Greg A. Adams is the chair and chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente. 

A nationally recognized leader and a champion of health care transformation, improving access, and advocating for better health outcomes, Adams, since his time with Kaiser Permanente, has been driving the comprehensive work focused on growing the organization’s membership, improving affordability for members, and transforming and expanding access to care. 

Adams has 30 over years of leadership experience as a senior health care executive and has played an integral role in leading the transformation and improvement of patient care outcomes at Kaiser Permanente. In addition, Adams has been a key leader in driving Kaiser Permanente’s mission of providing high-quality care and coverage for its members.

Adams is a member of the board of directors for America’s Health Insurance Plans, is both a governor and steward within the Health and Healthcare Community at the World Economic Forum and chair of the Health and Retirement Committee of the Business Roundtable. Additionally, Adams is a member of the National Association of Health Services Executives, and The Executive Leadership Council. He also serves on the board of directors for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. He is a past member of the American Nurses Foundation, California Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and the California Hospital Association’s board of trustees.

Dr. Jerome Adams was appointed as a Presidential Fellow and the Executive Director of Purdue's Health Equity Initiatives on October 1, 2021. He is also a Distinguished Professor of Practice in the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Public Health.

As the 20th U.S. Surgeon General and a prior member of the President’s Coronavirus task force, Dr. Adams has been at the forefront of America’s most pressing health challenges.   A regular communicator via tv, radio, and in print, Dr. Adams is an expert not just in the science, but also in communicating the science to the lay public, and making it relevant to various audiences.   

Dr. Adams is a licensed anesthesiologist with a master’s degree in public health, and ran the Indiana State Department of Health prior to becoming Surgeon General. In the State Health Commissioner role he managed a $350 million dollar budget and over 1000 employees, and led Indiana’s response to Ebola, Zika, and HIV crises. Notably, Dr. Adams helped convince the Governor and State Legislature to legalize syringe service programs in the state, and to prioritize $13 million in funding to combat infant mortality. As Surgeon General, Dr. Adams was the operational head of the 6000 person Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and oversaw responses to 3 back to back category 5 hurricanes, and to a once in a century pandemic.

In addition to his recent COVID19 work, Dr. Adams has partnered with and assisted organizations as they navigate the opioid epidemic, maternal health, rising rates of chronic disease, the impacts of rising suicide rates in our Nation, and how businesses can become better stewards and stakeholders in promoting community health.  

Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil is Chief Health Officer at Elevance Health, where he oversees the enterprise whole health strategy, including medical policy, clinical quality, and delegation oversight, as well as our industry-leading work to address health-related social needs and health equity.

Passionate about improving health outcomes and reducing disparities, Dr. Agrawal draws on his clinical and business expertise to push for a more equitable health space for the people Elevance Health serves. Accordingly, he also leads Elevance Health’s community health strategy and the Elevance Health Foundation.

Outside of Elevance Health, Dr. Agrawal serves on numerous boards and committees that deepen his commitment to advancing health. He serves on the Board of Directors for 1Health, GroundGame Health, and the Pharmacy Quality Alliance. He is on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery and part of the National Academy of Medicine Leadership Consortium. Dr. Agrawal is a member of the Brown University Corporation Committee on Medical and Health Affairs, the Leapfrog Partners Advisory Committee, and the Chief Medical Officers Committees at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Prior to joining Elevance Health, Dr. Agrawal served as president and chief executive officer of the National Quality Forum (NQF), a non-profit organization dedicated to working with diverse members of the healthcare community to drive measurable health improvements. He is also the former deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where he led an effort to improve the physician experience with Medicare and was an architect of CMS’s strategy to address the national opioid epidemic. Dr. Agrawal served as director of the Center for Program Integrity (CPI), where he was instrumental in launching new initiatives in data transparency and analytics, utilization management, and payment models.

Dr. Agrawal completed his undergraduate education at Brown University, medical education at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and clinical training in emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his master’s degree in social and political sciences from Cambridge University. 

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Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA is the Founder and CEO of BayouClinic, and was the 18th United States Surgeon General (2009-2013). As America’s Doctor, she provided the public with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and the health of the nation. Dr. Benjamin also oversaw the operational command of 6,500 uniformed public health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote, and protect the health of the American People. As chair of the National Prevention Council – 17 cabinet-level Federal Agency Heads, she led the development of the National Prevention Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness. Dr. Benjamin specializes in prevention policies and health promotion among individuals as well as large populations, especially concerning obesity, childhood obesity, and children’s health. She has special interest in rural health care, health disparities among socio-economic groups, suicide, violence, and mental health.

From her early days as the founder of a rural health clinic in Alabama to her leadership role in the worldwide advancement of preventive health, Dr. Regina Benjamin has forged a career that has been recognized by a broad spectrum of organizations and publications. In 1995, she was the first physician under the age of 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. Other past board memberships included the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Catholic Health Association, and Morehouse School of Medicine. 

Dr Benjamin advises or consults with various companies, including technology and healthcare. She currently serves on the boards of Kaiser Hospitals and Health Plan; Ascension Health Alliance; ConvaTec PLC; Computer Technology Systems Inc (CPSI); and the American Heart Association. 

Dr. Benjamin is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She has been chosen as a Kellogg National Fellow and Rockefeller Next Generation Leader.

In 1998 Dr. Benjamin was the United States recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights. She received the 2000 National Caring Award, which was inspired by Mother Teresa and was recognized with the Papal honor Pro Ecclesia et Ponticifice from Pope Benedict XVI. In 2008, she was honored with a MacArthur Genius Award Fellowship. In 2011, Dr. Benjamin became the recipient of the Chairman’s Award at the 42nd NAACP Image Awards. In May 2013, Reader’s Digest, ranked her #22 of the “100 Most Trusted People in America.

Benjamin has a B.S. in chemistry from Xavier University, New Orleans, attended Morehouse School of Medicine, earned an MD degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and an MBA from Tulane University. She is the recipient of 30 honorary degrees.

Dan Brillman graduated from Yale University in 2006 and worked in finance and consulting before joining the Air Force Reserves as a combat pilot, where he still serves today. As an aircraft commander, Dan earned several combat air medals during multiple deployments both in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns and also serves as a Joint Strategic Liaison Officer for Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). After earning his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2012, Dan worked in venture capital in NYC, where he focused on investing and technological innovation. Dan co-founded Unite Us in 2013. 

Dan recently led the Unite Us team through a $150 million Series C financing, increasing the company’s valuation to $1.65 billion, and solidifying its position as the leading social determinants of health (SDoH) solution in the market. Dan is passionate about the critical role technology and community infrastructure plays in connecting health and social care to support communities and moving the needle towards value-based, person-centric care. 

Fiercely loyal and committed to the people of Unite Us, Dan leads from within, not from above his team. He’s a “roll-up-his-sleeves” CEO who can be found working alongside the engineering team on a Saturday afternoon, or joking with the whole company on Slack. He’s been known to stock the snack cabinet and the fridge at the company’s headquarters in New York City. 

Dan is a recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service and was included on Business Insider’s “30 People Under 40 Changing Healthcare” in 2019. Most recently, Unite Us was named one of the top three companies in America on 2021 Forbes’ list of Best Startup Employers. A sought-after, passionate public speaker, Dan frequently speaks on panels and conferences focused on veteran issues, healthcare, community-based care and entrepreneurship.

A practicing physician and public health leader — serves as Chair of the Common Health Coalition and is Sternberg Family Professor of Leadership at the City College of New York. Dr. Chokshi previously served as the 43rd Health Commissioner of New York City. From 2020-2022, he led the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its historic campaign to vaccinate over 6 million New Yorkers. Earlier, he was the inaugural Chief Population Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H), the largest public healthcare system in the nation, where he also served as CEO of the H+H Accountable Care Organization. 

Dr. Chokshi has practiced primary care internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital since 2014. He has held successive senior leadership roles that span the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. 

A Rhodes Scholar and White House Fellow, he is nationally recognized as a transformational leader, a clinical innovator, a policy expert, and an advocate for a stronger and more equitable health system.

Full profile

Dr. Bechara Choucair is the senior vice president and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente, one of America’s leading integrated health systems with more than 12.5 million members. His work includes the creation of the nation’s largest social health network to meet the housing, food and transportation needs of Kaiser Permanente’s members. He also manages the organization’s community health portfolio, including $3.4 billion dedicated to supporting medical financial assistance and charitable care as well as grants and community health initiatives. 

From January through November 2021, Dr. Choucair served as the White House national COVID-19 vaccinations coordinator. In that role he focused on coordinating the timely, safe, and equitable administration of COVID-19 vaccinations for the U.S. population. During his tenure, more than 450 million doses of the vaccine were administered nationwide. He returned to Kaiser Permanente in December 2021. Dr. Choucair served as Chicago’s Public Health Commissioner from 2009 to 2014.

Among other accolades, Dr. Choucair has been named by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Health Executives in the U.S., one of the Most Influential People in Healthcare, and as one of the Top 25 Innovators in Healthcare. A family physician by training, he completed his Family Practice Residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He holds an MD from the American University of Beirut and a master’s degree in health care management from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH, is the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She is one of the nation’s top health leaders with experience leading large and complex organizations, and a proven track-record protecting Americans’ health and safety.

Dr. Cohen is an internal medicine physician and led the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, where she was lauded for her outstanding leadership during the COVID crisis, focusing on equity, data accountability, and transparent communication. She also transformed the North Carolina Medicaid program, through the state’s Medicaid expansion and her focus on “whole person health” with the launch of the country’s first statewide coordination platform, NCCARE360.

Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Cohen served as the Executive Vice President at Aledade and CEO of Aledade Care Solution, which helps independent primary care practices, health centers, and clinics deliver better care to their patients and thrive in value-based care.

Dr. Cohen previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and served as Acting Director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.  Dr. Cohen was involved in many aspects of the Affordable Care Act policy development and implementation, including the expansion of coverage, insurance protections, and new provider payment models.

In February 2019, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Cohen one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare. In September of 2020, Dr. Cohen was awarded the Leadership in Public Health Practice Award from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health for her outstanding leadership through the COVID pandemic and Dr. Cohen was named Tar Heel of the Year for 2020. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Cohen received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, her Doctor of Medicine from the Yale School of Medicine, and her Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Cohen is married and has two daughters.

Jacey Cooper is the Director of the State Demonstrations Group at the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) and leads the agency’s work on Medicaid demonstrations authorized under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.

Prior to joining CMCS, Ms. Cooper was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as the California State Medicaid Director and Chief Deputy Director at the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). As the State Medicaid Director, Ms. Cooper oversaw California’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) that provided vital health care to approximately 16 million Californians, with a $150 billion budget.

Prior to becoming the State Medicaid Director, Ms. Cooper served as the Senior Advisor and was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown as Assistant Deputy Director for Health Care Delivery Systems. Prior to DHCS, Ms. Cooper worked as the Vice President at Kern Medical Center (KMC), a public hospital.

Through this work Ms. Cooper has gained over fifteen years of experience in health care policy, on the ground implementation, integrated delivery models, managed care, and collaborative stakeholder engagement.  In 2016, Ms. Cooper was honored by Modern Healthcare Up & Comers, as one of 12 healthcare leaders nationwide recognized for having made a significant contribution in the areas of healthcare administration, management and policy.

Hermes Falcon (he/him) is a junior at Bradley University with a major in journalism and a double minor in creative writing and sociology. In high school, Hermes wrote for his school newspaper, The Harbinger, at Miami Lakes Educational Center and was a copy editor from 2020 until he graduated.

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After graduating from Bradley, Hermes hopes to pursue a Master's in investigative reporting or museum management. After college, Hermes hopes to continue to report on mental health and other topics that are important to other members of the Hispanic LGBTQ community.

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Hermes joined YMG as a student reporter in the fall of 2020 during our first virtual workshop on surviving trauma. An intern with YMG since November of 2020, Hermes has been a “jack-of-all-trades,” helping in every area of the organization, from writing stories to assisting in all manner of administrative areas. YMG’s most prolific TikTok creator, Hermes has helped the organization's Sozosei-funded TikTok account grow with his creative and thoughtful videos. Hermes also builds and coordinates our YMG newsletter!

Sandro Galea, a physician, epidemiologist, and author, is dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University School of Public Health. He previously held academic and leadership positions at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Academy of Medicine. He has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature and is a regular contributor to a range of public media, about the social causes of health, mental health, and the consequences of trauma. He has been listed as one of the most widely cited scholars in the social sciences. 

He is the current Chair of the Boston Public Health Commission Board of Health, past chair of the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Galea has received several lifetime achievement awards. Galea holds a medical degree from the University of Toronto, graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow.

Michelle Hood is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Hospital Association. 

Previously she served as president and CEO of Northern Light Health, Brewer, Maine. Northern Light is a $1.8 B integrated healthcare delivery system providing services across the entire state of Maine.  Over her 14-year tenure in this position, she oversaw significant organic growth of the system as well as the addition of three hospitals, four skilled facilities, a home care agency, residential hospice services and numerous ground/air ambulance units to the portfolio.  As president and CEO of Northern Light, she focused on health care policy and design models at the state and national levels, positioning the system to be successful in a rapidly changing health care environment.

Ms. Hood received a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University and a Master of Health Care Administration degree from Georgia State University. Prior to her position in Maine, she served as the president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Systems, Montana Region, as well as president and CEO of the Region’s flagship hospital, St. Vincent Healthcare. 

Before coming to the AHA, she had served on the Association’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. She is a past chair of the Maine Hospital Association board and has been on several community and national boards, including service as chairs of both the University of Maine System Board of Trustees and the Vizient New England Board.

Ms. Hood is a seasoned executive dedicated to the transformation of the health care delivery and financing models, at both the national and local level. She brings her experience in academic, national faith-based and rural health care integrated systems to the challenges of today’s rapidly changing environment.

Stephanie Ledesma is Vice President of Community Health for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals. Stephanie oversees strategic initiatives, operations and continuous improvement across Kaiser Permanente’s annual $3 billion Community Health portfolio. She is responsible for ensuring that all resources deployed drive value for communities and members in alignment with KP’s mission.

Previously, Stephanie was Chief Operating Officer of Aetna Better Health of Pennsylvania, where she was responsible for optimizing operations of the Medicaid business and leading the successful shift from fee-for-service contracts to value-based arrangements. She led collaboration efforts with community organizations to break cycles of poverty and food insecurity.

At Magellan Health Services Stephanie served as Complete Care’s Chief Technology Officer, notably implementing Florida’s first and only Medicaid specialty plan for individuals with Serious Mental Illness, and New York’s Fully Integrated Duals Advantage program.  Additionally, she was accountable for Information Technology and Claims operations for all strategic business units.

Recognized by the Governor’s office as one of Pennsylvania’s top 100 most influential Latino leaders, she holds a master’s degree in applied Analytics from Saint Louis University and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Lindenwood University.

Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, public health scientist, and Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. He is Dean Emeritus and Jean Mayer Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine, and attending physician in cardiology at Tufts Medical Center.  He is a globally recognized leader in the science of nutrition, cardiometabolic diseases, policy, and Food is Medicine, aiming to create the evidence and translation for a food system that is nutritious, equitable, and sustainable.  Dr. Mozaffarian has authored nearly 600 scientific publications and is one of the top cited researchers in medicine.  He has served in numerous advisory roles, including currently serving on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, and his work has been featured in an array of media outlets.  Thomson Reuters has named him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds.

Dr. Mozaffarian received his B.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University, M.D. from Columbia University, and Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University; and clinical training in internal medicine at Stanford University and in cardiology at the University of Washington.  He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Fourth Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.

Jayne O'Donnell (she/her) is a former USA TODAY health policy reporter who is founder and CEO of Youthcast Media Group. YMG trains diverse high school students from under-resourced communities to do multimedia health and social issue journalism. 

Jayne, who worked for USA TODAY from 1993 to 2021, has appeared as an on-air expert on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN, MSNBC, NPR and C-Span and been published in magazines including Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping and Parents. She’s won several awards for her work, most notably for her 1996 USA TODAY articles on the dangers air bags posed to children, which prompted many government actions including the “smart" air bags and warning labels in every new vehicle.

A graduate of University of Maryland’s College of Journalism, Jayne did graduate work at George Washington University’s School of Business. 

Dr. Anand Parekh is Chief Medical Advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) where he provides clinical and public health expertise across the organization. Since 2015, he has led specific efforts tackling a variety of policy issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, future of public health, opioid crisis, obesity epidemic & nutrition, health & housing, domestic and global HIV/AIDS, business & public health collaboration, emergency preparedness, social isolation, rural health, and prescription drug costs. His healthcare expertise has been recognized by the Washingtonian in its listing of Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People.

Prior to joining BPC, he completed a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As an HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the Senior Executive Service from 2008 to 2015, he developed and implemented national initiatives focused on prevention, wellness, and care management. Specifically, he played instrumental roles in the implementation of the Recovery Act’s Prevention and Wellness Fund, the Affordable Care Act’s prevention initiatives, and HHS’ Multiple Chronic Conditions Initiative. He received the Surgeon General’s Outstanding Service Award for his efforts.

Briefly in 2007, he was delegated the authorities of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health overseeing ten health program offices and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Earlier in his HHS career, he played key roles in public health emergency preparedness efforts related to pandemic influenza and bioterrorism as special assistant to the science advisor to the secretary.

Parekh is a board-certified internal medicine physician, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, an adjunct professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where he previously completed his residency training in the Osler Medical Program of the Department of Medicine. He provided volunteer clinical services for many years at the Holy Cross Hospital Health Center, a clinic for the uninsured in Silver Spring, MD.

He currently serves on the Board of Population Health and Public Health Practice at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Board of Directors of the Presidential Scholars Foundation, Board of Directors of WaterAid America, and the Founders Council at the United States of Care.

He has spoken widely and written extensively on a variety of health topics such as chronic care management, population health, value in health care, and the need for health and human services integration. His book Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America was released in December 2019 and argues that prevention must be our nation’s top health policy priority. He is also a Forbes healthcare contributor focused on the coronavirus.

A native of Michigan, Parekh received a B.A. in political science, an M.D., and an M.P.H. in health management and policy from the University of Michigan. He was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in 1994.

Stephen Parodi, MD, is executive vice president of External Affairs, Communications, and Brand at The Permanente Federation. He is also executive vice president of External Affairs and Corporate Development and an associate executive director for The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) with responsibility for government relations and strategic partnerships, hospital operations, inpatient quality, patient safety, care of complex and special needs populations, skilled nursing facilities, home health, hospice, and advanced analytics.

Dr. Parodi also serves as a liaison for Kaiser Permanente’s engagement in local and international health care delivery initiatives.

He has held several leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente, including the chief of Infectious Disease and HIV care director for the Napa Solano Service Area, chair of Infectious Disease for TPMG, chair of the Northern California Regional Infection Control Committee, chair of the HealthConnect Governance Committee, and regional director of Hospital Operations. Dr. Parodi currently practices as an infectious disease physician in the Napa Solano service area.

Dr. Parodi received his medical degree from Georgetown University, completed his internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and infectious disease fellowship at the UCLA Affiliated Program in Infectious Disease.

He is a fellow in the Infectious Disease Society of America and serves as a delegate to the California Medical Association for the Very Large Group Forum. He has served on Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America committees related to public policy, government affairs, and antimicrobial stewardship. He actively collaborates with the California Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on public health matters. Dr. Parodi also serves as chair of the board of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP).

He joined TPMG straight out of training because of Kaiser Permanente’s and Permanente Medicine’s clear mission to serve individual patients’ needs and bring medical excellence at an ever greater scale through a concerted effort to achieve population management.

Dr. Joseph Richardson is the MPower Professor of African-American Studies, Medical Anthropology and Epidemiology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Richardson’s research centers on gun violence, structural violence, violent firearm injury, mental health, qualitative methods, translational science and violence prevention/interventions for Black boys and young Black men. He is the Founding Director of the Capital Region Violence Intervention Program (CAP-VIP) a hospital-based violence intervention program at the University of Maryland Capital Region Health Medical Center. He is a HAVI Faculty Member and currently serves as the Lead Epidemiologist for the Violence Intervention Research Project, a hospital-based violence intervention program research project at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. Dr. Richardson is the Founding Co-Director of the PROGRESS Initiative (Prevent Gun Violence: Research, Empowerment, Strategies and Solutions) at the University of Maryland. Through funding support from Arnold Ventures, Dr. Richardson is leading a longitudinal qualitative research evaluation of CVI street outreach programs in the District of Columbia. Dr. Richardson is the Co-Chair of the District of Columbia Violence Fatality Review Committee under the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He is the Executive Producer and Director of the award-winning documentary feature Life After the Gunshot. Dr. Richardson uses digital storytelling as an innovative methodological approach for health communication and narrative change. He was recently elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine Class of 2023.

Aabrielle Spear (she/her) is a freshman at Morgan State University, majoring in psychology. She became a YMG intern  in fall 2023 and focuses primarily on creating factual and engaging social media posts about topics including mental health, health and racial equity. In September, she represented YMG on a social justice panel sponsored by the Baltimore-based Nova Institute for Health. 

Aabri hopes to become a psychotherapist. A passionate creative writer, Aabri’s interest in journalism began when she participated in a week-long YMG workshop when she was in 9th grade. She is a member of MSUPoets. 

Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH is Bloomberg Professor of American Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he is Distinguished Scholar at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Dr. Webster has published widely on the impacts of gun policies on homicides, suicides, and gun trafficking and led studies of community violence intervention programs and intimate partner violence. He is the lead editor and contributor to Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). He is elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023 and is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice’s Working Group on Violent Crime. Dr. Webster’s research has informed policies to reduce gun violence at the local, state, and federal level. His awards include American Public Health Association’s award for science-based advocacy, Baltimore City’s Health Equity Leadership Award, Pioneer Award from the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, and Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award.

Fatimah Loren Dreier (she/her) is a nationally recognized expert in health equity, preventative public health strategies to address gun violence, and trauma-informed care delivery. Fatimah serves as Vice President of HRiA, a Boston-based public health institute. In addition, she serves as the inaugural Executive Director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Gun Violence Research and Education and Executive Director of the HAVI. The HAVI is a healthcare organization that has developed and scaled a model of care, called hospital-based violence intervention programs, to treat violently injured patients. The HAVI has a presence in 85 markets in the United States.

Fatimah previously served as Deputy Executive Director of Equal Justice USA (EJUSA), a national criminal justice reform organization where she led an award-winning program on community trauma. Fatimah has received numerous honors and distinctions, including the 2018 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders Fellowship and the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale School of Management.

Fatimah’s work and thought leadership has appeared in numerous media outlets including CNN, theWashington Post, NPR, TIME, the New York Times, Health Affairs, Politico, AP, and more. Her work has also appeared in Nature, the Journal of Adolescent Health, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, the American Journal of Public Health and more. She is a psychotherapist by training and holds an MBA from Yale School of Management.

Mollie Gelburd is a Senior Director of Delivery System and Payment Transformation at AHIP in Washington, DC. At AHIP, she is responsible for leading policy and strategy on value-based payment advocacy and physician payment reform and helping health insurance providers leverage private market innovation to drive affordable, high-quality care. Mollie previously worked at the Medical Group Management Association, advising members on federal health care policy issues including Medicare billing rules, value-based programs, and fraud and abuse rules. Mollie earned her JD from The Catholic University of America.

Dr. J. Nadine Gracia is the President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy, research and advocacy organization committed to promoting optimal health for every person and community and making prevention and health equity foundational to policymaking at all levels.  Dr. Gracia is a national health equity leader with extensive leadership experience in federal government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and professional associations.  Before being appointed President and CEO, she served as TFAH’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining TFAH, Dr. Gracia served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  In that capacity, she directed departmental policies and programs to end health disparities and advance health equity, and provided executive leadership on administration priorities including the Affordable Care Act and My Brother’s Keeper.  Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, where her portfolio included adolescent health, emergency preparedness, environmental health and climate change, global health, and the White House Council on Women and Girls.

Passionate about service and leadership development, she is active in many professional and civic organizations.

Lee Hawkins is an American investigative journalist and author who was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He is the Series Creator, Co-Executive Producer and Host of "What Happened in Alabama?" an American Public Media audio series that debuts in May, and the author of the forthcoming book, Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free (HarperCollins 2025). His work documents the lives of Black American descendants of slavery and Jim Crow survivors and the intergenerational impact of racial violence and racism on their families. His reporting also addresses people affected by multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and their long-term effects on health and life expectancy. He is a 2023-2024 Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at The Carter Center. 

Joneigh S. Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP is a nationally recognized healthcare executive,  health policy and public health expert who currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer for CVS Health. In this role she leads the company’s data-driven strategy to decrease health disparities and address social drivers of health. Previously, she served as Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where she oversaw public health, Medicaid, behavioral health, and aging services. She was the lead strategist guiding Michigan’s COVID-19 response and in 2021 was appointed by President Biden to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. 

Dr. Khaldun has spearheaded the design and implementation of several system-changing projects at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine. Prior to her role in the State of Michigan she led the Detroit Health Department, where she spearheaded programs to address infant mortality, launched new community-based clinical and outreach programs, and led Detroit's response to the largest hepatitis A outbreak in modern U.S. history. Dr. Khaldun also previously served as Chief Medical Officer of the Baltimore City Health Department and worked in the Obama-Biden Administration's Office of Health Reform.   

Dr. Khaldun is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. She has received multiple awards and recognitions, including the George Washington University Monumental Alumni Award; 2020 Crain's Detroit Newsmaker of the Year; The Detroit News 2021 Michiganian of the Year; 2022 USA Today Woman of the Year; and the 2023 Fierce Healthcare Most Influential Minority Executives in Healthcare. She is a board-certified practicing emergency medicine physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Muriel Bowser is the seventh elected mayor of Washington, DC. She has a strong record of creating a bold urban policy agenda, making tough decisions in a high stakes environment, and shaping a diverse economy.

Mayor Bowser has served her hometown in elected office since 2004 as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (2004-2006), Member of the DC Council (2007-2015) and now Mayor since 2015. On November 8, she became only the second person elected three times as mayor of Washington, DC. She is the first African American woman to be elected to three, four-year terms as mayor of an American city.

Since taking office, Mayor Bowser has boldly reset DC’s global and national competitiveness, sped up affordable housing production, diversified the DC economy, oversaw consistent enrollment growth across the District’s public schools to its highest enrollment since Home Rule, increased satisfaction in city services, refocused our efforts around achieving statehood, and invested in programs and policies that allow more families to live and thrive across the city.

Mayor Bowser is a strong leader and crisis manager with 25 years of management and financial experience balancing budgets, achieving AAA bond ratings, and clean audits. Faced with the health and economic challenge of the century, Mayor Bowser guided Washington, DC through COVID-19, racial and justice protests, pandemic-spawned crime and unemployment increases, and the events of January 6th. She commissioned the first Black Lives Matter public street mural, which established a safe area for police and demonstrators using public art, inspiring dozens of others around the world. She reorganized the government to respond to the multiple threats and led over 200 hours of public press updates and national press briefings. She issued over $2 billion in unemployment, rent and business relief and secured federal reimbursement, and drafted recovery and growth strategies that will return DC to pre-pandemic revenue levels in less than one fiscal year.

Mayor Bowser made and kept bold promises on the creation of affordable housing a hallmark of her service to DC. And she has been at the forefront of national thought leadership on affordable housing and homelessness. She led the U.S. in per capita affordable housing investment; committed an all-time high $1 billion of city resources to tackle affordable housing; and led the National League of Cities task force to craft a federal call to action on the affordable housing crisis.

Mayor Bowser is committed to an equity agenda; she has focused on investing in DC small businesses and since the beginning of her Administration has increased the District’s spending in the CBE community from just over $300 million to over $1.1 billion, publishing a Green Book listing for DC government and regional partner procurement opportunities. Mayor Bowser also created the first ever Office of Racial Equity, Office of Gun Violence Prevention, expanded the Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program to young people up to age 24, and funded the first ever Black Homeownership Fund. In two short years, she will deliver on her promise to deliver a full-service hospital in Ward 8.

Mayor Bowser has played key roles in delivering transformational economic development projects, creating jobs and housing for DC residents—including the Audi Field, the Entertainment and Sports Arena, St. Elizabeths, Walter Reed, McMillan, and The Wharf.

Mayor Bowser has served as a Board Member of the Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, chaired the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Transportation Planning Board and serves on the Advisory Boards of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association. She is a graduate of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and of Leadership Greater Washington. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Chatham University and a Master of Public Policy from the American University.

Mayor Bowser tells everyone that there’s only one job better than being mayor of her hometown, and that’s being Miranda’s mom. Mayor Bowser was blessed to become a mom by adoption and proud to show everyone that there are many ways to be a family. She and Miranda call Ward 4 home.

Chrissie Cooper is the SVP, Government Programs for Kaiser Permanente where she has national accountability for the Medicare, Duals, and Individual lines of business, as well as supporting Medicaid in partnership with Kaiser Permanente’s Community Health leadership.

Chrissie is a healthcare strategist and operator with over 25 years in the payor, provider, and health care services industry. Leading government program P&L’s of up to $5B in revenue, Chrissie has built and executed business-wide initiatives targeted at delivering innovation and profitable growth, cultivated key strategic partnerships, and implemented value-based care at scale. She has a proven track record of increasing valuations for investors by optimizing margins, orchestrating financial and operational turnarounds, and capitalizing on health policy and regulatory shifts to build opportunistic solutions to enhance product portfolios and win new business. 

Chrissie was recently the president of Magellan Complete Care (MCC), the health plan division of Magellan Health, where she led a $180M financial, operational, and quality turn around in the Medicaid and Duals/Long Term Services & Supports businesses in less than two years, nearly doubling the valuation of the business. She subsequently led the strategic diligence and sale to Molina Healthcare.

In addition to MCC, Chrissie has held payor leadership roles, including health plan CFO, COO and CEO/Regional Plan President, at Molina, WellCare Health Plans, United HealthCare/Optum, and PacifiCare.  At WellCare, she led efforts in Florida to restore operational compliance and drive cultural transformation following the highly publicized Medicaid fraud investigation and corporate integrity agreement.  These efforts subsequently restored credibility with the Florida Medicaid Agency and led to winning $2.5B in Medicaid business through competitive procurement. 

Supplementing her payor experience, Chrissie brings expertise in value-based care delivery. At DaVita Healthcare Partners (now part of OptumCare), Chrissie was the COO for the $1.5B California-based, risk-bearing and value-based medical group and independent physician association serving Commercial and government programs members. At Concerto, she furthered her population health experience serving Medicare and Duals members through field-based care delivery and complex care management in delegated, value-based models. 

Chrissie has a Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Arizona. She has completed the Columbia Business School Mergers and Acquisitions Certification, the Executive Education program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and earned her Women in Executive Leadership Certificate from Cornell. She is a member of Women’s Business Leaders of Health Care and an alumnus of Break into the Boardroom.

Romina Ruiz-Goiriena is White House editor at USA Today where she drives coverage of some of the most impactful political news in the country. As the first Latina and person of color to serve in this role in the paper’s history she’s helped her team break news on the White House with a Main Street perspective whether it’s about Hunter Biden, Israel-Hamas war, the southern border, culture wars or the economy. She joined USA TODAY from the Miami Herald’s investigative in 2020. As a national enterprise reporter, she delivered scoops the Surfside building collapse, Atlanta spa shootings and exclusives on housing reform from key government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She has worked in Paris, Cuba, and Israel for France24, El Mundo, and Haaretz. Romina was a foreign correspondent out of Central America for CNN and The Associated Press, covering issues such as migration, corruption and drug trafficking. She has won several awards during the course of her career. In 2023, she was a named Pulitzer Prize finalist with the Austin-American Statesman, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK in public service for the coverage of shooting in Uvalde and a team Edward R. Murrow award for Florida’s fight over education. Her investigative work was part of a team Overseas Press Club Award in 2015. She was a Deadline Club Award finalist for her coverage of Hurricane Irma in 2018 and winner of a 2019 NAHJ Ñ Award. Romina has a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and Master of Liberal Arts in extension studies from Harvard University. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Hebrew.

Brandon Cuevas is executive vice president for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals.

Cuevas has national accountability for health plan strategy, capabilities, and operations. His responsibilities span consolidated operations for the organization’s 8 regional health plans, helping Kaiser Permanente meet its mission of providing high-quality, affordable care to the communities and 12.7 million members it serves. Cuevas manages a national infrastructure committed to the performance, growth, and expansion of value-based care within Kaiser Permanente’s existing markets and beyond.

In his role, Cuevas oversees sales, account management, product, pricing, underwriting, forecasting, provider relations and network analytics, marketing, and other health plan services. He partners with market and line of business leaders to establish and execute multiyear revenue and membership growth strategies for all lines of business in all markets.

Cuevas joined Kaiser Permanente in 2023. An innovative leader, Cuevas has operated in some of the most competitive and complex health care markets. Most recently, he served in a national role for UnitedHealthcare as chief strategy and growth officer of its $71 billion commercial business as well as additional executive roles overseeing government programs and other lines of business. Cuevas’ experience also includes leadership positions at Mile Two Consulting, The David Lewis Company, PacifiCare Health Systems, and Arthur Andersen Worldwide.

Cuevas is a deep believer in Kaiser Permanente’s value-based care model and, as a Kaiser Permanente member, has seen firsthand the outcomes the organization’s unique model provides.

Cuevas studied finance, accounting, theology, and business management, and earned multiple bachelor’s degrees at Friends University in Kansas, where he also did postgraduate work.

Nkem Chukwumerije, MD, serves as President and Executive Medical Director for The Southeast Permanente Medical Group (TSPMG). TSPMG is one of Georgia’s largest multispecialty medical groups, with over 900 clinicians caring for more than 320,000 Kaiser Permanente members. Services are delivered through a network of 26 medical offices and specialty centers and four contracted hospitals. Dr. Chukwumerije also serves as national physician leader for equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) for the Permanente Medical Groups, ensuring alignment of EID initiatives with Permanente Medicine strategy and collaborating with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals in this critical work.   

A hospital medicine physician, Dr. Chukwumerije received his medical degree from the University of Nigeria. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in New Jersey and a Kennamer Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He also holds a Certificate in Global Health and an Executive Master’s Degree in Healthcare Management and Policy – MPH from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and is Board certified in Internal Medicine.  

Prior to his role in Georgia, Dr. Chukwumerije served as Regional Physician Director for Utilization Management and Physician Leader for Care Without Delay in Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California region, which includes 15 hospitals and 234 medical offices serving over 4.7 million members. In that role, he led a team in defining and executing a new vision and strategy to standardize Permanente Medicine practices - Care Without Delay - across the 15 Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and the post-acute continuum of care. He also held leadership roles in Kaiser Permanente’s Panorama City medical center, including Chief of Hospital Medicine, Physician Director for Inpatient Quality Management, Physician Lead for Performance Improvement, and Area Assistant Medical Director.  

Dr. Chukwumerije is active in the medical community. He previously served as President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas, where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors. He also served as President of the University of Nigeria College of Medicine Alumni Association, North America.  He is deeply committed to addressing the medical needs of his native country through his continued service to Faith Alive USA and the Isuochi Progressive Union, organizations devoted to providing medical care and support to underserved areas of Nigeria.  

Outside the office, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children

Kristen Mizzi Angelone directs the Pew Charitable Trusts’ suicide risk reduction project, where she leads efforts to help hospitals and health systems expand their suicide prevention interventions and make evidence-based suicide care a part of routine health care in the United States.

Prior to joining Pew, she had more than a decade of experience in state and federal policy and child health advocacy, including staff positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, two young daughters, and two old dogs.

Michelle Gaskill-Hames, BSN, MHA, is president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of Southern California and Hawaii.

She directs the Southern California health plan and hospital operations and partners with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group leadership to provide care for 4.9 million members through 16 hospitals and 197 medical offices.

Gaskill-Hames is also responsible for the Hawaii health plan and hospital operations, working closely with the local leadership, including the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, to improve the health of over 250,000 members and their communities through the Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu and 23 medical offices and clinic locations on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai.

Gaskill-Hames joined Kaiser Permanente in 2016 and for 6 years served in a progression of leadership roles in the Northern California market, including senior vice president and area manager for both Redwood City and Greater Southern Alameda, interim regional chief nurse executive, and senior vice president of health plan and hospital operations. She also served as the Northern California incident commander for Kaiser Permanente’s COVID-19 response.

In February 2022, Gaskill-Hames was named chief operating officer and chief strategy, growth, and experience officer for Southern California and Hawaii. She was appointed interim president for the combined regions in April 2023 and assumed the role permanently in September of 2023.

Gaskill-Hames began her career at the bedside as a neonatal intensive care registered nurse. She then spent 8 years in strategic planning and operations improvement consulting in the health care practices at both Huron Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In the 15 years prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, she delivered leadership vision, drove cultural transformation, and executed successful outcomes at several health systems, including Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, and Advocate Health Care, where she served as president of Advocate Trinity Hospital. 

Gaskill-Hames serves on several professional and community boards, including the California Hospital Association executive board, the Integrated Healthcare Association executive board, and the board of the national Healthcare Standards Institute. She serves on the CEO Council of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Southern California Leadership Council, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ Business Cabinet.

She holds a master’s degree in health services administration and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Michigan. She also has a project management certification from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. McCarthy is The Permanente Medical Group’s (TPMG) associate executive director with oversight for the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (MAPMG). In this role, Dr. McCarthy leads more than 1,800 physicians and staff members who deliver superior health care to over 800,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group operates more than 38 medical centers in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and has affiliations with several top hospitals in the region. 

Out of thousands of health systems that submit quality data each year, Kaiser Permanente MidAtlantic States was the one of only two health systems in the nation to achieve a 5 out of 5 star rating for commercial health plans from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in 2023. If every doctor in the nation offered the same exceptional quality of care Permanente physicians do, hundreds of thousands of American lives would be saved each year. KP MidAtlantic members’ Net Promoter Score (NPS) have consistently been higher than the industry standard for Health Care at 30, according to the NICE Satmetrix 2023 U.S. consumer Net Promoter Score® Benchmarks study. In 2023, KP Mid-Atlantic received an NPS score of 60.7 (Nov 2023 YTD). Dr. McCarthy serves as a member of the Kaiser Permanente National Health Policy Committee that directs the development of public policy positions. Dr. McCarthy also serves as a member of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. 

Dr. McCarthy, who joined The Permanente Medical Group in 1997, was a member of the original TPMG physician leadership transition team for MAPMG in 2009, and he served for nine years as the physician in chief for the largest service area of Kaiser Permanente’s Mid-Atlantic Region, the DC and Suburban Maryland service area (DCSM). As physician in chief, he created an exceptional leadership team, developed a culture of accountability, and successfully implemented innovations in clinical care and new regional clinical service lines in one of the fastest growing Kaiser Permanente service areas in the country. 

Under Dr. McCarthy’s leadership, DCSM membership grew by 41 percent (from 226,000 patients to 334,000 patients) and increased from 533 to 735 doctors. Additionally, the DCSM service area rapidly improved physician practice while creating new service lines despite constraints on clinical space. Dr. McCarthy developed strong relationships with external hospital partners and integrated Permanente Medicine into five of MAPMG’s core hospitals. This close integration assured 24/7 inpatient care by Permanente physicians for our sickest patients. 

Dr. McCarthy also helped develop and oversee the first multispecialty outpatient hub for Kaiser Permanente in the MidAtlantic States (Capitol Hill Medical Center). He oversaw the opening of the first 24/7 advanced urgent care and guided the creation and expansion of four other multispecialty hubs at Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic States. Dr. McCarthy has served as a member of the MidAtlantic Permanente Medical Group Board of Directors and as chairman of the Governance and Administrative Issues Committee of the MAPMG Board (2015–2017). He was the Kaiser Permanente Maryland Medicaid Program medical director from 2013 until 2017. 

The Washington Business Journal named Dr. McCarthy among its 2021 Business of Pride honorees. This award recognizes local leaders who have a history of promoting LGBTQ leadership and equality in the workplace.

Linda Tolbert, MD, JD, EdD, MPH, is chief executive officer and executive medical director of the Washington Permanente Medical Group, one of the state’s largest multispecialty practices.

Dr. Tolbert leads WPMG’s more than 1,071 clinicians, including physicians, physician assistants, optometrists, midwives, and psychologists. Together they are united to deliver high-quality care for 634,943 members in Washington state.

Dr. Tolbert joined WPMG in 2023. Previously a practicing dermatologist, she served as regional chief of dermatology at Southern California Permanente Medical Group after having led dermatology in both San Bernadino and Los Angeles. She also held the post of assistant area medical director and served 2 terms on the SCMPG board of directors.

Prior to coming to WPMG, Dr. Tolbert held several leadership and faculty positions at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, including inaugural chair of the Faculty Advisory Council and assistant professor for clinical science. During her tenure as chief of dermatology at SCPMG, she more than doubled the size of the department with strategic, diverse hires, won team excellence awards for local initiatives, and received several teaching awards.

Dr. Tolbert’s dedication to equity, inclusion, and diversity has been a constant theme throughout her education and career. As a first-generation immigrant to the United States, she has used her voice and agency to support cultural and intellectual humility by nurturing curiosity and respect in herself and her colleagues.

She has used her master’s degree in public health for population management, Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set performance measures, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 5-star requirements, furthering strategies to mitigate health care disparities. She has participated in many Kaiser Permanente equity, inclusion, and diversity initiatives, including speaking at Hippocrates Circle events and the Kaiser Permanente National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Conference, co-teaching a diversity and ethics workshop, and delivering keynote addresses.

Board-certified in internal medicine and dermatology, Dr. Tolbert earned her undergraduate degree at Barry University and her medical degree at Howard University. She holds a law degree from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in public health from University of California, Los Angeles. Most recently, she holds a doctorate in education focusing on organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California.

Israel Rocha joined Kaiser Permanente in December 2023 as the regional president of the Mid-Atlantic States. In this role, Rocha oversees all of Kaiser Permanente’s care delivery and health plan operations in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic States Region operates 37 medical offices and has more than 800,000 members. 

Previously, Rocha served as the chief executive officer of Cook County Health System for three years, where he was the lead executive of the third largest public health care system in the United States. At Cook County Health System, he turned around financial performance, oversaw Cook County’s million dose mass vaccination program and COVID-19 pandemic response, addressed social risk factors that restrict access and cause premature morbidity and mortality, and improved clinical and quality outcomes. Prior to Cook County, Rocha served in multiple senior level positions in NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the United States. 

As an executive leader in health care, Rocha has continuously demonstrated his commitment to enhancing access to care for all. Throughout his career, he has helped health care organizations balance financial responsibility with caring for those most in need. He has overseen the expansion of charity care programs while reversing budget deficits. Rocha has also transition fee-for-service systems to value-based care models while enhancing patient safety and care outcomes.  

Rocha serves or has served on the boards for America’s Essential Hospitals, American Hospital Association, Illinois Hospital Association, the Healthcare Association of New York State and the NYU Alumni Association Board of Directors. He holds a master’s in public administration from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and environmental science from Columbia University. He has a passion for changing the health care industry through the advocacy and enactment of public policy, having worked in the United States House of Representatives as a deputy chief of staff and legislative director, representing the 15th District of Texas. He worked on federal health care reform initiatives that would incentivize new models of care, address nursing shortages, restructure graduate medical education funding programs, and expand patient protection programs. 

Ruth Abaya, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and a pediatric emergency medicine physician. She is the senior director for health systems and CVI integration at the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI). Dr. Abaya formerly led the injury prevention program at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a fellow of the Stoneleigh Foundation, Dr. Abaya’s work is focused on bringing health systems and public health departments into the work of developing the CVI ecosystem. She received a combined MD/MPH from Northwestern University and completed residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, serves as the Vice President of Science, Medicine, and Public Health at the American Medical Association (AMA), where she offers strategic direction and oversight in the realms of science and public health. With a focus on fostering collaboration between clinical medicine and public health, Andrea champions evidence-based information dissemination and spearheads initiatives addressing prominent public health issues such as infectious diseases, violence prevention, environmental health, and substance use and pain care.

Andrea serves as the Secretary for the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health, which makes policy recommendations to the AMA’s House of Delegates. She also represents the organization in various external stakeholder groups, including as a Dissemination and Implementation Partner for the United States Preventive Services Task Force and the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative to Decarbonize the Health Sector. Additionally, she leads the implementation of policies and programs pertinent to the AMA’s mission and serves as the principal investigator for the organization's initiatives under CDC cooperative agreements, aimed at strengthening public health systems and addressing emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats.

Prior to her tenure at the AMA, Andrea worked at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, focusing on public health law and state health policy. She holds a Juris Doctor degree and a certificate in health law from DePaul University College of Law, a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and an undergraduate degree in public health from the University of Rochester.

As president and CEO of Northwest Permanente (NWP), Leong Koh, MD, leads more than 1,700 physicians, clinicians, and administrative staff at the largest independent, physician-led, multispecialty medical group in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Together, these physicians deliver evidence- and value-based health care with humanity — Permanente Medicine — to more than 640,000 Kaiser Permanente members in the region.

He also co-leads Kaiser Permanente’s national health equity workgroups and serves as a member of the health equity sponsor group.

Dr. Koh has practiced family medicine for more than 25 years and has served in a variety of key operational and strategic leadership roles at both regional and national levels, most recently as vice president of Quality, Care Experience, and Patient Safety. During Dr. Koh’s tenure, Kaiser Permanente Northwest has once again achieved Medicare 5-star status and several other prestigious awards and recognition for the high-quality, exceptional care our teams provide.

Prior to his role in quality, Dr. Koh spent over a decade in care delivery leadership. As the regional director of operations for primary care, he oversaw primary care operations in both Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Dr. Koh received his medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, in Loma Linda, California. He completed his family medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California and practiced for 4 years in Seattle before coming to Northwest Permanente in 2003.

Dr. Koh has a keen interest in physician wellness in all its facets, including physical, mental, and emotional. He and his wife, also a physician, have 2 young-adult daughters, with whom they enjoy spending as much time as they can, both at home and afar.

Nancy Gin, MD, is the medical director of Quality and Clinical Analysis for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) and executive vice president and chief quality officer for The Permanente Federation. She also serves as co-chair of the Kaiser Permanente National Quality Committee and is a member of the board of directors for the Southeast Permanente Medical Group. 

Before assuming these regional and national positions, Dr. Gin served as medical director and  chief of staff for the Kaiser Permanente Orange County Medical Center. She led more than 1,200 physicians providing care for 600,000 members at 2 Kaiser Permanente hospitals, located in Anaheim and Irvine, 2 outpatient surgery centers, and 25 outpatient medical offices.  

Dr. Gin has more than 30 years of medical and leadership experience. She joined SCPMG in 1997, following her tenure as clinical faculty at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. She also served as the director of internal medicine education at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. She is board-certified in internal medicine and is a member of the California Medical Association and the American College of Physicians.  

She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Arizona.  She completed her internship, residency, and fellowship in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. 

Dr. Gin is a well-respected, compassionate clinician who has co-authored and published clinical papers and book chapters on topics such as domestic violence, hypertension, and health care policy in bioethics. She is an advocate for public service and a passionate educator. She has been recognized with several awards for teaching and outstanding academic contributions, including Orange County Medical Association’s 2019 Physician of the Year award.

Alexander Gaffney is the Executive Director of Regulatory Policy and Intelligence at POLITICO’s AgencyIQ, where he leads the team’s research and analysis of life sciences and chemicals regulatory issues, with a particular emphasis on the Food and Drug Administration. 

Alexander previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he led the firm’s analysis of life sciences regulatory issues as part of its Health Research Institute. Before joining PwC, he was the Manager of Regulatory Intelligence at the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), where he also was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship publication, Regulatory Focus. Alexander has a master’s degree in Regulatory Science from the University of Maryland and has held his Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) in US regulation since 2013. He also has a degree in Political Science from Providence College.

Stacy Dean is the Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at the United States Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the Biden Administration, she served as the Vice President for Food Assistance Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Every day, she works to advance the President’s agenda to improve nutrition assistance for struggling families and individuals.

As the chief visionary and strategist for NRDC’s advocacy to protect human health, Matthew Tejada oversees NRDC's clean air, water, toxics, and adaptation programs. He is also responsible for leading, scaling, and operationalizing the teams, structures, partnerships, and policy initiatives needed to tackle major health threats facing communities. 

 
Prior to joining NRDC, Tejada served most recently as the deputy assistant administrator for environmental justice within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office for Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. In his 10 years with the EPA, Tejada led all aspects of environmental justice work throughout the agency and in coordination with other federal agencies, including the development of an array of grants and technical assistance vehicles, and the creation and deployment of a nationally consistent screening and mapping tool that highlights environmental justice issues across the United States. His work also direct community engagement, outreach and communication, and management of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  

 
Previously, Tejada was the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, an environmental justice organization that works to reduce the public health impacts from air pollution. His background also includes working as a public advocate with the Texas Public Interest Research Group—where he managed several advocacy programs focused on consumer, health and environmental issues, including federal ozone NAAQS review and urban transit planning—and as a teacher of English as a foreign language in the U.S. Peace Corps. 

 
Tejada earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas, Austin, and also holds a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies, as well as a PhD in modern history from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He is based in the Washington, D.C., office.

Janet Liang is executive vice president, group president and chief operating officer of national care delivery for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals.

In this role, Liang is accountable for Kaiser Permanente’s hospital-based markets, serving over 10 million members through 200,000 care team professionals. In addition, she directs strategy and innovation in care delivery operations across Kaiser Permanente’s national footprint. Throughout her career, Liang has championed the adoption of new technologies and evidence-based practice to improve the lives of members. Her 30-year career has included numerous President and executive roles in Hawaii, California, and Washington for Group Health Cooperative. Liang is a current corporate director for Lincoln Financial Group, helping millions of Americans achieve financial peace of mind.

A native San Franciscan, Liang is an active community steward who has served on numerous community boards supporting socioeconomic development and is leading Kaiser Permanente’s efforts to close disparities in care among underserved populations. She serves on the executive committees of the Bay Area Council and is the current chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Board. She is also past chair of the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity and a founding board member of Futuro Health, an organization dedicated to growing the largest network of credentialed allied healthcare workers in the nation.

In 2022, Liang was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Health Care by Modern Healthcare magazine. Liang has also been recognized as a Game Changer by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and repeatedly honored by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the most influential women in Bay Area business. She is a sought-after speaker on the topics of leadership, business transformation, and the value of integrated health care. Liang holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University and a master’s in health administration from the University of Washington.

Carmen Paun is a global health reporter for POLITICO.

She previously spent five years covering health policy at POLITICO in Brussels, where she wrote about the access to pricey therapies for children with rare diseases; growing old with HIV; and Eastern Europe’s health care systems.

Besides English, Carmen speaks Romanian, French, Italian, and Spanish. She lives in Northern Virginia with her sons and husband.

Xavier Becerra is the 25th Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the first Latino to hold the office in the history of the United States. As Secretary, he will carry out President Biden's vision to build a healthy America, and his work will focus on ensuring that all Americans have health security and access to healthcare.

Throughout his career, the Secretary has made it his priority to ensure that Americans have access to the affordable healthcare they need to survive and thrive - from his early days as a legal advocate representing individuals with mental illness, to his role as the Attorney General of the state of California.

Secretary Becerra served 12 terms in Congress as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure, he was the first Latino to serve as a member of the powerful Committee on Ways and Means, he served as Chairman of his party's caucus, and as the Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health.

For over two decades in Congress, Secretary Becerra worked so that every family had the assurance of care that his own family had when he was growing up. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Secretary Becerra introduced legislation -- the Medicare Savings Programs Improvement Act of 2007 -- that expanded cost-sharing subsidies for low-income seniors who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits by increasing the amount of resources they could receive. He championed provisions of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 that required physicians who perform imaging to be accredited and trained to ensure patient safety. And he was one of the original cosponsors of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which strengthened Medicare and lowered costs for seniors.

As Attorney General of the state of California, Secretary Becerra helped to promote competition by taking on a number of pharmaceutical companies that restricted competition through "pay-for-delay" schemes, held several companies accountable for legal violations for not protecting patients' health information, and took action early in the pandemic to keep Californians safe by using his authority to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19, secure key safeguards for frontline health care workers' rights, and take on fraudsters trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic. In addition, he cracked down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, acted to combat the opioid crisis, including holding drug makers accountable, won an unprecedented $575 million antitrust settlement against one of the largest health systems in California, and he led the three-year federal court fight to save the ACA and with it, the protections of the 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions.

Born in Sacramento, Secretary Becerra is the son of working-class parents. He was the first in his family to receive a four-year degree, earning his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School. His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico and immigrated to the United States after marrying his father, a day laborer turned construction worker. He is married to Dr. Carolina Reyes, and he is proud of his three daughters: Clarisa, Olivia and Natalia, and son-in-law Ivan.

Dr. Balbus is the Director of the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity within OASH and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate Change and Health Equity. A physician and public health professional with over 25 years of experience working on the health implications of climate change, Dr. Balbus has served as HHS Principal to the U.S. Global Change Research Program and co-chair of the working group on Climate Change and Human Health for the U.S. Global Change Research Program since he joined the federal government in 2009. Before coming over to the new Office, Dr. Balbus served as Senior Advisor for Public Health to the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Prior to joining NIEHS, Dr. Balbus was the Chief Health Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and an Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services. He received his MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, his MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Harvard University. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.

Sarah E. Hunt is a leader in conservative clean energy policy and a successful social entrepreneur. As President of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, she leads public policy research and leadership development programs by and for women, minorities, and mavericks.

Prior to founding the Rainey Center, Hunt launched a clean energy program at the American Legislative Exchange Council and a climate change program at the Niskanen Center. Early in her career she served as Manager, State Issues and Ethics Officer at the consulting firm Stateside Associates and practiced political law at a boutique law firm in the Pacific Northwest.

Her commentary on energy policy is regularly sought by publications including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Politico, E&E Newswire, The Guardian, Axios, and the Scientific American. A volunteer advocate for children’s rights, Ms. Hunt’s efforts to help young women escape abusive homeschool environments were profiled by the Washington Post Magazine.

She holds a BA in political science from the University of New Mexico, a JD from Willamette University College of Law, an LLM in international environmental law from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MPS in global advocacy from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. She is admitted to the bar in Washington, DC, Oregon, and the 9th Circuit.

Victor Dzau is President of the National Academy of Medicine, Vice-Chair of the National Research Council, Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University, and past CEO of Duke Health System. Previously, he was Professor and Chairman of Medicine at both Harvard and Stanford Universities. Dr. Dzau is recognized globally for a long and highly decorated career as a scientist, administrator, and leader. His research laid the foundation for development of lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors, used globally to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. 

Under Dzau’s tenure, the NAM has undertaken important initiatives with US and global impact. These include the Global Health Risk Framework, the Human Genome Editing Initiative, the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity, and the G20 report on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. Currently, he co-chairs World Economic Forum’s Regional Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative. In 2020, the NAM launched the Grand Challenge in Climate Change and Health aimed at reversing the effects of climate on health through interventions, research, communication, and policy; and decarbonizing the health care sector.