ATA’s EDGE2022 Policy Conference

Congresswoman Doris Matsui has represented the city of Sacramento and its surrounding areas since 2005.  As a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, she serves on the Health and Energy subcommittees and is the Vice Chair on the Communications and Technology subcommittee. She is committed to strengthening Sacramento’s flood protection, ensuring quality, affordable health care for all, promoting a clean energy economy, and creating a vibrant region where families can live, work, and play.

Sitting at the confluence of two rivers, the Sacramento area has one of the highest flood risks in the country. Congresswoman Matsui is a stalwart champion for increased flood protection, levee improvements, keeping flood insurance rates affordable, and rebuilding smarter and more resiliently in the face of a changing climate. She was at the forefront of the effort to build the Joint Federal Project at Folsom Dam by working to secure $1 billion for this critical project that became the model of cooperation and efficiency. In addition, she worked rigorously to federally authorize the Natomas Levee Project. More recently, the Congresswoman was instrumental in securing $1.8 billion to help strengthen the Sacramento region’s levees and raise Folsom Dam. She also fights to preserve the region’s water rights. With climate change being a primary cause of more intense and unpredictable weather patterns her role in securing funding for flood control and infrastructure projects is even more critical.

Congresswoman Matsui passionately works to increase public transportation options in Sacramento. She is engaged in the planning and execution of an intermodal transportation center in downtown Sacramento and secured federal funds to extend Sacramento’s light rail system. She also helped secure passage in the U.S. House of autonomous vehicle technology in the 115th Congress and plans to continue to lead in the effort to safely deploy intelligent and automated transportation technologies that will transform how we conduct business, transact and travel.

She has worked tirelessly to improve access to high-quality, affordable, accessible health care and was instrumental in crafting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. She is a leader in Congress on the rapidly growing issue of telehealth and is the author of the bipartisan Excellence in Mental Health Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2014. A $1.1 billion federal investment, the Excellence in Mental Health Act demonstration will revitalize the community-based mental health system by creating a network of high-quality, evidence-based Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in communities across the country. Congresswoman Matsui is the co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Aging and Families, where she addresses the full spectrum of issues that affect seniors, from retirement security to long term care. Congresswoman Matsui also serves on the bipartisan Telehealth Working Group, helping to open up reimbursement for telehealth within the Medicare program.

Congresswoman Matsui has been a leader in Congress on promoting policies that address the climate crisis.  Under her leadership as a co-chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), the Caucus has spearheaded numerous initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable infrastructure, tax incentives for clean energy, and blocking harmful directives from the Trump Administration that would undermine protections for human health and the environment. She has also authored a number of legislative proposals aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions while boosting clean energy manufacturing and financing to help smaller clean energy companies grow and create jobs. This includes commonsense new legislation, H.R. 978 that preserves higher fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards as well as a bill that ensures our healthcare system is ready and able to rapidly respond to the climate crisis.  She also sponsored legislation that allows her constituents to participate in the clean energy economy through specifically designated treasury bonds that fund renewable energy and energy efficiency programs at the Department of Energy. Thanks in large part to her efforts, the Sacramento region has been transforming into a clean-tech capitol, with over 200 companies in the region.

Congresswoman Matsui is also a leader on technology and internet policy. She is a Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Spectrum Caucus, having authored laws that facilitated record-breaking spectrum auctions. She continues to focus on promoting the deployment of next-generation wireless technologies, such as 5G. She is also a leading proponent of net neutrality and ensuring access to the free and open Internet, previously writing legislation that would prohibit so-called Internet fast lanes from harming consumers, small businesses and innovators. As the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional High Tech Caucus, she advocates for policies to expand the innovative use of technology across every sector of the economy. She also is an ardent supporter of advancing STEM education, especially for women and girls.

Because she has always felt the arts connect innovation with creativity and passion, Congresswoman Matsui has been a strong supporter of the arts not only in the Sacramento community but nationwide. She currently serves as a Member of the Board of Regents for the Smithsonian. She is also on the Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Council of the National Museum of American History. She has previously served on the National Symphony Board and the Arena Stage Board.

Before coming to Congress, Doris Matsui served as Chairwoman on the Board for the KVIE public television station in Sacramento, and in leadership capacities for the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento Children’s Home, and the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra.

After growing up on a farm in California’s Central Valley, Congresswoman Matsui graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.  She served as one of eight members of President Clinton’s transition board and later served as Deputy Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Congresswoman Matsui succeeded her late husband Robert Matsui (who served in Congress from 1979-2005) in a special election in March 2005.

Congresswoman Matsui has a son Brian Matsui and a daughter-in-law Amy Matsui. She has two grandchildren, Anna and Robby. In the Spring of 2020, Congresswoman Matsui married Roger Sant, adding four children, their spouses, and six grandchildren to her family.

Brad Schneider represents Illinois’s 10th District in the United States House of Representatives, where he is serving his fourth term. He is a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He has previously served on the House Judiciary and Small Business committees.

As a member of Congress, Brad is focused on building a thriving economy that works for all Americans, and ensuring every family has affordable health care, quality education and a rising standard of living.  He knows that our communities are stronger when small businesses invest and grow, our environment is healthy, and people are working together for a better future.

Brad is committed to tackling the challenges we face as a nation, including protecting Medicare and Social Security for future generations, reforming our broken immigration system,  passing sensible gun safety legislation, and critically, urgently taking action to reduce the rate and address the impacts of global climate change.

He is also a staunch advocate for the rights of women, including ensuring equal pay for equal work and protecting every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions about her body. Brad also favors extending federal civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community and was a strong supporter of marriage equality long before he held public office.

Brad remains an influential voice on foreign affairs in Congress and believes our nation and world benefit when the United States exercises leadership and engages with the international community. A longtime proponent of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, Brad consistently leads on efforts in Congress to promote cooperation on security, counter Iran’s nefarious influence, and condemn efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Prior to being elected to Congress, Brad spent more than 20 years in business and management consulting, helping both large and family-owned businesses address the challenges of a changing economy and plan for the future.  His professional experience has allowed him to see first-hand the challenges small businesses face when trying to hire new workers and grow their company, as well as the effect thriving small businesses can have on a community’s overall well-being.

At home, Brad has deep ties to the community, including service with organizations such as the Jewish United Fund, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Waukegan Public Library Foundation, B.E.S.T., the Coalition to Reduce Recidivism, and the Civic Leadership Foundation.

Brad earned a BS in industrial engineering and his MBA from Northwestern University.

Brad and his wife, Julie, have been residents of the Tenth District for 30 years, where they created a home, built their careers, and, most importantly, raised two sons, Adam and Daniel.

He now enjoys exploring the bike trails throughout the district.

Peter Welch has been a champion for working Vermonters throughout his career. Since his election to Congress in 2006, he has been widely recognized as a thoughtful and effective legislator who chooses governing over gridlock.

Peter’s record reflects his strong commitment to bringing people together to find common sense solutions to the difficult challenges facing our state and nation. In an era of partisanship, he has worked across the aisle to create jobs, increase access to affordable education and health care, invest in energy efficiency, protect our environment, and care for our veterans.

Peter was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1947. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1969. After working for a year in Chicago fighting housing discrimination as one of the first Robert F. Kennedy Fellows, he enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1973.

After law school, he settled in White River Junction, Vermont where he worked as a public defender before founding a small law practice. He was first elected to represent Windsor County in the Vermont Senate in 1980. In 1985, he was unanimously elected by his colleagues to lead the chamber, becoming the first Democrat in Vermont history to hold the position of President Pro Tempore.

In 2006, Peter was elected to Vermont’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. His campaign gained nationwide attention for being the only contested congressional race in the country where both candidates refused to air negative ads.

In Congress, Peter is a leading advocate for energy efficiency, cutting the price of prescription drugs, investing in infrastructure, and expanding broadband and telemedicine in rural America.

Peter is a Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus and a member of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. He serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

He is married to Margaret Cheney, commissioner of the Vermont Public Utility Commission. They share a home in Norwich, Vermont.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Catherine Cortez Masto has spent her career fighting for Nevada’s working families. She served two terms as Attorney General of Nevada and in November 2016, she made history by becoming the first woman from Nevada and the first Latina ever elected to the United States Senate.

During her time as Nevada’s top prosecutor, Cortez Masto became well known as an advocate for seniors, women, and children. She worked closely with local law enforcement to keep Nevada’s communities safe.

As Attorney General, Cortez Masto led the push to break up sex trafficking rings throughout the state. She partnered with community advocates to give first responders the tools they need to identify and intervene in trafficking incidents. She also helped pass a law to make sex trafficking a crime at the state level, an achievement that allowed state and local officials to share resources and information with federal prosecutors.

Cortez Masto sought to protect Nevada’s seniors and implement guardianship reform in the state. She created a senior protection unit to safeguard older Nevadans from identity theft, exploitation, and abuse.

To help middle-class families recover from the housing crisis, Cortez Masto created the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to investigate and prosecute lending scams. She led the fight to hold the Big Banks accountable for their role in the housing collapse and secured a $1.9 billion settlement for Nevada homeowners.

As a member of the United States Senate, Cortez Masto has taken her fight for working Nevadans to Washington, D.C.

Her position on four Senate Committees allows her to continue to advocate for the issues that matter most to Nevadans. She sits on the Committee on Finance; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; and the Committee on Indian Affairs. Cortez Masto currently serves as the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee.

In Congress, Senator Cortez Masto remains a strong advocate for women and children and is working to pass legislation to strengthen women’s health care. She is a cosponsor of the Healthy Maternal and Obstetric Medicine (Healthy MOM) Act, which would ensure that mothers and their babies have access to the care they need, both before and after birth. Senator Cortez Masto continues to support our servicewomen by addressing the unique challenges they face as they transition from active duty. To ensure that they are empowered to access the full range of services they need to thrive, she has introduced the Servicewomen’s Health Transition Training Act of 2019, which would increase the knowledge of available VA health care resources like mental health assistance, maternity care, cancer screenings and casework management.

Senator Cortez Masto is working to repair our broken immigration system and protect hardworking families. She is a cosponsor of the DREAM Act and a fervent supporter of comprehensive immigration reform.

The Senator has also seized on Nevada’s innovation economy and leadership in renewable energy production. Cortez Masto has unveiled a key legislative initiative to strengthen America’s 21st century economy, called the “Innovation State Initiative.” Her legislative package is aimed at cementing Nevada’s place as a leader in innovation and strengthening America’s economic competitiveness in the fields of science, technology, and renewable energy. It consists of several pieces of legislation designed to promote technology jobs and innovation in the state, as well as nationally. This legislation also ensures there are guardrails in place for the responsible use of technology and the appropriate workforce training. Additionally, the bills prioritize investment in access to broadband internet in rural communities and disadvantaged urban areas, as well as enhanced drone safety and testing, and encourages investment in research and infrastructure that creates the smart communities of the future, improves infrastructure, and strengthens Nevadans’ quality of life and America’s economy.

Senator Cortez Masto is committed to finding solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Nevada, and across the country so that every hardworking family is able to pursue the American dream. Cortez Masto introduced the Home Loan Quality Transparency Act to reinstate key Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act reporting requirements, which were repealed last year, that help regulators and advocates hold banks accountable for discriminatory or unfair lending practices.

Cortez Masto also believes that all Americans have the right to affordable, quality health care. She has been a strong advocate in the Senate for strengthening our health care system and for protecting Medicare and Medicaid. In response to provider shortages in rural communities that could affect the health care coverage of nearly 8,000 Nevadans, Cortez Masto cosponsored the Marketplace Certainty Act to stabilize the health care markets, lower premiums for consumers and prevent insurers from leaving rural counties. She also introduced bipartisan drug pricing transparency legislation to allow the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment Advisory Commission (MACPAC) to access critical information on pricing and contracts under Medicaid and Medicare to reduce costs for those on the program and protect these vital programs. Senator Cortez Masto is also a proud cosponsor of the following legislation to improve health care for Nevadans: the Family Coverage Act, legislation that would fix a glitch in the health care system and ensure all spouses and children are able to get covered; Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate Drug Prices, a bill to authorize HHS to negotiate drug prices to protect seniors from exploitation; and the Stopping the Pharmaceutical Industry from Keeping Drugs Expensive (SPIKE) Act, a bill that would require drug manufacturers to publicly justify large price increases in prescription drugs.

Protecting survivors and combating human and child trafficking continues to be one of Cortez Masto’s top priorities. Cortez Masto introduced two bipartisan bills, titled the Not Invisible Act of 2019 and Savanna’s Act, which aim to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked Native Americans and Alaska Natives by increasing coordination among all levels of law enforcement, improving data collection and information sharing, and empowering tribal governments with the resources they need and bridging the gaps between tribal communities, law enforcement and the federal government. Cortez Masto has also introduced the Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act to ensure law enforcement officers have the necessary tools and training to recognize and rescue at-risk and exploited children.

An avid hiker and nature lover, Cortez Masto is committed to protecting our environment and public lands for future generations to enjoy. She is the cosponsor of the Clean Energy for America Act, a bill that would measurably reduce carbon pollution over the next decade through a series of incentives for clean energy and the promotion of new technologies in the private sector. In an effort to spur Nevada’s renewable energy development and production, Cortez Masto cosponsored legislation called the Electric CARS Act to encourage the use and development of electric vehicles, the GEO Act to promote the growth of geothermal energy, especially in the State of Nevada, and the Renewable Energy Extension Act to extend clean energy tax incentives and ensure continued deployment, growth, and innovation of green technologies. Cortez Masto has also defended the Antiquities Act to protect Nevada’s national monuments and worked alongside the Nevada congressional delegation to introduce the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would ensure Nevadans have a voice in any plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Prior to her service as Attorney General, Cortez Masto served as Chief of Staff to Nevada Governor Bob Miller. She also worked as an Assistant County Manager in Clark County and as a federal criminal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington D.C.

Cortez Masto earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1986, and a J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1990. She resides in Las Vegas with her husband Paul, a retired Secret Service agent.

Earl L. “Buddy” Carter is an experienced businessman, health care professional and faithful public servant. For over 32 years Buddy owned Carter’s Pharmacy, Inc. where South Georgians trusted him with their most valuable assets: their health, lives and families. While running his business, he learned how to balance a budget and create jobs. He also saw firsthand the devastating impacts of government overregulation which drives his commitment to ensuring that the federal government creates policies to empower business instead of increasing burdens on America’s job creators.

A committed public servant, Buddy previously served as the Mayor of Pooler, Georgia and in the Georgia General Assembly where he used his business experience to make government more efficient and responsive to the people. Buddy is serving his fourth term in the United States House of Representatives and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Budget Committee. As a pharmacist serving in Congress, Buddy is the co-chair of the Community Pharmacy Caucus and is dedicated to working towards a health care system that provides more choices, less costs and better services. As the representative of the entire coast of Georgia, he is also a member of the Select Committee on Climate Change.

A lifelong resident of the First District, Buddy was born and raised in Port Wentworth, Georgia and is a proud graduate of Young Harris College and the University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Buddy married his college sweetheart, Amy. Buddy and Amy now reside in Pooler, Georgia and have three sons, three daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.

Dr. Bill Cassidy is the United States Senator for Louisiana.

Bill grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and attended Louisiana State University (LSU) for undergraduate and medical school. In 1990, Bill joined LSU Medical School teaching medical students and residents at Earl K. Long Hospital, a hospital for the uninsured.

During this time, he co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a clinic providing free dental and health care to the working uninsured. Bill also created a private-public partnership to vaccinate 36,000 greater Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost to the schools or parents. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill led a group of health care volunteers to convert an abandoned K-Mart building into an emergency health care facility, providing basic health care to hurricane evacuees.

In 2006, Bill was elected to the Louisiana State Senate.

In 2008, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives to represent Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District.

In 2014, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Veterans Affairs committees.

Following his successful efforts to lower the cost of health care, secure coastal restoration projects to protect Louisiana families from natural disasters, reform our nation’s mental health system, and secure many other legislative accomplishments, Bill was reelected in 2020 to his second term in the U.S. Senate.

Bill is married to Dr. Laura Cassidy and they have three children. Laura is a retired general surgeon specializing in breast cancer. She helped found a public charter school to teach children with dyslexia. Bill, Laura and their family attend church at the Chapel on the Campus.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera has represented the 33rd Senate District in the Bronx since November of 2010. The 33rd Senate District includes the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge Heights, East Tremont, Crotona Park, Fordham, Mount Hope, Belmont, Van Nest, Claremont, and Morris Park.

Since taking office, Senator Rivera has focused his efforts on addressing issues of health inequity both legislatively and on the ground. In 2011, Senator Rivera launched the Bronx CAN (Changing Attitudes Now) Health Initiative. The goal of this community oriented health initiative is not only to encourage Bronx residents to develop healthy behaviors, but to shape policies that will help tear down some of the institutional barriers that stand in the way of Bronxites having a healthier lifestyle.

In 2018, his passion to improve the health of New Yorkers lead Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to appoint Senator Rivera as the Chair of the New York State Senate’s Health Committee. As the Chair, Senator Rivera’s goal is to collaborate with his colleagues, stakeholders, and constituents to improve health outcomes, increase access to coverage, and ensure a financially viable system for the 20 million New Yorkers he proudly serves.

Prior to his appointment to Chair, Senator Rivera served as the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee for six years. As a sitting member of the committee, Senator Rivera passed three laws to ban smoking around schools, afterschools, and libraries, and has been a champion of public health and harm reduction policies. In March 2017, he became the main sponsor of the “New York Health Act,” an innovative bill to create a single payer health system in New York State.

Previously, Senator Rivera served as the ranking member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee. During that time, he introduced and passed legislation to allow charitable organizations throughout the state to post bail bonds for individuals who cannot afford to do so themselves and was able to secure the transfer of the Fulton Correctional Facility to the Osborne Association to be converted into a comprehensive reentry center during the 2013-2014 State Budget.

Senator Rivera has also championed and empowered Latino communities across New York State and the United States. In 2018, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) elected Senator Rivera to serve an initial three-year term on the nonpartisan organization’s 35-member Board of Directors. NALEO’S mission looks to foster civic engagement in Latino communities, increase the effectiveness of Latino policymakers, and promote policies that advance Latino political engagement. For over a decade, Senator Rivera has also served as a mentor for the annual Model State Senate program, “Somos El Futuro”, sponsored by CUNY, SUNY, the NY State Assembly, and the Puerto Rican Hispanic Task Force.

Prior to becoming an elected representative, Gustavo worked as a community organizer for several local and state candidates including Jose Marcos Serrano and Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ campaigns for State Senate, as well as Fernando Ferrer’s 2001 campaign for Mayor of New York City. In early 2008, SEIU hired Gustavo to manage their activities on behalf of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in several crucial primary states. Gustavo traveled to Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, and his home of Puerto Rico on behalf of Senator Obama. Gustavo was then tapped by Senator Obama to serve as his Constituency Director in the crucial swing state of Florida. After the election, Gustavo returned home to New York State to serve as the Director of Outreach for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Additionally, Gustavo has also served as an adjunct professor at Pace University and Hunter College, where he has taught courses in political science.

Gustavo was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1998, Gustavo graduated from the University of Puerto Rico and moved to New York to begin a doctoral program in political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. A proud Bronxite, he has lived in Kingsbridge Heights for almost 20 years.

Senator Bobby Singleton is serving his fourth term in the Senate. He was elected on January 25, 2005, to fill the unexpired term of former Senator Charles Steele. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives for one term.

Senator Singleton has a B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice from Alabama State University and a Juris Doctor from Miles College; he is a consultant. His hobbies include hunting, travelling and fishing. Senator Singleton is a member of Greenleaf Missionary Baptist Church, Greensboro Alabama and he is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Jack Resneck Jr., MD, became president of the American Medical Association in June 2022. For more than 20 years, Dr. Resneck has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to
organized medicine. He is a passionate advocate for physicians and patients, a prominent spokesperson for innovation, and a champion for a more equitable health care system.

Whether testifying before Congress about removing dysfunction from health care, caring for his patients at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), or advocating for physician values in emerging technology, Dr. Resneck channels his leadership to improve the lives of patients and the working environment for America’s physicians to help build stronger, healthier communities.
Dr. Resneck was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in 2014 and served as its chair from 2018 to 2019. He is a former member of the board of the American Academy of Dermatology and the former president of the California Society for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery. Currently, he is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and serves on the board of directors for the National Quality Forum. Dr. Resneck’s leadership is collaborative, inclusive, focused and infused with purpose. This is evident whether he is engaging the AMA’s Litigation Center to protect physicians’ free speech and fight societal discrimination against marginalized patients—or advocating on Capitol Hill for fair Medicare payment systems, improved patient access to care, lower prescription drug prices, and reduced dysfunction and burdens in health care.

In earlier roles, Dr. Resneck served as residency director for the dermatology program at UCSF and chaired the committee that oversaw the school’s modernization of its medical school curriculum.
Today, he is a professor and vice chair of the Department of Dermatology at UCSF and holds a joint appointment at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

In his own clinical practice, Dr. Resneck lives the challenges physicians face in striving to provide the best care for their patients. As a trusted policy expert,he has fought passionately to reduce burdens that contribute to physician burnout and interfere with patient care, including prior authorization, in-basket overload and poorly designed digital tools.

Raised in Louisiana, Dr. Resneck received his BA in public policy from Brown University and his MD from UCSF—where he also completed his internship in internal medicine, residency in dermatology
and fellowship in health policy. Dr. Resneck lives in San Rafael, Calif., with his wife, Ellen, and their two children.

bner Mason is the founder and CEO of SameSky Health, a cultural experience company that forms meaningful relationships to bring people to health. He has spent decades working to reduce barriers to care faced by underserved people nationally and internationally, from the federal to the local level. He currently sits on the Boards of Manifest MedEx and the California Black Health Network, and is a member of United States of Care’s Founders Council, the American Medical Association’s External Equity and Innovation Advisory Group, and HIMSS’ Social Determinants of Health Committee. Abner is also the founder of HealthTech 4 Medicaid.

Carrie Nixon, Esq. is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Nixon Gwilt Law, a law firm focused exclusively on healthcare innovation. She also serves as Special Advisor to Empactful Capital, a healthcare venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. Carrie is an expert in healthcare law and policy issues relating to healthcare innovation, including Remote Patient Monitoring, telehealth, mHealth apps, healthcare predictive analytics, personalized medicine, and value-based delivery/reimbursement arrangements such as Value-Based Enterprises (VBEs), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and other Alternative Payment Models (APMs). She provides counseling in healthcare regulatory compliance matters and strategy advice regarding business models and healthcare transactions. Carrie represents digital health companies and healthcare startups, along with hospitals and health systems, individual physicians and large physician groups, pharmacies, and post-acute care providers.

As a longtime attorney for a variety of clients in the assisted living and long-term care industry, Carrie has on-the-ground experience with the unique challenges facing those who serve our aging population. She has successfully defended these clients against malpractice claims and deficiency citations, helping them to navigate the ever-changing regulatory and risk management landscape.

Carrie is the founder of two successful companies and co-founder of a thriving non-profit public policy organization. She takes a comprehensive, integrated approach to serving clients, combining her expertise in law, public policy, and business strategy with skills in strategic communication and negotiation.  This approach is particularly well-suited to clients navigating this new era of healthcare reform and value-based delivery/reimbursement.  Carrie advises and advocates for her clients from every angle, using legal frameworks, business acumen, and a broad network of expertise and influence to achieve target outcomes.

After receiving her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, Carrie began her legal career as an attorney at Mintz Levin, an AmLaw 250 firm. She practiced in the firm’s DC office as part of the Health Law section. Carrie later joined the DC office of Reed Smith, another AmLaw 250 firm, practicing in the litigation section with an emphasis on healthcare litigation. She is a member of the Virginia Bar and DC Bar. Prior to attending law school, Carrie worked for a senior leader in the US House of Representatives as Deputy Policy Director.  She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, daughter, and dog.

Sharon Allen is the co-founder and Executive Director of World Telehealth Initiative (WTI). As a recognized leader in international philanthropic telehealth, Sharon is often invited to speak at notable conferences, including Magee Women’s Research Summit, InTouch’s Telehealth Innovator’s Forum, AAFP Global Health Summit, and more. She has traveled extensively to evaluate the needs of under-resourced healthcare clinics and communities worldwide. Under her leadership, WTI has developed an innovative model that leverages remote philanthropic physicians to provide care via telehealth. Since founding the organization in 2017, WTI has established remote specialist care and training to onsite providers in 15 under-privileged communities throughout the world.

Sharon has been selected to serve on the World Health Organization Digital Health Board of Advisor’s Roster of Experts. She previously served as Board Member and Financial Chair for the AAPLE Foundation.
Sharon earned her Teaching Credential and BS in Food Science & Nutrition from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Corporate Finance Healthcare Practice. With over 20 years of investment banking experience, Grant has advised some of the leading healthcare systems, including Sharp Healthcare, Cedars-Sinai and Baylor Health, along with several of the most innovative telehealth companies, including Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLive and Voalte.

Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 15 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.

Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.

In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations. Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At Partners HealthCare, Dr. Joe Kvedar has focused on driving innovation, creating the market, and
gaining acceptance for connected health for nearly three decades. He is now applying his expertise,
insights, and influence to advancing adoption of telehealth and virtual care technologies at the national
level.
He is Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, Immediate Past Chair of ATA (The American
Telemedicine Association), Co-Chair of the AMA’s Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group, and Editorin-Chief of npj Digital Medicine, a Nature Research journal.
He is the author of two books on digital health: The Internet of Healthy Things (2015) and The New
Mobile Age: How Technology Will Extend the Healthspan and Optimize the Lifespan (2017). The cHealth
Blog provides his insights and vision for digital health.
Dr. Kvedar is an advisor to and serves on the board of several Venture Capital Firms and digital health
companies.

Alexis Gilroy, a national leader in the digital health industry, advises on complex transactional and health regulatory issues with an emphasis on virtual health methods, such as telemedicine, telehealth, and mobile health. Alexis is co-leader of the Firm’s Health Care & Life Sciences Practice.

Focused on transactions in the health care, life sciences, and digital health sectors for almost two decades, Alexis pairs practical experience with a keen understanding of often novel federal and state regulatory requirements. Health systems and other health providers, virtual care companies, technology organizations, pharmacy and retail leaders, life sciences businesses, medical device organizations, and investors across the United States and abroad seek her legal counsel on various digital health topics. She frequently structures and negotiates telehealth specific services and affiliation contracts and manages health regulatory matters for M&A and equity transactions with both investor/buy-side and company/target-side experience. She also advises on multijurisdictional digital health strategy and implementation, state-specific telehealth regulation, corporate practice of medicine, reimbursement, online prescribing, patient consent, credentialing by proxy, remote supervision, and fraud and abuse considerations.

Alexis speaks and writes extensively on matters involving telehealth, including testimony before legislative and regulatory bodies. She served on the board of directors and as vice president of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and is a member of the ATA College of Fellows. She was an appointee to the Maryland governor’s Telemedicine Task Force, member of the Federation of State Medical Boards’ workgroup on telehealth, leader of the American Bar Association’s Science & Technology Practice Group, and leader of the American Health Lawyer Association’s (AHLA) E-Health and Telemedicine Affinity Group.

Chris is partner with Frist Cressey Ventures. Prior to joining FCV in 2016, Mr. Booker invested and/or served on the board of leading enterprises such as ProviderTrust, NContracts, Criterion Holdings Corporation, Woodland Street Partners, Stratasan and Paragon Group. Prior to joining FCV, he worked at XMi Holdings, first as a partner and then as president of XMi Capital, where he participated in over 50 transactions. While at XMi Holdings, he was CFO and served as a director to healthcare services firm Criterion Holdings Corporation, which grew from 3 to nearly 600 employees before being acquired in 2016.

In addition to his responsibilities at FCV, he is an active board member of nonprofit organizations in the Nashville area as well as Monogram Health and ObjectiveHealth. Chris is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in Engineering and Economics.

“Love What You Do” is on a sign in Libby’s office for good reason: she loves her work as a dynamic public policy advocate, lawyer, strategist and facilitator. Clients hire her to delve deep in the issues, devise a strategy and execute on many fronts. Libby works primarily on policies and issues confronting health and technology stakeholders, but she also touches on the insurance industry. She has built trusted relationships with U.S. and international government agencies, law enforcement, and policymakers on both sides of the aisle.

Nathaniel (Nate) Lacktman is a partner and chair of the firm’s national Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Team, and member of the Board of Directors of the American Telemedicine Association. He advises entrepreneurial health care providers and technology companies on business arrangements, compliance, and corporate matters in telemedicine, digital health, remote patient monitoring, and click-and-mortar services. Working with hospitals, health systems, providers, and start-ups to build telemedicine arrangements across the United States, his practice emphasizes strategic counseling, creative business modeling, and fresh approaches to realize clients’ ambitious and innovative goals.

Nate is recipient of the American Telemedicine Association’s Champion Award, which recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to advocate for public policy changes that open payment support and provide regulatory pathways for telemedicine and digital health. Given to one person a year, recipients must have a demonstrated track record of leadership in educating the public about telehealth services and working with federal and state government officials to expand reimbursement of, and eliminate barriers to, telemedicine and digital health.

He has held several leadership positions with the industry, including a seat on the ATA’s Policy Council and former Chair of the ATA’s Business & Policy Special Interest Group.  Nate was a member of the American Board of Telehealth’s inaugural advisory board. He speaks and writes frequently on issues at the forefront of telehealth and is often quoted for his insight about legal and business developments in this area. He has written telehealth legislation, regulations, comments and policy input to lawmakers, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Congressional Research Service, state Medicaid Agencies, and state boards of medicine across several states. He has helped write telemedicine policy letters and position statements with such organizations as the ATA and the American Heart Association. He has appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, POLITICO, the Associated Press, Reuters, Modern Healthcare, Forbes, Huffington Post, MobiHealthNews, Wired, Inside Counsel, Buzzfeed, mHealthIntelligence, and Information Week, among others.

With a rich history of experience working across the healthcare spectrum with providers, payers and innovative technology firms, Ann Mond Johnson joined ATA in early 2018. Johnson has been a pioneer in healthcare for more than two decades, spending most of her career building companies while raising Chicago’s profile as a major hub for healthcare technology firms. With extensive experience as both an entrepreneur and executive leader, she has launched and built innovative companies that leverage data, decision support tools and digital apps to make the healthcare experience better for consumers. Now at the helm of ATA, the leading global member-based group focused on telemedicine, Johnson leads efforts to advance ATA’s mission to ensure that people can get care where and when they need it while enabling clinicians to do more good for more people.

Megan Herber partners with clients to analyze and develop strategies related to legislative and regulatory policy developments impacting the health care industry. Megan managed the House Energy and Commerce Committee health care portfolio for U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-06) for four years, most recently as Legislative Director. While pursuing her Master of Public Health, Megan served as health policy legislative fellow for former Sen. John Rockefeller IV (D-West Virginia). Prior to moving to D.C., Megan worked in hospital consulting in California, where she performed revenue cycle auditing and strategic advising. She leverages her in-depth understanding of the processes and pressure points that drive federal health care policy to help clients adapt and thrive in an ever-changing regulatory environment.

Quinn provides regulatory advisory services and develops and implements creative solutions for Tusk portfolio companies to achieve their mission, including engagements in the healthcare, technology, education, and food and beverage sectors. Her experience includes strategic regulatory counsel to help companies advance statutory and regulatory policy, craft cohesive messaging, build strategic partnerships, and facilitate stakeholder outreach.

She regularly speaks on telehealth policy, serves as an advisor to the American Telemedicine Association, and as Vice-Chair on the Uniform Law Commission’s Committee on Telehealth.

Prior to joining Tusk, Quinn was a litigation associate at two major international law firms and conducted public opinion research at Hart Research Associates in Washington D.C. She earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall), where she was Executive Editor of the Law Review. She received her B.A. from Santa Clara University and also studied at Oxford University. Quinn is based out of our Chicago office.

Julie is the founding partner of Capital Results. The company opened in 1998 with the idea that actively and creatively engaging citizens in even the most complex public affairs issues would lead to more successful efforts to change public policy.

While her work is primarily in developing strategic communications campaigns, with her depth of knowledge in government affairs her work often straddles the two practice areas to help clients achieve their goals. Julie believes in a hands-on approach and uses a broad network of relationships in government, politics and the media to help clients effectively communicate on policy issues.

Julie’s background prior to founding the company was primarily political communications, having served Governor George Allen and Vice President Dan Quayle.

Beth Connolly is the Assistant Director of the Office of Public Health, within the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP/OPH). In this role Ms. Connolly oversees the development and implementation of public health approaches to reducing drug use and its consequences focusing on prevention, harm reduction, treatment, workforce and recovery-ready workplaces, and recovery support services.

Ms. Connolly brings more than thirty years of public health and human services experience, in both government and non-profit sectors, to ONDCP.  Beth served for thirty years in the New Jersey Department of Human Services, concluding her state government career as the Department’s Commissioner.  Her government experience includes serving people who are often underrepresented and face social challenges such as homelessness and a lack of health care. During her tenure she shepherded reforms related to behavioral health, Medicaid and its expansion, safety net programs, child welfare, and the adoption of home- and community-based support services.

After leaving state government, Ms. Connolly joined the Pew Charitable Trusts.  There she directed the substance use prevention and treatment initiative leading research and technical assistance efforts across the federal government and states to promote evidence-based transformation of the treatment system, expand the substance use disorder workforce, optimize coverage and reimbursement for effective treatment, and improve the delivery and coordination of care for underserved populations. Ms. Connolly has served as an adjunct professor in graduate programs at Seton Hall University, Rutgers University, and Georgetown University.

Beth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master in Public Administration both from Seton Hall University.

Robert Jarrin is a strategic advisor on digital health and medicine to various companies, associations, and medical organizations.  Jarrin’s areas of expertise include coding, coverage, and payment of digital medical services, regulation of digital health, and policies on Health IT interoperability.

Jarrin has served on several Federal Advisory Committees covering innovation, safety, health IT standards, and consumer advocacy.  He has testified numerous times before the U.S. House of Representatives providing expert testimony on innovation, mobile medical apps, and the 21st Century Cures Act.  He currently serves as a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group (DMPAG).

Jarrin holds several academic adjunct faculty appointments, including the Yale University School of Medicine (Department of Internal Medicine), the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (Department of Emergency Medicine), and the Georgetown University School of Medicine (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology).

Jarrin has a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland at College Park, and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law.

Dr. Siddiqui is the Senior Vice President for Home Clinical Operations at CenterWell Humana where she is driving the shift to value based care. Prior to this, she was leading Enterprise Clinical Strategy and Quality across the insurance segment at Humana.

Dr. Siddiqui has previously served as the first Chief Data Officer for the US Department of Health and Human Services where she led the effort to connect the nation’s health care data through a new technology infrastructure, organizational management of data as an asset, and an enterprise training program for data science and AI.

Dr. Siddiqui brings experience at the intersection of strategy, data, and operations. She has previously worked at one of the largest health systems in the country implementing efficiency measures, providing strategic insights into changing physician payment structures, and delivering actionable data driven knowledge of health care policy decisions. She also has a deep understanding of the policy landscape having previously served in The Office of the Director at NIH with oversight of high risk trials and the opportunity to work with FDA, leading the health work for the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team and most recently, working with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation on rapid cycle payment models for data driven technology enabled solutions.

Keith A. Horvath is Sr. Director, Clinical Transformation in Health Care Affairs at the Association of American Medical Colleges. Most recently he was Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Program for the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health and Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery at Suburban Hospital, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Prior to this position he was an Associate Professor of Surgery and a Program Director at Northwestern University, Chicago Illinois. Trained in general and cardiothoracic surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Horvath is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine.

As Sr. Director, Clinical Transformation he works with a team dedicated to improving outcomes at academic medical centers and their affiliates across the US. This includes assisting institutions shifting to value based care as directed via CMS/CMMI alternative payment models and bundling initiatives. He has a longstanding interest in clinical care improvement with over 20 years’ service on the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database; Coding & Nomenclature; and Health Policy Committees.
Professionally, Dr. Horvath has represented the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons to CMS, FDA, RUC, PEAC and Congress. A founding member of the Maryland Cardiac Surgery Quality Initiative, he has also served the Maryland Health Care Commission as a member of its Clinical Advisory Group that rewrote the legislation that governs cardiac care for the State. Additionally he has served on over 20 national committees, 10 editorial boards, and garnered over 25 million dollars in research funding.

Finally, Dr. Horvath has performed over 4,000 cardiac operations, has authored and coauthored over 250 publications and logged over 86,000 miles watching, playing and coaching soccer games.

Jason Mehta is an experienced white collar defense attorney who advocates tirelessly for his clients. As a former Department of Justice attorney, Jason helps his clients navigate their most challenging criminal and civil fraud cases, internal investigations, and bet-the-company litigation. The Wall Street Journal has described Jason as an “attorney who has prosecuted and defended dozens of federal fraud cases.”

In the past few years, Jason has first-chaired a six week federal fraud trial in which the jury returned acquittals on every count for which they could return a verdict.  Jason has also successfully negotiated non-prosecution agreements in various matters and, where his clients have been chaired, he was successful at obtaining non-custodial sentences for his clients.  As an experienced litigator, Jason’s work spans health care, diagnostic testing, and telemedicine. As a former federal prosecutor, Jason worked extensively on health care cases, both on the civil and criminal sides, including work with the False Claims Act.

Jason advises companies and individuals about the specific issues surrounding the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Jason frequently speaks and writes about issues surrounding government prosecution, health care fraud, FCPA compliance, and anti-money laundering.

Lisa Robin is Chief Advocacy Officer at the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).  She joined the FSMB in 1994 and currently leads the FSMB Washington, DC office. Ms. Robin earned her bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Christian University. During her tenure with the FSMB, Ms. Robin has been active in policy development and promulgation on issues including telehealth and license portability, pain management and addiction treatment, medical marijuana, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and issues related to ethics and professionalism. In addition to policy development, Ms. Robin, as an executive member of the C-Suite, is involved with the overall administration of the FSMB and is directly responsible for FSMB’s state and federal government affairs and policy, continuing education, communications/public affairs and the FSMB Research and Education Foundation.

Zack Gray is Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelia. He started Ophelia after losing someone he loved to an overdose.

Zack is a Y Combinator-backed entrepreneur, a Columbia University funded research scholar, and a Wharton MBA graduation speaker. Previously, Zack led customer acquisition for a residential solar startup, which he helped grow to $30M in revenue.

Zack studied astrophysics and philosophy at Columbia University and received his MBA from The Wharton School.

Bleddyn is a vastly experienced commercial lawyer with 30 years experience of outsourcings, privatisations and complex contracting and projects. He has a unique CV for a private sector lawyer, having spent three and a half years on secondment as General Counsel of the Commercial Directorate of the Department of Health.

On his secondment to the Department of Health he advised the Minsters (Prime Minister, Secretary of State, Ministers of State), Special Advisors and NHS organisations and gave evidence to the Health Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. Bleddyn has a very detailed understanding of the UK health sector and regulatory framework.

Aaron Maguregui is a health care lawyer and member of the firm’s Privacy, Security & Information Management Practice, and national Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Team. He advises innovative health care and technology companies to solve complex compliance, cybersecurity, data governance, data privacy, and risk management matters. Working with leading health care insurers, government-sponsored managed care organizations, health care providers, and technology companies, he delivers pragmatic legal advice and action-oriented solutions guidance to help clients reach their goals and objectives. Aaron is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a global standard and essential industry credential accredited by (ISC).

Prior to joining Foley, Aaron was in-house counsel at one of the country’s largest publicly-traded managed health care insurance organizations, helping lead the company’s Privacy & Information Security Department and build its security incident response team. Aaron has managed dozens of privacy and security incidents, successfully resolved multiple publicly-reported data breaches, and led responses to inquiries, complaints, and investigations from various federal and state government agencies including, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), state Medicaid agencies, and state attorney generals offices. Aaron also counseled the company in obtaining HITRUST certification, a highly coveted certification that provides assurances to all stakeholders of the company’s security practices.

Dr. Yngvild Olsen serves as the Director for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). She has a long history of working within the addiction treatment field to expand access to care and enhance quality. She began her career as the Medical Director for the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s outpatient substance use treatment services while a full-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She subsequently served as the Deputy Health Officer for Maryland’s Harford County Health Department, where she led a modernization of publicly funded substance use treatment services in collaboration with State and local partners. She next served as the Vice President of Clinical Affairs for the Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, then the local addiction authority for Baltimore City. In that position, she played a central role in the expansion of buprenorphine treatment for opioid addiction in both specialty treatment and general ambulatory medical systems. Dr. Olsen has also served as Medical Consultant to the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration, as a clinical expert to the Maryland Addiction Consultation Service at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and as an advisor on addiction interventions to the Baltimore City Health Department. From 2011 to 2021, she served as Medical Director for the Institutes for Behavior Resources/REACH Health Services, a comprehensive outpatient substance use disorder treatment program in Baltimore City.

Dr. Olsen has held numerous senior volunteer leadership positions in the field of addiction medicine. These have included vice president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, president of the Maryland Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, and president of the Maryland/DC Society of Addiction Medicine. She also has served on the boards of the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence-Maryland, and Stop Stigma Now, and as a clinical expert to the Providers Clinical Support System (PCSS).

After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Olsen completed residency training in internal medicine and served as primary care chief resident at Boston Medical Center. She completed a Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins, during which time she received a Master in Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Olsen has written and lectured extensively on opioid use disorder and its treatments, the stigma of addiction, the integration of behavioral health and medical care, and clinical and policy solutions to the overdose epidemic. She draws inspiration from the opportunity to provide care for people with substance use disorders as an addiction medicine specialist and general internist.

Tym is a health philanthropy and policy professional with over 15 years’ experience in substance use and mental health disorder prevention and treatment, coalition building, policy and advocacy, and civic engagement.

Tym previously served as a Director at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, where he provided leadership on the foundation’s largest philanthropic initiative and guided strategic investments in areas such as early childhood education and care, family and youth supports, substance use disorders services, and educational pathways to build the future of New Hampshire’s workforce. Tym also served eight years as the chair of the New Hampshire Governor’s Commission on Substance Use, advising state and national elected officials on issues of behavioral health and health policy, and leveraging public investment to increase access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Tym founded the NH Providers Association and a number of other nonprofits. He has extensive experience advising individual and institutional donors, community stakeholders, entrepreneurs and leaders at the local, state, and national level on best practices in behavioral health, and transforming health care systems to improve access and quality.

Tym earned a master’s degree in Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Emerson College.

Andrew serves as the principal advisor to OIG senior executives on Medicaid, cybersecurity, and other health information technology issues.  In his role in OIG’s Immediate Office, he assists with the development of strategy, coordination of OIG-wide efforts, and continuous improvement for OIG oversight and enforcement work.

This involves understanding the intersection of developments in law, policy, and research in with OIG’s mission to protect the integrity of Department of Health & Human Services programs as well as the health and welfare of program beneficiaries.  This includes issues related to telehealth, health information technology, information blocking, Medicaid demonstration waivers, financing, and managed care.

Carla DiBlasio, JD, serves as the Senior Director of Government Relations at Cleveland Clinic. Carla is an accomplished health care policy expert who joined Cleveland Clinic in March 2022 after working for two years as Director of Government Relations and Health Finance Policy for University Hospitals. Carla is currently responsible for leading Cleveland Clinic’s federal government relations team.

Carla has extensive experience in Washington, D.C., where she worked in a myriad of roles across the federal government for over seven years. Prior to her work at major health systems, Carla served as Health Counsel for the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Committee has jurisdiction over the Medicare program and tax policy, among other issues. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as Senior Advisor on Medicare to the CMS Administrator. Prior to that, she worked for various members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including the Budget Committee Chairman and an Appropriator.

Carla received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Dayton.

Ben Leonard is a health technology reporter at POLITICO, covering digital health movement in Congress, at the agencies and in the White House, as well as the industry at large.

Dr. Gillaspy is a licensed pediatric psychologist, clinical scientist and senior administrator with extensive experience integrating psychological services into larger healthcare systems. Over the course of his career, he has worked at the national and state levels to advance behavioral health services. For example, Gillaspy has served as an APA advisor to the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), which is instrumental in setting reimbursement rates for psychological services. He also has worked with Oklahoma’s Medicaid agency to implement health & behavior codes for psychologists and develop policies on the reimbursement of clinical services provided by psychology interns and fellows. Gillaspy’ s clinical work has focused on the treatment of pediatric obesity, working with children and families to improve both their physical and behavioral health outcomes.

Gillaspy was a professor and director of pediatric psychology in the department of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine. He also worked as director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. Gillaspy was president of the Oklahoma Psychological Association (OPA) in 2013 and chaired OPA’s Division for Research, Academics, and Training from 2009 to 2011. He has contributed to five book chapters and authored or co-authored 40 articles published in scientific journals.

Ms. Worthen is the Deputy Director of Digital Health at the American Psychiatric Association. She is focused on behavioral health equity, access, and quality through technology and has worked for international, federal, state and nonprofit agencies at the intersection of population health and health care policy and practice.

Previously, she consulted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center, supporting technology-driven value-based care and systems transformation in state Medicaid programs; served as the public health liaison to Medicaid for the state of Colorado; worked for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) stationed at the state of Wyoming and for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva; and provided patient navigation and wraparound services in New Orleans and public assistance case management in Philadelphia. Ms. Worthen holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado, Denver and a BA in Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania.

Martin Curley is Director of the Digital Transformation and Open Innovation at the Health Service Executive (HSE), helping enable the digital transformation of Ireland’s health service. Most recently Martin was Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the HSE. Prior to joining the HSE Martin was Senior Vice President and group head for Global Digital Practice at Mastercard. Previously Martin was vice president at Intel Corporation and Director/GM of Intel Labs Europe, Intel’s network of more than 50 research labs which he helped grow across the European region. He also served as a senior principal engineer at Intel Labs Europe leading Intel’s research and innovation engagement with the European Commission and the broader European Union research ecosystem. Prior to this Curley was Global Director of IT Innovation and Director of IT Strategy and Technology at Intel. Earlier in his Intel career, he held a number of senior positions for Intel in the United States and Europe. He also worked in research and management positions at GE in Ireland and Philips in the Netherlands.

Martin has a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and a master’s degree in business studies, both from University College Dublin, Ireland. He received his Ph.D. in information systems from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Curley is the author of eight books on technology management for value, innovation and entrepreneurship. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, the British Computer Society and, the Irish Computer Society.

Martin is co-founder of the Innovation Value Institute at Maynooth University, a unique industry-academia collaboration driving research and development of advanced IT and Digital maturity frameworks. He was previously a visiting scholar at MIT Sloan Centre for Information Systems Research and a visiting research fellow at the CERN Open Lab in Geneva. He was the inaugural winner of the Engineers Ireland Innovation engineer of the year in 2006 and was jointly awarded European Chief Technology Officer of the year for 2015-2016.

Michelle has spent the last 15 years developing scalable solutions to bring healthcare to where it is needed most. Prior to Hazel, she was the Executive Director of The Addis Clinic, an organization that connects physician volunteers with frontline health workers through telemedicine technology. She was previously the Development Director of a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and a growth consultant for multiple nonprofits. She holds an M.S. in Health Science and a B.S. in Child Psychology.

Since 2013 Keegan has actively worked in the recovery field through roles in advocacy, counseling, and management. A person in long-term recovery since December 2009, Keegan has first-hand experience living and maintaining an active, healthy, substance-free lifestyle.

Keegan’s personal commitment to helping show others a path to a brighter future began with his own program of recovery, embraced by a highly supportive family system, several years before his professional involvement in the field. Through his career he has served in a wide variety of programs and activities on local, state and national levels. Highlights include active leadership and contribution on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office/Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Workforce Development Steering Committee, and the Recovery and Resiliency Steering Committee led by the Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance and the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association. He has also been trained in Community Reinforcement and Family Training by the clinical research leadership at the Center for Motivation and Change.

Keegan has been privileged to serve as a speaker at several Pennsylvania universities and on local special interest panels, including forums for faith-based leaders, public school district parent education, and an audience Q/A response to a showing of the critically acclaimed documentary film, The Anonymous People. He was featured as a spokesperson in a Pennsylvania National Guard documentary on addiction and recovery; a guest at a U.S. Senate roundtable discussion on heroin and opioids in Washington, D.C. alongside the former Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and recently an honoree, along with his mother, Lauryn at the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids’ annual NYC Gala during an interview of them both, conducted by Elizabeth Vargas. He has advocated on behalf of recovery to policymakers at the state level as well as at the federal level on Capitol Hill. In 2017, Keegan was credentialed as a Pennsylvania Certified Recovery Specialist.

Cecily Harris is the Deputy General Counsel at Wheel, the health tech company powering the next generation of healthcare. Cecily leads Wheel’s legal and regulatory teams to ensure compliance with a range of federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertinent to the delivery of virtual care nation-wide. She also serves as a strategic advisor to company leadership on matters of corporate governance, financing, and employment.

Cecily has over six years of experience in commercial contracting, litigation, and in-house representation, most recently serving as an associate at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. In addition to her work at Wheel, Cecily serves as a Deputy GC Member at TechGC, an independent peer community for Deputy General Counsels to share knowledge and best practices. She received her Doctor of Law at University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Daniel Cramer is the Associate Director of Congressional Affairs for the ALS Association. In his role he supports the Association’s policy efforts, plans and executes annual fly-in advocacy events, and works with federal officials to help make ALS a livable disease by 2030.

Daniel came to the ALS Association after his mother was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2021. Sadly, his mother passed 3 short months later in November 2021. His family’s experience with ALS propelled him to take action for those who live with disease to ensure they have the best access to care and support. He saw the benefit of telehealth for those with mobility issues firsthand as he served as a caregiver for his mother. Daniel believes we need to act to keep the flexibilities offered in telehealth from the pandemic in place so the burdens of seeing one’s doctor are reduced.

Daniel received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Civic Engagement from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Daniel currently lives in Reston, Virginia and looks for opportunities to support families in his area who are coping with a diagnosis of ALS in his free time.

Ryan Williams is the Compliance Officer for Mayo Clinic’s Center for Digital Health. In this role, he oversees the regulatory environment and compliance program for Mayo Clinic’s digital practice, including video telemedicine, asynchronous (store-and-forward) telehealth, remote patient monitoring services, as well as patient/consumer access through Mayo Clinic’s patient portal and other electronic environments. His expertise includes subjects such as: provider licensure and credentialing, telehealth billing and reimbursement, release of information, electronic prescribing, and responsible data use. He is based in Rochester, MN.

Mr. Williams joined Mayo Clinic in July 2017. His prior roles include regulatory compliance support for Mayo Clinic Community ACO and Mayo Clinic Labs, as well process design and improvement with Mayo Clinic Management Engineering & Consulting. He received his JD, with a concentration in Health Law and Compliance, from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO. He also holds a Master of Health Administration degree from Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice

Nisha Quasba serves as a strategic advisor in complex matters regarding public health policy. Staying nimble in an evolving legislative and policy environment is her greatest strength. Through effective advocacy, stakeholder, and coalition engagement, Nisha is able to address client needs and pinch-points. Translating complex policy and scientific jargon into understandable language is her strong suit.