and leading them to the next step in a long career of authentic leadership is evident within the organization and the community, as she serves as an Advisory Board Member for the North Texas Organization of Nurse Executives (NTONE). She is known and admired for her intellect, energy, and thoughtfulness in working with her peers and colleagues.

Susan is a native of Nashville, TN, where she built a 20-year career at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which included serving as the Chief Nursing Officer at Monroe Carell, Jr. Children's Hospital. She enjoys music and being outdoors. She is married to Edward (native Texan) and they have a puppy named Ellie. Trust, honesty and being your genuine self are super important to Susan!

Adam Higman, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​DHA
Partner, Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Workshop - A Systemic Approach to Improving Patient Access

Bio: Adam Higman brings extensive management and consulting experience to his role as Partner at Press Ganey, having worked with more than 60 hospitals and health systems ranging from critical access hospitals to large academic facilities throughout the United States. Adam joined Press Ganey in July 2017, through Soyring Consulting, where he served as an executive vice president.

In addition to leading a number of large-scale redesign projects requiring strategic planning, market analysis, facilities planning and activation and volume projection and feasibility studies, Adam has conducted assessments and overseen implementations focusing on quality, operational efficiency and growth planning for areas including clinical, diagnostic and support services; care management; and interventional services. He also has analyzed staffing, redesigned scheduling and coordinated implementation efforts with medical, clinical and support staff members; has extensive experience in vendor management and in standardization of supplies, contracts and system controls; and has led a number of model-of-care redesign projects to improve operational efficiency and lower labor costs.

Prior to his work at Soyring Consulting, Adam worked for a fullservice strategic health and science communications agency advising health systems, advocacy groups, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Adam holds a master’s degree in media management from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and a Doctor of Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).

K. Kelly Hancock, , DNP, RN, NE-BC
Executive Chief Nursing Officer, CCHS and Chief Nursing Officer
Main Campus, Cleveland Clinic


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Session:  Common Threads: Aligning Your Workforce Around the Patient.

Bio: K. Kelly Hancock is Executive Chief Nursing Officer, CCHS and Chief Nursing Officer, Main Campus. She oversees the Chief Nursing Officers at Cleveland Clinic’s ten regional hospitals and Cleveland Clinic Florida, along with currently serving as Chief Nursing Officer at Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus since July 2011. She is responsible for directing the clinical, academic and operational activities of the nursing staff throughout the health system, as well as the focus of nursing throughout the various institutes on the main campus. Over 25 years of nursing experience began at the Cleveland Clinic, where she continues to dedicate excellence, professionalism, and compassion to the nursing profession. She provides a strong administrative and clinical

Ashley Holmstrom, ​​​​​​​​​​​​DNP, MSN, RN, NE-BC
​Vice President, Clinical Nursing
Metropolitan Methodist Hospital




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Session: Creating and Sustaining Accountability and Engagement within your Organization

Bio: Dr. Ashley Holmstrom is the Vice President of Nursing at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital located in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Holmstrom believes that we can change the trajectory of patients’ lives by being transparent about growth opportunities and establishing clear expectations and effective tools to transform practice and organizational cultures. She is responsible for the financial and strategic operations, leadership development, engagement, and quality of care within the inpatient acute care and progressive care departments at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital. Dr. Holmstrom has served in various roles and leadership positions to include nurse manager and administrative director in acute care, progressive care, and rehab departments located within high performing and engaging organizations.
Ashley is a spirited alum of Baylor University, (Sic ‘Em Bears!) where she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and Walden University, where she received her Master of Science in Nursing degree, earned her Nursing Executive Certification, and received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree. Utilizing her skills and training, Ashley supported and lead teams to earn Magnet Designation, Comprehensive Stroke Designation, Joint Commission Accreditations, and the Pathway to Excellence Designation.

Dr. Holmstrom is extremely passionate about improving healthcare, holding herself and her team accountable, engaged, and committed to service excellence by sharing some of their practice outcomes at national and international conferences. Her abstract, “Using the Plan, Do, Study, Act Model to Improve IV tPA Administration Times”, and presentation, “Peer Panels as the Guardians of Culture” focus on advancing quality care and improving organizational culture. Dr. Holmstrom’s capstone project, “Improving the Care of Patients with Urinary Catheters: A Quality Improvement Project”, demonstrated how a multi-faceted evidenced-based CAUTI reduction program could significantly reduce CAUTI incidence, length of stay, and cost in an acute care setting.

​​Bonnie Jacklin, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​MSN, RN
Senior Nurse Executive Director, Office of Patient Experience
Intermountain Healthcare




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Session: Meeting the Challenge of Patient Safety and Reliability in the Outpatient Setting

Bio: Bonnie Jacklin has over 15 years of experience in Nursing Leadership. She is currently the Senior Nurse Executive Director, Office of Patient Experience at Intermountain Healthcare. With a Dyad physician partner, they share oversight responsibilities of Intermountain Healthcare's quality, safety, performance improvement, patient outcomes and patient experience. She brings a wealth of experience as a healthcare leader. She has been a Chief Nursing Officer at over five Hospitals and under her leadership, McKay-Dee Hospital was awarded both a Truven Top 100 Teaching Hospital and HealthInsight Quality Award for 5 consecutive years. In 2013, McKay-Dee Hospital was awarded the Top 100 Hospital Everest award. This award honors hospitals that have achieved both the highest current performance and the fastest, long-term improvement over five years.

She has a Master’s of Science in Nursing from Brigham Young University, and a Fellow of both the GE Health Management Academy and The Advisory Board. Bonnie has extensive knowledge of lean organizational strategies, continuous improvement methods, policy development and administration with a strong interest in Coaching. She is currently pursuing her professional Coach Certification. 

Bonnie is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the Utah Organization of Nurse Leaders, the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of Sigma Theta Tau. She is also a current member of Weber State University College of Nursing Advisory Board. She is a past Board Member of Brigham Young University College of Nursing and past Foundation Board Member of the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College.

Bonnie is a 2015 recipient of Honors for Nursing from the University of Utah, and the 2005 BYU College of Nursing Honored Alumni.

​Greg Johns, ​​​​​​​​​​​MBA
Advisor, Workforce Solutions
Press Ganey




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Session: Integrating a Comprehensive Workforce and Engagement Strategy

Bio: Greg Johns is an Advisor with Press Ganey. Greg works closely with clients to guide them throughout the survey process by providing analyses to help them meet their strategic goals and facilitate organizational change. He quickly builds trusted partnerships with his clients that enable productive conversations and tangible results. He offers expertise in survey design, statistical analysis, and action planning, and has developed and implemented solutions for organizations of all sizes.
Greg brings 25 years of consulting and facilitation experience working with organizational leaders, managers, and frontline employees to identify and address root causes of issues. Prior to joining Press Ganey, he owned a consulting firm that specialized in change management, leadership development, executive coaching and other learning and development solutions. He was also a senior manager at Accenture where he helped organizations refine business processes, implement new technology and learn new skills to adapt quickly and successfully to changing business requirements.

Greg holds a BA in Performance Management Psychology and an MBA from Florida State University. He is a Prosci change management practitioner.

Kelly Johnson, RN, PhD, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
Stanford Children's Health




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Session: Nurse Leader Rounding: Positive Impact on Patient Loyalty

Bio: Kelly M. Johnson, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, is the Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer for Stanford Children’s Health/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. Kelly Johnson has been a hospital executive and chief nursing officer for over 25 years. She has clinical experience in many roles including a family nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist. Her clinical focus was in the neurosciences, specifically working with individuals and families with traumatic spinal cord injury. Kelly holds a BSN from the University of Northern Colorado, MSN from the University of California San Francisco with specialization in Neuroscience (CNS) and Family Health (FNP), and a PhD from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, College of Nursing in Health Outcomes.

​​Dennis Jolley, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​MPH, MEd
Vice President / Chief Strategy, Communications & Marketing Officer
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare

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Session: Harnessing the Patient Voice to Strengthen Experience, Loyalty and Brand

Bio: Dennis Jolley has served as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in Saint Paul, Minnesota since December 2015. As the nation’s first hospital dedicated to serving children who have disabilities, Gillette provides specialized care to children who have complex, rare or traumatic conditions affecting the musculoskeletal and/or neurological systems, intensive rehabilitation needs and lifelong disability.

In his role at Gillette, Jolley has primary executive responsibility for the organization’s long-range strategy, business development, provider and community relations, communications, and marketing of the organization. He also serves as President of the Gillette Children’s Foundation where he provides strategic direction and oversight for the foundation’s efforts. 

Jolley has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare, including strategy, business development, communications and marketing leadership roles at University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, the Thrasher Research Fund, and the Office of the US Surgeon General. He has also served in leadership roles in multiple non-profits, professional associations and advocacy organizations. He currently serves on the board of directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Upper Midwest, Living Well Disability Services, and the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. He is also co-chair of Federal Club Council for the Twin Cities Human Rights Campaign and a member of the Twin Cities Steering Committee.

Jolley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, a Master of Public Health with an emphasis in Social Medicine and Epidemiology, and a Master of Education in Teaching and Learning Theory as well as certificates in biomedical ethics and international health. He is a recognized speaker on topics including strategic planning, aligning strategy and operational planning, business development, integrated strategic communications, marketing, branding and team development.

​Brian Kaminski, ​​​​​​​​​​​DO, CPPS
Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety
ProMedica Health System



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Session: High Reliability Education: Catering to the Diverse Needs of Physicians

Bio: Dr. Kaminski is in his fourth year of leading an initiative at ProMedica dedicated to implementing high reliability organizational standards across the system's 12 acute care facilities. Under his leadership, the rates of serious safety events decreased by approximately 15 percent from 2014 to 2015. With Dr. Kaminski operating as vice president of patient safety and quality, Promedica Toledo Hospital received a Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades in 2014. Dr. Kaminski recently became the first ProMedica leader to earn the certified professional in patient safety credential, after passing a rigorous examination on patient safety science and application. Dr. Kaminski trained at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has practiced Emergency Medicine for 21 years.

​Geralyn Karpiscak, ​​​​​​​​​​​MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Director, Patient Relations & Customer Service
Penn Medicine, Princeton Health



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Session: Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Building a Culture of Excellence

Bio: Geralyn Karpiscak is the Director of Patient Relations and Customer Service at Penn Medicine Princeton Health, located in Plainsboro, New Jersey. She has been with Princeton Health for 33 years. In her current role, Ms. Karpiscak oversees Patient and Guest Relations programs. In conjunction with the Senior Leadership team, she coordinates and project manages overarching organizational plans designed to create exceptional experiences for patients, their families and others who visit Princeton Health. She is responsible for the day to day oversight of Press Ganey data collection and reporting of patient experience data. She helps design and facilitate staff educational programming which further supports Princeton Health employees’ capabilities to create an exceptional experience for patients and families. She graduated with her BSN from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (1984). She earned her MSN in Healthcare Administration from Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. She currently resides with her husband in Millstone, N.J.

​​Wendy Kissinger
​​​​​​​​​​​​HRD Coordinator
UF Health Shands Hospital




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Session: Engaging Leaders at All Levels for Tier 3 Success

Bio: Wendy Kissinger has a long history with the University of Florida and UF Health. She graduated from UF in 1985 and spent the next four years working at UF as an HR professional and Employee Relations Manager. She transitioned to the private UF Health system, referred to at the time as Shands Healthcare, in 1989 and served as the UF Health Director of Employee Relations for nearly a decade. After experiencing a personal tragedy that caused her to re-evaluate her priorities, Wendy transitioned to a more pro-active role. It is in this role that Wendy has spent the past nineteen years coaching leaders and facilitating teambuilding workshops to help enhance engagement among staff in all areas and levels of the organization. Wendy assists teams in action planning and helps leaders improve their action planning readiness through coaching to enhance their self-awareness. Wendy’s client leaders and teams have consistently shown (often significant) improvement in their AP readiness scores and their team's overall engagement scores.
In addition to her training, coaching and consulting duties at UF Health, Wendy also works as a musician most weekends in both Gainesville and St. Augustine, playing guitar, harmonica and singing in a variety of venues.

​Joshua Kooistra, ​​​​​​​​​​​DO






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Session: Transforming Patient Centric Care by Inspiring Leadership at Every Level

Bio: Dr. Kooistra has been serving in the role as Vice President/Department Chief of the Acute Health and Continuing Care Clinical Service Lines at Spectrum Health since August of 2016. In this role, which supports the medical and surgical intensivists, trauma surgery, emergent general surgery, hospitalists, and emergency department, Dr. Kooistra has a goal for improving patient care through standardized care pathways and good communication across clinical service lines. Leveraging technology in order to personalize the health care experience and improve the coordination of care for patients is one of his key strategies. Also, he emphasizes the importance of goal-oriented conversations that align patient values and expectations with informed treatment plans leading to increase likelihood of achieving patient centered outcomes. These conversations, if transparent and forward facing, guide the care team to respect what is most important to the patient while avoiding treatments which potentially are in opposition. In addition, he believes creating an environment that allows physicians to practice efficiently at top of license will foster physician wellness. 

A Grand Rapids native, Dr. Kooistra received his undergraduate degree from Hope College followed by his medical degree from Michigan State University. He performed his internship at Metropolitan Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. Subsequently, he completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Spectrum Health/MSU serving as chief resident his last year. He has 17 years’ experience as an attending emergency physician and educator for MSU students and residents. Previously, he led the emergency department as the associated medical director and Department Chief. He enjoys mountain biking and spending time at Lake Michigan with his wife and 3 sons.

​Nicole Justus, MSN, RN
​​​​​​​​Risk Management Specialist
ProMedica Health System




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Session: An Evolving Definition of Experience: Unifying Strategy with Safety

Bio: With a background including both quality engineering and nursing, Nicole brings a unique perspective to high reliability. She has served as her system's Safety Coordinator for the past three years, recently transitioning into the Risk Management department. In safety, Nicole worked in all functional areas of high reliability, including error prevention education, safety coaches, root cause analysis, and all aspect of leadership methods. Recently, Nicole and her co-presenter Leslie Meyer, have worked with an inter-organizational team to bring together the concepts of high reliability and patient experience to create one strategic theme for the ProMedica Experience.

​Steven Kreiser, ​MBA
​​​​​​​​​​​Partner, Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Virtuous Cycle of Safety: A Focus on Safety Drives Outcomes in Quality, Experience, Engagement, & Efficiency

Bio: Steve Kreiser is a Partner with the Press Ganey Strategic Consulting Group, specializing in safety and High Reliability. Steve has more than 30 years of experience improving safety and reliability in naval operations, military and commercial aviation and health care. During his nine years at HPI, he worked with more than 100 hospitals and 1,000 outpatient facilities to improve patient safety, safety culture, leadership accountability, cause analysis and peer review. On average, his clients have achieved an 80% reduction in preventable serious safety events with associated improvements in quality outcomes, safety culture survey domains, experience of care indicators and financial savings. Additionally, he has worked with a number of academic medical institutions to improve cultural indicators while gaining a commitment to patient safety and reliability among academic medical staff faculty.

Prior to joining HPI in 2008, Steve was a naval officer and F/A-18 pilot, retiring as a Commander with 21 years of leadership and management experience. He has completed more than 3,500 flight hours and 720 carrier landings, including combat missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan. During his military career, he served in numerous positions designed to improve reliability and safety in naval aviation, serving on numerous aircraft mishap
investigation boards and human factors councils tasked with discovering root causes for aviation mishaps and associated human errors. 

Steve holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

​​Giselle Krieger, ​RN, BSN, MS (PSL), CPHRM, CPPS
​​​​​​​​​​​Senior Director, Patient Safety
CHS Patient Safety Organization, LLC


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Session: Improving Your Serious Safety Event Rate® (SSER) When Reductions Have Flatlined

Bio: Krieger holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Alabama- Huntsville where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She earned a Master’s of Science degree in Patient Safety Leadership from the University of Illinois - Chicago. Ms. Krieger has a Barton Certificate in Healthcare Risk Management from American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS).

With more than 25 years of nursing experience, Krieger joined CHS Patient Safety Organization (PSO) Corporate office in February 2014, coming from Stuart, Florida where she served as the Director of Risk Management and prior to that was the Vice President of Risk Management at Capella Healthcare. Krieger also served as the Director of Risk Management at Parkway Medical Center in Decatur, AL. Her roles also included working in case management and Quality care. Additionally, she worked for in Saudi Arabia as a charge Nurse in Emergency services. She was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing in 2008. She also served as President of the Alabama Association for Healthcare Risk Management in 2012.

​​Jonathan Landis, ​MD, FACEP, ​​​​​​​​​
Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center


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Session: Involving Nursing in the Design and Implementation of Workflow to Reduce LWBS

Bio: Dr. Landis has been with UPMC for 5 years, and is a national expert on emergency department management , process improvement and improving the patient experience in the Emergency Department.

In 2013, Dr. Landis joined ERMI as the Vice-Chairman of Emergency Medicine at UPMC Passavant with a focus on patient throughput.  He had weekly process improvement meetings with the staff to implement initiatives improving patient throughput and satisfaction.  Under Dr. Landis’ leadership, UPMC Passavant has greatly decreased the admission and discharge length of stays, significantly decreased the number of left without being seen and elopements.  His two campuses have the best patient satisfaction scores in the entire 39 hospital system.  In fiscal year 2015, UPMC Passavant ED received the Excellence Award for Emergency Department Satisfaction.  As of July 2015, Dr. Landis accepted the role of Chairman of Emergency Medicine at UPMC Passavant.  As Chairman of Emergency Medicine at UPMC Passavant, Dr. Landis has oversight responsibility for the McCandless and Cranberry Emergency Departments.  Since then, UPMC Passavant McCandless and Cranberry campus have had tremendous growth in patient volume and both campuses received the fiscal year 2016 Excellence in Patient Experience Award.  In fiscal year 2017 UPMC Passavant Cranberry received the 2017 Excellence in Patient Experience Award.

Dr. Landis received his medical degree with honors from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX and performed his Emergency Medicine residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.  He is board-certified in emergency medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a member of Medical Informatics Section and Observation Medicine Sections, and a Clinical Professor at Chatham University.  In 2010, Dr. Landis received the T-System Client Excellence Award and the National Award for Improving Quality and Efficiency in the Emergency Department and presented at a national conference in Dallas Texas.  He was also awarded the 2008 Achievement Award from the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) for Improvements in Patient Throughput and Satisfaction.

​Lucy Leclerc, ​​​​​​​​​​​PhD, RN-BC
Director, Professional Practice
WellStar Health System




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Session: Get Your Emoji On: A Creative Approach to Communication about Medication

Bio: Dr. Leclerc has been a registered nurse for 29 years with a diverse career that includes Labor and Delivery, Travel Nursing, Nursing Professor, Director of Professional Practice, and one of her personal favorites was tenure as a flight nurse in the United States Air Force Reserve.

In addition to serving on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Nursing Education, Dr. Leclerc also serves as a peer reviewer for the journal. She has published original research in national peer-reviewed nursing journals such as the Journal of Nursing Management, Nurse Educator, Nurse Leader, and the Journal of Nursing Education. In addition, she’s presented her work at national and international conferences.

In her role at WellStar, Dr. Leclerc is a System Director of Nursing Professional Practice overseeing a visionary team of Clinical Nurse Specialists to support excellence in clinical practice at the bedside for over 6,000 Registered Nurses. She and her team also nurture a healthy work environment by merging education, research and professional development.

Ulondia Lee, ​​​​​​​​​​​DNPc, MSN, CENP, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Metropolitan Methodist Hospital




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Session: Creating and Sustaining Accountability and Engagement within your Organization

Bio: In 2015, Ulondia Lee, MSN, RN, CENP, was named Chief Nursing Officer of Metropolitan Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, a 354-bed Methodist Healthcare System facility. In her role, she provides executive leadership and support to more than 1500 employees. Under her leadership, the organization was the first hospital in San Antonio to achieve the American Nurses Credential Center’s Pathway to Excellence designation. 

With more than 24 years of nursing and leadership experience, Ulondia has served as the Principal Investigator on multiple nurse-led research studies, and presented at local and national conferences. She is certified by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) as an executive in nursing practice. Prior to Joining Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, Ulondia was employed as a Magnet Program Coordinator in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

As a transformational leader, Ulondia develops frontline and mid-level managers into exceptional leaders using her innate ability to ignite and empower teams. She is passionate about mentoring and cultivating untapped talent. She is a trusted member of various professional nursing organizations to include the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Texas Nurses Associations, and the American Medical-Surgical Nurses Association. Ulondia serves on the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing Taskforce for Care Coordination where she is co-author for the Acute to Ambulatory curriculum. Her dynamic leadership has led to exceptional operational and patient-centered outcomes including improved employee retention, increased patient and customer engagement, innovations, and cost savings. 

As the former Vice President of Public Relations for the Cancer Research Foundation of North Texas, Ulondia supported multiple fundraising activities that awarded grants to support of cancer research. She is well-respected in the nursing community and has been recognized as a DFW Great 100 Nurse, D-Magazine Nursing Excellence Finalist and Awardee, Nurse.com honoree for Patient and Staff Management and a Healthcare Hero by the San Antonio Business Journal. 

Above all things, Ulondia uses Christian principles when leading, following, and ministering to those in need, patients, visitors, and colleagues. She recognizes that she has been chosen to fulfill a unique purpose and is unapologetic when it comes to showcasing her faith. Ulondia has a 24-year-old son and three encouraging siblings whom she cherishes.

​Tracy Laibson, ​​​​​​​​​​​CPXP
Patient Experience Director
Allina Health




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Session: Advancing Our Commitment to Care: Implementing a Service Training & Sustainability Program

Bio: Tracy Laibson, CPXP, is the director of patient experience for Allina Health. Her team provides leadership, strategy development and performance improvement support for the patient experience of care initiatives at Allina Health. Previously, she managed patient experience data and reporting for Allina Health. Areas of particular interest in her work include culture change and the impact of colleague relationships and communication on the patient experience.

Tracy led the process of bringing service culture training to the Allina Health hospitals and is a master trainer of the content along with two colleagues. The three master trainers have trained and coached over 100 local trainers across the health system. She and her team have worked with senior leadership at 12 hospitals to build their service culture sustainability plans and Tracy chairs the organizational work group on service culture sustainability.

Tracy has co-authored publications about patient experience survey methodology and patient experience improvement initiatives. She earned her bachelor's degree at Mount Holyoke College and is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Certified Patient Experience Professional. She is a member of the Elsevier Patient Engagement Council of Product Advisors.

In her free time, Tracy enjoys spending time outside with her family and her dogs.

Cyrus Lee, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​DMD
​Dental Director, Care Delivery
​Permanente Dental Associates




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Session: Integrated Teams Walk the Patients’ Journey for Access Improvement

Bio:​ Dr. Lee is the Dental Director for Care Delivery at Permanente Dental Associates (PDA) in Portland, Oregon. Permanente Dental Associates, P.C., is a professional benefit corporation owned, governed and managed by over 120 general dentists and more than 30 specialists. Since 1974, PDA has contracted exclusively with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to operate and jointly manage the Kaiser Permanente Dental Care Program, unique to the Oregon and Washington regions.

Dr. Lee joined the group in 2006 and has served as Professional Director at the Aloha and Cedar Hills offices and West Area Dental Director. An Oregon native, he attended college at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), then returned for dental school at Oregon Health & Sciences University. He completed an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency in the U.S. Army, then spent time overseas in the Korean Peninsula and Southwest Asia (Iraq). After active duty service, he returned home to Oregon to practice in the community in which he grew up.  Dr. Lee completed the Executive Scholar Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2016.

He enjoys experiencing all the beauty the Pacific Northwest has to offer with his wife and three children and coaches high school boys' basketball at Madison High School in Portland.

​Thomas H. Lee, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Press Ganey




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Session: Physician Burnout, Resilience and Grit in Health Care

Bio: Dr. Thomas H. Lee joined Press Ganey as Chief Medical Officer in 2013, bringing more than three decades of experience in health care performance improvement as a practicing physician, a leader in provider organizations, researcher and health policy expert. As CMO, Tom is responsible for developing clinical and operational strategies to help providers across the nation measure and improve the patient experience, with an overarching goal of reducing the suffering of patients as they undergo care, and improving the value of that care. 

In addition to his role with Press Ganey, Tom continues to practice primary care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Tom received a BA from Harvard College and earned his MD/MSc from Cornell University-Medical College and Harvard.

​Jacklynn Lesniak, ​​​​​​​​​​​MS, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Sr. VP, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer
Cancer Treatment Centers of America®, Comprehensive Care and Research Center, Chicago
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Session: Building a High Reliability Organization, One High Reliability Unit at a Time

Bio: Jacklynn A Lesniak MS BSN RN NEA-BC joined Cancer Treatment Centers of America Chicago in 2013 and currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer. In this role, she leads and guides the strategic direction, professional practice and fiscal operations of nursing and patient care services including patient safety and satisfaction, clinical process and outcomes.

Since joining CTCA® Chicago, the hospital has achieved Magnet® Recognition for excellence in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and achieved redesignation just this June. With a strong focus on providing safe, efficient and high-quality care, Jacklynn’s leadership also allowed the hospital to receive numerous awards for patient safety and the patient experience including the Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award and be awarded Five Stars by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Jacklynn has been named one of the Top Hospital Women Leaders to Know by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2015 and 2016 and speaks on such topics as patient safety, patient experience, nursing engagement and compassion fatigue within nursing. Jacklynn completed her undergraduate work at Illinois Wesleyan University and obtained an MS in Leadership from National Lewis University.

​Michelle Little, ​​​​​​​​​​​BSN, RN, CMSRN
Clinical Coordinator
Saratoga Hospital



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Session: Keeping Heart Failure Patients Engaged and at Home: Avoiding Hospital Readmissions

Bio: Michelle Little is the Clinical Coordinator of a Telemetry/Medical Surgical Unit in a 171 bed Community Hospital. As the Clinical Coordinator, Michelle assists with the management of the day to day operations of this busy 40 bed inpatient unit, and 6 bed observation express unit. Michelle is a transformational leader whose primary role is manage and lead her staff in order to provide the highest standards of patient care. She is an expert nurse with 26 years of experience, who is a mentor and role model for her staff. She is a champion of innovation and a change agent, which has enhanced departmental effectiveness. She has been a key player in several key lean events, improving systems and processes which have resulted in value added efficiencies for our patients.

Prior to working in this organization, Michelle worked in another Acute Care Facility on a Medical Surgical Unit for 7 years, whose primary focus was the care of the diabetic and ventilator dependent patients.

Michelle earned her Associates Degree from the Junior College of Albany in 1992. She obtained her Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Russell Sage College in 2017. She holds her board certification in Medical Surgical Nursing. She was recognized locally as a finalist in the Times Union Salute to Nurses.

​​Vicki LoPachin, ​​​​​​​​​​​MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer
Mount Sinai Health System




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Session: Improving Physician Engagement: Aligning Safety, Quality and the Experience of Care

Bio: Vicki LoPachin MD, MBA, is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of The Mount Sinai Health System. In her prior role, Dr. LoPachin was the Chief Medical Officer/Senior Vice President of the Mount Sinai Hospital. Previously, Dr. LoPachin served as the Medical Director of the North Shore University Hospital. While at North Shore, she received her MBA with distinction in Health Service Management from Hofstra University. Dr. LoPachin received her MD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha.

​Jennifer Lorenz, ​MSN, MHA, RN, ​​​​​​​​​
Director of Patient Experience & Quality Analytics
University Hospitals Health System

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Session: Leveraging the Organization’s Core Identity to Develop a Cultural Strategy

Bio: Jennifer has a 20+ year healthcare career with University Hospitals Health System of Cleveland, a 14 hospitals health system. Starting as a laboratory tech, she returned to school to become a registered nurse. Her clinical background began as an emergency room nurse. Jennifer then took on a role as a nursing supervisor, eventually moving on to help manage the emergency department and intensive care unit. Jennifer then moved in to the Quality Manager role for one of the system’s community hospital before moving on to her current role with system oversight and responsibility.

Jennifer has achieved her Master’s Degree in Nursing and in Healthcare Administration. After obtaining her Master’s Degree in Nursing, Jennifer also started to teach nursing clinically for her alma mater, and continues to do this today. Currently she is finishing the final stages of Doctorate of Nursing Practice with her project work on the patient experience and quality. 

Jennifer is the Director of Patient Experience and Quality Analytics for University Hospitals Health System; in this role she is responsible for the office of patient experience, quality analytics and public reporting.

Anastasia Luby, ​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Director of Patient Experience
Catholic Medical Center




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Session: Creating a Strategic Volunteer Rounding Program

Bio: Anastasia is passionate about engaging and improving the patient/family experience. She has been a patient as well as a care giver and strives to keep that perspective foremost in her work to lead and attain an exceptional patient experience.

​Shannon Lutz, ​​​​​​​​​​​BAAS, ARRT(R)
Associate Vice President, Ambulatory Quality & Safety
Memorial Hermann Health System


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Session: Ambulatory Quality and Safety: Realizing the High Reliability Journey beyond Hospital Walls

Bio: Shannon Lutz, RT(R), BAAS, is currently the Associate Vice President of Quality, Safety and Infection Control for Ambulatory. Shannon has been with Memorial Hermann since 2007 with 27+ years prior experience in areas including long term care, lab, imaging and regulatory. In her current role, responsibilities encompass quality oversight, management of policies and procedures, risk management, patient and employee safety, regulatory compliance and service recovery. Shannon also serves as an Examiner for Quality Texas and is a member of the Texas Medical Board of Radiology Technology.

​Lori MacKey, ​​​​​​​​​​​MBA
Chief Operating Officer
UC Health UC Physicians




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Session: Engaging Physicians: Benefits for Physicians and Patients

Bio:​ Lori Mackey is the Senior Associate Dean for Operations and Finance for the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the Chief Operating Officer of University of Cincinnati Physicians. Prior to joining the University of Cincinnati in 2008, she worked for twenty years at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center as the Vice President of Operations and also as a management consultant for Deloitte & Touché. Ms. Mackey received her bachelor’s in business administration from Ohio University with a double major in Finance and Economics and has an MBA from Xavier University.

​Radha Mahale, ​​​​​​​​​​​M​D
Physician and Medical Director
Baylor Scott and White Health




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Session:  Building Team Engagement to Improve Patient Experience

Bio:​ Radha Mahale joined Baylor Scott and White Health in 2008 as a physician and currently serves as Medical Director. Mahale attended medical school in Pune India and completed her residency at UPMC St. Margaret Family Medicine Residency in Pittsburgh, PA.

​Catherine Manley-Cullen, ​​​​​​​​​​​MS, RN
Vice President of Nursing & Patient Care Services
NYU Langone Health


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Session: Beyond Rounding: Creating a Culture of Connections

Bio: With a wide range of professional experience, Catherine Manley-Cullen, MS, RN, Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services at NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn, is devoted to nursing, enhancing patient safety, quality of care, and supporting excellence in all facets of the professional practice. Ms. Cullen is a dynamic, progressive leader committed to delivering compassionate and competent care to Brooklyn’s culturally diverse populations. 

Ms. Cullen joined NYU Langone Health in 2011 as a director of nursing for the Emergency Department and Observation Service. During her tenure as Director of Emergency Services, Ms. Manley-Cullen successfully implemented various initiatives that led to substantial improvement in the patient experience. Her portfolio expanded as a Senior Director, to include; Emergency Services, Medicine, Oncology, Critical Care & Hemodialysis. She was later promoted as the vice president for nursing and patient care services, leading daily clinical operations within the nursing departments. During her tenure at NYU Langone, Ms. Cullen helped plan and open the state-of-the-art Ronald O. Perelman Emergency Department, as well as the Cobble Hill Emergency Department in Brooklyn. She also implemented a behavioral health program in the emergency department that led to improved care and outcomes, and assisted in implementing an observation unit, a new care model that has reduced unnecessary admissions. Ms. Cullen has widely presented on Care transitions, specifically the development & implementation of a robust ED Follow up Program.

Prior to coming to NYU Langone she was an associate director at Mount Sinai’s Recanati/Miller Transplant Institute and a clinical manager at New York Organ Donor Network. She also served as Senior Vice President and COO at Westchester Medical Center, where she held the additional roles of Corporate Compliance Officer and Assistant Vice President of Administration.

​David Marra, ​​​​​​​​​​​MEd
Management Development Coordinator
UF Health Shands Hospital



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Session: Engaging Leaders at All Levels for Tier 3 Success

Bio: Dave worked as a Procurement Forester for 9 years and eventually became the Manager, Communications and Training with the Chesapeake Corporation/St. Laurent Paper Products Company where he held that position for 8 years. After leaving St. Laurent, Dave founded FOCUS Coaching & Consulting which he ran for 14 years where he worked with Fortune 500 companies, two of which were Fortune 5 companies, mostly in manufacturing (automotive, motorcycles, aluminum); the oil and gas industry in exploration, drilling, and fracking; Big Four accounting, and the defense industry, among many other industries and companies. Dave joined UF Health Shands Hospital in 2014 as the Management Development Coordinator.

Kenneth McHattie, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Director of Patient Experience
Memorial Health




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Session: Rural & Small Community Hospital Preconference

Bio: Ken's 28-year career in healthcare began in the dietary department at Sewickley Valley Hospital in Western Pennsylvania. His first professional role was in data management in the utilization management and infection control departments. In the years that followed, Ken has worked in clinical analytics, quality improvement, and health services research. Ken's work in hospital customer service began in 1997 and in 2015 Ken became the director of patient experience at Memorial Health in Marysville, Ohio. 

Ken's undergraduate studies were in healthcare administration and he holds a master of science degree in organizational leadership from Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

​​Amy McLaughlin
Director, Nursing Service Line
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center




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Session: Leveraging Cross-Domain Analysis to Prioritize Strategic Improvement Initiatives

Bio:​ Amy McLaughlin currently serves as the Director, Nursing Service Line at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, where she is responsible for the Division of Nursing’s strategic planning and management, defining long-range goals and objectives and developing the necessary structures and processes to ensure key business plans are successfully executed. In addition, Ms. McLaughlin oversees the Division’s portfolio management office responsible for project/ program management, performance management and analytics, and overall operational performance. Ms. McLaughlin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Community Health from Brown University, a Master of Public Health, Health Policy and Management from the University of New Hampshire, and a Six Sigma certification from Villanova University.

​Karen McLaughlin
Patient Experience Specialist
Catholic Medical Center




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Session: Creating a Strategic Volunteer Rounding Program

Bio:​ Karen Mc Laughlin has more than 20 years of experience in organizational development and customer service excellence.  During her tenure in healthcare, Karen worked as Patient Liaison managing patient grievances for several years.  This allowed her to appreciate the unique perspective of patients and families. She established a successful Patient and Family Advisory Council in 2014 and continues to chair the council working with dedicated community members who strive to make improvements in the healthcare experience.  As Patient Experience Specialist, she has been successful in implementing several engagement strategies that honor the challenging work of healthcare and its impact on hospital staff, patients and families.

​​Elena Memoracion, ​​​​​​​​​​​​DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Senior Administrative Director
North Shore University Hospital



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Session: Engaging to Enhance Patient and Staff Outcomes

Bio:​ Dr. Memoracion earned her DNP in Nursing Leadership from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and MSN in Nursing Administration from Adelphi University in New York. She is a board certified Nursing Executive with Advanced certficiation and a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives and American Nurses Association. She has over 20 years of progressive nursing leadership roles primarily in hospital and currently the senior administrative director for a quaternary teaching hospital and has led several nursing and hospital strategic initiatives to improve patient safety and customer satisfaction. She oversees several departments within patient care services and leads the Hospital Nursing Quality Council. She was instrumental in achieving Magnet designation. She has been a strong advocate for life-long learning and mentored numerous MSN students in leadership practicums. She is also an adjunct faculty for the school of nursing at Adelphi University.

James Merlino, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MD
Chief Transformation Officer
Press Ganey




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Session: Transformational Principles & Governance for Sustainable Change

Bio:​ Dr. James Merlino joined Press Ganey as president and chief medical officer of the strategic consulting division in 2015. As an accomplished surgeon and industry leader in improving the patient experience, Jim draws from more than two decades of health care experience to oversee Press Ganey’s consultancy division. Under his leadership, the consulting team helps providers improve the delivery of safe, high-quality care in a patient-centered environment.

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Jim served as chief experience officer and associate chief of staff at the Cleveland Clinic health system, as well as a practicing staff colorectal surgeon at the organization’s Digestive Disease Institute. At Cleveland Clinic, Jim was responsible for leading strategic programs to improve the patient experience across the system. He spearheaded numerous groundbreaking initiatives to ensure the highest standards for patient care, and improve patient access and referring physician relations. He championed organizational cultural alignment around the patient as a key component of patient-centered care.

​CJ Merrill, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MSN, CPXP, CPHQ
Patient Experience Officer
Mission Health System




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Session: Transforming Care in the Ambulatory Setting

Bio:​ CJ Merrill is the Patient Experience Officer at Mission Health System. CJ left St. David’s HealthCare in Austin, TX, after serving as the Associate Vice President for Service Excellence. She has also served as a coach for the Studer Group before going to St. David’s HealthCare. She also worked for Providence Health and Services in Portland, Oregon for 19 years where she served as Chief Nursing Executive. She holds a Masters in Nursing from Duquesne University and has 30 years of experience in the profession of her passion - nursing. Ms. Merrill holds certifications in quality and patient experience. Her inspiration comes from working with team members and leadership to facilitate the connection of the why to providing consistent quality of care and service. Our goal within Mission Health is to get every person to their desired outcome, first without harm, and without waste, and always with an exceptional experience for each person, family, and team member.

Leslie Meyer, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MA, LPCC
Director of ProMedica Experience
ProMedica



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Session: An Evolving Definition of Experience: Unifying Strategy with Safety

Bio:​ Ms. Meyer worked for many years as clinical counselor and Employee Assistance Counselor. Her work with health and industry organizations led to leadership development and work in the patient experience teams. She has organized efforts and led teams to improve employee, physician and patient satisfaction and engagement as a well as organized reward and recognition programs. She currently is the director of the ProMedica Experience office and oversees patient satisfaction/engagement efforts, patient and family advisory councils and numerous experience councils throughout the healthcare system. 

Leslie is also an experienced Baldrige examiner for the Ohio-Indiana-West Virginia Partnership for Excellence and has worked on teams within her healthcare system winning Silver, Gold and Platinum level awards.

Carla Miles ​​​​​​​​​​
Patient Experience Director
UnityPoint Health- Sioux City




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Session: Using Transparency of Data to Improve Communication at Your Organization

Bio:​ Carla Miles has been with UnityPoint Health since 2015 and has extensive experience in leading and executing patient satisfaction and business improvement processes.

​Yvonne Miller, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​BSN, RN, NE-BC
Clinical Manager
Advocate Good Shepherd




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Session: Reducing Wait Times in the ER with an Effective Admission Strategy

Bio:​ Yvonne Miller, BSN, RN, NE-BC, has been a nurse for 28 years. She has worked at the bedside and as a charge nurse for most of her career. She has moved into the role of manager of a 28 bed inpatient medical/surgical oncology unit for the last 5 years. Her passion has always been to improve the experience for the patient and their families when they are at their most vulnerable.

​Heather Mitchell, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA, BSN, RN, NC-BC
Interim Manger Patient Placement and Interpreter Services
Duke Regional Hospital

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Session: Patient Comments : Is your Organization Listening?

Bio:​ Heather Mitchell currently serves as the Interim Manager of Patient Placement and Interpreter Services and Clinical Team Lead in the Emergency Department at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina.  With over 15 years of nursing experience Heather earned her nursing degree from The Watts School of Nursing, a Baccalaureate degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Pfeiffer University. She has spent the majority of her nursing career in emergency nursing serving in various leadership roles. She has a passion for enhancing patient experience, improving quality care, and optimizing emergency department throughput. She is a board certified nurse executive and a 2014 Duke University Health System Friends of Nursing Award winner for Nursing excellence.

Travis Mitchell, MSHA
​System Clinical Safety Program Operations Manager
MedStar Health



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Session: Integrating a Systemwide Approach to Safety Event Classification® (SEC®)

Bio:​ Travis Mitchell is a System Clinical Safety Program Operations Manager for MedStar Health. In his current role, Travis leads adverse events reviews in both the ambulatory and acute care environment and collaborates with stakeholders across the system to implement meaningful and sustainable solutions to complex safety challenges. Travis brings significant experience as a paramedic and EMS leader where he saw the value in collaborating across hierarchical boundaries to improve the quality of care. He has a Master’s of Science in Health Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School.

Cami Mitelman, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MS, CPXP
Manager of Patient Experience
WellStar Cobb Hospital




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Session: Get Your Emoji On: A Creative Approach to Communication about Medication

Bio:​ Cami started her career in the healthcare field 27 years ago as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital. She is currently a Patient Experience Manager at WellStar Cobb Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Her areas of expertise include patient experience, family and patient-centered care, project and program design, and education and training to staff, patients and families.

Cami has served as a coach and mentor for staff, leaders and physicians on patient experience skills. She interprets and analyzes patient experience data and makes recommendations for improvement. Cami is a master at making empathetic connections and models her passion for patient experience every day.

​Dawn Moeller, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA, BSN, RN, CEN
Clinical Manager, Emergency & Trauma Services
Advocate


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Session: Reducing Wait Times in the ER with an Effective Admission Strategy

Bio:​ Dawn Moeller, MHA, BSN, RN, CEN has worked in Emergency Medicine for 32 years. She has experience designing innovative programs that have improved hospitals through, enhancing the patient experience, improving quality care, and reducing emergency department recidivism and readmissions. Dawn has presented these programs at many conferences at both the national and international level.

Kristopher Morgan, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PhD
Director of Workforce Analytics
Press Ganey




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Session: Significant Increase: An Introduction to the Statistics of Patient Experience

Bio:​ Kristopher Morgan is the Director of Workforce Analytics and a Senior Analytic and Research Scientist at Press Ganey, responsible for leading product development and metric creation, and maintaining Press Ganey’s methodological processes and standards. With over 15 years of academic and professional research experience, he is a nationally recognized leader in patient experience and engagement research. He holds a master’s certificate in survey research and a doctoral degree in sociology from Purdue University.

​​Adam Morris, MBA​​​​​​​​​
Senior Administrator for Ambulatory Care
Kaiser Permanente Northwest



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Session: Integrated Teams Walk the Patients’ Journey for Access Improvement

Bio:​ ​ Adam Morris serves as the Senior Administrator for Ambulatory Care, responsible for Primary Care and Specialty Care operations in the east service area for Kaiser Permanente Northwest. He partners with the Physician leaders within ambulatory care, as well as with ancillary services, hospital operations, and regional services to ensure integration and coordination for Kaiser Permanente Members.

Adam has worked for Kaiser Permanente since 2001 in various leadership roles, spanning Finance, Ancillary Services, Eye Care, Primary Care, and Specialty Care. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Washington State University, and is passionate about patient centered care and employee engagement as a key strategy to continuously improve the patient experience.

​​​Joseph Moscola, PA, MBA​​​​​​​​​
Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer
Northwell Health




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Session:  Understanding the Changes of the Future Workforce: Workforce 2025

Bio:​ ​Joseph Moscola, PA, is responsible for Northwell Health’s human resources. He has oversight of initiatives to develop the health system’s workforce and enhance its productivity, drive change and accountability, and strengthen employee engagement.

Mr. Moscola has held a series of positions throughout the health system, most recently as senior vice president and executive director of ambulatory operations. In that role, he led operations for the $1.1 billion business, which included Ambulatory Services, working with the clinical and administrative service line leadership, Northwell Health Physician Partners leadership and the Northwell Ventures.

Mr. Moscola received a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, an MBA from Adelphi University and a physician assistant certificate from Catholic Medical Centers–Bayley Seton Campus

Steve Mrozowski, MHA, NRP, CPPS
Director of Patient Safety
Penn State Health



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Session: Engaging Executive Ownership of Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Bio:​ Steve Mrozowski is the Director of Patient Safety & the Patient Safety Officer at Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA. In this role, Steve is responsible for the oversight, strategic direction, and leadership of the system-wide patient safety program and has worked to advance the organization’s culture of safety & reliability and implement high reliability principles to reduce preventable medical error. Steve oversaw the establishment of the Patient Safety Department from its inception, established a revised root cause analysis structure, established a house-wide daily safety briefing, and improved event rate reporting and culture of safety survey participation rates. 

Previously, Steve held positions as a Clinical Quality Manager at Penn State Hershey and as the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program Director for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he developed and managed statewide programs to improve the healthcare delivery to pediatric patients in the prehospital setting. 

He has earned his undergraduate degree in Emergency Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in Health Administration from Penn State University. He is certified as a professional in patient safety and serves on numerous volunteer boards and committees. Steve has served in a clinical capacity as a Paramedic for the past 18 years and continues to function in this capacity for various EMS agencies in South Central Pennsylvania.

Margaret Muir, DNP, RN, CNML
Strategic Services Associate
Duke Regional Hospital




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Session: Patient Comments: Is Your Organization Listening?

Bio:​ Margie is a native of Michigan who moved to North Carolina "for a couple years" and has remained there for the next 37.

She started work as a staff nurse at Duke Hospital and obtained her Masters in Nursing Degree from Duke University in 1992. She worked as a Clinical Educator, and later as a Clinical Director. Five years ago Margie transferred into the area of Patient Experience within Human Resources and has led the hospital in their journey to excellence, improving scores and patient care in numerous departments.

As a lifelong learner, she returned to school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and received her Doctorate in Executive Nurse Leadership this past May. Her thesis was focused upon the lack of Cultural Competency Training of healthcare workers with Transgender Patients.

She has been awarded The Duke Presidents Award, The Great 100 of NC, Triangle Business Leader, and Duke Office of Diversity and Inclusion Award. 

She is passionate and active with community service organizations and diversity work within her city of Durham.

Lynn Myers, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MD
Senior Vice President / Chief Medical & Quality Officer
Texas Health Physicians Group



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Session: Transcending from Acute Care to a Clinically Integrated Network: A Story of High Reliability

Bio:​ Dr. Lynn Myers is a Family Physician. Dr. Myers was in private practice for twenty years before moving into an administrative role for Texas Health Physicians Group. She takes great pride in building and leading diverse interdepartmental teams to accomplish strategic initiatives in quality, compliance and EMR implementation.

Dr. Myers is a certified coder, and certified in Healthcare Compliance. She works to help physicians improve their documentation in order to confidently support the levels of service and diagnoses reported for reimbursement, and to allow electronic capture of clinical data for quality monitoring. 

Lynn Myers, MD is currently, SVP, Chief Medical and Quality Officer at Texas Health Physicians Group.

​Deirdre Mylod, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PhD
Executive Director, Institute for Innovation; SVP Research & Analytics
Press Ganey


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Session: Demystifying Integrated Data for Real-Life Action Planning

Bio:​ Deirdre Mylod, PhD, joined Press Ganey in 1997 and currently serves as the executive director of the organization’s Institute for Innovation and senior vice president of Research & Analytics. In this joint role, she is responsible for advancing the understanding of the entire patient experience, including patient satisfaction and clinical process and outcomes. Through the Institute, Mylod partners with leading health care providers to study and implement transformative concepts for improving the patient experience.

As a prominent thought leader within Press Ganey and the industry, she regularly lectures on topics such as public policy, legislation and the future of the patient experience. She is the architect of Press Ganey’s Suffering Framework, which reframes the view of the patient experience as a means to understand unmet patient needs and reduce patient suffering. She has extensive expertise in survey development, methodology and statistics. Mylod holds a master’s degree and a PhD in psychology from the University of Notre Dame.

​Sheryl Nemec, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Patient Experience Manager
Mayo Clinic Health System




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Session: Working with Health Care Teams to Improve the Experience of Patients

Bio:​ Sheri Nemec is currently the Patient Experience Manager for Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS) Southwest and Southeast Minnesota Regions. She has worked with MCHS for the past 15 years in a variety of roles included Staff Development, Quality, and Patient Experience. Sheri completed her Masters of Counseling Degree at Minnesota State University Mankato. She is a certified Change Management Practitioner and applies change concepts in her role every day. Sheri is also experienced in project management, training/education, and coaching for improvement, and partners with Summer Allen, M.D. to assist the practice with patient experience improvement.

​Richard Nordahl, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MBA-HCA
Chief Executive Officer
Sanford Sheldon




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Session: ED Access Strategy for Sustainable Improvement

Bio:​ Rick Nordahl is a seasoned rural health care leader, at Sanford Sheldon, Iowa, that is passionate about ensuring access for patients. He comes from the retail sector moving into the integrated health care sector with service as a commitment to providing what the consumers need when they need it. Rick is also a faculty member with the University of Phoenix and enjoys outdoor activities.

Kellie Olmstead, MBA
Vice President of Continuous Improvement
Nemours Children's Health System


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Session: Patient Responsibility: Patient-Centered Process Improvement in the Revenue Cycle

Bio:​ Kellie Parker Olmstead, MBA, serves as the Operational Vice President of Continuous Improvement for Nemours. She is responsible for working at levels of the organization to drive and sustain a culture of operational excellence, including teaching and coaching on Lean methodology, mindset and management system throughout the operation. Prior to joining Nemours, Kellie gained valuable Lean experience in manufacturing. She traveled to Japan to learn the Toyota Production System and understand the cultural components to success with Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi and others. Kellie has extensive improvement event experience – working with teams to improve and sustain significant gains.Kellie holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Florida.

Richard Orlandi, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MD
Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Health
University of Utah Health



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Session: Beyond Data: Successful Strategies to Engage Physicians in Patient Experience

Bio:​ Dr. Orlandi is the Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory Health for University of Utah Health. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Surgery and formerly served as the executive medical director for two of University of Utah Health's multidisciplinary outpatient ambulatory health centers. Dr. Orlandi is a rhinologist, an otolaryngologist who specializes in the care of patients with sinus and nasal conditions. He maintains a busy clinical practice and co-directs a fellowship in sinus and anterior skull base surgery.

He is completing his term as President of the American Rhinologic Society and is the principal author of the International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Rhinosinusitis. He was a principal investigator on a grant from the NIH’s NIBIB and has served as the associate director of the University of Utah’s Center for Therapeutic Biomaterials. He is the author of over 100 journal articles and book chapters and has lectured throughout the North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America on a wide range of sinus and nasal topics.

Dr. Orlandi completed college at the University of Utah, medical school at New York University, residency at UCLA, and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. 

He serves locally in his community and in national organizations. His most important accomplishment in his life is his family. He is the father of three children and a husband of over 25 years.

​Victoria Orto, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing & Patient Care Services Officer
Duke Regional Hospital



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Session: Patient Comments: Is Your Organization Listening?

Bio:​ Vicky Orto is currently the Chief Nursing and Patient Care Services officer at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. A seasoned nurse executive with a passion for exceptional patient care she earned her Baccalaureate degree from Nazareth College of Rochester, a Master’s degree from St. John Fisher College and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice at Duke University School of Nursing. She has spent the majority of her career in nursing leadership roles including three years in the US Army early in her career. She has received the AACN Circle of Excellence Leadership Award as well as the Duke University Health System Friends of Nursing Award for Nursing excellence. She presents locally and nationally on innovative solutions to quality concerns and nursing leadership best practices.

​Hazel Pennington, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RN
Manager of Corporate Quality
Vidant Health




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Session: Situational Awareness: Crucial Circumstances That Lend Themselves to High Reliability

Bio:​ Hazel has been a nurse for 21 years in Eastern North Carolina with a practice spanning labor and delivery, public health, nursing education, and currently healthcare quality.

Currently, Hazel is Manager in Corporate Quality for best practice implementation throughout Vidant Health’s eight hospitals.

David Perez, MBA, RRT
Director of Operations & Service Excellence
Baylor Scott & White Health



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Session: Building Team Engagement to Improve Patient Experience

Bio:​ David Perez is currently the Director of Operations and Service Excellence for the Baylor Scott & White Health - Austin / Round Rock Region. Baylor Scott and White Health is the largest non-profit health system in Texas with over 48 hospitals, 1,000 patient care sites, over 5,500 active physicians, 44,000 employees, and the Scott & White Health Plan.

David joined Baylor Scott and White in March 2013 as a senior project manager for quality and clinical effectiveness. There he grew skills in process improvement and LEAN methodology. In December 2015, David was promoted to his current role where he leads all regional patient satisfaction work at 4 acute care hospitals and over 20 clinics. Prior to Baylor Scott & White, David was a lead respiratory therapist at St. David’s Healthcare with focus in the Neonatal ICU.

David is a native Houstonian, and received both his Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Care, and Masters in Business Administrations from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. In addition to LEAN methodology, David is also a certified facilitator by the Academy on Communication in Healthcare, which is used to support physicians’ inpatient experience.

In addition to serving as President of the American College of Healthcare Executives - Central Texas Chapter, David mostly enjoys spending time with his wife and two children.

Brenda Perkins-Meingast, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RN, BHScN, MEd
Director of Practice Based Education / Lead Caring Safety Education
University Health Network

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Session: Simulating High Reliability Leadership Using a Multimodal Education Approach

Bio:​ Brenda has over 25 years of experience as a health care leader with a proven record of innovation and leadership across the continuum of care. She has strong leadership strength in strategic planning, program development, quality, planning and operational management. She is results-oriented, collaborative and possesses an enabling and positive leadership style.

Brenda has led teams to surface and develop change leadership capacity with a focus on patient-centered relational care as a basis for systems change. She has also been able to impact “front-line” ownership influencing patient safety utilizing a variety of engagement strategies.

Joyce R. Phillip, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MA, SPHR, SHRM,-SCP
Chief Human Resource Officer
University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc


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Session: Developing Physician Communication as a Strategic Priority

Bio:​ Joyce is Chief Human Resource Officer for the University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc, (the Faculty Practices of the University of Maryland School of Medicine). With over 25 years in healthcare, she has held leadership positions in nursing, training and several positions in human resources management including 5 years as vice president of human resources in an acute care facility. Besides presenting workshops on a number of topics such as teamwork, conflict resolution, communication, and service excellence, Joyce has been a keynote speaker and presenter throughout the region. Joyce holds a Masters in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Joyce, who is active with various outreach programs with her church and sorority, has devoted most of her service to the community via the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. She has served as President of the Board of Directors and as a member of the YW Board and United Way Anne Arundel Partnership Board. Presently she serves on the finance committee of the YWCA and on the Governance Committee and Board of Directors for Hospice of Chesapeake.

At FPI, Joyce created the FPI Spirit Team which raises funds through a variety of activities to support FPI’s community outreach efforts.

Nikki Polis, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PhD, RN
Chief Nurse Executive
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare



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Session: Safety Starts with Me: A Hybrid Approach to Error Prevention Training

Bio:​ Nikki S. Polis, PhD, RN, joined Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in January 2012 as Chief Nurse Executive. Polis comes to Methodist from Main Line Health System in Bryn Mawr, Penn., where she was system director for clinical education, research and grants management.

As Chief Nurse Executive, Polis is responsible for creating and communicating the vision and direction for nursing within Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. In addition, she provides strategic leadership and supports a progressive professional practice environment that promotes excellence in patient care and nursing practice with an emphasis on accelerating the organization's commitment to patient- and family-centered care.

During her tenure at Main Line Health System, Polis provided leadership for developing and embedding a culture of safety and accountability, facilitated the process for increasing the number of certified direct care nurses to over 30 percent, and worked on the successful Magnet re-designation application. Prior to joining Main Line, Polis worked at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where she served in a variety of positions, most recently as administrative director for MacDonald Women’s Hospital and Women’s Services.

Polis has built a well-deserved reputation as an innovative, patient-focused, health care leader. With her extensive experience and strong leadership skills, she is well prepared to support achievement of Methodist goals in the areas of a superior patient experience, quality outcomes, increased nurse retention and engagement, and Magnet recognition.

Aubrey Podell, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA
Manager, Nursing Operations
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center


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Session: Organizational Culture: Reinvigorating and Sustaining Your Safety Coaches

Bio:​ Aubrey Podell currently serves as the Manager of Nursing Operations at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, where she oversees the Division of Nursing’s portfolio management office, which is responsible for managing business operations and driving performance improvement for the Division. In addition to operations management, Ms. Podell is responsible for programmatic oversight of patient experience, process/quality improvement, and performance management and analytics, all of which are integral components of the Division’s strategic plan. She holds a degree in Behavioral Anthropology from Milken Institute School of Public Health, and is currently an Executive Fellow with the Advisory Board in Washington DC.Boston University, a Master of Healthcare Administration from The George Washington University.

Karen Powell, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PHR, SHRM-CP
Vice President of Human Resources
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital


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Session: Recruitment to Retention and Everything in Between

Bio:​ As Vice President of Human Resources, Karen has broad experience in all facets of Human Resource management. Karen has been in the field for over 20 years, and is both a SHRM and HRCI certified professional. She has been a successful advisor in the development of HR initiatives that have streamlined processes and capitalized on organizational growth. A creative thinker, problem solver and decision maker who effectively balances the needs of employees with the mission of the organization. Over her tenure with Mary Free Bed, she has helped build sustainable programs and achieve record highs in employee engagement. Karen is involved with the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce - Health Care & Human Resources Committee, is a Michigan Healthcare & Human Resource Association Board Member (MHHRA) and sits on that Learning & Education Committee, as well as is an active panelist to the Aquinas College - Class to Career Seminar Series.

Karen is also the mother of twin boys who are now active teenagers. Outside of work Karen loves to travel and enjoys spending weekends at the lake.

AJ Querciagrossa, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RPh, MS, MBA
President of Home Care &
Post-Acute Services
OSF Healthcare


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Session: Culture as a Catalyst for Improving Workforce Commitment

Bio:​ AJ Querciagrossa has held multiple positions since joining OSF Healthcare System (Peoria, IL) in 1995. Since 2011, AJ serves as the President of OSF Home Care & Post-Acute Services which provides home health, hospice (including the 16-bed OSF Richard L. Owens Hospice Home), home medical equipment, home infusion services, skilled nursing facility practice, and palliative care to patients throughout Illinois and the upper peninsula of Michigan. AJ has great passion and expertise in employee and patient engagement and has presented in numerous venues.

AJ resides in Peoria, IL with his wife, Kristen. They have grown three children.

​Tammy Razmic, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA
Chief Operating/Finance Officer
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital




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Session: Building a Partnership between Nursing and Support Services

Bio:​ Tammy is the Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, a 182 bed community hospital located in Fairfax, Virginia. As the executive leader over the ambulatory, support, and finance teams, she is actively engaged in removing operational barriers that nurses may face in caring for patients and in reviewing/revising processes necessary to enhance the care and experience of patients.

Patricia Regan, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA
Director of Patient Access
Gracie Square Hospital




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Session: Patient Experience Improvements through Innovative Group Therapy Transformations

Bio:​ Patsy Regan began her healthcare career at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. As a patient experience coordinator, she worked with front-line staff and leadership on patient experience improvement, including working on various labor/management projects and leading interdisciplinary unit based rounds with a patient satisfaction focus. Her time at Mount Sinai Hospital was spent in patient services where her passion for patient advocacy blossomed. In her current role as Director of Patient Access, Patsy has helped the organization improve their patient experience scores by 47%. Some of her work has included innovative changes to group therapy, rolling out staff empathy trainings, spearheading the organization’s Planetree certification journey, and creating a Patient Services department that focuses on both patient experience and patient advocacy. Patsy recently completed her Masters in Healthcare Administration at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

Constance Rego, ​​​​​​​​​​​​MSN, ​RN
Patient Safety Coordinator/Quality
Atrium Health



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Session: Constance "Connie" Rego was born in Louisiana and was raised in Charlotte,NC where she attended Central Piedmont Community College for her Associates degree in nursing and then graduated with honors with her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. 

Her nursing career has been varied with positions in an acute setting that involved bedside critical care nursing, teaching critical care interns and leadership and management. Her background in ambulatory started with the setup of a new practice where she was instrumental in the development of policies and procedures.

After leaving the ambulatory setting, Connie began working as a Patient Safety Coordinator at Atrium Health. This role was integral in fostering relationships to promote safety initiatives and process activities. 
With the oversight of Dr. Vaden, her work was integrated with peer review process and was integral in the facilitation of guidelines, bylaws and physician education. 

Connie's spare time is spent helping to promote the Stop the Bleed program in her community as well as enjoying dog sports that include, conformation, obedience and water work with her tow Portuguese Water Dogs.

Vincent Rizzo, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MD, MBA, FACP, CPE
Associate Director of Internal Medicine
NY Health + Hospitals/Queens


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Session: Crafting a Successful Patient and Family Experience: Patient Experience Is the Brand

Bio:​ Dr. Vincent Rizzo began his career at Queens Hospital Center as an Internal Medicine Resident in 2006. He quickly distinguished himself as a dedicated and gifted physician and was asked to serve as Chief Resident in 2009.

As early as his Chief Resident year, Dr. Rizzo was recognized as an emerging physician leader, someone who NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens needed to retain. Dr. Rizzo began working as a Teaching Hospitalist when he completed his Chief Resident year and since that time he has steadily assumed more and more responsibilities for the care of our patients and for the many programs and support services that surround patient care.

Dr. Rizzo, now Associate Director of Medicine and Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program, has been the driving force behind a myriad of important new clinical activities and process improvement initiatives. Some of his many accomplishments include his serving as the Master Trainer for Patient Centered and Culturally Competent Communication Program and his co-authoring of the Care Pathways for Congestive Heart Failure and Sickle Cell Anemia. He has also been the Process Owner for many significant Breakthrough events, including the redesign of the weekend discharge process. Dr. Rizzo was also the driving force behind the Department of Medicine’s activities to prepare for our new electronic medical record.

Dr. Rizzo’s many achievements and awards include his being named Attending of the Year in 2012, being listed by the Consumer Research Council of America as one of America’s Top Doctors for 2015, NYC Health + Hospitals Doctor’s Day award in 2016 and his being selected to serve on Dr. Raju’s 2020 Vision Leadership Team.

Dr. Rizzo is a graduate of Ross University School of Medicine and earned an Executive MBA with Distinction from Hofstra University’s Frank Zarb School of Business. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Yona Roberts, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PharmD, BCPS
Clinical Pharmacy Manager
WellStar Cobb Hospital




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Session: Get Your Emoji On: A Creative Approach to Communication about Medication

Bio:​ Yona Roberts earned a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Tallahassee, Florida) in 1990. In 1991, she completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at DeKalb Medical Center (Atlanta, GA) in conjunction with Mercer University School of Pharmacy. 

Yona began her professional career as a Clinical Pharmacist in 1992 at Cobb Hospital and Medical Center (now WellStar Cobb Hospital). She is currently a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and Clinical Pharmacy Manager at WellStar Cobb Hospital. She oversees the clinical pharmacy services and initiatives at her facility. She also facilitates several committees and initiatives for the 11 hospitals that comprise WellStar Health System.

Christopher Roker, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MBA
Chief Executive Officer
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens




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Session: Crafting a Successful Patient and Family Experience: Patient Experience Is the Brand

Bio:​ Christopher Roker, MBA, a native son of Saint Albans, Queens with more than twenty years of healthcare experience, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens in September of 2016. Chris was chosen to lead the Queens facility, which is a member of the New York City Health and Hospitals system, based on his extensive background in operations, maximizing revenue, enhancing patient services, and increasing profitability and performance, skills that were demonstrated in previous positions in the healthcare field.

Chris’s leadership style can best be described as one that fosters teamwork and motivates staff, combining an approachable and winning demeanor with a steely resolve to get things done. His experiences in managing healthcare organizations include his 3.5-year tenure with MetroHealth Systems in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Hospital Administrative Officer, as well as at Saint Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx, Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, and The Parkway Hospital in Queens.

Susannah Rose, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​PhD
Scientific Director of Research, Office of Patient Experience
Cleveland Clinic



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Session: Designing the Care Experience of the Future: Assessing the Impact of Virtual Cared

Bio: Susannah Rose joined the Professional Staff at Cleveland Clinic in 2011, and is currently the Director of Research in the Office of Patient Experience. She is an Assistant Professor at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine and in the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, where she teaches healthcare economics, population-based bioethics, and national and international comparative health policy. She is also an Instructor at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she teaches public health ethics. 

She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University's Health Policy Program (with a concentration in Ethics) in 2010. While at Harvard, she received multiple awards and competitive fellowships: Dr. Rose was a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) pre-doctoral research fellow; a Harvard Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics Graduate Fellow; a Safra post-doctoral lab fellow; and she was also a pre- and post doctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) through the Program in Cancer Research Outcomes Training (PCORT). 

Prior to her doctoral studies, she earned an MS in Bioethics from Union College/Albany Medical Center in 2006, and a MS in Social Work from Columbia University in 1998. Dr. Rose worked as a clinical social worker and researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, specializing in the psychosocial issues surrounding cancer. 

Her publications have appeared in high-ranked peer-reviewed journals, such as: JAMA Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM), The Journal of Clinical Oncology, The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), and PLOS One, and her book chapters on health policy ethics and end of life care have been published by the Oxford University Press. In addition to presenting at health policy conferences, such as AcademyHealth, she regularly presents at the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). 

Her current research focuses upon the ethics of transparency (including conflicts of interest reporting, expanded patient access to medical records and online physician ratings), patient experience, and testing the impact of innovations in technology, communication and end-of-life care on health outcomes and patient satisfaction. These areas of research have been generously funded by multiple funding sources, including Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethic, NIH’s Clinical & Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC) at Cleveland Clinic & Case Western Reserve University, and most recently, from The Greenwall Foundation.

Denzil Ross, MBA, MHA
COO / ECO
Metropolitan Methodist Hospital




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Session: Creating and Sustaining Accountability and Engagement within your Organization

Bio:​ Denzil K. Ross graduated from Park University, Parkville, Missouri in 2009 with his Master’s in Business Administration and has received his America’s Essential Hospital Fellow (Formerly NAPH) in May 2013. Denzil was born and raised in Trinidad and moved to the United States in 2002. 

Prior to Denzil joining Metropolitan, he held the position of Associate Chief Operating Officer at Overland Park Regional Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas where he was responsible for the day to day operations of the hospital as it relates to patient care in clinical and ancillary areas as well as non-direct care areas. 

Denzil started his Healthcare career at the Truman Medical Center, Inc., in Kansas City, Missouri where he held several positions within the facility, starting with Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer from 2009-2010, Night Administrator 2011-2012, Corporate Director 2012-2014, and Assistant Administrator-Corporate Director, Patient Experience 2013-2015. 

Denzil brings 9+ years of Healthcare experience with him along with being a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Denzil is married and has a daughter named Sydney. In his spare time, Denzil enjoys golfing, travelling, working out, grilling, playing sports and attending as many Spurs games as possible!

Jenny Rozenberg, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA
Patient Experience Improvement Specialist
NYU Langone Health​



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Session: Beyond Rounding: Creating a Culture of Connections

Bio:​ Jenny Rozenberg, MHA, is a patient experience specialist with NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn. Mrs. Rozenberg has more than eight years of experience in healthcare and previously held patient experience management roles at other facilities in New York City. She has a record of success in improving Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores and overseeing the successful implementation of staff training and education programs. She spent the last two years focusing on developing a patient experience training and education program for employees to learn the best practices in improving HCAHPS and patient/caregiver communication.

Erica Rubinstein, MS, ​​​​​​​​​​​​LCSW, CPXP
Vice President of Service Excellence ​& Patient Experience
Mount Sinai Health System


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Session: Improving Physician Engagement: Aligning Safety, Quality and the Experience of Care

Bio: Recognized as a collaborative and transformational leader, Ms. Rubinstein has focused her efforts on compassion and empathy for both staff and patients.  She has taken on a lead role in several initiatives including a focus on improving the transgender patient experience and the Patient and Family Engagement Committee, and developing a comprehensive service recovery program which demonstrates our commitment to elevating the patient experience.  Ms. Rubinstein has been instrumental in strengthening the role of the Patient Service Center, and more recently the Cullman Institute, by moving towards a more proactive and patient-centered model. This includes the growth and expansion of the Language Services Program at MSH and her efforts to ensure that high-quality language services are available for all patients across the Health System. Ms. Rubinstein has also transformed the way patient complaints and grievances are handled across the Health System, resulting in a significant decrease in response time and an increased level of transparency and engagement with patients and families.  Ms. Rubinstein is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Patient Experience Professional. She received her MS in Social Work from Columbia University.​ 

Sandy Rush, MA, BSN, CHE
​Senior Director of Patient Experience
Dignity Health



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Session: The Amazing Race: Instilling Competition and Fun to Improve the Patient Experience

Bio:​ Sandy Rush is an RN and the Senior Director of Patient Experience for Dignity Health. She has been in healthcare for over 40 years.

In her current role, Sandy develops the Dignity Health strategy and goals around the patient and family experience, including patient and family centered care, patient experience, and HCAHPS. She has helped to lead to organization to substantial improvements in the patient experience, including the implementation of Patient and Family Advisory Boards across the organization. 

She has been published numerous articles related to the patient experience and received the Nurse Week Excellence in Nursing (Mountain States Region) Winner in Leadership. She also has presented Dignity Health’s work at several national conferences. 

Sandy is a diplomate in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She has had experience as a Chief Nursing Officer as well as Director of Nursing at various hospitals. She serves on the advisory board of the Beryl Institute and Nurse Week Magazine.

​Jay Santiago
​​​​​​​​​Injury Prevention Specialist
Sharp Healthcare




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Session: Redefining Workforce Safety by Adopting a Patient Safety Approach

Bio:​ Jay Santiago is a San Diego-based safety professional who is committed to strengthening injury prevention efforts at Sharp HealthCare. Jay holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in pre-Physical Therapy from San Diego State University. Jay has spent the last three years instituting experience in the fields of musculoskeletal injury rehabilitation and prevention, public safety and exercise science.

Shannon Sayles, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RN, MS, MA
Senior Manager of Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Reliability Institute: Leading for a Safe and Reliable Culture

Bio:​ Shannon Sayles is a Senior Manager with HPI. She led the implementation of the safety and performance excellence culture at Sentara Healthcare, an integrated delivery system in southeastern Virginia. In this role she collaborated with and provided guidance to system and operational leaders in implementing behavior-based approaches for error prevention, state of the art event analysis and other safety strategies such as crew resource management. These efforts received national recognition for Sentara with the 2004 American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Prize, the 2005 JCAHO John M Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award and the 2007 VIPC&S Patient Safety Award. She has over 30 years of leadership experience in healthcare, including over 15 years in performance improvement in both hospitals and health plans. In addition to a clinical master’s degree, she has completed a master’s degree in organizational development. Her thesis on sustaining improvement in patient safety was recognized for excellence by the Fielding Graduate University. Shannon holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Georgetown University School of Nursing, a Master of Science in Rehabilitation Nursing from Boston University School of Nursing, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Development from Fielding Graduate University. She is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt by the Juran Institute.

Kerri Anne Scanlon, MSN, RN
Deputy Chief Nurse Executive Chief Nursing Officer
Northwell Health / North Shore University Hospital


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Session: Engaging to Enhance Patient and Staff Outcomes

Bio:​ Kerri Scanlon is the Deputy Chief Nurse Executive for Northwell Health as well as the Chief Nursing Officer for North Shore University. As CNO, Ms. Scanlon is responsible for creating and facilitating North Shore University Hospital’s strategic plan for nursing and clinical services. She has led the transformation of patient care through the promotion of staff engagement and empowerment, and has been instrumental in creating a patient-centered care environment by leveraging technology and environmental redesign to bring nurses closer to the bedside.

Ms. Scanlon holds a Master's degree from Columbia University as an adult nurse practitioner and has received several prestigious awards, including the 2009 Nursing Spectrum regional and national Nursing Excellence award. She was a participant in the Robert Wood Johnson Transforming Care at the Bedside Project and the original American Nurses Association Time Motion Study. Her inspirational leadership has led to North Shore University Hospital’s recent achievement of Magnet designation.

Chantelle Schenning, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA
Executive Consultant of Regional Ambulatory Care & Clinical Services
Kaiser Permanente


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Session: Integrated Teams Walk the Patients’ Journey for Access Improvement

Bio:​ Chantelle has 11 years of healthcare experience spanning across private practices, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente of the Northwest. Her diverse experience began in direct patient care roles including time spent as a Medical Assistant, Phlebotomist, and Surgical Neurophysiologist. Chantelle has leadership experience in Radiation Oncology, Primary care, and Regional Ambulatory Care and Clinical Services.  Her current role as an Executive Consultant for Ambulatory Care and Clinical Services focuses on high priority, regional strategies such as access and care design.  Chantelle's transition into healthcare leadership is one filled with passion to impact greater patient populations. Her mission in life is to help healthcare professionals lead with a population-approach to best address the challenges faced in our nation’s healthcare landscape.

Chantelle holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration.  Currently, Chantelle is working on her dissertation for a Ph.D. in Health Services.

David Schwartz, MD, FACOG, FRCOG
Director of Clinical Affairs, Special Programs
University of Maryland School of Medicine

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Session: Developing Physician Communication as a Strategic Priority

Bio:​ Dr. David Schwartz is currently Director of Clinical Affairs in the Office of the Dean at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Maternal Fetal Medicine. 

He earned his Medical degree and completed his Ob/Gyn Residency in Johannesburg, South Africa, before continuing his Post graduate Training firstly in the United Kingdom, and then in Madison, Wisconsin, where he completed his Fellowship and Certification in Maternal Fetal Medicine. His prior Clinical, Educational and Administrative roles have included serving as MFM Section Chief, Director of Residency Training and Department Chair and Examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA
​Corporate Vice President / Chief Experience Officer
Scripps Health



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Session: Improving Hospitalist HCAHPS Scores: The Need for Executive and Physician Leadership

Bio:​ Ghazala Q. Sharieff serves as the Corporate Vice President and Chief Experience Officer for Scripps Health. With decades of experience as an executive, clinical professor, lecturer, author and committee chair, she is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in patient experience, physician integration, pediatric emergency medicine, conflict management and teambuilding. Dr Sharieff completed her MD at Michigan State Medical School, an Emergency Medicine Residency at Stanford University, and a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship at Rady Children’s Hospital. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from University of Knoxville.

Wanda Sharp
​​​​Director of Patient Relations Patient Experience
The Queen’s Medical Center



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Session: Reaching Organizational Goals by Breaking Free from Endless Tactics

Bio:​ Wanda Sharp began her professional life as a high school English/Communication teacher. Her career path changed direction when she took a position as a patient advocate at her community hospital. 

It was this path that would lead her to managerial levels in Patient Relations, Patient Experience, Employee Engagement and Volunteer Spiritual Care Departments. Her span of oversight has included multiple hospitals from New Jersey to Hawaii. Her influence has improved both the patient experience from private community systems, to for profit and faith based systems, subsequently being selected to sit on Ascension’s Corporate Patient Experience Oversight Committee.

Ms. Sharp's work has led her to receive many awards in HCAHPS, Employee Engagement, Best Hospital Workplace, achievement awards in ER, Family Birth Plan, Ortho/Neuro, and most recently the Press Ganey Success Story Award. Her innovation and passion for patients have been the cornerstones of her success.

​David Shinsel, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MA
Consultant
Press Ganey




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Session: Unlocking Emotional Intelligence: Practical Strategies for Building Self-Awareness

Bio:​ David Shinsel is a Consultant with Press Ganey Associates, the leading provider of health care performance improvement solutions. David partners with clients to help strengthen their organizations through improved employee and physician engagement.

In his role at Press Ganey, David has worked with clients from all areas of the US to help them build strategies to improve their workforce engagement, safety, quality, patient experience, and to sharpen their execution on improvement tactics. He also works directly with leaders and teams to help them maximize their improvement efforts through guidance and coaching. 

Before joining Press Ganey in 2012, David had opportunities to work in data analytics, employee benefits administration, logistics, and leadership development. 

David earned his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), in 2007 and his Master's Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) in 2010.

Jennifer Sipert, ​​​​​​​​​​​CPHQ, RDMS, RVT
Patient Safety Manager
Providence Health & Systems



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Session: Walk the Talk: Would You Share Your Daily Safety Huddle Summary with the Entire Organization?

Bio:​ Jennifer Sipert is a Patient Safety Manager for Providence Health & Services in southwest Washington state. 

Prior to her current role in patient safety, Jennifer worked as a sonographer in acute and ambulatory settings. She also acted as the Chair for a Diagnostic Medical Sonography program, developed curriculum, and taught courses in all ultrasound subject matters. 

Jennifer believes in the dignity of each and every person and brings that into her work to make a difference in the world through every interaction she has. Whether it is in a hospital, academic institution, or abroad serving in global health missions, she dedicates her gifts and passion to those she serves who are in need of care.

Gordon Smith
Consultant, Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: Reliability Institute: Culture Transformation

Bio:​ Gordon Smith is a consultant at Press Ganey with almost four decades of hands-on leadership experience in High Reliability organizations in civilian and military aviation and the healthcare and energy industry. With 26 years of leadership and training experience in the US Navy as a Training and Standardization Officer, Quality Assurance Officer, Safety Officer, Operations Officer and pilot, he is an expert in high reliability and safety. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Evergreen State College.

Suzanne Smith, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Senior Director of Patient Experience
Mercy Health System



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Session: Patient Experience and Engagement through Team Rounding Strategies

Bio:​ Suzanne Smith is a healthcare leader with 25-plus years of experience in administrative operations and patient satisfaction. Currently working for Mercy Health System in Philadelphia, she spearheads Patient Experience for three urban, acute-care facilities. Suzanne is an accomplished communicator, generating significant increases in patient satisfaction scores through service line and policy development, process improvement, and patient, community and colleague loyalty initiatives. In 2009, Suzanne was recognized with the STARS of Life award from the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania. She sits on the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce Foundation Board and has been a CARF surveyor for the past 20 years. 

This will be Suzanne's second speaking engagement at Press Ganey's National Client Conference.

Catherine Sokoloff, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MPH
Senior Manager of Patient Experience
NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn


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Session: Beyond Rounding: Creating a Culture of Connections

Bio:​ Catherine "Katia" Sokoloff, MPH, is Senior Manager of Patient Experience at NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn. She first joined NYU Langone Health in 2016 as a patient experience educator at Tisch Hospital and continues to expand her administrative responsibilities in Brooklyn. In her current role, Katia oversees the Patient Relations and Service Excellence departments at the Brooklyn campus of NYU Langone Health.
Katia has leveraged more than ten years of experience working in health care to help build a strong patient experience program at NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn including robust staff training and education programs with a focus on patient/caregiver communication. 

She holds a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in healthcare policy and management from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vermont with honors.

Jack Soterakis, MD, FACP, FACG
Vice President, Performance Improvement & Physician Clinical Services
Catholic Health Services of Long Island

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Session: Applying Safety Strategies to the Ambulatory Physician Environment

Bio:​ Dr. Jack Soterakis is currently Vice President of Physician Clinical Services and Performance Improvement at Catholic Health Services of Long Island (CHSLI) which is a health system comprised of 6 acute care hospitals, 3 chronic care facilities, a home nursing service, hospice and a community- based agency for persons with special needs.

His medical career has included clinical, academic and administrative responsibilities. In 2007 he stepped down from the gastrointestinal practice he founded and was appointed senior vice president of medical affairs and medical director of St. Francis Hospital, the Heart Center (SFH), Roslyn, N.Y. 

Dr. Soterakis has always had an interest in patient safety. During his tenure at SFH as chief medical officer, he assisted in promoting the patient safety program as well as help introduce Crew Resource Management (CRM), in perioperative services, which resulted in improved communication and teamwork amongst the staff as well as improved outcomes in all of the units from scheduling, pre-admission testing, pre-operative unit, OR, post-operative unit, and discharge.

Three years, ago, Dr. Soterakis was chosen to be the physician sponsor for Catholic Health Services high reliability journey, after stepping down from his position at SFH. He has worked with HPI/PG to introduce the high reliability principles to the CHSLI staff, clinical, non-clinical and the medical staff. In addition to the error prevention principles of high reliability he has assisted in introducing the principles of Just Culture to the staff. 

He is a certified HPI/PG trainer in error prevention principles, and has assisted in the implementation of these safety principles and tools learned from the acute and continuing care setting into the office practice environment.

Mindy Spigel, MSN, RN, CPXP
Director of Patient Experience
CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System



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Session: Engaging Staff in Safety and Compassion through a Patient Experience Strategy

Bio:​ Mindy Spigel is the Director of Patient Experience for CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System. In this position, Mindy has the opportunity to combine her passion for helping leaders build strong teams and exceptional work environments with her desire to alleviate fears, build trust and create an exceptional experience for the patients and families we are privileged to serve. 

Mindy is proud to be a nurse with experience working in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Mindy is a Certified Patient Experience Professional. As an educator, Mindy has worked in both academic and clinical settings. She has both a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Nursing. She is pleased to have been a part of CHRISTUS Santa Rosa for over 26 years.

Gerda Stafford, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​BSN, MHA, CPHQ
Service Area Director of Quality
Providence Health & Services



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Session: Walk the Talk: Would You Share Your Daily Safety Huddle Summary with the Entire Organization?

Bio:​ Gerda Stafford has worked in quality for the last 17 years and is currently the Southwest Service Area Director of Quality, Safety and Data Analytics. She has oversight of two hospitals, on community hospital and one large referral hospital. She has a passion for patient safety and is always looking to improve the way care is delivered in ministries.

Gerda is a mother of four, step-mom to three and has 7 wonderful grandchildren. She is very excited to share the work that she is doing and to hear the successes of others.

Katie Starkey, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Director of Patient Experience
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore




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Session: Improving Communication with Nurses through the Compassionate Connected Care Model

Bio:​ Katie Starkey is the Director of Patient Experience for Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. She has responsibility for patient experience across the continuum of care at Sinai Hospital. Improving how patients experience care and engage in their treatment has been a passion of Katie's throughout her career. She has been a Director of Patient Experience for two health systems, and consulted on an independent basis for outpatient clinics. She has also worked on the policy side focusing on professionalism with the American Board of Internal Medicine, and design of pay-for-performance programs with AHRQ and CMS.

Ann Marie Stein, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RDN, MBA, CPHQ
​Executive Director of Organizational Quality & Patient Safety
Valley View Hospital

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Session: Organizational Culture: Reinvigorating and Sustaining Your Safety Coaches

Bio:​ Ann Marie Stein bears healthcare administration experience including regional level, multiple services, department and organizational oversight positions. She has managed over 90 employees. She has led and organized multiple teams and projects such as population health- Medicare Advantage, regulatory compliance, quality improvement, production systems and patient and employee safety/satisfaction initiatives. Stein has organized and implemented organizational Performance Improvement and contributed innovative ideas and projects to increase patient safety within a healthcare setting. She has developed On-going Professional Performance Evaluation for Physicians and improved turnover, employee and patient satisfaction scores.

Paul Sternberg Jr., ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MD
Senior Director of Patient Experience
Vanderbilt University Medical Center


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Session: Finding the Patient Voice During Times of Disruptive Change

Bio:​ Dr. Sternberg is the Chief Patient Experience Officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center as well as G. W. Hale Professor and Chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a renowned retinal specialist, and has been named one of the Best Doctors in America for both medical and surgical retinal conditions every year since 1994. Dr. Sternberg maintains an active academic and research program, studying the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. He has authored more than 230 scientific articles and 30 book chapters, and received research funding from the NIH, numerous foundations, and industry.

Honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Award, the Lew Wasserman Award of Merit from Research to Prevent Blindness and the Sommer Prize from the EyeCare Foundation. Dr. Sternberg has served on the boards of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, where he was vice president, and currently serves on the board of the International Retinal Research Foundation. In 2009, he took on additional leadership responsibilities at Vanderbilt as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Chief Medical Officer and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Adult Health Affairs. Additionally, Dr. Sternberg is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee.

Shuntelle Stephen, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MPH
Patient Experience Coordinator
Gracie Square Hospital




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Session: Patient Experience Improvements through Innovative Group Therapy Transformations

Bio:​ Shuntelle Stephen is a dedicated activist for creating a healing environment for patients and their loved ones. In her current role as a Patient Experience Coordinator at Gracie Square Hospital, she serves as the voice of the patient, working to ensure their needs are met in a professional and courteous manner. Although, Shuntelle is fairly new to the Gracie Square family, she has worked as a Patient Representative for the past 3 years. She believes that patients are the experts in their own experiences and every encounter is treated as such.

Her philosophy is, putting patients first every time. Whether she’s rearranging tables and chairs after a community meeting, finding a size 9 slipper in the patient closet, or showcasing her best dance moves during Music Therapy group, Shuntelle is taking bold steps to ensure that every patient interaction is a positive one. 

Known as a ray of sunshine and a breath of fresh air as called by her patients, Shuntelle continues to works closely with frontline and leadership staff to drive patient centered practices at Gracie Square Hospital.

Joseph Stern, MD, FACS
​Neurosurgeon, Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates
Member, Cone Health
Medical Staff, Moses H.Cone Memorial Hospital
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Session: Achieving Top Decile Physician Engagement

Bio: Dr. Stern is a practicing neurosurgeon with CNSA, the largest neurosurgical group practice in the country.  He is a graduate of the Cone Health Physician Leadership Academy, Health Management Academy, and Stanford University program on Innovation for Large Health Systems. 
Dr. Stern serves on the Moses Cone Physician Cabinet, as Co-Director of the Brain Tumor Program at Cone Health Cancer Center, President of the Spine Co-Management Program, and Director of Strategic Planning for Neurosciences.  Additionally, he has served on numerous steering committees (reinventing care, PLA, neurosciences, culture) through Cone Health.
Dr. Stern following the death of his younger sister from acute leukemia wrote the book “Also a Love Story” which highlights the importance of empathy in health care. He also holds nine device patents.

Tami Strong, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​BSN, RN, MSN-HCQ
Director of Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey



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Session: Reliability Institute: Culture Transformation

Bio:​ Tami has over 25 years’ experience leading quality and safety initiatives in the manufacturing and healthcare industries. She began her operations management career working in the automotive industry where she used her expertise in materials management and supply chain logistics to achieve highly reliable lean production systems. She is an experienced change agent with formal and practical training in the utilization of the Toyota Production System (lean) philosophy and tools, heuristic manufacturing process design, and ISO9001. 

Tami is a registered nurse with experience in intensive care nursing and as an executive leader responsible for quality management, process improvement, patient relations, regulatory compliance, risk management, clinical education, and infection control. She has combined her passion for patient safety, high reliability, and operational excellence to lead several performance improvement projects in both manufacturing and healthcare systems to achieve improvements in safety, satisfaction, quality, and efficiency. 

Tami holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Business Administration-Materials Logistics Operations Management from Michigan State University, a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Grand Valley State University, and a Master’s of Nursing in Healthcare Quality and Safety from The George Washington University.

Megan Sullivan, MSBA
Director of Quality Improvement
UC Health UC Physicians




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Session: Engaging Physicians: Benefits for Physicians and Patients

Bio:​ Megan Sullivan is the Director of Quality Improvement for UC Health University of Cincinnati Physicians. Her job typically entails improving patient experience, patient safety, clinical outcomes, population health, care coordination and pay-for-performance metrics. She spends time vetting and sharing data to drive improvement.

A veteran of 14 years in the health care field, Ms. Sullivan has worked in UC Physicians Administration since 2011, first as a quality manager and now as Director of Quality Improvement. She worked in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the UC College of Medicine from 2001 to 2005 as a student helper and then accounts payable specialist. In between, she managed a local home health agency.

Ms. Sullivan’s Ohio roots are deep: Born and raised on the West side, she earned a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism from Ohio University and an MS in business administration and accounting from UC. She has three children and enjoys spending time with her family.

Marianne Sumego, MD
Director, Shared Medical Appointment / Staff Physician
Cleveland Clinic



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Session: Improving Access and Adopting Innovation with Shared Medical Appointments

Bio:​ Dr. Marianne Sumego is the Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic Shared Medical Appointments Program. Dr. Sumego joined Cleveland Clinic in 1996 and is a staff physician practicing Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. She has special interests in shared medical appointments (SMAs) and currently conducts SMAs for womens’ wellness and chronic disease. She has been the Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic’s SMA Program since 2010. In that role, Dr. Sumego oversees the development, implementation, and execution of over 300 SMA’s. The SMA program expands over multiple outpatient and inpatient settings providing a rich experience of medical visits being conducted enterprise-wide. She has presented nationally and internationally on the topic of Shared Medical appointments sharing Cleveland Clinic best practice models. She has also worked with health systems both nationally and internationally on the development of Shared Medical Appointments.

​Ingrid Summers, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHS
Consultant
Press Ganey




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Session: ​Workshop - Implicit Bias and Patient Experience – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Bio:​ Ingrid Summers is a Consultant at PressGaney who focuses on working with heath care organizations to transform their culture to create a positive patient and employee experience. Prior to joining PressGaney in 2016, Ingrid has held several leadership positions at Fortune 100 companies focused on diversity and inclusion, talent management, executive and leader development, change management, employee engagement, and patient experience.

Iyue Sung, ​​​​​​​​​​​​PhD
​Vice President of Enterprise Analytics
Press Ganey



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Session: Integrated Analytics to Identify Transformation Priorities

Bio:​ Iyue Sung is Vice President, Enterprise Analytics, at Press Ganey, a healthcare data, consulting, and technology company. He manages a team of data scientists and business analysts who uncover patterns related to patient experience, workforce engagement, nursing quality and clinical quality. 

Iyue's prior experience includes electronic health records company Athenahealth and Oliver Wyman, a strategy consulting firm. He holds a PhD in Statistics from The Ohio State University and a BA in Mathematics and Philosophy (Double Major) from Boston University.

Roxana Taveira, MHSA
Administrative Director of Oncology Services
Temple University Hospital



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Session: Journey to Engagement: Strategies to Improve Patient and Staff Experience

Bio:​ Roxana Taveira, MHSA is the Administrative Director for the Oncology Service Line at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. A healthcare professional with over 30 years in oncology that have spanned from clinical roles through management. Responsibilities include the overall management and program development of the Cancer Center, Radiation Oncology, and Gamma Knife Program.

Elizabeth Tedesco, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​DNP, RN, CEN, PHRN
Unit Director
UPMC Passavant



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Session: Involving Nursing in the Design and Implementation of Workflow to Reduce LWBS

Bio:​ Dr. Elizabeth Tedesco earned her DNP degree from Waynesburg University and MSN degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She has also held a variety of nursing roles, including staff nurse, nurse educator, flight nurse, pre-hospital nurse, clinical education specialist, and unit director. Her clinical background includes over 16 years of experience in Emergency Nursing, Pre-hospital and Flight Nursing. She has been a Certified Emergency Nurse for 10 years through the certification board of the Emergency Nurses Association. She holds appointments at Waynesburg University's Graduate and Professional Studies program in Nursing. But her greatest achievement includes her love of volunteer firefighting and her 7 year old daughter, Abby.

Jeff Thompson, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MBA, CPHQ
Director of Advisory Services
Press Ganey




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Session: ​Workshop - Developing a Successful Patient Experience Strategy: Why Tactics Alone Won’t Get You to Success

Bio:​ Jeff Thompson is the Director of Advisory Services at Press Ganey. Jeff joined Press Ganey in 2006 and has worked with countless clients over the past 12 years to define, communicate and deliver on strategies to deliver safe, high quality and patient centered care.

​Michael Todd, ​RRT
Quality & Safety Specialist
Piedmont Healthcare




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Session: How to Give Your Safety Coaching Program More Muscle

Bio:​ Michael Todd has been in healthcare for 12 years, with clinical expertise as a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Michael has worked with healthcare quality and patient safety for the last 6 years, including investigation and classification of serious safety events, development of action plans based on the root causes and common causes, and initiation of the Safety Coach program within Piedmont Healthcare. Michael was integral in developing the metric for measuring the effectiveness of Safety Coaches within Piedmont Healthcare.

Wendy Tucker, MPH
​Impatient Integrative Medicine Coordinator
UCLA Health



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Session: Urban Zen Integrative Therapy: An Innovative Model for Non-Pharmacologic Symptom Management

Bio:​ Wendy graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and Environmental Studies in 1982, a J.D. in 1985 and a M.P.H. in 2016. For over thirty years she practiced law focusing on health care litigation primarily involving the defense of medical device and pharmaceutical companies in mass tort litigation. 

Wendy transitioned to a career in health care after her husband suffered a traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident in 2008. She founded one of the first Patient and Family Advisory Councils at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and spent many years as the co-chair of UCLA 's Neurosurgery PFAC. Wendy currently is the Inpatient Integrative Medicine Coordinator for UCLA Health. In this capacity she oversees the in-patient Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program.

Tom Tull, MBA, FACHE
V​P, Chief Experience Officer
Ballad Health




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Session: Advancing across the Board: Connections for HCAHPS Domains

Bio:​ Tom provides leadership across the integrated health system overseeing patient experience, team member engagement and physician engagement as well as system culture development. He has been a member of the Board of Examiners for both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence. Tom was an inaugural member of the Leaders Board for Service. He is a part-time faculty member at East Tennessee State University. Tom earned a BS in communications and a Master’s in business administration. Tull is also a fellow of the Advisory Board, fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a certified Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability Trainer.

Tracela Vaden, MD, CPE, FACP
​Medical Director, Patient Safety
Atrium Health




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Session: The Road to High Reliability: Engaging Physician Leaders in the Value of a Peer Review Program

Bio:​ Dr. Tracela "Traci" grew up in Georgia with an early exposure to the importance of safety in a farming and mining community. She additionally had safety roles in the EPA while in college. She obtained a Doctor of Medicine Degree with honors from Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, GA and completed an Internal Residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, AL, during which frequent moonlighting opportunities in remote areas of Alabama allowed her to discover a love of providing quality care to all ages in urgent situations and she practiced in Urgent Cares for greater than 15 years as well as in a traditional internal medicine setting. 

Her strengths of integrity and relationship building as well as her nature to analyze and respond to situations, rather than react, in addition to her passion for safety in patient care have served her well in building a Peer Review Program for Atrium Health's Medical Group.

Lauren Valencic, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MPH
Ambulatory Experience Coordinator
Mission Health



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Session: Transforming Care in the Ambulatory Setting

Bio:​ Lauren Valencic is the Ambulatory Experience Coordinator for the Mission Health System. She joined Mission Health at the beginning of 2017 to support the expansion of patient experience improvement initiatives to ambulatory sites. She brings expertise in program development, implementation and evaluation to the Mission Experience team. She holds a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in health promotion and behavior from the University of Georgia. She has worked in non-profit program administration for the past eleven years at organizations across the southeast, including Sexual Trauma Services of The Midlands, The University of Georgia, The Athens Land Trust, and The Mountain Area Health Education Center. She believes that the experience of every patient is of the utmost importance because it influences the individual’s health and subsequently the community’s health.

Terrie Van Buren, RN, BSN, MBA, CPPS
Vice President / Patient Safety Officer
CHS Patient Safety Organization, LLC

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Session: Improving Your Serious Safety Event Rate® (SSER) When Reductions Have Flatlined

Bio:​ Terrie Van Buren is the Vice President, Patient Safety Officer for CHS PSO, LLC (component patient safety organization of CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc.). She has over thirty years of experience in patient safety, healthcare operations, quality and leadership. She began her career as a registered nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She later worked as a Nurse Consultant in liability claims with Aetna Life and Casualty and Aetna Health Plans. She has worked with Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation since 2002 and has been the Vice President of their PSO since 2012.

Dave Varnes, ​​​​​​​​​​​​CDR, USN(Ret.), MSAE
​Senior Manager of Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey


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Session: Reliability Institute: Next-Generation Interventions for Safety and Reliability

Bio:​ Dave Varnes is a Senior Manager with HPI-Press Ganey Strategic Consulting. To date, he has worked with over twenty one clients guiding them in comprehensive safety and reliability culture improvement through diagnostic assessment, intervention implementation, and building accountability systems. Working with Board Members and Senior Leadership as well as staff and medical staff, client organizations have been able to achieve significant reductions in their Serious Safety Event Rates. 

Dave is a former H-46 and H-3 helicopter pilot with over 21 years of leadership and management experience in the US Navy. He has over 1,500 flight hours in Search and Rescue, MEDEVAC, ammunition and personnel transport missions. He has served in a variety of positions designed to improve safety and performance in a demanding and high-tempo environment.

Additionally, while attached to USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69), Dave served as Weapons Officer where his leadership and emphasis on quality and safety as well as strict adherence to published procedures led to the attainment of zero safety or mishap incidents. These leadership efforts were key to the Weapons department receiving the "Black W" award (a highly competitive award that acknowledges a department's high level of safety, efficiency and standards). Dave has also served on aircraft mishap investigation and Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Boards as well as human factors councils tasked with discovering root causes for aviation mishaps and associated human errors.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School.

Thomas Vernon, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​RN, BSN, EdM, CPLP
​System Director Talent Management
Houston Methodist


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Session: Pathway to Unparalleled Employee Engagement

Bio:​ Thomas has been with Houston Methodist since May 2015 as the System Director of Talent Management. His responsibility includes talent acquisition strategy for the enterprise as well as leader of Organizational and Leadership Development.

Previously, Thomas was with Cleveland Clinic for 25 years in a variety of roles. As Senior Director for International Patient Experience he consulted with organizations around the world to help them learn, implement and sustain the Patient Experience and Employee Engagement best practices of Cleveland Clinic. 

Thomas has previously held leadership roles in the areas of Clinical Education, Human Resources, Organizational Development and Learning Technology. Thomas holds a Master’s of Education in Global Human Resource Education from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Cleveland State University. He is a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance by the Association for Talent Development and has presented domestically and internationally on multiple topics including: cultural transformation, performance management, performance consulting, succession planning, employee engagement and learning technology.

Shannon Vincent, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MA
Manager of Strategic Consulting
Press Ganey




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Session: ​Workshop - Unlocking Emotional Intelligence: Practical Strategies for Building Self-Awareness

Bio:​ As Manager of Press Ganey Strategic Consulting, Shannon Vincent guides clients through the survey process by providing consulting services and advisory analyses to help them meet their strategic goals and facilitate organizational change. She has expertise in survey design, statistical analysis and action planning and has developed and implemented solutions for organizations of all sizes. 

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Shannon consulted on talent management, coaching and leadership at organizations in a variety of industries, including gaming, financial services, energy and retail. She also has facilitated workshops and delivered coaching on emotional intelligence and team building, and she has lectured at regional and national conferences on topics related to caregiver engagement, employee onboarding, leadership and organizational culture.

Shannon holds a bachelor of arts degree from Northeastern Illinois University and a master of arts degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Elmhurst College.

​Nora Warshawsky, ​PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, FAAN
Professor
University of Central Florida



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Session: Nursing Preconference

Bio:​ Dr. Warshawsky teaches health care systems course such as quality and safety, healthcare informatics, and advanced organizational assessment. Dr. Warshawsky is a nationally recognized expert in nursing leadership and management development. She has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare organizations, primarily in nursing leadership and quality management roles. In her current practice role, she helps clinical nurse leaders develop and implement evidence-based management skills. Her research interest is to better understand nurse manager practice and how the organizational context influences the outcomes of nurse manager practice.

Rosalind Washington, PhD, MHSM, MBA, RRT, CHES
Director of Patient & Family Experience
Texas Health Physicians Group


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Session: Transcending from Acute Care to a Clinically Integrated Network: A Story of High Reliability

Bio:​ Rosalind Washington is the Director, Service Excellence for Texas Health Physician’s Group. She received her PhD in Health Studies from the Department of Health Science, two Master’s degrees, one in Health Systems Management, and the other in Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas; and a B.S., Cardio Respiratory care from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has certifications in various areas that increase her knowledge base and strategic vision for business and healthcare. Her professional certifications include a Master Black Belt Lean/Six Sigma certification, Certified Health Educator Specialist (CHES), and a Registered Respiratory Therapist with the National Board of Respiratory Care. 

She has over 20 years of relevant healthcare experience including both clinical and non-clinical. To complement this background, she possesses demonstrated expertise in performance improvement, project management, research, and progressive responsibility dealing with program development and sustainability of healthcare initiatives in the community, medical practice, and acute hospital setting.

Wendy Watson, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MPH
​Vice President, Regional Ambulatory Care & Clinical Services
Kaiser Permanente


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Session: Integrated Teams Walk the Patients’ Journey for Access Improvement

Bio:​ Wendy Watson serves as Regional Vice President for Ambulatory Care at Kaiser Permanente Northwest. She is responsible for care delivery operations in Primary Care, Specialty Care, Ancillary Services, Hospice, Palliative Care, Skilled Nursing Facilities, and Home Health. She partners closely with Hospital leadership to ensure the provision of high quality, coordinated care across the continuum. 

Wendy has been with Kaiser Permanente Northwest for 25 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles. She holds a master's degree in public health from Portland State University and is certified in Lean/Six Sigma process improvement methodologies. She is also a current Baldrige Executive Fellow and serves as Board Chair for Girls Inc of the Pacific Northwest.

Page West, RN, MPA/MHA, HACP
Senior Vice President / System Chief Nurse Executive
Dignity Health


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Session: The Amazing Race: Instilling Competition and Fun to Improve the Patient Experience

Bio:​ As Dignity Health’s Senior Vice President, System Chief Nurse Executive, Page West leads the clinical integration efforts and has overall responsibility for the practice of nursing throughout the enterprise by ensuring consistency in the standards of practice across all clinical settings. She helps identify and articulate Dignity Health’s vision and strategic direction for delivery of patient care and works collaboratively to direct implementation strategies to achieve them. Additional focus areas include: nursing research, care coordination, pharmacy, surgical services, patient and nursing safety.

Page holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and dual masters’ degrees in Public Administration/Health Administration from the University of San Francisco. She authored Achieving Systemness, the Critical Impact of Systemness on Your Patient, Modern Healthcare 2016.

Ellen Wilson, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MS
Executive Director of Therapy Services / Interim Chief Patient Experience Officer
UCLA Health System


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Session: Urban Zen Integrative Therapy: An Innovative Model for Non-Pharmacologic Symptom Management

Bio:​ Ellen graduated with a B.S. in Kinesiology in 1981 and an M.S. in Physical Therapy in 1984. She worked as a physical therapist in a variety of clinical areas including acute, outpatient, geriatrics, orthopedics, acute rehab/neuro, cardiac, burns, and skilled nursing. She has been a rehab manager for the past 23 years in a variety of settings, and is currently Executive Director of Therapy Services for the UCLA Health System, which includes rehab, respiratory therapy, and integrative Medicine programs. Ellen is a past member and president of the Physical Therapy Board of California, and continues to serve as a consultant investigating PT-related complaints state-wide.

Rukiya Wongus, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MHA, PMP, CMPE
Associate Director of Patient Experience Improvement
University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc.

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Session: Developing Physician Communication as a Strategic Priority

Bio:​ Rukiya Wongus has worked for University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. (FPI) since 2004. She’s held various positions within the organization in the departments of Practice Operations, Planning and Development, and most recently Human Resources. In her current role, Rukiya manages the Patient Experience and Service Excellence Program for FPI’s professional associations. 

Rukiya earned a Master’s in Health Administration along with a Certificate in Health Information Technology Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She also earned the designation of Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 2014.

Julie Wright, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MSNEd, RN
System Director Clinical Risk
Intermountain Healthcare




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Session: Meeting the Challenge of Patient Safety and Reliability in the Outpatient Setting

Bio:​ Julie Wright is an experienced healthcare professional who is passionate about improving healthcare safety, quality, and human experiences. Julie has worked as a Registered Nurse at Intermountain Healthcare for 25 years, and currently she is the System Director for Clinical Risk Management in Intermountain’s Office of Patient Experience. In this role she leads an effective and progressive Clinical Risk Management program across the enterprise. 

Previously, Julie worked as the Quality and Risk Management Director for Intermountain Medical Group. Prior to her work in the Medical Group, Julie spent most of her nursing career providing direct care to pediatric patients both in the hospital and homecare settings. She also has experience in Nursing Education, Infusion Services, Ambulatory Surgery, and Post Anesthesia Care. 

As the Quality and Risk Management Director for Intermountain Medical Group, Julie effectively led the implementation and sustainment of the Continuous Improvement Zero Harm initiative across Intermountain’s 185 Medical Group Clinics. Julie also led a team who collaborated with Medical Group leaders to support evidenced-based practice and implement data-driven patient safety initiatives. In addition, she was instrumental in developing and setting the vision of patient safety and risk management for Intermountain Medical Group clinics across the organization. 
Julie holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing Education.

Tammy Wright, RRT, MS
Senior Director, Voice of the Customer
Novant Health



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Session: Integrating a Comprehensive Workforce and Engagement Strategy

Bio:​ Tammy has greater than 30 years of health care experience. Beginning her health care journey as a Registered Respiratory Therapist. She has worked at the bedside and in many supporting roles with Information Technology, Operational and Clinical Improvement and Administration. 

She currently is a Senior Director in Human Experience at Novant Health. She has a BS in Social Sciences from Liberty University and a MS in Human Resources from Western Carolina University.

​Sara Zoelle, ​MD
Lead Physician
Sanford Sheldon Medical Center




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Session: ED Access Strategy for Sustainable Improvement

Bio:​ Sara Zolle has worked at Sanford Sheldon Medical Center for 19 years and currently is the Chief of Medical Staff and the Physician Lead. She also serves as the County Medical Examiner, ambulance Director for the city fire department and for 5 ambulance departments, as well as the Medical Director for the Village Northwest Unlimited. Sara serves on the Executive Finance Committee, the Credentials Committee, the Medical Affairs Committee, and the Sanford Health Network Board. Sara enjoys enjoy living in a small community where she can put patients and families first.

Joan Zoltanski, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​MD, MBA, FAAP
Chief Experience Officer
University Hospitals of Cleveland




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Session: Leveraging the Organization’s Core Identity to Develop a Cultural Strategy

Bio:​ Joan Zoltanski, MD, MBA, FAAP is the Chief Experience Officer for University Hospitals since January 1, 2016. In her role as Chief Experience Officer she works to improve the patient experience throughout the entire University Hospitals Health System. Her special focus is communication between providers and patients with the goal of ensuring that safe, high quality medical care is provided to patients with empathy and compassion. 

Dr. Zoltanski participated in a journey toward a high reliability organization, led by HPI a number of years ago which clearly linked for her the connection between patient experience and Zero Harm. She also is a pediatric critical care physician and currently works clinically in the Pediatric Sedation Unit, Division of Pediatric Pharmacology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. She is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Zoltanski is board certified in pediatrics, and she is certified in basic life support and pediatric advanced life support. Her special interest is pediatric procedural sedation, especially for children with cancer. 

Dr. Zoltanski holds a Master’s of business administration from Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. She earned her doctorate in medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in 2003. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric pharmacology and critical care medicine at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. She was appointed to the medical staff in 2009 and was named Medical Director of the Pediatric Sedation Unit in 2012. 

Dr. Zoltanski’s research interests are pediatric procedural sedation. She teaches pediatric procedural sedation on a national level to advanced practice clinicians. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Society for Pediatric Sedation and Society for Critical Care Medicine.