Speakers: 2016 Dallas Health IT and LEAD Summit

Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics

Mark Hagland has been Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Informatics (www.healthcare-informatics.com) since January 2010. Prior to that, he was Contributing Editor and then Senior Contributing Editor to the magazine, for over ten years. He has spent a quarter century in the health care publishing field, as a writer, editor, public speaker, and author. He has won numerous national and regional journalism awards, and is the author of two books on healthcare quality and efficiency: Paradox and Imperatives in Health Care (2008, with Jeffrey C. Bauer, Ph.D.) and Transformative Quality: The Emerging Revolution in Health Care Performance (2009). He holds a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Spencer Hamons, CHCIO, FACHE, NetApp Healthcare, Regional Chief Information Officer – Western U.S.

Spencer Hamons is a Regional Chief Information Officer for the Healthcare Division of NetApp. In this role, Spencer consults with healthcare CIOs, provides industry thought-leadership, and provides feedback to internal NetApp teams specific to healthcare problems and solutions.

Prior to coming to NetApp, Spencer served in several technology and healthcare roles across the public and private sectors. Most recently, he was Vice President - Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Taos Health Systems in Northern New Mexico. He’s a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) through the College of Health Information Management Executives; Board Certified in Healthcare Administration and has earned Fellow (FACHE) status in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Hamons has both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from Colorado State University.

During his 20 year career in Healthcare IT leadership, Spencer has lead technology organizations at health systems in Bethel, Alaska, Alamosa, Colorado and in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Spencer has served on numerous health IT committees including The Joint Commission’s Health IT Advisory Panel, CMS HIT Advisory Board, and currently serves on Northwestern University’s Graduate Studies Advisory Board, and is an Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Spencer began his career in 1991 as a U.S. Army Combat Medic, and currently resides in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Leanne Field, Distinguished Senior Lecturer in the College of Natural Sciences and Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)

Dr. Leanne Field is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in the College of Natural Sciences and Department of Molecular Biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). She also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, School of Public Health. Dr. Field is the Director of the Public Health, Medical Laboratory Science and Health Informatics and Health IT Programs for UT Austin. She teaches courses in human infectious diseases and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and carries out applied public health and public health informatics research in partnership with members of local and state public health practice agencies. Dr. Field received her B.A. from Florida State University in 1972, her M.S. from the University of Georgia in 1973, and her Ph.D. from UT Austin in 1987. Since joining the faculty in 1997, she has been honored with multiple teaching awards, including The University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2010) and the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award (2013). (2013).

John Delano, CISSP, CISM, AVP, Chief Information Security Officer, Cook Children’s Health Care System

John Delano is currently the Chief Information Security Officer for Cook Children’s in Ft. Worth, TX. John is responsible for the development and delivery of a comprehensive information security strategy and framework to optimize the security posture of the organization. He leads the development and implementation of a security program that leverages collaboration, facilitates information security governance, advises senior leadership on security direction and resource investments, and designs appropriate policies to manage information security risk.

John has spent over twenty three years in Information Technology roles in the Finance, Transportation, and Healthcare sectors. Prior to joining Cook Children’s, John spent fourteen years at Integris Health in Oklahoma City where he served as the CISO and most recently the Chief Information Officer.

John holds a Master’s degree in IT Management from Oklahoma State University and is an active member of CHIME, HIMSS, ISACA and (ISC).²

Timothy Miksch, Applied Clinical Informatics, Mayo Clinic

Tim Miksch has been with Mayo Clinic since 1988, working in a variety of administrative departments including Human Resources, Management Engineering and Information Technology.

Tim’s current role is focused in three areas:

Development and application of Mayo’s first Applied Clinical Informatics program
Oversight of Mayo’s Knowledge Content Management system
Information Technology planning and implementation for the Office of Population Health Management

Prior to this role, he led a team to implement a common EHR to 70 clinics and 17 hospitals in the Mayo Clinic Health System, and was involved with multiple EHR enhancements, upgrades and implementations.

Tricia Nguyen, M.D. Executive Vice President for Population Health and President of the Texas Health Population Health, Education & Innovation Center, Texas Health Resources

Tricia Nguyen, M.D., joined Texas Health Resources in September 2013 as the system's executive vice president for population health and president of the Texas Health Population Health, Education & Innovation Center. The Center will serve as the nexus for sharing best practices, disseminating information about innovative approaches, leading physician-directed population health initiatives and coordinating community-based well-being collaboration.

Nguyen joined Texas Health from Banner Health Network in Arizona, where she served as chief medical officer. At Banner Health she was responsible for accountable care organization strategies, and clinical integration and population health work across the physician network.

Nguyen has a broad range of experience working with providers, hospitals and payers, all focused on establishing the foundations for population health and outcomes-based reimbursement. She has worked as an emergency medicine physician, a clinical leader in hospital settings and as an executive champion for improving the health and well-being of the people in the community.

Billy U. Philips, Jr. PhD, MPH Executive Director, TexLa Telehealth Resource

Dr. Billy U. Philips, Jr. is the Executive Vice President for F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health. Dr. Philips holds an M.P.H. and a Ph.D. in Human Ecology (Epidemiology) from The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center . He is is recognized nationally for his expertise in cancer control education. The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health serves as the primary liaison with communities across the 108-county TTUHSC service area. These community partnerships provide both the framework and the mechanism for achieving the mission of improving the health of West Texans.

William Paiva, Executive Director, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Systems Innovation

William D. Paiva, PhD, is Executive Director of Oklahoma State University's Center for Health Systems Innovation (CHSI). The Center is focused on transforming rural and Native America health through the delivery of innovative solutions. The Center is accomplishing this mission by implementing innovative care delivery solutions in rural and Native American markets and analyzing the largest relational health care database in the country.

Prior to joining Oklahoma State University, Dr. Paiva as a partner, joined Sevin Rosen Funds, a fund with over $2 billion under management, where he brought more than 20 years of venture capital, biomedical industry and management consulting experience to the firm. William specialized in identifying early-stage venture opportunities at the intersection of traditional technology sectors and healthcare. He also used his healthcare expertise and network to assist Sevin Rosen portfolio companies developing applications and services for the healthcare market. Dr. Paiva holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Oklahoma; an MBA from Dartmouth College's Amos Tuck School of Business; a master’s degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center; and a BS in microbiology from the University of Oklahoma.

Peter Roberts, Executive Vice President, Population Health and Network Development, Children’s Medical Center, Dallas

Peter Roberts serves as President for Population Health and Insurance Services of Children’s Health System of Texas. Since joining Children’s in 2011, Peter has conceived, organized and led the company’s development of a pediatric value-based business model, including an HMO financing vehicle, a provider-led accountable care organization (ACO), adult health system affiliations, data and analytics core, and a comprehensive population health management support system.

Peter led the conceptualization and development of The Health and Wellness Alliance for Children, a collective impact social change initiative comprised of more than 30 nonprofit, government and business organizations dedicated to improving the health of children in Dallas. He also led the establishment of adult health system affiliations with Children's Medical Center across the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Peter is responsible for all functions related to population health, managed care, ACO laws/regulations, physician networks, physician corporations, external organization affiliations and recruiting, primary care strategy, disease management and corporate planning.

Luis Saldaña, MD, MBA, FACEP, Chief Medical Information Officer, Texas Health Resources

Luis Saldaña is the Chief Medical Informatics Officer and Medical Director for Clinical Decision Support for Texas Health Resources, a large multi-hospital care delivery system in North Texas, recognized for excellence in its use of Health Information Technology. Texas health Resources has been nationally recognized for the effective use of Health IT to deliver organizational value, earning the HIMSS Davies Award, and THR entities all being either HIMSS Stage 6 or 7 recognized hospitals. Luis Involved in strategic execution, design and integration of clinical decision support tools for clinicians within THR's Electronic Health Record, CareConnect (Epic), to improve patient safety and quality outcomes for our patients. Named by Becker's Healthcare as one of "25 CMIOs to Know" in 2014. Involved nationally in EHR and Clinical Decision Support initiatives, and co-author of HIMSS 2012 book of the year, "Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer's Guide". Also an Associate Editor of Improving Medication Use and Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support. Hold appointment as Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Leadership and Management at the Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas.

Mark W. Stevens, Principal, ARRAHealth Consulting, Inc., Contributing Editor, Health IT Leaders & News

Since 2010, Mr. Stevens has lead the health IT consulting firm he co-founded, ARRAHealth. During that time, Mark Stevens also served as a Vice President at Best Practice Partners (BPP), a leader in healthcare training, process re-design and IT optimization solutions serving providers, payers, HIEs and ACOs, where he focuses on strategic partnerships and executive search in health data analytics. Mr. Stevens also served as President and COO of BPP’s accountable care subsidiary, EnableHealth, which he co-founded in 2013. Prior to joining BPP, Mr. Stevens was Vice President of Digital Collaboration Solutions, a health It professional services firm; Senior Director for eHealth Innovation at World Congress, a leader in healthcare conference management; and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative (PAeHI), a not-for-profit organization founded in 2005 by Pennsylvania’s leading healthcare stakeholders to promote broader adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE).

Mr. Stevens currently serves as President-Elect on the board of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) Central Pennsylvania Chapter, which he co-founded. Mr. Stevens is a past recipient of the Spirit of HIMSS award, and in January of 2016 was named Contributing Editor for Health IT Leaders & News. Mr. Stevens is also an active member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and serves on its Innovation Conference Committee board. His prior professional experience includes a decade each in public sector management and executive search. Mr. Stevens is active in his community, and serves on the Board of Directors of both the historic Charles A. Melton Arts and Education Center and the Brandywine Valley Business Council.

Mr. Stevens is a graduate of the University of Vermont, and attended graduate school at the University of Massachusetts and Boston University for public affairs and business administration, respectively. Mr. Stevens lives with his wife, son and two daughters in West Chester, PA.

Geoffrey N. Swanson, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Propel Health

Dr. Geoffrey N. Swanson is the Chief Medical Officer for Propel Health, an innovative collaborative founded by seven of Oregon’s important health systems and an insurer. Previously, he was the president of St. Luke’s Clinic Coordinated Care where his primary responsibilities include the development and operation of the St. Luke’s clinically integrated delivery network and the clinical integration initiatives necessary to deliver high value care. Dr. Swanson brings 18 years of clinical practice as a board certified family medicine physician and a unique perspective blending an understanding of hands-on care delivery, a comprehensive understanding of medical evidence, and an in-depth view of the insurance process of benefits, actuarial support, and data analysis.

Duwayne Willett, M.D., CMIO, UT Southwestern Medical Center

DuWayne Willett is the Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) at the University of Texas Southwestern Health System in Dallas. Dr. Willett led the initial design and implementation of the Health System Data Warehouse at UT Southwestern. As the CMIO, he oversees the design of UTSW Health System’s clinical information systems, including configuration of the enterprise EHR and its interactions with the Data Warehouse.

DuWayne holds an MD degree, an MS in Information Systems, and a Master’s in Medical Management. He is a frequent speaker on systems analysis and design, and on agile methodologies.

Julie Hall-Barrow, EdD, Vice President, Virtual Health and Innovation, Children's Health

Dr. Hall-Barrow is the Vice President, Virtual Health and Innovation for Children’s Health, Dallas, TX. Children’s Health is one of the leading pediatric health systems in the country and is utilizing technology to reach children wherever they may be located. Since 1997, Dr. Hall-Barrow has provided leadership in healthcare transformation which has included corporate health, chronic diseases management and telemedicine. She has served as a national and international expert in the field of telemedicine including but not limited to pediatrics, neurology, emergent delivery methods and healthcare mobility.

Dr. Hall-Barrow is the immediate Past Chair of the American Telemedicine Association Pediatric Special Interest Group. In this role, she continues to provide leadership to both new and existing telehealth programs through education, research and service. She has provided guidance on legislation, outreach and collaboration with national organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics. She led the first state-wide tele-stroke program for Arkansas and initiated the first state-wide image repository and currently oversees the largest school telemedicine program in the country.

Dr. Hall-Barrow has published her research in peer reviewed journals, presented nationally and internationally and most recently named one of the Most Powerful Women in Health Care IT by Health Data Management. She holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration, Master’s in Kinesiology and Bachelors in Health Education.

Grayling Yarbrough, MHA, Director of Operations, Population Health, CHRISTUS Health

Grayling Yarbrough is currently the Director of Operations within Population Health Management at CHRISTUS Health. In this role, he is responsible for Population Health Analytics, Reporting, Benchmarking, and Program Development across all Alternative Payment Model Programs.

Arriving at CHRISTUS Health as the System Administrative Fellow in 2012, Grayling participated in projects related to significant cost savings within CHRISTUS hospitals through process redesign, labor productivity, and operational efficiency.

In addition, he has led the selection and implementation of Wellcentive across the CHRISTUS Health system. Along with his role in PHM, he has managed projects related to the growth and formation of CHRISTUS Health Plan and U.S. Family Health Plan respectively. His responsibilities within CHRISTUS Health Plan have in the past extended beyond the management of the development of the health plans, and into provider contracting, operations team process development, and state and federal application filings.

Prior to joining the CHRISTUS Health family, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Health/Healthcare Administration from Eastern Michigan University. Grayling has also obtained a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of Kentucky, where he was certified in LEAN process improvement as part of the Officer for Enterprise Quality and Safety. Grayling has gained impactful experience in LEAN process improvement, strategic planning, provider relations, practice management, and acute and non-acute operations.

Grayling also has the privilege of serving as the DFW Chapter President of the National Association of Health Services Executives. NAHSE is an organization dedicated to the development and advancement of minority healthcare leaders. This is completed through educational, networking, and community service programs.

Mari Robinson, Director of Telehealth, Department of Healthcare Innovations, UTMB

Mari Robinson recently joined Univseity of Texas Medical Branch as the Director of Telehealth. In that role, she is assisting with the roll out of the Virtual Health Network, a project to link all UT systems medical campuses to allow for the shared provision of telemedical care thourghout the state. Prior to joining UTMB, she was Executive Director for the Texas Medical Board, a role in which she oversaw the agency in general, as well as in particular the legal and administrative issues within the agency, to include a staff over 200, and a budget of over 22 million dollars. Prior to that, she worked for a short time in private practice in the area of civil litigation as well as for the Attorney General’s Office. She has a law degree from The University of Texas School of Law, and has previously served as an adjunct instructor in the school’s advocacy program.

Jason Fish, MD, MSHS, MS-MAS, Assistant Vice President of Ambulatory Quality / Deputy CMIO, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Jason Fish, MD, MSHS, MS-MAS is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine; Assistant Vice President for Ambulatory Quality, Outcomes, and Performance Improvement; and Deputy Chief Medical Informatics Officer (Ambulatory). He practices General Internal Medicine with a passionate commitment to providing physician-patient partnered primary care that aims to be the most patient-centered as possible. With expertise in quality improvement using LEAN and Six Sigma methodology and in quality metrics and measurement, Dr. Fish’s current focus is on developing quality measurement across all of the ambulatory specialty clinics and engaging in quality improvement for these measures and all the ambulatory quality measures from the national programs in which the Health System participates. As Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Fish is focused on the ambulatory use of the EMR in order to meet the quality agenda while developing clinical decision support that is forward-thinking in how UTSW delivers care. Dr. Fish completed his internal medicine training at UCLA and is a graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA and a graduate of the Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas. He is also serving as the Quality Leader of the Population Health Services Company supporting the Physician Network of Southwestern Health Resources.

Vaishnavi Kannan, Clinical Decision Support Specialist, UT Southwestern Health System

Vaishnavi Kannan is a clinical decision support and population health analyst on the EHR team at the University of Texas Southwestern. In her role, Vaishnavi participates in requirements gathering, design, and construction of advanced clinical decision support products, patient registries, reports and dashboards. Vaishnavi developed the first MEWS (Modified Early Warning System) reporting capability in UTSW’s EHR, with demonstrated impact on improving inpatient safety, and continues to advance its design. She works closely with the Medical Informatics group and other analysts on clinical decision support (CDS) design, providing expertise on the EHR’s CDS and rules engine capabilities. Vaishnavi received an MS in Biotechnology at the University of Texas-Dallas. Subsequently she also completed a Health Information Technology certificate program at the University of Texas-Austin.

Deepa Bhat, Director, Health System Quality Performance Measurement & Analytics, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Deepa Bhat is Director of Health System Quality Performance Measurement & Analytics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Deepa provides leadership over data governance, reporting, and analytics efforts for clinical quality programs. In her role, she is responsible for the reporting and analytical efforts for several national quality programs including EHR Meaningful Use, Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program, MSSP Accountable Care Organization program, Patient Centered Medical Home, and Bridges To Excellence. In addition, Deepa plays a key role in the development of the data warehouse framework and dashboards for clinical quality performance measures associated with patient registries at our academic medical center. Deepa holds a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Management & Administrative Science with a focus on Healthcare Organization Leadership.

Joshua Spencer, CPHIMS, CISSP, Chief Information Security Officer,Associate Vice President, Information Security, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Appointed to the position of Chief Information Security Officer for UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2011. His background includes strategic planning, regulatory compliance, vulnerability management, and process improvement. Since joining UT Southwestern in 2010, Mr. Spencer served within the Information Security department.

He received a Bachelor’s of Management in Information Systems from the University of Texas at San Antonio and received a Master’s in Business Administration, with a focus in IT Management. Mr. Spencer has gone on to earn major healthcare and information security certifications, such as CISSP, C|EH, CISA and CPHIMS. He shares a passion for information security with that of his department and is highly active within his local information security community.

UT Southwestern is a world renowned academic medical center, distinguished for its cutting edge research and widely respected for its teaching and training, as well as for the quality of clinical care its faculty and staff provides to patients at UT Southwestern University Hospitals & Clinics and affiliated hospitals. The schools train about 3,700 medical, graduate, and health profession students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows each year. Ongoing support from federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, along with foundations, individuals, and corporations, provides approximately $422.6 million per year to fund more than 5,700 research projects. Faculty and residents provide care to more than 100,000 hospitalized patients and oversee approximately 2.2 million outpatient visits a year. UT Southwestern has approximately 14,000 employees and an operating budget of nearly $2.5 billion.

Jeff Fisher, Director, Healthcare Solutions, Perficient

Jeff is a Director in Perficient’s national Healthcare Practice leading the Architecture of integration and interoperability initiatives with our clients in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Formerly with the Financial Services Practice, his pas experience includes the design and delivery of Security Risk Services to clients consisting of Security Architecture, Data Security, GRC Solutions, Privacy, Risk & IT Controls Assessments, and Infrastructure engagements. In previous consulting firms, he led IT Risk and Security Audits and was the Practice Partner for a national GRC practice. He cut his teeth in the Payments industry defining PCI compliant solutions serving in a multitude of Information Technology roles to include experience as a Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. As a Business Information Officer responsible for Regulatory IT with a global financial services firm, Jeff was responsible for the oversight of regulatory remediation projects to include the management of Privacy Operations. In the Federal Sector, Jeff led development of Information Security Architecture and Compliance solutions along with leading the implementation of secure infrastructure solutions satisfactory to achieve FISMA accreditation before being classified production ready.

Speakers - Dallas

Featured Speakers

Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics

Upcoming CHIME Forums

Upcoming Summit Events

Contact Us