Meagan E. Lyon, MPH, CHES

Meagan Lyon is a Research Associate in the Department of Health Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University. In the Department of Health Policy, Ms. Lyon works on maternal and child health issues local to Washington, DC and on projects with national scope, with a focus on perinatal and children’s health. Through a contract with the DC Department of Health Care Finance Ms. Lyon has worked on a series of studies designed to help the District better understand infant mortality and other poor birth outcomes among their population, in addition to understanding the role of public health programs such as Healthy Start in reducing poor birth outcomes, as well as child welfare projects about financing behavioral and mental health services for children. Prior to joining the Department of Health Policy, Ms. Lyon worked with an HIV research group and prior to graduate school, a private, non-profit adoption agency.

Anne Markus, JD, PhD, MHS

Anne Rossier Markus, JD, PhD, MHS, is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and Director of the Department’s Child Health Policy Program. Anne’s expertise and interest are in the financing and organization of health care and access to quality care, with a particular emphasis on managed care, Medicaid/CHIP, health centers, and other aspects of the system and how they address the needs of women and children, including children with special needs. Projects are, and have been, local, national, and international in scope, and many focus, or have focused, on some dimension of pediatric quality. Anne serves as a member of the DC Department of Health Advisory Committee on Perinatal, Infant and Interconceptional Health and Development, NCQA’s Child Health Advisory Panel, Childbirth Connection’s Steering Committee, and MCHB Healthy Start Interconception Care Collaborative Expert Work Group, all of which focus on quality measurement and improvement of maternal and child health and well-being. Anne is also the Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health Issues, a peer-reviewed journal that ranks first in the field of women’s studies; the Director of the DrPH Program in Health Policy; and the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs of the School of Public Health and Health Services.

Prior to joining the Department in July 1996, Dr. Markus was a research associate at The George Washington University Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, where she tracked, researched, and analyzed health care legislation and issues on health care reform, managed care, access to care, and bioethics. Previously, Dr. Markus worked for the Washington (National) Business Group on Health, a national organization of Fortune 500 employers whose objective has been to restructure health care financing and delivery since 1974.

Sara Rosenbaum, JD

Sara Rosenbaum is Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at The George Washington University . She also holds an appointment as Professor of Health Care Sciences at GW's School of Medicine and Law.

As a scholar, an educator and a national leader, Professor Rosenbaum has dedicated her career to promoting more equitable and effective health care policies in this country, particularly in the areas of Medicaid and Medicare, managed care, employee health benefits, maternal and child health, community health centers and civil rights in health care systems. Her commitment to strengthening access to care for low-income, minority and medically underserved populations has had a transforming effect on the lives of many Americans, particularly children.

In addition to her responsibilities as Chair of the Department of Health Policy, which she founded and developed, Professor Rosenbaum is Director of the Center for Health Policy Research, the institutional home for many of the Department's research activities, and Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program. As a mentor, she is drawn to young people interested in improving health care for the poor. "I am always on the lookout for students who have a keen desire not only to learn health policy, but to apply their knowledge to systemic problems that disproportionately affect low-income, medically underserved, or disabled children and adults," she says.

Professor Rosenbaum has been named one of the nation's 500 most influential health policy makers by McGraw Hill. Among other honors, she has received the Investigator Award in Health Policy from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has been recognized by the Department of Health and Human Services for distinguished national service on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries. As a member of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Clinton, she directed the drafting of the Health Security Act and oversaw the development of the Vaccines for Children program.

Professor Rosenbaum's research focuses on the many ways in which the law intersects with the nation's health care and public health systems, with a particular emphasis on civil rights, quality of care, insurance coverage and managed care. She is co-author of Law and the American Health Care System, a widely used health law textbook.

Margarita Alegría, PhD

Harvard Medical School

Margarita Alegría, PhD, is the director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at the Cambridge Health Alliance. She is a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and currently serves as the principal investigator of three National Institutes of Health-funded research studies. Dr. Alegría's published work focuses on the improvement of health care services delivery for diverse racial and ethnic populations, conceptual and methodological issues with multicultural populations, and ways to bring the community's perspective into the design and implementation of health services.

Michael Andry

Excelth, Inc.

Michael A. Andry is the founding executive director of EXCELth, Incorporated. Since 1992 he has lead the organization to advocate, support and direct the development of comprehensive quality health care services for the medically indigent and underserved in a New Orleans community-based delivery system. He has been engaged in many collaboratives to improve community health, some receiving national attention such as Great Expectations (the New Orleans Healthy Start Initiative for reducing infant mortality) and Healthy New Orleans: The City That Cares (Robert Wood Johnson & W.K.Kellogg Foundations initiative to transform the New Orleans’ public health system).

Rita Carreón

America’s Health Insurance Plans

Rita Carreón is Deputy Director of Clinical Strategies & Health Care Equity at America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and is responsible for overseeing AHIP's chronic care and health equity initiatives, including its Taking on Asthma and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Reduction Initiatives, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to assess health plans' efforts to collect data on race, ethnicity, and primary language. Ms. Carreón also coordinates the work of the National Health Plan Collaborative, and staffs AHIP's disparities advisory task force and health literacy task force. She represents AHIP in several health equity coalitions, advisory panels, including the National Diabetes Education Program's Business Health Strategy workgroup. Prior to joining AHIP in 2003, Ms. Carreón managed national quality improvement initiatives at national trade associations, such as the National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc. and the National Council of La Raza, and local community-based public health programs at community health centers and a hospital.

Daniel Ein, MD

The George Washington University

Daniel Ein has been in the clinical practice of allergy since 1972 and founded what became Washington Allergy Associates in 1974. Dr. Ein’s major professional activity is and has always been his practice. In addition, he has been very active in local and national medical affairs ranging from the Presidency of the Medical Society of DC to Presidency of the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is a Past-President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Amongst other activities, he has chaired the Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Medical Society of DC, has served on the DC State Health Planning and Development Agency, sat on a Mayoral Task Force on Bioterrorism, and has been a member of an FDA advisory committee. He is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Director of the Division of Allergy.

Paloma Hernandez, MPH, MS

Urban Health Plan, Inc.

Paloma Izquierdo-Hernandez is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Urban Health Plan (UHP), a network of federally qualified health centers located in the South Bronx and Queens. Ms. Izquierdo-Hernandez has pursued careers in the health care field, as a bilingual Speech and Language Pathologist where she worked for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation as well as an evaluation consultant for the New York City Board of Education and then as a health care executive. She has been steadily associated with Urban Health Plan since 1980 and has risen to the top of the organization by dedicating over 23 years as the organization’s Administrator, Executive Director, and currently as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Led by her efforts, Urban Health Plan has grown from a one site facility to a network of three federally qualified full time community health centers, six school health programs, three sites at facilities for at risk populations, and a continuously growing WIC site all supported by an Urban Health Plan transportation system.

Julie Hudman, PhD

Department of Health Care Finance

Dr. Julie Hudman is the first Director of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) for the District of Columbia. As Director, Dr. Hudman oversees more than a two billion dollar budget which includes the District’s Medicaid program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Alliance, and a wide range of locally funded health care programs. Since becoming Director, Dr. Hudman has realigned DHCF’s infrastructure to support its mission, implemented a new Medicaid management information system, created the Office of the Health Care Ombudsman, designed Healthy DC to expand coverage, increased participation in home and community based waiver programs, and reduced fraud and abuse through the identification, collection and process improvements in program integrity. Prior to assuming responsibility for DHCF, Dr. Hudman served as the Program Manager for Health and Human Services in the City Administrator’s Office within the Executive Office of the Mayor. In that role, she was responsible for providing direction and guidance to the District’s seven health and human service agencies.

Renée Jenkins, MD

Howard University

Renée R. Jenkins, MD, FAAP is a professor and chair emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University, and an adjunct professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. After completing her fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Montefiore Hospital, Dr. Jenkins started an adolescent medicine program at Howard University. In 1994, Dr. Jenkins was appointed department chair of Pediatrics, serving in this capacity until March 2007. Dr. Jenkins was inducted as president of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the 2007 annual meeting. She is currently the principal investigator at Howard for the DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities, in collaboration with Children’s National Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University Pediatrics Department, Primary Care Division. Dr. Jenkins’ research focuses on adolescent pregnancy prevention. Her publications and presentations range from adolescent health and sexuality to violence prevention and health issues of minority children.

(HON.) Nancy L. Johnson

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, and Berkowitz, PC

After serving 24 years in the U.S. Congress, Nancy Johnson is now a Senior Public Policy Advisor at Baker Donelson. She served 18 years on the House Ways and Means Committee and played an integral role in the passage of every major tax, trade, and health care initiative during years of rapid technological and political change and the globalization of the economy. Ms. Johnson is widely recognized for her acumen and sound analyses of healthcare, tax and trade policies. As a member and then Chairwoman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, she introduced the national Children's Health Insurance Program and was a principal author of the Medicare Modernization Act.

Deborah Kilstein, JD, MBA

Association for Community Affiliated Plans

Deborah Bradley Kilstein serves as the Director for Quality Management and Operational Support at the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), an association of non-profit health plans that are predominantly Medicaid and Medicare-focused. In this role, Deborah is responsible for developing the quality agenda for the Association, including positions on quality issues, quality improvement initiatives, research on quality in ACAP plans and implementation of ongoing plan training and networking opportunities. Prior to joining ACAP, Deborah has served in various leadership positions at the New Jersey Department of Human Services, including Medicaid Director and Deputy Commissioner, in which she managed the provision of social services for more than one million New Jersey residents. She has also worked at the Center for Health Care Services and Horizon NJ Health, an ACAP member plan.

Jeffrey Levi, PhD

Trust for America’s Health

Jeffrey Levi, PhD, is Executive Director of Trust for America's Health, where he leads the organization's advocacy efforts on behalf of a modernized public health system. Dr. Levi oversees TFAH's work on a range of public health policy issues, including its annual reports assessing the nation's public health preparedness, investment in public health infrastructure, and response to chronic diseases such as obesity. Dr. Levi is also an Associate Professor at The George Washington University's Department of Health Policy, where his research has focused on HIV/AIDS, Medicaid, and integrating public health with the healthcare delivery system. He has also served as an associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health, and Deputy Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

Fernando Martinez, MD

University of Arizona Medical Center

Fernando Martinez, MD is currently Swift-McNear Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Arizona Respiratory Center at University of Arizona. He is on the Board of Extramural Advisors of the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is also a member of the Steering Committee, International Study on Asthma & Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC), Editorial Board for Thorax & Pediatric Pulmonology, member of the Special Emphasis Panel on Asthma which published the National Guidelines for the treatment of asthma (National Institute of Health). His major research interests are: natural history of childhood asthma, genetic epidemiology of asthma and asthma-related conditions, early development of the immune system as a risk factor for the development of asthma and natural history of allergic diseases in early life.

Rebecca Morley, MSPP

National Center for Healthy Housing

Rebecca Morley is the executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH), where she leads a multi-disciplinary staff in creating healthy and safe housing for children through practical and proven steps. Ms. Morley led the development of the National Healthy Homes Training Center and spearheaded NCHH’s work in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She has authored numerous articles and publications on the topic of housing-related health hazards. Before joining NCHH in 2002, Ms. Morley was a senior associate with ICF Consulting in Washington, DC, where she advised clients, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and HUD, on the development of lead poisoning prevention and healthy homes programs.

Thomas Platts-Mills, MD, PhD

University of Virginia

Thomas Platts-Mills is a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Virginia and has been head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology since 1982. He served as President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) from March 2006 to March 2007. Since 1974, Dr. Platts-Mills has been active in research on allergic disease and has published more than 300 papers. His research includes the first purification and publication of a dust mite allergen, the development of immunoassays for dust mite allergens, and the establishment that it is mite fecal particles which are inhaled. Dr. Platts-Mills has researched the immune response to a range of allergens including those from pollens, dust mites, the fungus Trichophyton, and domestic cats.

Karen Redlener, MS

Children's Health Fund

Karen Redlener has had a thirty-five year career dedicated to improving access to health care for some of the nation’s most disadvantaged children and families. Ms. Redlener is a founding member of the Board of The Children’s Health Fund and has served as its Executive Director since 2003. As Executive Director of The Children’s Health Fund, Ms. Redlener oversees the development of health care programs that help increase access to care for medically underserved populations both in NYC and across the country. She is also responsible for the administrative and financial operations of the organization. Ms. Redlener is also the Executive Director of Community Pediatric Programs at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, and has principal responsibility for program development, budget and oversight of its major pediatric health care programs.

David M. Stevens, MD, MA

The George Washington University

David Stevens is the Associate Medical Director of the National Association of Community Health Centers and the Director of the Center for Quality at the NACHC. Dr. Stevens is a family physician and medical expert on policy initiatives to foster quality improvement in areas such as chronic disease management, clinical measures, data collection and pediatric immunizations. Dr. Stevens is also a research professor in The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services’ Department of Health Policy. He served as senior medical expert for Quality Improvement at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) from 2003 to 2007. He was also acting chief of the Clinical Quality and Professional Management Branch of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and director of Clinical Management and Professional Management and chief medical officer of the Division of Community and Migrant Health.

Reed Tuckson, MD

UnitedHealth Group

Reed Tuckson is the Executive Vice President and Chief of Medical Affairs of UnitedHealth Group where he directs and oversees the clinically-related programs of the Company’s six operating businesses and has oversight for the work of more than 10,000 clinical personnel. As a member of the executive management team of UnitedHealth Group, Dr. Tuckson has a variety of other leadership responsibilities, including those with the United Health Foundation, a not-for-profit, private foundation supported by UnitedHealth Group. Dr. Tuckson has been a leader of health care organizations for more than 25 years and has been a member of several bi-partisan Federal senior cabinet-level advisory committees on genetics, health reform, infant mortality, children’s health, violence and radiation testing. Before joining UnitedHealth Group in 2000, he was senior vice president for professional standards at the American Medical Association; and in the late 1980s he was one of the youngest-ever Commissioners of Public Health for Washington, D.C.

Pierre Vigilance, MD, MPH

Department of Health

Dr. Pierre Vigilance has been the Director of the Washington D.C. Department of Health since 2007. He joined the District Government after serving as the director and health officer of the Baltimore County Department of Health since 2005. In that capacity, he led an agency of 500 staff covering a jurisdiction of approximately 800,000 residents and a $50 million annual budget. He has been instrumental in local legislative changes aimed at reducing youth access to tobacco and has been a collaborator with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health to provide regular applied public health internship opportunities. He has also served as incident commander for local and statewide emergency preparedness deployments and drills. In his role as an associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, he has been actively involved in promoting applied public health, and building collaborations between academia and local public health agencies.

Gail Wilensky, PhD

Project HOPE

Gail Wilensky is an economist and a senior fellow at project HOPE, an international health foundation. From 1990-1992, Dr. Wilensky was Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (now known as CMS), directing the Medicare and Medicaid programs. She also served as Deputy Assistant to President (GHW) Bush for Policy Development, advising him on health and welfare issues from 1992-1993. From 1997-2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on payment and other issues relating to Medicare and previously chaired one of its predecessor commissions, the Physician Payment Review Commission. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President’s Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans and in 2007, served as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors (Dole/Shalala Commission). Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees, serves as an advisor to members of Congress and other elected officials, speaks nationally and internationally before professional, business and consumer groups.

Mary Woolley, MA

Research! America

Mary Woolley is the president and CEO of Research!America, the nation’s largest not-for-profit, membership supported grassroots public education and advocacy organization committed to making medical and health research a much higher national priority. Ms. Woolley is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She serves on several boards and committees, including the Governing Council of the Institute of Medicine and the National Council for Johns Hopkins Nursing. Ms. Woolley has a 30-year editorial and publication history on science advocacy and research related topics. Her op-eds and letters to the editor are published in newspapers and magazines from coast to coast and she has been published in Science, Nature, Issues in Science and Technology, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Scientist, and others. She is a sought-after speaker and is frequently interviewed by science, news and policy journalists.