Women are increasingly taking on roles in health IT, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who have been in the field for years.
Here is a list of women in health IT to watch, including those with long-established careers and rising stars in the field. Contact Marcus Robertson at mrobertson@beckershealthcare.com with any questions or updates for this list.
Paola Arbour. Executive Vice President and CIO of Tenet Healthcare (Dallas). Ms. Arbour is executive vice president and CIO of Tenet, overseeing leadership and strategic direction for the health system's IT systems. She also identifies opportunities to support the company's care network with digital technology, data automation and customer experience. In 2018, she headed four strategic imperatives, including the Voice of the Consumer strategy, which made IT a business enabler to achieve companywide objectives and outcomes. She also helped the system launch a vendor revitalization program, re-contracted with Cerner and Microsoft, and launch a self-funded innovation team. Ms. Arbour also serves on the Dallas CIO Governing Board and speaks at many Women in Technology forums.
Pamela Arora. Senior Vice President, Strategic Technology of of Children's Health (Dallas). Ms. Arora has more than three decades of IT experience. At Children's, which she joined in 2007 as CIO, she has been responsible for systems and technology, health information management and biomedical technology and support. During her tenure, the health system has achieved HIMSS Stage 7 EMR Adoption designation and earned the HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award for innovative use of EHRs. Ms. Arora previously was senior vice president and CIO of Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health Care and CIO of Dallas-based Perot Systems.
Denise Basow, MD. President and CEO of Clinical Effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health (Waltham, Mass.). Dr. Basow was instrumental in the organizational decision to provide free access to evidence-based medical resources to support clinicians on the front lines across the world. More than 77,480 clinicians globally have taken advantage of the company's UpToDate software guest passes. The Healthcare Technology Report named her to the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare Software.
Robyn Baek. Vice President of Analyticsand Insights at SOC Telemed (Reston, Va.). Ms. Baek built a data-driven culture at SOC Telemed that transformed the organization and its financial performance. She helps support the company's business decisions with timely data and drives better operational performance. She was able to make data and analytics more easily accessible through an online portal and display the data in real time at the headquarters' office. She also created dashboards to help client hospitals compare metrics against peer groups and helped double the company's telepsychiatry business through acquisitions.
Therasa Bell. Co-founder, President and Chief Technology Officer of Kno2 (Boise, Idaho). Combining her passion for healthcare and extensive technology expertise, Ms. Bell created Kno2 as market forces began to drive more effective, lighter-weight healthcare solutions. She is known for three things: her focus on driving interoperability, her ability to simplify the complexities of data sharing and clinical workflows, and her commitment to serve that infuses her interactions with everyone and powers the company’s purpose to democratize healthcare communication for all, enabling the secure, effortless, and maximized exchange of patient information. A true inventor at heart, Ms. Bell is responsible for Kno2’s innovation, vision and engineering, and holds six patents for patient information exchange.
Lindy Benton. President and CEO at Vyne (Atlanta). Ms. Benton has been the CEO of Vyne since 2011. Her work focuses on integrating systems to facilitate the protected and auditable exchange of patient information among providers. She is a past HIMSS chapter president and fellow. Ms. Benton is currently serving a four-year term on the national board of directors for Tallahassee-based Florida State University. She was recognized for four consecutive years as one of the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT by Health Data Management.
Julie Berry. CIO of Steward Health Care System (Dallas). Ms. Berry has more than 20 years of experience in health IT. She served as Steward's chief technology officer before being named CIO in 2013. Before joining Steward, Ms. Berry was on the IT executive teams of Boston-based Partners HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She is a member of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Technical Advisory Board.
Justine Bone. CEO at MedSec (Miami Beach, Fla.). Ms. Bone is the CEO of healthcare cybersecurity company MedSec. She began her career as a vulnerability researcher with Internet Security Systems (now IBM) X-Force and New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau. Her previous roles include global chief information security officer at Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal; global head of information and physical security at Bloomberg;chief technology officer of Secured Worldwide, an NYC-based financial technology company; and CEO of security research firm Immunity. She is an ex-dancer with the Royal New Zealand Ballet company.
Sherry Buxton. Associate Vice President and Epic Program Executive at Orlando (Fla.) Health. Ms. Buxton oversees more than 250 team members and consultants assigned to a wide array of roles in the implementation of the Epic EHR. In addition to directing a team of 11 directors and managers, she works with Epic executives and implementation leaders from Accenture, the organization serving as Orlando Health's Epic implementation partner. Her oversight also includes the execution of a comprehensive plan for training more than 31,000 team members and community physicians affiliated with Orlando Health on the new EHR.
Bobbie Byrne, MD. CIO of Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee). Dr. Byrne has more than 15 years of experience in clinical informatics and 10 years of professional practice experience. She is CIO of 28-hospital Advocate Aurora Health, one of the nation’s 10 largest not-for-profit, integrated health systems, formed by the merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care. Before the merger, she was CIO of Advocate.
Debora Cancilla. Executive Vice President of Data Strategy and CIO of Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). In her role at Temple University Health System, Ms. Cancilla provides strategic planning, daily management, and oversight for all technology-related activities and services. While serving as senior vice president and CIO for Grady Health System in Atlanta, Ms. Cancilla developed and delivered a two-year IT strategic plan designed to elevate quality and patient experience and completed a wholesale replacement of the system's network, phone system, and desktop computing environment. She has previously served as vice president and CIO for Atlantic Health System and senior vice president and CIO for Pinnacle Health.
Suja Chandrasekaran. Executive Vice President, Chief Information and Digital Officer of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago). Ms.Chandrasekaran is Chief Digital and Information Officer at CommonSpirit Health. She shapes the tech and digital transformation strategy for CommonSpirit Health, leading human experiences, digital and tech products, cyber security, software, technology infrastructure, data and AI. She is a digital and tech visionary, renowned globally for the impact she brings to companies. She is a talent and organizational transformer. She is a public and private company board director.She is recognized by numerous organizations including Gartner as a digital visionary and by CIO Magazine inducted her to the CIO Hall of fame. She was named to the first-ever Forbes 50 Innovative Technology Leaders list and to the inductees into the Business Transformation 150 Hall of Fame in 2021.
Cynthia Church. Chief Strategy Officer of Xealth (Seattle). Ms. Church is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience driving growth, building brands, and launching products in the healthcare, asset management, insurance, retail, and consumer goods industries. With Xealth, she collaborates with the team to execute on the company’s strategy and marketing, working with health systems and partners to achieve their digital health goals. Her experience also includes U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions activity, corporate venture capital, strategy/planning, human resources and change management. Before her time at Xealth, Ms. Church served as the senior director of marketing and communications for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the executive director of the Center for Connected Medicine.
Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN. Chief Nursing Officer at Vocera Communications (San Jose, Calif.).As the CNO at Vocera, Dr. Collins works with nurse leaders around the world who are on the same mission to make healthcare better. At Vocera, she has promoted ways to use technology to take on much of the burden of obtaining, tracking and sorting information, bringing what's most urgent to the top rather than treating everything with equal weight. Dr. Collins is the co-founder of the American Nurse Project. She was named to the Top 25 Women in Healthcare Software by The Healthcare Tech Report in 2020; the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT list by Health Data Management in 2019; and she won the Silicon Valley Business Journal's Women of Influence Award in 2019.
Diane Comer. Executive Vice President, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Ms. Comer is executive vice president and chief information and technology officer for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals. She previously led Kaiser Permanente's Health Plan IT organization. She led the implementation of the technology systems needed to support the Affordable Care Act and health insurance exchanges for Kaiser Permanente, in addition to the delivery of a nationwide claims platform, a telephony system which now supports a million calls a month to their multiple contact centers — among the highest call volume in the nation. Ms. Comer is a 2012 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders Award winner.
C. Beth Cooper. Vice President of Sales and Marketing of KNB Communications (Stamford, Conn.). Ms. Cooper heads up a full-service integrated PR and marketing firm specializing in health tech. An expert in full-stack marketing, social media, and regulatory/legal compliance, Ms. Cooper uses her decades of experience to tell the stories of innovative, growth-stage companies who are changing the landscape in the U.S. healthcare system. She is responsible for growing the agency by 30 percent in 2021. Ms. Cooper and KNB focus on partnering with companies who improve the patient experience via technology, and ensure they are leading conversations in healthcare.
Myra Davis. Chief Information Innovation Officer of Texas Children's Hospital (Houston). Ms. Davis joined Texas Children's Hospital more than 10 years ago as a director of the hospital's information services department. Ms. Davis has won awards for leadership in her current role as senior vice president and CIO of the hospital, including the Transformational Leadership Award in 2013 from CHIME and the American Hospital Association. Under her guidance, Texas Children's Hospital was named one of CHIME's HealthCare's Most Wired hospitals in 2018.
Elizabeth A. Delahoussaye. Chief Privacy Officer of CIOX Health (Alpharetta, Ga.). With over 20 years of healthcare experience, Ms. Delahoussaye is responsible for all aspects of the company’s privacy functions, planning and directing compliance functions, and ensuring the organization is compliant with all federal and state regulations. She and her team provide training to our HealthSource users to make sure they understand how to follow compliance rules. She has served on the AHIMA board of directors, house of delegates, ROI toolkit and annual program committees, and the Privacy and Security Council. She is also a past president of THIMA and received their Distinguished Member award. Ms. Delahoussaye holds a B.S. degree in health information management from the University of Louisiana.
Liz Devereux. Senior Director of Infrastructure Design and Support at Banner Health (Phoenix). Ms. Devereux became the senior director of IT infrastructure in 2018 after spending more than 11 years in various other IT and infrastructure roles with the health system. She has experience deriving business value from technology and focuses on strategic planning and IT service management in her current role. Ms. Devereux has more than 20 years of experience in the field and is known for inspiring and guiding teams through foundational change.
Bridget Duffy, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Vocera Communications (San Jose, Calif.). For more than 25 years, Dr. Duffy has been unrelenting in her mission to humanize healthcare. She is the founding partner of the CEO Coalition, which started a movement to redefine safety and set new national standards to improve the physical safety, psychological and emotional well-being, and health justice for all who work in healthcare. Dr. Duffy is also the country’s first chief experience officer in healthcare, establishing that role at the Cleveland Clinic.
Nada Elbuluk, MD. Director of Clinical Impact at VisualDx (Rochester, N.Y.). Dr. Elbuluk joined the VisualDx team to support the company's mission of improving the healthcare experience for patients of color, a mission that has driven most of Dr. Elbuluk's career. At New York University School of Medicine in New York City, she spearheaded the founding of the pigmentary disorder clinic for the dermatology department and was the diversity ambassador. At the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, she trains both students and residents on how to diagnose and treat patients of colorand works to raise awareness of where medical education continues to fall short.
Sandra Elliott, Vice President of Life Sciences and Innovation at Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. Ms. Elliott is responsible for developing a culture of innovation within Hackensack Meridian Health and bringing in transformative solutions to support the system's strategic planning. In particular, she is looking at precision medicine, new device development and remote care models as well as population health solutions. Ms. Elliott is also involved in emerging research and publishes articles in healthcare and business magazines.
Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Children's National Health System (Washington, D.C.). Dr. Eskandanian is responsible for Children's National's Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization as well as the research operations for the Sheikh Zayed Institute and the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, which will open in 2020. Dr. Eskandanian is also the executive director of National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, an FDA-funded consortium focused on accelerating the time to market for pediatric devices.
Kathy Ford. President and Chief Product Officer at Rhinogram (Chattanooga, Tenn.). Ms. Ford is a healthcare industry veteran, with over 27 years of experience. Before joining Rhinogram in May 2018, she oversaw executive-level portfolios, guided merger and acquisition activities and led product efforts at GE Healthcare, McKesson and NantHealth. Kathy volunteers as an advisor on the HLTH Foundation CSweetener Program, where she works alongside healthcare industry employers offering guidance to better prepare future candidates, recruits and employees for C-level roles. She is a member of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation.
Renee Fosberg. Vice President and CIO of Emerson Hospital (Concord, Mass.). Ms. Fosberg has over 20 years of experience in healthcare information systems. In her current role as senior director and CIO, Ms. Fosberg implements Emerson Hospital's IT and telecommunication systems strategy and has guided the health system through adopting an EMR platform. Under her leadership, Emerson Hospital was named a HIMSS Analytics stage 6 hospital, the second-to-last stage in HIMSS' measurement of EHR adoption and usage.
Angie Franks. President and CEO of About (St. Paul, Minn., and Salt Lake City, Utah). Under Ms. Frank's leadership in recent years, About, formerly known as Central Logic, has expanded its health system engagements and secured its first government contract. Her work in building the business resulted in Rubicon Partners, a private equity firm, making a strategic majority investment in Central Logic in 2020. She has served in executive leadership roles at Healthland, acquired by CPSI; Lawson Software, acquired by Infor; and GeoAccess, acquired by Optum.
Judy Faulkner. Founder and CEO of Epic Systems (Verona, Wis.). Ms. Faulkner founded Epic in 1979 and continues to serve as CEO. The company has grown significantly over the past decade and reported $2.9 billion in 2018 sales. The EHR vendor of choice for many of the top hospitals and health systems in the nation, Epic supports medical records for more than 250 million patients. She was named one of Forbes' America's Top 50 Women in Tech 2018.
Virginia Feldman, MD. Co-founder and CEO of Nexus Health Resources (Middletown, N.Y.). Dr. Feldman is responsible for the strategic direction of Nexus Health Resources, a company she co-founded, which is focused on automating communications and optimizing reimbursement. Prior to founding Nexus, Dr. Feldman co-founded Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, which generated $5 million in revenue.
Helen Figge, PharmD. Chief Strategy Officer at Medicasoft (Arlington, Va.). MedicaSoft named Dr. Figge chief strategy officer in 2018. She also serves in senior advisory roles to organizations across the U.S. and sits on committees and boards for HIMSS, CHIME, The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and other organizations. Prior to joining MedicaSoft, Dr. Figge worked for AmerisourceBergen, Allscripts and Alere; she also supported and guided several health IT start-up companies.
Linn Foster Freedman. Chair Privacy and Cybersecurity at Robison+Cole (Providence, R.I.). Ms. Freedman focuses her law practice on data privacy and security, cybersecurity and complex litigation across multiple sectors, including healthcare. She works with her clients for data breach preparedness and assists with developing and training data breach response teams. She is nationally ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the privacy law area. Ms. Freedman also chairs the firm's data privacy and security team.
Shirley Gabriel. Vice President and CIO of University Health Care System (Augusta, Ga.). Ms. Gabriel has served as the vice president and CIO of the 10-hospital University Health Care System since January 2015. Before joining University Health Care System, she was the vice president and CIO of the Tucson-based University of Arizona Health Network.
Ashley Glover. CEO at WebPT (Phoenix). Ms. Glover joined WebPT as CEO and board member in November 2021, bringing with her extensive experience in successfully developing, scaling, and operating large software-as-a-service and technology companies. As CEO, Ashley focuses on developing innovative strategies to guide WebPT to its next stage of growth, and continuing to improve upon the ways in which WebPT serves the rehab therapy industry at large.
Kim Gordon. Senior Vice President, Information Services Applications at Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Ms. Gordon was named to her current role in June 2020, but she has been with Spectrum Health for nearly 20 years. She is responsible for information services and applications, including digital applications for Spectrum Health West Michigan, and leads 47 teams and cost centers with a $94 million operating budget. Ms. Gordon holds memberships in CHIME, HIMSS and the Cerner Executive Technology Council, and she is a Health Level Seven member with voting privileges.
Lisa Grisim. Vice President and Associate CIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Ms. Grisim has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology. She joined Lucile Packard Children's in 2002 with a background in nursing as well as information systems. She focuses on EMR optimization and helped lead the hospital to develop an adopt Lean tools and techniques. Ms. Grisim's team of more than 100 employees and consultants helped the system earn HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Level 7 in 2015 and the HIMSS Davies Award for the use of EMR data to improve patient outcomes and decrease costs in 2018.
Joy Grosser. CIO of SSM Health (St. Louis). Ms. Grosser has more than 20 years of experience in senior IT leadership. In her current role, Ms. Grosser oversees SSM Health's IT infrastructure across 23 hospitals. The system has more than 290 physician offices, 11,000 providers and 40,000 employees. Before joining SSM Health in January, Ms. Grosser was the CIO of UW Medicine in Seattle and Cleveland-based University Hospitals.
Amanda Hansen. President of AdvancedMD (South Jordan, Utah). During Ms. Hansen's 14-year tenure, she has held multiple positions in business development, sales, service, finance and strategy which have yielded a host of professional accomplishments. She is passionate about increasing operational effectiveness and profitability and driving continual growth while improving patient care and access to healthcare through innovative software solutions. Ms. Hansen’s competitive edge, positive outlook and solution-oriented approach have made a noticeable impact on the vision, direction and achievements of the organization. She played a critical role in Global Payments’ recent $700 million acquisition of AdvancedMD from Marlin Equity Partners.
Tamara Havenhill-Jacobs. CIO of Bozeman (Mont.) Health. Ms. Havenhill-Jacobs oversees IT for Bozeman Health, a two-hospital health system with around 2,000 employees. She has more than 25 years of experience in management and in her current role also oversees the health system's technology and innovation efforts. In the next year, she plans on building partnerships for digital initiatives.
Donette Herring, BSN. CIO of Vidant Health (Greenville, N.C.). Ms. Herring has served in her current role with Vidant Health for more than eight years. Before that, she served as the CIO of Catholic Health East, now known as Trinity Health. Ms. Herring was pivotal in developing and executing Catholic Health East's system-wide IT strategy. She has more than 27 years of experience in healthcare CIO roles.
Robin Hill, BSN. Chief Clinical Officer at Vivify Health (Plano, Texas). As chief clinical officer and vice president of clinical solutions at Vivify Health, Ms. Hill oversees clinical content, consultants, educators, clinical analysts and product management within Vivify. As the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the United States, Ms. Hill leveraged her team of nurses and nonclinicians to build a dynamic, evolving COVID-19 screening program. She has previously served as manager of product management and manager of clinical analysts and educators at Medhost.
Heidi Jannenga, DPT. Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of WebPT (Phoenix, Arizona) Since the company launched in 2008, Dr. Jannenga has guided WebPT through exponential growth. Today, it’s the fastest-growing physical therapy software in the country, employing over 600 people and serving more than 90,000 therapy professionals at more than 20,000 clinics. In 2017, she was honored by Health Data Management as one of the most powerful women in IT, and she was a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2018, she was named the Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year at the Arizona Technology Council’s Governor’s Celebration of Innovation. Her latest venture is called Rizing Tide, which is a foundation dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusiveness in the physical therapy workforce.
Sheeza Khawar Hussain. Chief Commercial Officer at Biofourmis (Boston). Ms. Hussain is the first-ever chief commercial officer of Biofourmis. She was named to the role in summer 2020. Previously, she was vice president of the connected care solutions division at Hillrom, a $2.9-billion global medical technology company. She also managed Hillrom's North Carolina location with 300 employees, while guiding more than 50 sales executives.At Hillrom, where she spent almost 12 years, she led marketing communications, commercial marketing, product management and business partnership teams and functions. Most recently, she held two vice president positions, first leading Hillrom's global safe patient handling business and second as the national sales leader for the connected care solutions business.
Krisi Hutson. Product Line Director at Availity (Jacksonville, Fla.). Ms. Hutson is a product line director for Availity's pre-service capabilities. She leads a team of 11 product line managers and product owners who work to enhance the eligibility and benefits transaction within Availity's revenue cycle management solution. She started her healthcare career while she was still in college, working part time for a physician's practice within a large health system. She moved on to serve as the compliance officer for an orthopedic surgical practice, where she also led the revenue cycle activities for the organization. Ms. Hutson was recruited to work for RealMed, now called Availity, in 2009 as a senior business analyst.
Karen Ignagni. President and CEO of EmblemHealth (New York City). Ms. Ignagni leads EmblemHealth, a nonprofit health insurance company that serves around 3.1 million people in New York. She joined the company in 2015 after serving as president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans where she worked with the White House and Congressional leaders to develop healthcare reform legislation. In addition to her work with EmblemHealth, Ms. Ignagni sits on the Governor's Council on Women and Girls as well as the New York Department of Financial Services Insurance Advisory Board.
Erin Jospe, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Account Management at Kyruus (Boston). As chief medical officer of Kyruus, Dr. Jospe leads a team that has expanded Kyruus' proprietary clinical taxonomy to 21,000+ search terms — both clinical and layman's — and nearly 550 specialties. She has also coordinated the translation of the taxonomy into Spanish. Dr. Jospe built Kyruus' clinical consulting services business unit, the first professional services arm of the company. She practiced for more than 15 years at top provider organizations including Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and the Affiliated Practice Group of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Rebecca Kaul. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of MD Anderson (Houston). Ms. Kaul is responsible for the innovation center at MD Anderson, which is focused on developing creative and effective approaches to patient care as well as bringing new solutions to market. Ms. Kaul has previous experience as the chief innovation officer and president of UPMC Development Center, where she developed the program's portfolio of partnerships, investments and new companies.
Janice Kelly, RN-BC. President of AORN Syntegrity (Denver). Ms. Kelly leads AORN Syntegrity, which provides evidence-based perioperative information for EHRs. The solution includes standardized scheduling procedure list, standardized nursing documentation content and care planning. Ms. Kelly has experience as the governing director for AORN and regional chief nursing informatics officer at Providence Health & Services Alaska Region.
Gail Keyser, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President, Chief of Health Applications and Co-Interim CIO at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Ms. Keyser has over 30 years of experience in healthcare. As Hackensack Meridian Health's senior vice president, chief of health applications and co-interim CIO, she established an efficient IT organization delivering $3 million in yearly savings. She directed the implementation of Epic's electronic health record to nine acute care hospitals in 14 months, being the first in the industry to achieve that milestone.
Jeri Koester. CIO of Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System. Ms. Koester has spent the past eight years with Marshfield Clinic, now overseeing the long-term information services needs and technology vision for the system. She has experience developing IT strategy, software development and hardware acquisition and integration. Ms. Koester was able to generate at least 6 percent savings with her team in 2019 on operational improvements. She has led several key initiatives, including expanding IT business management practices to support the system's strategic planning and a 50 percent reduction in cost for data connectivity between remote sites and its data center.
Lauren Koniaris, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Dr. Koniaris serves as chief medical informatics officer of Hackensack Meridian Health, where she helped lead the Epic rollout at network hospitals. Dr. Koniaris continues to work clinically after hours on nights and weekends with the medical critical care team at Hackensack University Medical Center, the network's flagship hospital that was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in its region. In December 2013, Dr. Koniaris was part of the inaugural group of physicians to become board-certified in clinical informatics, a new subspecialty offered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
Allegra Landers. Chief Marketing Officer of Concord Technologies (Seattle). Ms. Landers is the chief marketing officer at Concord Technologies, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions whose mission is to make it easier for healthcare providers to exchange information. As CMO, she sets Concord’s marketing strategy, focusing on driving demand for their products and increasing the company’s presence in healthcare IT. She also leads Concord’s demand generation, brand development, product marketing, and customer engagement efforts. Ms. Landers has nearly two decades of experience scaling high-growth healthcare technology companies, having also served as the director of marketing for Qualifacts Systems and HealthTeacher prior to her position at Concord Technologies.
Sarah Larcker. Co-Founder and chief marketing officer at MediFind (Ambler, Pa.). As the chief marketing officer of MediFind, Ms. Larcker is responsible for driving product growth. Ms. Larcker and the team of co-founders launched MediFind on Rare Disease Day, Feb. 29, 2020, in support of the rare disease community. She has led the MediFind team to be honored as finalists for the Vesalius Innovation Award, from Karger Publishers; Reuter's Most Valuable Service or Digital Therapy; Startup50/Sierra Ventures' Top Startups; the Shorty Awards for Social Good; and Healthcare Tech Outlook Top Healthcare Startups.
Jan Lee, MD. CEO of Delaware Health Information Network (Dover). Dr. Lee oversees the Delaware Health Information Network, a statewide clinical health information exchange with a budget of around $8.5 million. She has experience working with hospital, ambulatory practice and health plan leaders to aggregate clinical data into a longitudinal health record. Dr. Lee has a background as a family practice physician and spent time as vice president of knowledge base and content for NextGen Healthcare before taking on her current role.
Chun Li, PhD. Chief Data Scientist, Vice President of Informatics at Diameter Health (Farmington, Conn.). Dr. Li leads the development of Diameter's analytical platform and core solutions. She joined the company after spending time as a senior analyst at Boston-based Health Advances, a healthcare management and strategy consulting company. Dr. Li is also a speaker at international science conferences.
Shari Matkin. Senior Vice President, Customer Success at Bridge Connector (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Matkin was recently promoted to her current position from a role as vice president of implementations, where she grew Bridge Connector's implementations team from two to eight individuals with strategic recruiting and hiring. Prior to joining Bridge Connector, Shari spent 11 years at medical device and orthopedic solutions company Breg, Inc., where she rose from field service representative to training manager, eventually serving as senior manager of customer experience. Ms. Matkin was a varsity athlete on the field hockey team at Ohio State University, where she received a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology.
Novlet Mattis. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital and Information Officer of Orlando (Fla.) Health. As Orlando Health's head of IT, Ms. Mattis leads a team of nearly 600 clinical and IT professionals. She became CIO in January 2018, and her team's accomplishments include the development of a screening tool that identifies high-risk traumatic brain injury patients. Before joining Orlando Health, Ms. Mattis served as vice president of IT at Ascension Information Services in St. Louis.
Sheree McFarland. CIO of West Florida at HCA Healthcare (Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla.). Ms. McFarland oversees health IT for 16 hospitals and more than 50 physician practices and other facilities for HCA's West Florida region. In this role, Ms. McFarland provides strategic planning, budgeting and project management support for the health system. She has previous experience as director of IT for Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Pamela McNutt. Senior Vice President and CIO of Methodist Health System (Dallas). Ms. McNutt has nearly 30 years of health IT experience. In addition to her responsibilities as senior vice president and CIO of the four-hospital Methodist Health System, Ms. McNutt serves as a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Data Initiative Executive Committee and the State of Texas' Health Care Information Council Hospital Data Collection Workgroup.
Amy Merlino, MD. Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino joined Cleveland Clinic in 2010 as director of clinical informatics and became CMIO in 2017. Her medical background is in obstetrics and gynecology, and she has certification in preventative medicine as well as clinical informatics. In 2018, Crain's Cleveland Business named Dr. Merlino among its list of Notable Women in Technology.
Melissa Mitchell. Vice President, Health Digital Solutions at Leidos (Reston, Va.). During Ms. Mitchell's more-than-25-year career, she has worked across multiple defense and civilian agencies as well as some of the largest health systems in the U.S., providing strategic IT solutions and digital transformation initiatives. She began her career as a Lockheed-Martin subcontract administrator and manager for the F-16, F-22 and F-35 aircraft. She holds a Master's of Business Administration with a concentration in health administration from Waco, Texas-based Baylor University.
Emily Mortimer. Director of Strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions (Alpharetta, Ga.). Ms. Mortimer is Director of Strategy with responsibilities for strategy and development activities for the LexisNexis Social Determinants of Health solutions. In over 8 years at LexisNexis, Ms. Mortimer has served as subject matter expert for medical claims and analytic solutions, holding a role leading client services and implementation, managing analytics and statistical modeling resources, and contributing to product management and strategy. Ms. Mortimer has a background in public health epidemiology, holding a master's in public health from Drexel University.
Karen Murphy, PhD, RN. Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer of Geisinger (Danville, Pa.) and Founding Director of the Steele Institute for Health Innovation. Dr. Murphy is the founding director of the Steele Institute for Health Innovation at Geisinger and executive vice president and CIO of the health system. In her role, Dr. Murphy supports the system's four principles to fulfill its mission of caring through technology and innovation. She previously served as the secretary of health for the state of Pennsylvania and the director of the State Innovation Models Initiative at CMS, leading the agency's $990 million investment.
Kristin Myers. Executive Vice President, CIO and Dean of IT at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Ms. Myers joined Mount Sinai in 2004 and became CIO in 2020. She previously served as the senior vice president of technology, overseeing the $100 million implementation of its EHR. In 2012, the health system received the Enterprise HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence. Ms. Myers has a background in IT and law, as well as project management.
Jamie Nelson. Senior Vice President and CIO of Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Ms. Nelson took the helm of Hospital for Special Surgery's IT department in April 2012. Since then, she has revamped the team, growing ranks and creating new leadership positions like CMO, chief technology officer and chief information security officer. Under her leadership, the orthopedic hospital completed an EHR installation in January 2016 and earned HIMSS stage 7 certification in November 2017. The hospital earned the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence for IT last year. Before HSS, Ms. Nelson held IT leadership positions at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, where she served as CIO, and NewYork-Presbyterian, where she served as vice president of IT.
Colleen Nicewicz, CEO of Groups Recover Together (Burlington, Mass.). Since taking over as CEO in January of 2020, Ms. Nicewicz has grown the footprint of Groups Recover Together by 38 percent, opening 21 new care locations throughout the United States in 2020, with an additional 50 locations on the horizon. She was the visionary behind the company’s transition to virtual care, which led to a 56 percent increase in membership year over year – all during a time when the pandemic is making it more difficult to access effective treatment. She oversaw a $60 million series C funding round in 2021, led by Oak HC/FT, and she leads a nationwide clinical team with a curriculum that drives an ongoing patient/member NPS score of 82.
Jeana O'Brien, MD. CMIO of Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas and Temple, Texas). Dr. O'Brien plays a key role in driving Baylor Scott & White's data-driven future as CMIO. She has a background in information services and clinical informatics, and works to deliver technology solutions to support clinical practice and research. She was part of the health system's efforts to unite 51 hospitals and more than 7,500 providers under a single EHR system and continues to strive for transparency in her approach to organizational change management. Throughout her career, Dr. O'Brien has helped the health system achieve HIMSS Level 7 Award for multiple hospitals and clinics.
Natalie Pageler, MD. CMIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Dr. Pageler brings experience as a pediatric and obstetrics physician and administrator to the role of CMIO. She leads the hospital's digital health program, which aims to transform the model of care for pediatrics and obstetrics. Dr. Pageler helped lead Stanford Children's Health to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 recognition for inpatient and ambulatory surgery in 2015 as well as the HIMSS Davies Award in 2017. Dr. Pageler is an advocate for thoughtful and appropriate patient engagement tool development for pediatric patients and families. She is also the program director for Stanford School of Medicine's clinical informatics fellowship.
Shika Pappoe, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Strive Health (Denver). Dr. Pappoe is a pioneer and a nephrologist, blending medicine, public health, and business administration to give her a unique perspective. She completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at Yale University, followed by an internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She holds a master's degree in public health from Harvard University. Previously working with Los Angeles County Hospital, Dr. Pappoe focused her energies on providing care to underserved communities. Dr. Pappoe continues to practice community nephrology and is active in an academic setting where she teaches and participates in research and work in an innovative care setting.
Gail Peace. Founder, President and CEO of Ludi (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Peace is founder and CEO of Ludi, a company focused on providing technology to hospitals to optimize physician spend. She has spent her career in healthcare technology, business development and sales leadership with hospitals and health plans. Prior to founding Ludi, Ms. Peace was vice president of business development at Vanguard Health in Chicago and vice president of client solutions for WebMD Health Services.
Maria Perrin. Executive Vice President, Chief Growth Officer at HMS (Irving, Texas). Ms. Perrin holds dual roles as chief growth officer and chief marketing and strategy officer for HMS. She has bolstered HMS' brand, expanding the company's limited marketing activities into a comprehensive, content-focused strategy including the prolific use of educational content, branded customer conferences, and targeted communications that span client, cultura, and community engagement. Ms. Perrin has been a mentor and coach for Florida Atlantic University's Tech Runway Accelerator for woman-owned tech companies.
Aimee Quirk, CEO of Ochsner Ventures (New Orleans). Ms. Quirk was CEO of innovationOchsner, the innovation lab associated with New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System, before becoming CEO of Ochsner Ventures in October. Opened in 2015, the lab is an accelerator that aims to reimagine the healthcare delivery experience, improve quality of care and reduce costs. Prior to joining Ochsner that same year, Ms. Quirk spent time as the senior advisor for economic development in the Office of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Nishi Rawat, MD. Chief Medical Officer at Bamboo Health (Louisville, Ky.), and co-founder of OpenBeds. Throughout 2021, led by Dr. Rawat, Bamboo Heath’s OpenBeds solution has offered complementary clinician and public-facing portals that have connected providers and consumers to substance use disorder and mental health treatment in eight states: Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire and Ohio. Dr. Rawat has developed metrics, standards, and guidelines with treatment providers and state governments around the OpenBeds system to evaluate and improve access to treatment. She has been a partner of National Institute on Drug Abuse to improve access to care and worked with the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Shatterproof to create an Addiction Treatment Needs Assessment which is embedded in Treatment Connection, a public-facing tool that allows users to take the assessment and, in states where OpenBeds is live, search for available treatment spots.
Catherine Richards, PhD. Vice President of Analytics and Scientific Engagement at Panalgo (Boston). Dr. Richards oversees training and support for Panalgo's flagship Instant Health Data Analytics platform. She has five years of leadership experience in health information technology, including managing a team of over 25 master's and PhD-level analysts, and over 10 years of experience working and teaching in academia, namely at Columbia University in New York City. Richards is an epidemiologist, real-world data analyst and data visualization designer. She holds a master's in public health and a PhD in epidemiology from Columbia.
Rose Ritts, PhD. Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Dr. Ritts oversees innovation efforts at Jefferson Health, including initiatives to develop products and services for commercialization. She heads partnerships to transform patient care delivery and bring new therapies to market. Dr. Ritts also has responsibilities with the system's Office of Technology Transfer and Jefferson Accelerator Zone. She has more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles, previously serving as the director of biotechnology and materials at Sarnoff Corp., as well as working with Duke University in Durham, N.C., to create partnerships with emerging technology companies.
Sylvia Romm, MD. Chief Health Officer, Virtual Care at Cityblock Health. Dr. Romm has a background in clinical leadership as a board-certified pediatrician. Before joining Cityblock Health, Dr. Romm spent time as the vice president of clinical transformation for American Well, a large telemedicine company, and chief innovation officer at Atlantic Health System. Dr. Romm is responsible for developing relationships with local and national innovation partners to expand the system's research profile as well as finding new ways to improve access to care.
Deirdre Ruttle. Chief Marketing Officer at InstaMed and Head of Wholesale Payments Healthcare Marketing at J.P. Morgan Chase (Philadelphia). In her roles at InstaMed and J.P. Morgan Chase, Ms. Ruttle leads a team focused on data analytics, healthcare payments market research and digital marketing. She became the first woman on InstaMed's executive management team when she was named vice president of marketing in 2016. She leads InstaMed's women's affinity group GROW (Growth, Resources, Outreach for Women). The group, launched in 2015, is a companywide initiative that brings together the female employees of InstaMed to promote positive workplace relationships, thought leadership and informal mentoring, and community outreach.
Roberta Schwartz. Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Houston Methodist. Ms. Schwartz is executive vice president and chief innovation officer for 924-bed Houston Methodist, leading its digital innovation platforms, telemedicine strategy and artificial intelligence initiatives. She has previous experience as director of business development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. In 2016 she was inducted into the Greater Houston Women's Hall of Fame and three years later in 2019, Ms. Schwartz received the ACHE Healthcare Regent's Award.
Laura Semlies. Vice President of Digital Patient Experience at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Ms. Semlies became the vice president of digital patient experience at Northwell in November 2017 to develop the health system's digital footprint for patients. Over the past two years, Ms. Semlies has developed a team and executive council to lead the system's digital transformation with experts from business, digital marketing and IT. She has previous experience as vice president of finance for the health system and she launched an enterprisewide integrated patient access program and systems.
Lisa Sershen. Chief Digital Officer of Westmed (Purchase, N.Y.). Ms. Sershen has a background in project management, web and database development implementation and digital marketing. She has spent the last decade at Westmed Medical Group, initially joining as an analyst and managing the practice's web services. She is now the chief digital officer overseeing the group's technical and digital innovation efforts.
Laura Smith. Vice President and CIO of UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Ms. Smith is responsible for the IT division of UnityPoint Health, which includes a team of 600 IT professionals in several locations, the oversight of a $179 million IT operating budget and delivery of an IT portfolio of projects each year. Her team spent 2018 launching a multifactor authentication system to all team members, providers and independent providers to ensure hospitals are safe from cyberattacks.
Susan Solinsky, Co-Founder, Chief Growth Officer and COO, Ellipsis Health (San Francisco): Through her work at Ellipsis Health, Ms. Solinsky helped create a multidisciplinary team through her commitment to recruiting talent from different training backgrounds and diverse dimensions of society. She empowers Ellipsis to help reduce crisis events for every person, regardless of socio-economic status, pre-existing health conditions or geography, to access mental health care. Most recently, she helped Ellipsis raise $26 million in series A funding to further its measurement-based approach to identifying and quantifying behavioral health conditions and expand its voice vital sign to address the mental health of children and adolescents. She holds a bachelor of arts from Princeton University.
Tressa Springmann. Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer of LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). Ms. Springmann directs information services and telecommunications management at LifeBridge Health and its subsidiaries. She oversees health information management and participates in strategic planning and operations of the information systems and telecommunication. She has spent six years with LifeBridge, serving as CIO since 2012, and she is chairman of the technology committee for Maryland's state health information exchange. She is a past president of Maryland HIMSS and serves on the healthcare management program advisory board for Towson (Md.) University.
Michelle Stansbury. Vice President of Innovation and IT Corporate Business Systems at Houston Methodist. Ms. Stansbury joined Houston Methodist in July 1993 and has grown within the system to become vice president of innovation. She was instrumental in the health system's Epic deployment for the flagship medical center as well as physician practices. Ms. Stansbury has a passion for digital health innovation and is a member of the team leading innovation initiatives at Houston Methodist.
Kristin Stitt, DNP. Chief Clinical Officer at Vector Remote Care (Bend, Ore.). Dr. Stitt has spent more than 20 years on the front line working in hospital and clinical environments. After earning a degree in marketing and economics, she worked as an auditor for a major airline. Eventually, she was promoted to a more analytical role focusing on capacity management and revenue maximization. She participated in first-responder training and loved it, which prompted a major career change. Dr. Stitt went back to school for a nursing degree and again for a doctorate in systems management to further build upon her background in evidence-based care delivery and analytics.
Lisa Stump. Senior Vice President and CIO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health and Yale School of Medicine. Ms. Stump has experience as a lecturer and commentator on health IT and digital health. She is the senior vice president and CIO of Yale New Haven Health and Yale School of Medicine, where she oversees a robust IT department. She also serves as an adjunct professor and board of visitors member of the College of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
Phyllis Teater. CIO of The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center (Columbus). Ms. Teater began her career at the OSU Wexner Medical Center more than 25 years ago and has been instrumental in the adoption and rollout of the seven-hospital system's ambulatory and inpatient EMR systems. She also provides technological support for the hospital's research IT services and education initiatives. Before becoming CIO, Ms. Teater worked as deputy CIO at the hospital and oversaw all of its EMR, financial and human resource systems.
Tanya Townsend. Senior Vice President and CIO of LCMC Health (New Orleans). Ms. Townsend oversees IT for the five-hospital LCMC Health. She has a background in financial leadership and spent more than 20 years in the healthcare industry. She previously served as a CIO of healthcare organizations and hospitals in Wisconsin before taking on her current role. She also sits on the advisory board for NetApp, VMWare and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Catherine Turner, BSN, RN. Associate Vice President at Meditech (Westwood, Mass.). As a registered nurse, Ms. Turner was instrumental in implementing and now supporting Meditech's nurse informatics program. She works in tandem with all divisions across the company to ensure the voice of the nurse is represented. She is an adjunct professor at Boston-based Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences master's in health informatics program. She helped develop and teach the course "Introduction to Health Informatics" at the University of Miami for their master's in health informatics program.
Kristen Valdes. Founder and CEO at b.well Connected Health (Baltimore, Md.). In 2016, Ms. Valdes launched B.well Connected Health, named after her daughter Bailey, to empower healthcare consumers. In 2020, B.well was announced as the only startup to participate in real-world testing of the CARIN Blue Button data model and draft implementation guide. The other organizations were Anthem, Apple, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and several regional BCBS plans, Google, Humana, Microsoft, UPMC Health Plan, and the states of North Carolina and Washington. Accenture and Springboard Enterprises named Ms. Valdes one of four "2020 Women Transforming Industries" award winners on Oct. 22.
Julie Walker. Chief Strategy Officer at Symplr (Houston). Ms. Walker is the chief strategy officer for Symplr, a provider of software and professional services for healthcare operations and governance. She also leads Symplr's integration management office, which oversaw five significant acquisitions within the past 12 months alone. Ms. Walker's desire to help others was instilled at a young age as she witnessed her mom, a nurse, tending to patients and opening her home to care for children who had no guardians. She was named to The Healthcare Technology Report's Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare Software for 2021.
Laura Wilt. System Vice President and CIO of Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Ms. Wilt became CIO of Ochsner Health in 2016, three years after joining the health system as the associate vice president of clinical systems. She is responsible for leading the technology, clinical and corporate applications for the health system as well as its cybersecurity strategy and analytics teams. Ms. Wilt has previous experience working on Epic's implementation services team. She is a certified healthcare CIO by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Deanna Wise. CIO of Banner Health (Phoenix). Ms. Wise became CIO of Banner Health in 2019, responsible for developing the health system's consumer and clinician experience. She has a background in working with teams that leverage innovative technologies, including robotic process automation, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. She has previous experience as CIO of Dignity Health, where she oversaw the implementation of its EHR and creation of its clinically integrated predictive analytics program. She was named among the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology in 2019.
Sara Vaezy. Senior Vice President, Chief of Digital and Growth Strategy at Providence (Renton, Wash.). Ms. Vaezy is responsible for the digital strategy and partnerships for Providence, a 51-hospital health system. She has a background working with technology companies, commercialization and digital business development. Ms. Vaezy worked for healthcare management consulting firm The Chartis Group prior to joining Providence.
Tejal Vakharia. Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Marketing and Government Affairs at Allscripts (Chicago). Ms. Vakharia was named to her current position at Allscripts on June 22, 2020, though she's been with the health IT company since 2011. Before that, Ms. Vakharia was an attorney at multinational law firms Foley & Lardner and Dentons and served in business, compliance and legal leadership positions at General Electric and Abbott Laboratories. She is on the board of directors of United Way of Lake County (Ill.) and is chair of the Little Kids, Big Futures Fund.
Angela Yochem. Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Digital Officer at Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.). Ms. Yochem oversees efforts to implement digital solutions across Novant Health's system as the chief digital and technology officer. She is responsible for protecting patient health records while delivering differentiated digital products and services that improve patient care. She focuses on a consumer-centric digital health business model and she co-founded the system's Institute of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. In 2019, HMG Strategy named Ms. Yochem a Top Technology Executive to Watch.
Karley Yoder. General Manager and Chief Digital Officer, Ultrasound at GE Healthcare (Chicago). Ms. Yoder spent time as vice president and general manager of artificial intelligence at GE Healthcare before moving into her current role. She has experience overseeing artificial intelligence strategy and product implementation for GE Healthcare's product portfolio. She leads internal project management as well as partnership activities related to developing a healthcare-specific platform for creating deep learning models that are integrated into the company's product lines. She has previous experience at Apple Health and Doctor on Demand.
Theresa Zak Meadows, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President and CIO at Cook Children's Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas). Ms. Meadows leads a team of more than 350 members covering areas such as infrastructure, applications, telecommunications and program management. She served as a regional director for Ascension Health Information Services, where she led software implementations. Ms. Meadows served as the co-chair for the Health and Human Services Healthcare Cybersecurity Task Force. In 2019, Ms. Meadows received the CHIME Federal Public Policy Award for her work in cybersecurity.
