COVID-19, the worst crisis facing the planet since World War II, was the focus of a Health Tech Austin virtual summit May 7. Three expert panels shared insights on the pandemic, including a discussion on its march through communities and countries; how the bioscience industry is responding and the impact on vulnerable populations; what we’ve learned from past pandemics and where we’re headed.

Tom Kowalski Joined The Conversation By Phone

Will is the co-founder and CEO of Sana Benefits, an innovative health benefits serving small and medium employers in Texas.

Sana is on a mission to create best in class health plans that are more affordable than traditional options for its employer clients.

Prior to Sana, Will was on the leadership team at Justworks, a venture-backed payroll, and benefits startup in New York, where he led operations and then ran a product team.

Will’s experience also includes a couple of years working in business development at Google in Los Angeles. Will has a BA from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

United States Congressman Lloyd Doggett represents communities from San Antonio to Austin. He serves as Chairman of the Heath Subcommittee on the House Ways & Means Committee, the oldest committee of the United States Congress. Congressman Doggett is also a member of the Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee, the Joint Committee on Taxation, and the House Budget Committee.

As Chairman of the Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, Rep. Doggett works to put patients first, lower Big Pharma monopoly prices, cut out-of-pocket cost, and reverse Republican sabotage of our healthcare system. He is a sponsor of multiple pieces of legislation that would allow Medicare to use its purchasing power to lower drug costs for seniors and taxpayers through negotiation, fight anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals, and promote transparency throughout the drug development and pricing process.

Congressman Doggett was an active member of the Health Subcommittee when the Affordable Care Act was written in 2009-10.  Since before coming to Congress, he also served as a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, he understands the legal complexities of the very important challenge to the Affordable Health Care Act just argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

featured speakers

Elena M. Marks is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Episcopal Health Foundation, a $1.2 billion philanthropy based in Houston, Texas. The foundation works to improve the health and well-being of the 11 million people of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, which covers 57 counties in east, southeast, and central Texas including Austin, Houston, Beaumont, Lufkin, Tyler, Waco and Bryan/College Station. 

Ms. Marks is also a nonresident Fellow in Health Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy where her work focuses on health reform and access to care for low income and uninsured populations. 

She serves on the boards of Grantmakers in Health, the largest national organization serving the field of health philanthropy, Harris Health System, an integrated health delivery system serving over 300,000 patients annually, and Community Health Choice, a nonprofit, community-based health insurance company with over 400,000 members.

Ms. Marks holds a Bachelor’s degree from Emory University, a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health. 

Ms. Marks’ previous professional experience includes serving as the Director of Health and Environmental Policy for the City of Houston; consulting in the health care industry with large systems and community-based providers; starting and directing a successful legal placement firm; and practicing trial and appellate law with major Texas law firms.

Dr. Alain Labrique is the Founding Director of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative, a multi-disciplinary Center of Excellence of over 150 projects engaged in mHealth innovation and research across the Johns Hopkins system. An infectious disease and population epidemiologist, he serves on the faculty in the Global Disease Epidemiology and Control Program of the Department of International Health.

Dr. Labrique was recognized as one of the Top 11 mHealth Innovators in 2011 by the Rockefeller Foundation and the UN Foundation and was a lead author on a Bellagio Declaration on mHealth Evidence. In 2018, he was awarded the Excellence in International Public Health Practice Award and a Distinguished Alumnus award from the Bloomberg School. Dr. Labrique received a Presidential Excellence in Advising Award for teaching and Bloomberg School recognition for teaching and mentoring students. His work on mHealth strategies for health system strengthening remains among the most cited mHealth resources in the peer-reviewed literature. Labrique has authored over 150 publications in high-impact journals, as well as many book chapters and technical reports on Digital Health, M&E methodologies and emerging infectious diseases.

Labrique has served as a Digital Health and Technical Advisor to several international and global health agencies and Ministries of Health including the World Health Organization, GSMA, USAID, Digital Impact Alliance and HealthEnabled.  Dr. Labrique is the current Chair of the WHO mHealth Technical Evidence Review Group (mTERG) and the WHO Digital Health Guidelines Development Group, technical bodies convened by WHO to advise governments on digital health investments.

In addition to teaching and training students and faculty at Hopkins and as a Visiting Professor at institutions in Bangladesh and China, Labrique is lead investigator for several research projects measuring the impact of information and communications technologies on improving maternal, neonatal and infant health in resource-limited settings. He has, over the past decade, concentrated on developing and testing appropriate information and communication technologies (ICTs) that may strengthen gaps in health system performance - targeting both supply- and demand-side challenges. 

Dr. Labrique is also actively engaged in developing and validating new public health technologies, and is the inventor of a number of patented diagnostic and anthropometric devices.  Dr. Labrique speaks fluent English, French, and Bengali.

R. Steven Paulson, M.D., serves as President and Chairman of the Board for Texas Oncology, an independent private practice with more than 490 physicians and 210 locations across the state. The practice includes Texas Center for Proton Therapy, Texas Breast Specialists, Texas Oncology Surgical Specialists, and Texas Center for Interventional Surgery.

As a lead participant in US Oncology Research, Texas Oncology played a role in the development of more than 90 FDA-approved therapies, about one-third of all cancer therapies approved to date. 

Dr. Paulson specializes in medical oncology and hematology and is board certified in medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Paulson received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Texas A&M University in 1972 and his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas, in 1977.

He received training in internal medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Mass., from 1977 to 1979, and completed training in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, from 1979 to 1980, where he also completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology from 1980 to 1982. Dr. Paulson received additional training at the bone marrow transplant unit at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Wash., in 1982.

Dr. Paulson is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Texas Medical Association. He served on the Texas Society of Medical Oncology board of directors and as its president in 1991.

Thomas R. Kowalski is President and CEO of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute (THBI) in Austin, Texas. 

He has previously served as a senior staff member to Governor Bill Clements of Texas, U.S. Senator John Tower of Texas, and Congressman Jim Collins of Dallas, Texas.

With over thirty-five years of political and policy experience, Mr. Kowalski was appointed in 1989 by Governor Bill Clements to the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System.  He served as Chairman of the Board of Regents in 1995.  In addition, Mr. Kowalski currently serves as Chairman of the McCoy College of Business Administration Advisory Council at Texas State University. 

An avid public speaker, Mr. Kowalski gives numerous talks on positioning Texas as a global leader in the development of biotechnology and life sciences. He was appointed in 2002 to Governor Rick Perry’s State Council on Science and Biotechnology Development.  He is the former Chairman of Bio’s Council of State Biotechnology Associations, whose national membership consists of forty-nine state associations involved in biotechnology development and advocacy. Mr. Kowalski is a distinguished alumnus of Texas State University.

A lifelong Texan, Mr. Kowalski resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Susie.

John M. Barry is a prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author whose books have won multiple awards. The National Academies of Sciences named his 2004 book The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history, a study of the 1918 pandemic, the year's outstanding book on science or medicine. His earlier book Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians for the year's best book of American history and in 2005 the New York Public Library named it one of the 50 best books in the preceding 50 years, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. His books have also been embraced by experts in applicable fields: in 2006 he became the only non-scientist ever to give the National Academies Abel Wolman Distinguished Lecture, a lecture which honors contributions to water-related science, and he was the only non-scientist on a federal government Infectious Disease Board of Experts. He has served on numerous boards, including ones at M.I.T's Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Society of American Historians. His latest book is Roger Williams and The Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and winner of the New England Society Book Award. 

His books have involved him in two areas of public policy. In 2004, he began working with the National Academies and several federal government entities on influenza preparedness and response, and he was a member of the original team which developed plans for mitigating a pandemic by using "non-pharmaceutical interventions"-- i.e., public health measures to take before a vaccine becomes available. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have sought his advice on influenza preparedness and response, and he continues his activity in this area. 

He has been equally active in water issues. After Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana congressional delegation asked him to chair a bipartisan working group on flood protection, and he served on the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East, overseeing levee districts in metropolitan New Orleans, from its founding in 2007 until October 2013, as well as on the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which is responsible for the statewide hurricane protection. Barry has worked with state, federal, United Nations, and World Health Organization officials on influenza, water-related disasters, and risk communication.

His writing has received not only formal awards but less formal recognition as well. In 2004 GQ named Rising Tide one of nine pieces of writing essential to understanding America; that list also included Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." His first book, The Ambition and the Power: A true story of Washington, was cited by The New York Times as one of the eleven best books ever written about Washington and the Congress. His second book The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer, coauthored with Dr. Steven Rosenberg, was published in twelve languages. And a story about football he wrote was selected for inclusion in an anthology of the best football writing of all time published in 2006 by Sports Illustrated.

A keynote speaker at such varied events as a White House Conference on the Mississippi Delta and an International Congress on Respiratory Viruses, he has also given talks in such venues as the National War College, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Harvard Business School. He is co-originator of what is now called the Bywater Institute, a Tulane University center dedicated to comprehensive river research. 

His articles have appeared in such scientific journals as Nature and Journal of Infectious Disease as well as in lay publications ranging from Sports Illustrated to Politico, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, and Esquire. A frequent guest on every broadcast network in the US, he has appeared on such shows as NBC's Meet the Press, ABC's World News, and NPR's All Things Considered, and on such foreign media as the BBC and Al Jazeera. He has also served as a consultant for Sony Pictures and contributed to award-winning television documentaries. 

Before becoming a writer, Barry coached football at the high school, small college, and major college levels. Currently Distinguished Scholar at Tulane's Bywater Institute and a professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, he lives in New Orleans.

Dr. Gerald Parker is the Associate Dean for Global One Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and in this role, he also serves as Campus Director for Global One Health at Texas A&M University.

He holds joint appointments at the Bush School of Government Service as Director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program within the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs and AgriLife Research as strategic advisor for the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. Parker is a member of several advisory boards, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine standing committee on Health Threats and Workforce Resilience, Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee, and the Biodefense Blue Ribbon Panel.

Prior to his appointment to Texas A&M University, Dr. Parker held technical to executive leadership positions throughout 36 years of public service as a recognized defense and civilian interagency leader in biodefense, high consequence emerging infectious diseases, global health security and all-hazards public health/medical preparedness. This included coordinating federal medical/public health responses to Hurricanes Katrina thru Alex, to the 2009 Pandemic and Haiti earthquake.

Dr. Parker’s service includes more than 26 years on active duty leading medical research and development programs and organizations. He is a former Commander and Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Parker held senior executive level positions at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD), including serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense at DOD.

Dr. Parker is a 2009 recipient of the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service in 2013. Dr. Parker graduated from Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

tHE COVID-19 SHOWCASE

presented by THOUGHTBOT

COVID-19, the worst crisis facing the planet since World War II, was the focus of a Health Tech Austin virtual event on June 4th.  Four thought leaders shared insights on the pandemic, health care overall, and how they are leading at their respective organization.
                     

In a virtual ted-like talk format, Thought Leaders Came Together To Share Insights and Examples Of How Employers, Providers, and innovators Are Pushing the Health Care Industry Forward by Discussing Solutions to Address America's Health Care Cost Crisis.

Presented by milliman

The Summit was Designed to Bring Together a Diverse Group of Leaders, Innovators and Health Equity Champions From Across the Country to Connect, Amplify and Accelerate Conversations Around Strategy, Solutions and Cross-Sector Collaboration for a Healthier Tomorrow.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Abner Mason is the Founder and CEO of ConsejoSano, the only patient engagement and care navigation solution designed to help clients activate their multicultural patient populations to better engage with the healthcare system. ConsejoSano's clients are typically health plans and provider groups serving Medicaid and Medicare Advantage members and patient populations.
 
ConsejoSano utilizes multilingual, multi-channel engagement (2-way SMS, voice, etc.) along with culturally relevant messaging to increase engagement, lower costs and improve health outcomes related to care for multicultural populations that face cultural, language, and social challenges in accessing care. Through healthcare navigators that provide in-language support, ConsejoSano builds trust with at-risk patients and steers them to more effective self-care and utilization of their healthcare benefits.
 
Abner is Founder and President of Healthtech for Medicaid (HT4M), a non-profit seeking to increase innovation in Medicaid, and he is a member of the Founder’s Council for United States of Care, a non-profit launched and headed by former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt focused on ensuring access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.
 
Abner previously served as Founder and CEO of the Workplace Wellness Council of Mexico, which provides member companies with access to cutting edge workplace wellness programs and a forum to share best practices. With over 100 clients including 40 multi-nationals, the Mexico Wellness Council is now the leading workplace wellness company in Mexico.
 
From 2002 - 2009, Abner served as Founder and Executive Director of AIDS Responsibility Project, where he led the successful efforts to create CONAES and JaBCHA, the first business councils on HIV/AIDS in Mexico and Jamaica.
 
Abner was appointed by US President George W. Bush to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, where he served as Chairman of the International Sub-Committee from 2002 - 2005.
 
Abner also served as Chief Policy Advisor, Chief Secretary, and Undersecretary of Transportation and Construction for Massachusetts Governors Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift from 1997 - 2002. Abner also worked for two years as an Associate Consultant at strategy consulting firm Bain & Company.

Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc is a Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Social Medicine and Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and is Director of the Center for Health Equity Research.

She is also the Director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute’s Community Academic Resources for Engaged Scholarships (CARES) services, and Co-Director of the Program on Health Disparities through the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Dr. Corbie-Smith is nationally recognized for her scholarly work and has expertise in community-engaged and patient-oriented research. Her empirical work, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, has focused on the methodological, ethical, and practical issues of research to address racial disparities in health. She has been the principal investigator of grants funded through the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), and the National Human Genome Research Institute, among others.

Since 2004, Dr. Corbie-Smith has been the PI on grants to support Project GRACE, a community-academic research partnership in Eastern North Carolina that has developed, tested, and disseminated interventions to prevent HIV and cardiovascular disease.

In 2013, Dr. Corbie-Smith established the UNC Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) to bring together collaborative multidisciplinary teams of scholars and community members to improve health in underserved communities through a shared commitment to health equity, innovation, and translational research.

Dr. Corbie-Smith was named Co-PI for the Advancing Change Leadership Clinical Scholars Program, funded by RWJF in 2015. The Clinical Scholars Program will provide intensive learning, collaboration, networking, and coaching to seasoned clinicians to create a community of practitioners improving health across the country

Stoddard Davenport is a senior healthcare consultant and researcher at Milliman.  Milliman is among the world's largest providers of actuarial and related products and services.  Their mission is to help clients protect the health and financial well-being of people everywhere. Milliman serves the full spectrum of business, financial, government, union, education, and nonprofit organizations.

Stoddard is focused on the economics of mental health, substance use disorders, and other pressing public health issues. He helps organizations that are working to improve healthcare to design, manage, and evaluate their programs, and is passionate about bringing a focus on public health and health outcomes into financing and evaluation of care delivery systems.

Stoddard helps lead the behavioral health and population health teams. He is also a member of Milliman’s Racial Disparities in Healthcare Workgroup, and is on the steering committee for the Society of Actuaries’ Social Determinants of Health Strategic Initiative.

His expertise is in using data to inform decision-making, including policy analysis, development and evaluation of population health strategies, and other interventions, and quantification of the impact of important public health issues, like the social determinants of health. His work has been widely cited in the media and other literature.

Stoddard holds a B.S in Economics and Applied Mathematics from Boise State University and a Master of Public Health degree from Dartmouth College.

Dr. Lisa Cooper is a Liberian-born general internist, social epidemiologist, and health services researcher. As the Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, Dr. Cooper leads the Institute in its mission to advance health and health equity across Baltimore City. Dr. Cooper is also the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor for Equity in Health and Health Care in the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health.

She is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, where she and her transdisciplinary team work with stakeholders, from healthcare and the community implement rigorous clinical trials, identifying interventions that alleviate racial and income disparities in social determinants and health outcomes.

Dr. Cooper was one of the first scientists to document disparities in the quality of relationships between physicians and patients from socially at-risk groups. She then designed innovative interventions targeting physicians’ communication skills, patients’ self-management skills, and healthcare organizations’ ability to address needs of populations experiencing health disparities. She is the author of over 200 publications and has been the principal investigator of more than 15 federal and private foundation grants. She has also been a devoted mentor to more than 75 individuals seeking careers in medicine, nursing, and public health.

Dr. Cooper has received several honors for her pioneering research, teaching, and mentoring, including a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship, membership in the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Medical Colleges Herbert W. Nickens Award Herbert W. Nickens Award for outstanding contributions to social justice in medical education and equity in healthcare in the United States and the American Public Health Association Helen Rodríguez-Trìas Social Justice Award. She has also been recognized by several community organizations locally and nationally for her community engagement and advocacy to address health disparities.

Dr. Tanjala Purnell is an epidemiologist and health services researcher with over a decade of research experience related to identifying and addressing patient/family, healthcare system, and sociocultural factors influencing health and healthcare disparities for adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors, including hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes.

She is an Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She holds joint faculty appointments in the Johns Hopkins Departments of Surgery, Health Policy and Management, and Health Behavior and Society.

In her role as an Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, Dr. Purnell co-leads the institute’s efforts to facilitate and recognize collaborations between communities, universities, healthcare delivery systems, government, and the private sector to build collective capacity for achieving health equity in Baltimore. She is also the Associate Director for Education and Training at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, where she leads the center’s award-winning educational and training programs for public health, nursing, and medical scholars working to advance health equity. In addition, she is the Director of community and stakeholder engagement for the Hopkins Epidemiology Research Group in Organ Transplantation, core faculty at the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, and affiliated faculty with the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research.

Dr. Purnell is a native of the Mississippi Delta and a proud alumna of Tougaloo College where she obtained her BS in Computer Science. She has received several national and international research honors and has published findings from her work in leading medical and public health journals, including JAMA and Health Affairs. Dr. Purnell is deeply committed to community service, teaching, and mentoring and is the recipient of multiple Teaching Excellence Awards from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jane L. Delgado is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (the Alliance). The mission of the Alliance is the best health for all. Alliance community-based members serve over 15 million Hispanics and national members provide services to over 100 million individuals annually. The Alliance is part of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC #11504), named a Best of the CFC charity, and featured as part of the Charities Under 5% Overhead Fund, and awarded the Best in America Seal by the Independent Charities of AmericaDr. Delgado serves on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Labs (Chair, Compensation). She also serves on the Board of the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute (Vice Chair, Chair Nominating) and the U.S. Soccer Foundation. She served on the boards of the Board of Health Care Services for The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Kresge Foundation (16 year term); and, publicly traded companies (Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc. makers of Mucinex® and Vestar, Inc. the biotechnology company that developed AmBisome) until they were acquired. She was appointed by the DHHS Secretary to the National Biodefense Science Board and was appointed by the Senate majority leader to the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC) authorized by Congress.

Dr. Delgado is a highly respected and sought after thought leader and commentator. Innovation and action have marked Dr. Delgado’s career as a leader who is transforming health, she is seen on CNN, ABC, Univision, and Telemundo. Her writing has appeared in STAT News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hill, El Mundo (Spain) and many other publications.  Some awards include: 2019 Doctor of Letters by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, 2018 Latino Leaders named her to the 101 Most Influential Latinos in the U.S., 2017 Aztec Award Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, 2015 she received the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation the Dr. Harvey Wiley Award (highest award to a civilian), 2010 Ladies Home Journal named her one of the “Ladies We Love,” and 2008 WebMD recognized her as one of four Health Heroes for her dedication and resilience.

A practicing clinical psychologist, Dr. Delgado launched her book series the Buena Salud® Guides in 2011. The series includes for “...a Healthy Heart,” “...Living with Diabetes,” “Overcoming Depression and Enjoying Life,” “...Arthritis and Your Life” (English & Spanish editions, HarperCollins, 2012), “...Losing Weight and Keeping It Off” (Buena Salud Press, 2017), and “Understanding Depression and Enjoying Life,” (Buena Salud Press, 2020). Previous books include the critically acclaimed “Salud— The Latina Guide to Total Health “(HarperCollins 1997, 2002), “The Latina Guide to Health: Consejos and Caring Answers” (English & Spanish editions, Newmarket Press, 2010). “Salud— The Latina Guide to Total Health,” “The Latina Guide to Health: Consejos and Caring Answers”, and “The Buena Salud Guide for a Healthy Heart,” were chosen by the Library Journal as one of the best health books for the year they were published.

Dr. Delgado served in the Immediate Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Working under then DHHS Secretary Margaret Heckler, she was a key force in the development of the landmark “Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health.” Prior to working for DHHS she held a variety of positions including Children’s Talent Coordinator for Sesame Street.

She was awarded a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from SUNY Stony Brook and an M.S. in Urban and Policy Sciences from the W. Averell Harriman School of Urban and Policy Sciences. Dr. Delgado lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Mark.

Recognized as among the top 100 most influential people in healthcare by Modern Healthcare Magazine, Alan Morgan serves as Chief Executive Officer for the National Rural Health Association. He has more than 30 years experience in health policy at the state and federal level and is one of the nation’s leading experts on rural health policy.

Mr. Morgan served as a contributing author for the publication, “Policy & Politics in  Nursing and Health Care,” and for the publication, “Rural Populations and Health.”

In addition, his health policy articles have been published in: The American Journal of Clinical Medicine, The Journal of Rural Health, The Journal of Cardiovascular Management, The Journal of Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology Review, and in Laboratory Medicine.

Mr. Morgan served as staff for former US Congressman Dick Nichols and former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden. Additionally, his past experience includes tenures as a health care lobbyist for the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, the Heart Rhythm Society, and for VHA Inc.

He holds a bachelors degree in journalism from University of Kansas, and a masters degree in public administration from George Mason University.

Brion Oaks is first ever Chief Equity Officer for the City of Austin. In this capacity, Mr. Oaks is responsible for working with city leadership and the community to create an equity framework to be adopted by all departments and offices of Austin city government.

As Chief Equity Officer, Oaks is responsible for facilitating dialogue and organizational practices that support the development and adoption of equity as a shared value.  He serves as the technical expert in addressing equity as it is applied to city wide policies, programs, practices and budget decisions with an overall vision to make Austin the most livable city for ALL.

Prior to his arrival to the City of Austin, Oaks served as the Vice President of Health Equity for fourteen years at the American Heart Association’s Southwest Affiliate. In this capacity he oversaw the affiliate’s department that was dedicated to improving cardiovascular health for our most vulnerable populations and reducing disparities in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Mr. Oaks had a celebrated career at the American Heart Association. He was the 2009 recipient of the “Rome Betts in Health Equity” award and in 2010 received another prominent honor being recognized as a recipient of the national Cass Wheeler Integration award to recognize his work in collaboration and integration across the American Heart Association.

Mr. Oaks earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science from University of Houston and Masters of Public Administration from Texas State University. Prior to a 14-year career at the American Heart Association, Oaks worked as a legislative assistant for state Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, and as a project coordinator for the Texas Healthy Kids Corporation and the Texas Medical Foundation.

Throughout his career, he has focused on improving health outcomes for minority communities and addressing disparities in access to health care services. Oaks is on the Central Texas Diversity Council, Board of the Austin Chapter of the National Association of Healthcare Executives, and KLRU Community Advisory Board.

In Virtual TED-Like Talks and venture Roundtable, Thought Leaders came Together To Share Their Insights About The Future And Focus Of What Matters In Re-Imagining Healthcare.

Greg Hartman serves as chief operating officer and senior vice president of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center, and vice chancellor for strategic initiatives, The Texas A&M University System.

Hartman is a former health care executive with more than 30 years of experience and responsibility in executive management, strategy, health policy, marketing, communications, government relations and philanthropy, He joined The Texas A&M University System as vice chancellor of strategic initiatives in January 2019, focusing on collaborations among institutions within the system on key priorities.  He has been heavily involved on health care initiatives such as Engineering Medicine and Healthy Texas. In August of 2019, Hartman was asked to take over responsibility for operations of the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

Before joining Texas A&M, Hartman served in a number of executive roles for over 15 years with Seton Healthcare, a $2 billion hospital system in Central Texas. This included as CEO of the system’s two largest hospitals, overseeing academic and research programs affiliated with the University of Texas System and responsibility for public partnerships and the system’s foundations. He was heavily involved in the creation of a unique collaboration between Seton, the University of Texas at Austin and the UT System to bring translational medical research and academic medicine to Austin.

Before joining Seton, Hartman worked around the nation as a consultant on management and operations, strategic planning, public affairs and communications. He was a managing director for Public Strategies, Inc., a corporate strategy firm, and a senior partner with MGT of America, a national management consulting and research firm. He also served as a senior executive in the Texas State Comptroller’s office and has worked for legislators in both the Texas Senate and House.

Jan Oldenburg, FHIMSS, is the principal in Participatory Health Consulting. She advises and mentors startups and healthcare organizations regarding the evolving digital health landscape.

Ms. Oldenburg has focused on digital transformation in healthcare for 20 years. Her experience includes leadership roles in several advisory firms, including EY. She has also served as the Vice President of Patient and Physician Engagement in Aetna’s ACO organization and held senior leadership roles in Kaiser Permanente’s Digital Services Group and at HealthPartners.

She is the principal editor of both Participatory Healthcare: A Person-Centered Approach to Transforming Healthcare published 2016 and Engage! Transforming Healthcare Through Digital Patient Engagement, published in 2013.

Ms Oldenburg also authored chapters in the Third and Fourth Editions of Medical Informatics and a chapter in The Journey Never Ends. She’s the former co-chair of the HIMSS Connected Health Committee and a board member of the Society for Participatory Management. Ms Oldenburg is also a member of the Patient Advocacy & Ethics Group for the Datavant COVID-19 Research Database.  Ms. Oldenburg tweets @janoldenburg

Clint Phillips is currently the founder and CEO of Medici, a global healthcare communication platform. Medici has raised over $50m dollars, has acquired DocBookMD and Chiron Health and now has over 20,000 doctors communicating on its platform monthly.

In 2005, Phillips created the Aspen Back Institute at the St. Regis. Backed by the acclaimed founder of Starwood Hotels, Barry Sternlicht, Aspen Back became a global destination for people from over 40 countries and helped over 1,900 people avoid spine surgery.

Prior to Medici, Phillips created 2nd.MD in 2011 after his daughter suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed. 2nd.MD is a virtual 2nd opinion platform that provides video access to the world’s best doctors at the top 17 US hospitals. 2nd.MD now does more virtual 2nd opinions than the top hospitals combined and has over 10million members. 2nd.MD’s clients include Morgan Stanley, KPMG, EY, United Healthcare, Aetna, Bloomberg, Waste Management and 30 other Fortune 100 companies.

In philanthropy, Phillips is recognized as the largest sponsor of orphans at World Vision and other organizations. In sports, Phillips is recognized as the US National Champion for the 400m and javelin by the USA Track & Field Masters. Phillips has enjoyed the opportunity to speak at Rice, MIT, Princeton and churches across the country and has been featured on CBS, ABC, Forbes, Tech Crunch, Robb Report and more.

Residing in Austin, Texas, Clint has three children with his wife Jade.

Jared Saul, MD supports the efforts of top investors and their most promising healthcare and life sciences startups by bringing Amazon technology, resources and relationships to bear on the unique challenges and opportunities facing those at the cutting edge of healthcare.
 
Dr. Saul began his career practicing clinical neuroradiology while also pursuing a variety of startup ventures and ultimately left clinical practice to more actively serve as a founder, CTO, advisor and investor.
 
Dr. Saul received his medical doctorate from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey where he subsequently completed a residency in radiology.  He then completed fellowship training in neuroradiology at the University of Arizona. 

Dr. Saul lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Chirag Shah is a Principal at Define Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in digital health companies redefining healthcare that will change all our lives.

Chirag's experience includes a mix of startup operating, private equity investing, and finance roles. Previously he was the Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Imagine Health, a healthcare startup that builds and operates high performance networks for self-funded employers.

In his role he led strategy for go-to-market, channel partnerships, and the broader commercial organization; prior to that he led Analytics and Product Management efforts. Before joining Imagine Health, Chirag was the Senior Manager of Strategic Analytics at Castlight Health, a healthcare technology company that focuses on healthcare navigation for self-funded employers. Earlier in his career, Chirag worked at The Carlyle Group in US Buyout on the Healthcare investing team and at Morgan Stanley in Investment Banking on the Media & Communications team. 

Chirag earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from New York University.

Bryan Vartabedian is a physician and writer whose work covers the intersection of medicine, technology, and culture. Considered one of health care’s influential voices, he thinks about how technology is changing the way we care for and engage with patients. Dr. V is most comfortable synthesizing ideas from seemingly unrelated verticals and communicating them in an accessible way.
 
An early leader in the health care social media space, Dr. Vartabedian helped defined the norms and standards of social media use for physicians over 15 years ago. And as the former Director of Digital Professionalism for Baylor College of Medicine, Vartabedian has a track record of putting public conversation into the proper context for health industry leaders. He is the founder of 33 charts, a site which has come to serve as a center of community surrounding physicians and their transition to a new digital world.
 
As a seasoned healthcare leader, Dr. Vartabedian brings to the table a broad administrative skill set. He currently works as the Director of Community Medicine for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition for Texas Children’s Hospital, America’s largest children’s hospital, and is a full-time faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine.
 
His workshops and keynote presentations have helped thousands of medical professionals and healthcare executives leverage their voice in a new age of public dialog. You can find him quoted in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNN.  He has offered commentary on doctors and technology on programs such as CBS This Morning.
 
Dr. Vartabedian lives in The Woodlands, Texas with his wife, two children and their Australian Labradoodle, Molly.  Dr. Vartabedian tweets @Doctor_V

Presented By
TEXAS ONCOLOGY
Sponsored By
CANCER INSIGHT

Thought Leaders and Innovators Came Together To Share Their Knowledge, Experience, Research, and Insights about Cancer Innovation.

Telemedicine During COVID-19 and Beyond

CaNCER DRUG SHOWCASE

Heather Leigh Flannery is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ConsenSys Health.  She is also Co-Founder and Board Chair of Blockchain in Healthcare Global ("BiHG"), a new 501(c)6 trade association organized under the IEEE ISTO. She chairs the IEEE SA P2418.6 Standards Development Working Group (blockchain in healthcare and life sciences), serves as the FY19 and FY20 Co-Chair of the global HIMSS Blockchain in Healthcare Task Force, Chairs the Healthcare Special Interest Group at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), and is an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal, Frontiers Blockchain for Science.

Ms. Flannery is also an Innovation Fellow at EP3 Foundation, has served as Industry Faculty for the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (US HHS ONC) and is an active consultant, advisor, and keynote speaker.

Prior to ConsenSys, she founded and led Obesity Prevention, Policy, and Management, Inc. ("Obesity PPM"), an innovative provider of disease management, population health, research administration, and information technology managed services for health systems in the Americas, and an early adopter of blockchain technology.

Ms. Flannery has driven business model innovation via technology early adoption throughout her 25-year career as an entrepreneur, technologist, and strategist. She has consulted in the public sector in context of international development, bringing a global health perspective to her work. Focusing in the health sector since 2006, Ms. Flannery is a broad, lateral thinker who applies complex adaptive systems thinking to make progress against macroscopic challenges.

Due to her personal life experience, Ms. Flannery is intrinsically motivated to impact population health and economic prosperity. She builds mission-driven organizations aligned by shared values: making measurable societal contributions, creating economically sustainable interventions, and prioritizing diversity and inclusion.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Cindy WalkerPeach, PhD returned to Central Texas to lead CPRIT’s Product Development Program which critically evaluates and invests in Texas-based companies with promising novel products (drugs, diagnostics, medical devices and other non-traditional oncology applications) and services that will benefit cancer patients and society.

Prior to joining CPRIT, she served as Program Director for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program in Washington, DC.  I-Corps prepares research scientists/engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of research projects with commercialization potential. 

She joined NSF from the University of Texas at Austin where she was a Director at the Austin Technology Incubator, having served as lead advisor for healthcare-focused life sciences startups.  She was responsible for evaluating new business ventures, managing a portfolio of bioscience startups and providing business mentoring to technology-focused faculty and entrepreneurs.

Prior to government service, Dr. WalkerPeach had more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology sector as a member of several life science company management teams.  Dr. WalkerPeach completed a BS in Chemistry and holds a PhD in Molecular Biology.

Jeff Yorio, MD., is a medical oncologist and hematologist at Texas Oncology–Austin Central. He is currently Texas Oncology’s Austin Area Physician Team Leader for melanoma and genitourinary cancer research and serves as the Chief of Hematology-Oncology at Seton Medical Center.
 
Dr. Yorio has also served as a national and local principal investigator for multiple clinical trials for melanoma, head and neck cancer, renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer and prostate cancer. He strives to bring leading-edge treatments and new research to patients in Austin.
 
When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Austin, Dr. Yorio helped open a convalescent plasma therapy program using plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 patients to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
 
Dr. Yorio received his Doctor of Medicine with Distinction in Research from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he was also recognized for an Outstanding Clinical Research award amongst his peers in residency. He completed his Fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Bonnie Clipper, DNP is a nationally recognized expert on the future of nursing and nursing innovation, a top nurse influencer, international speaker and Amazon #1 best-selling author in six countries.

She is the chief clinical officer at Wambi, a health tech start-up mentor and was the first vice president of innovation for the American Nurses Association, where she created the innovation framework that is inspiring 4 million registered nurses to transform health through nurse-led innovation.

Prior to that Bonnie spent more than 20 years in executive nursing roles. Her research interests are nurse-led innovation, the impact of technology on nursing and amplifying the influence of nurses. Dr. Clipper is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow alumna and an ASU/AONL Executive Fellow in Health Innovation Leadership alumna.

She led the team that published The Nurse’s Guide to Innovation, co-authored The Innovation Roadmap: A Guide for Nurse Leaders, and has published on the impact of AI and robots on nursing practice, and authored The Nurse Managers Guide to an Intergenerational Workforce.

Kenneth S. Ramos, MD, PhD, is an accomplished physician-scientist and transformational leader, with designations in the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine.  He is recognized throughout the world for his scientific contributions in the areas of genomics, precision medicine and toxicology.
 
With formal training in pharmaceutical sciences, chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, Dr. Ramos is helping to steer the changing landscape of medicine and healthcare. He leads several translational, clinical and educational programs that integrate diverse approaches to elucidate genomic mechanisms of disease. Dr. Ramos has provided academic, executive, administrative, and scientific leadership in genetics and genomic medicine and toxicology at several institutions, and over the course of his career has influenced the career of numerous clinicians and scientists engaged in medical, veterinary and pharmaceutical practice.

He is committed to initiatives that advance modern technological applications to improve quality of healthcare and reduce disease burden and health-associated costs.
 
Dr. Ramos’s research has paved the way for ground breaking research on LINE-1 retroelements and their role in chromatin remodeling, DNA damage and repair, and genetic reprogramming.

His group was the first to establish a role for retinoblastoma proteins as master regulators of epigenetic silencing of LINE-1 and later characterized novel targets for regulation of cancer cells. He is currently examining the utility of circulating LINE-1 protein as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers of various cancer types, which combined with imaging modalities may improve precision for early cancer detection. This knowledge is also being used to develop targeted therapies for lung and liver cancer.

He serves as the Executive Director, Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology, the Alkek Chair of Medical Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Texas A&M College of Medicine.  He is the Associate Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University Health Science Center
and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Services, The Texas A&M University System.  He also serves as a Professor of Oncology at the Houston Methodist Research Institute.

Nora Belcher is the Executive Director of the Texas e-Health Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group that she started in 2009 to give health information technology stakeholders a voice in public policy. 

The Texas e-Health Alliance serves as the state's leading advocate, from local communities to the national level, for the use of information technology to improve the health care system for patients.   

She is widely considered to be one of the state’s leading experts in digital health care, having worked on the issue for over 20 years in a variety of roles. 

During the most recent Texas legislative session, Ms. Belcher led the passage of a number of bills related to telemedicine, telehealth and remote patient monitoring.   Ms. Belcher holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Thomas J Kim lives and works in Austin, TX as Principal for AGMP Telehealth offering clinical and consulting services to organizations seeking to leverage the promise of value-based care delivery through telehealth.
 
He has most recently been appointed Chief Behavioral Health Officer at PRISM Health North Texas and has been privileged to support many other organizations including Austin based, Medici, as their Physician Evangelist.
 
Dr. Kim’s advocacy work includes serving on the TMA’s Council on Legislation, Committee on Health Information Technology, and Subcommittee on Behavioral Health.  Also, he was recently appointed to the Texas Governor’s newly formed Broadband Development Council.
 
Dr. Kim received his BA in Philosophy from Georgetown University and MD, MPH from Tulane University. Dr. Kim continued at Tulane with a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry and General Medicine Fellowship in Health Services Research.

THE MODERATORS

Dan Hargrove is a biotech entrepreneur and lawyer.  He is the President and Co-Founder of Cancer Insight.  Cancer Insight is a cutting-edge, full-service clinical Contract Research Organization whose core business is to develop, test, and bring novel immunotherapies to the market. 
 
Working at the vanguard of immuno-oncology, Cancer Insight has an extensive network of collaborators and study sites at both academic institutions and high-volume community practices.  Cancer Insight has successfully designed and executed studies involving cancer vaccines, personalized immuno-oncology products, monoclonal antibodies, oncolytic viruses, checkpoint inhibitors, therapeutic proteins, and immune modulators. 
 
Cancer Insight employs several oncologists and physicians trained as clinical-trialists; statisticians; PhDs; a pharmacist; and other professionals trained in the art and science of clinical trial design and execution. 
 
Mr. Hargrove is a former Army officer and professor of law.  He received his B.S from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from U.T. School of Law.

He is married to Susie Hargrove, JD.  They have three children (Emily, a PharmD; Jay, an engineer; and Shane, a biomedical engineering student at Texas A&M).

Greg Matthews has studied patterns of influence in healthcare for more than 15 years. At Humana, his team created the healthcare industry’s first social analytics tool. At W2O, he created the MDigitalLife analytics platform, linking the digital footprints of over 1M healthcare people and organizations around the world.
 
As the founder of HealthQuant, he has created an HCP influence analytics model that’s truly worthy of the digital age. Greg has helped dozens of healthcare companies to unlock their HCP strategies based on assessing "REAL Physician Influence.”
 
Greg is a regular public speaker, and his work has been featured in numerous top-selling business books by authors such as Charlene Li (“Open Leadership”); Bill Taylor (“Practically Radical”) and Larry Weber (“Everywhere.”) and in publications such as Forbes, Health Affairs, Business Insider, KevinMD, MedPage Today and Medical Marketing and Media.
 
Within the last 2 years he won both the Innovation Catalyst award (Medical Marketing & Media Magazine) and the Elite Tech-Know Geek award (PM360 Magazine). Greg is the host of the DataPoint healthcare data & analytics podcast, and advises the Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Network, the South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive conference and the Dell Medical School’s Texas Health Catalyst incubator program.

Debra Patt, M.D., PhD, MBA is a practicing oncologist, breast cancer specialist, and an executive vice president of Texas Oncology with responsibilities in healthcare policy and strategic initiatives. She is an active leader in breast cancer research, serves on the US Oncology Research breast cancer committee, and chairs the breast cancer subsection of the pathways task force for The US Oncology Network. She is a nationally and locally recognized leader for breast cancer research.
 
Her expertise is in healthcare policy. She is a leader in clinical cancer informatics and involved in system innovations to enhance care delivery across a national network of oncology practices. Additionally, she serves as the Editor In Chief of the Journal of Clinical Oncology-Clinical Cancer Informatics, and leads initiatives in imaging informatics for breast cancer, clinical decision support systems, predictive analytics to reduce risk in patients with advanced cancer, telemedicine, and quality improvement. 
 
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Patt led the rapid expansion of Texas Oncology’s telemedicine capabilities from 15 to 90 percent of providers within two weeks, which enabled the practice to better serve cancer patients while also reducing their risk of exposure amid a global pandemic.
 
From 2008-2015, she led healthcare informatics for The US Oncology Network and continues to lead analytics as a medical director for McKesson Specialty Health. In 2016, Dr. Patt testified before Congress to protect cancer care for Medicare beneficiaries.
 
Dr. Patt resides in Austin, Texas, where she is a clinical professor at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin.

BROADCAST REPLAY

CELEBRATE HEALTH CARE HEROES

PRESENTED BY MILLIMAN

HOW WILL PRESIDENT BIDEN'S ADMINSTRATION IMPACT
DIGITAL HEALTH

mODERATOR/SPONSOR

FEATURED SPEAKER

Lisa Suennen is the leader of Manatt Digital and Technology and the firm’s venture capital / emerging companies practice. With more than 30 years’ experience as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, board member and strategic advisor, she has focused broadly on new technologies and how they are transforming businesses. She has spent much of her career helping companies adopt and leverage digital technologies, develop strategies for growth through innovation and investment, and build strong collaborations between established players and entrepreneurs. Lisa heads the firm’s digital and technology businesses as well as the firm’s venture capital fund. She also works closely with Manatt Health, engaging with payers, health systems and companies to provide strategic advice on innovation, digital strategy and growth.

Lisa previously served as managing partner of Venture Valkyrie LLC, an advisory firm focused on helping healthcare organizations adopt venture capital and innovation programs and develop new business creation models and digital health strategies.

Lisa spent the past 20 years as a venture capitalist, first as a partner with Psilos Group, then leading the healthcare fund at GE Ventures. Prior to that, she was part of the leadership team that built Merit Behavioral Care, an $800 million behavioral healthcare company, guiding it through its successful IPO and exit. Her earlier career focused on product management and marketing in the technology sector.

Lisa is currently a Board Member of Health Reveal and the Dignity Health Foundation.  She is on the Advisory Boards of the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund, and global digital health organization HealthXL.  She is Chairman of the Advisory Board of NASA’s Translational Research Institute, which is focused on innovative approaches to reduce risks to humans on long-duration exploration missions, including NASA’s Journey to Mars.

Lisa has been fortunate to receive numerous honors for her work. Most recently she was named 2018 Top Digital Health Evangelist by Goldman Sachs, Rock Health, Fenwick and West & Square 1 Bank, and the fund she lead for GE Ventures was named the most prolific corporate venture fund in 2018. In 2018, she was also named #2 in the Global Corporate Venturing list of 100 Rising Stars, which designates the top 1% of the corporate venture capital industry chosen from 100 corporate venturing units. In 2017, Lisa was named to Becker’s Hospital Review as one of 110 women to know in medtech. In 2015, Lisa was proudly featured as a Tech Superwoman in this Forbes article.

Lisa holds an M.A. and a B.A. in political science and a B.A. in mass communications, all from the University of California, Berkeley where she is on faculty at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.