Speakers & Panels – 2017 Questrom Health & Life Sciences Conference

Friday, October 27th, 2017 at the Boston University Questrom School of Business

Opening Keynote: Setting the Stage for Empowering Patients

Adrienne Boissy, MD, MA, is chief experience officer of Cleveland Clinic Health System and a staff neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Boissy leads the Office of Patient Experience and its initiatives to address and improve every aspect of a patient’s encounter with the Cleveland Clinic Health System—from their physical comfort to their educational, emotional and spiritual needs. Her team created a comprehensive program to strengthen physician and clinician communication skills and has trained thousands of staff physicians and clinicians to date. The experience was captured in her recent book, “Communication the Cleveland Clinic Way: How to Drive a Relationship-Centered Strategy for Superior Patient Experience.”

Dr. Boissy chairs the Empathy and Innovation summit, the largest independent summit on patient experience in the world. She also currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Patient Experience. In addition, Dr. Boissy was awarded an Arnold P. Gold Foundation grant for humanism in medicine and is a Harvard Macy Scholar.

She has published extensively about relationships and empathy in healthcare and the communication challenges in clinical practice, which were highlighted in her 2015 TEDx talk “Seeing and Being Seen: A Call for Healing.” Dr. Boissy is frequently interviewed in the media as an expert in patient experience, physician communication, and transparency. Her quotes have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, and The Atlantic, among others. She speaks extensively around the country about the patient and provider experience and the impact of effective communication on both.

Dr. Boissy attended Boston University and worked in neurobiological research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. She completed her medical school training at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and finished her neurology residency and neuroimmunology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.

Eugene Hill, is a Managing Partner at SV Health Investors, a venture capital and private equity firm with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and London. He has spent the last 25 years working in healthcare investment, having spent his previous ten years working for the care payor side; before that, he worked for ten years on the provider side at public teaching hospitals. At the start of his career, Eugene was hired to be the administrator of the Department of Surgery at the Denver General Hospital, now
Denver Health, a public hospital affiliated with the University of Colorado Medical School. He had not intentionally pursued a position in healthcare, but captivated by the opportunities in the healthcare sector, he enrolled in a Masters of Health at the University of Colorado.

In the late 1970’s, Eugene was recruited to Boston to redesign the Boston Emergency Medical Services System which led to establishing a Paramedic System and an Emergency Medicine Residency at the Boston City Hospital, now the Boston Medical Center. Having been relocated, he transferred to Boston University Questrom School of Business, Health Sector Management Program and completed his graduate degree in the evenings.

After graduation, he worked as the Administrator of the South Nevada Memorial Hospital, presently the University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Together with an entrepreneurial physician, he launched Sierra Health Services, an HMO, health insurance company and medical group practice in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. He was President and Chairman of Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Sierra Health Services which was taken public in the early 1980’s. Following this, Eugene was recruited to US Behavioral Health, a venture capital-backed private Managed Behavioral Health Company. He led the company as President and CEO until it sold to the Travelers Corporation.

In the early 1990’s he joined Accel Partners, a Venture Capital firm that had backed US Behavioral Health, where he spent five years investing in a variety of healthcare service and information technology companies. It was in 1999 that Eugene stepped in with Schroder Ventures Life Sciences, currently SV Health Investors, and remains to present.

Beyond SV Health Investors, he is a Board member of the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, The Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and Aspire Health.  He is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Boston University Questrom School of Business, and has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Healthcare Private Equity Association.

He received his BA from Middlebury College, and his MBA from Boston University Questrom School of Business.

Big Data Panel: Moving Beyond EMR and Claims Data

Big data is a hot topic these days in many industries, but for many, it is still a confusing and nebulous concept. This panel aims to demystify how big data is incorporated into healthcare. Trusted firms with data analytic capabilities and a future-oriented cognitive focus are poised to play a major role in the next phase of healthcare. Capitalizing on their market position, through data collection and AI analytics, they can buttress a level of transparency needed for value-based care and the IHI Triple Aim. This panel will examine current trends, challenges, and the future outlook of realtime data collection to better support outcomes, patient health and engagement, and communication between interdisciplinary care.

Paul R. Carlile, is an Associate Professor of Management and Information Systems and the Senior Associate Dean for Innovation at Boston University Questrom School of Business.  He has served as the Chair of the Information Systems Department. As Senior Associate Dean for Innovation, he launched an integrated and experientially-based Master of Science degree in Management Studies (MSMS), cited as the Most Innovative Business School Idea of 2015 by Poets & Quants. Prior to Questrom, he was on the Faculty at MIT Sloan School of Management.

Paul is one of the world’s foremost experts on addressing existing boundaries among people in different expertise domains enhancing collaboration and innovation in: the automotive, software, aerospace, and pharmaceutical industries.   

Paul holds a BA in Philosophy and Masters in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan.  Prior to graduate school Paul helped start two technology companies.

Michel Denarié is a Senior Principal at QuintilesIMS having recently joined their Strategic Drug Development team, helping pharmaceutical manufacturers with their clinical development strategy. Previously he spent several years within QuintilesIMS’ Global Center of Excellence (COE) for Patient Insights. He has vast experience in the pharmaceutical industry having help positions  in sales, marketing, and offering development.  He has been published in several trade publications and has presented at numerous industry conferences, including events sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Management Science Association (P.M.S.A.), the Pharmaceutical Research Group (PMRG), the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (I.S.P.O.R), and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP).

Denarié earned an M.B.A. from the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and holds a B.S. in finance from the American University in Washington, DC.

John works with teams across-GE Healthcare to help transform the way we engage our customers and solve their problems. One primary focus is helping to identify, manage and create solutions with partners leveraging Artificial Intelligence and machine intelligence approaches to augment and change the way we diagnose and treat diseases. A key enabler of this mission is GE’s Next Generation, Enterprise Imaging platform and the GE Health Cloud of which he is a key consultant and architect. John’s role also involves active engagement with research and product teams supporting GE imaging modality equipment.  John has 20 years of experience working in the domains of medical device, pharmaceutical development and health informatics as a software engineer, embedded system engineer, researcher, business development lead and innovation manager. He holds a PhD in Electrical engineering /bioengineering, in addition to a Master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. He also  has undergraduate degrees in biophysics and electrical engineering. He is a respected author, co-author and presenter at medical and engineering conferences and has been an invited speaker to numerous industry events, healthcare system symposia, and educational forums. He is author or co-author on more than 10 peer reviewed journal articles. Additionally, he is the inventor on 26 issued US and international patents and is listed as an inventor on 20+ pending applications. He is a member of the Radiology Society of North America, the Society Imaging Informatics in Medicine, and the IEEE. He is also the co-founder and President of Rogue Robotics Corp., a non-profit organization based in the Pittsburgh region dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and designers.

Carolyn Lyons is driven to improve the health care experience by helping healthcare and life science organizations to thrive. With 25+ years at the intersection of health analytics, next-gen tech and business operations.  She currently leads Centric’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice of management consulting and technology solutions. Previously with Booz Allen Hamilton and CSC – First Consulting Group.  Carolyn holds an MBA from the University of Colorado’s executive healthcare program and an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.  She also helped develop CU’s program offering for International Healthcare Management.

Dr. Adam Wolfberg is an obstetrician and the chief medical officer at Ovia Health, the leading women’s health and technology company supporting women on their path to parenthood. He cares for patients at Newton-Wellesley Hospital near Boston. Dr. Wolfberg is a serial entrepreneur and a leader in women’s health technology, and has served in leadership roles at Mindchild Medical, Ariosa Diagnostics, athenaHealth.

Pharmaceutical Panel: Pharmas New Best Friend, Patients

Pharmaceutical companies have withstood significant criticism over the last decade for focusing on profitability rather than patient health. While these perspectives seem to be in conflict with one another, more and more pharmaceutical companies are beginning to embrace the power of the patient. This panel aims to explore how pharmaceutical companies are involving patients and focusing on their health and wellness, beyond clinical trials and marketing initiatives. Needless to say, this is not an easy task given distrust among stakeholders, and challenges with increasing R&D and regulatory costs.

Mark Philip has over 25 years experience in the Biopharma, Medical Device and Diagnostic industries, operating in Europe, the USA and Asia. As CEO, president or board member of multiple start-ups, medium size and large businesses, Mark has orchestrated multiple turnarounds, built product pipelines, launched new products, sold companies and created significant shareholder value.

Mark is currently a consultant to the industry advising on acquisitions, product development, commercial strategies and fund raising for a variety of small and large, private and public companies.  Mark is also on the faculty at Boston University’s MBA Program and teaches advanced strategy in the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics industries.

Mark has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Stem Cell Research from Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, and was the Leukemia Research Fund Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Nottingham University. Mark also has an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Chicago, and completed an Advanced Leadership Program at Harvard University.

Mr. Fier is a twenty-eight year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Senior Vice President, Program and Alliance Leadership at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a mid-sized, biotechnology company with a diverse product portfolio spanning complex generics, bio-similars and novel drugs. In his current role, Mr. Fier is a member of the Executive Committee, oversees Momenta’s Portfolio Committee, is involved with day-to-day operations of the company and is a key contributor in the areas of business development, corporate strategy and the evaluation of licensing opportunities.

Prior to joining Momenta in 2002, Mr. Fier was Vice President of Clinical Affairs at BioTransplant Inc., where he led the clinical organization responsible for the development and commercialization of antibody-based therapeutics and medical devices. Prior to that, he held positions in product development and program management at Hoechst-Roussel (now Sanofi Aventis), Astra USA, and was The Medicines Company. Mr. Fier has been involved in the development and launch of several successful pharmaceutical products, including Glatopa®, the first and only generic product to treat patients with multiple sclerosis. Mr. Fier earned a BS degree in Psychology from Tufts University and an MBA with a Certificate in Health Care Management from the Boston University Graduate School of Management.

Jim Kenney is the Manager of Specialty and Pharmacy Contracts at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.  Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is a full service health benefits company located in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  Harvard serves over 1,300,000 commercial, Health Exchange, and Medicare Part D members in four states and has achieved the highest accreditation from NCQA and was ranked as the number one health plan in America for ten consecutive years.  Jim has been with Harvard for over 37 years and has held several positions including Staff Pharmacist, Chief Pharmacist, Assistant Administrator for Pharmacy Programs and Pharmacy Operations Manager. Currently, Mr. Kenney has corporate responsibility for the pharmacy contracts program with pharmaceutical manufacturers and specialty pharmacy providers in support of a budget of over $1,000,000,000.  Jim is also a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.

His accomplishments include the creation and management of the network pharmacy program for the group practice model of Harvard Pilgrim, the development of the pharmacy rebate program, creation of the Medicare Part D contracting program, and manager of the Pharmacy Materials Management System Project.  Jim developed the specialty pharmacy program at HPHC for injectables and a second program in support of infertility management.  Jim is a pharmacy preceptor for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences.  He currently serves on the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association Government and Legislative Affairs Committee. Jim is also an active member of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy and has served on the Nomination Committee, Grassroots Advocacy Committee, Legislative and Regulatory Action Committee, Legislative Committee, Public Policy Committee, as a Peer Reviewer for the Academy Journal and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors.

Mark Namchuk leads research, pharmaceutical development, process development and nonclinical development of the company’s early-stage product pipeline at Alkermes. Prior to joining Alkermes in 2015, Dr. Namchuk served as Senior Vice President and Interim Global Head of Research for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, leading a group of more than 450 researchers in the discovery of transformational medicines in the areas of infectious disease, oncology, inflammatory diseases, neurology and cystic fibrosis. In addition, Dr. Namchuk developed the high throughput enzymology paradigm in support of the Vertex Chemogenomics effort and co-chaired the committee responsible for new-target selection and prosecution for the company. Earlier in his career, he served as the head of the biochemistry group at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Namchuk obtained his doctorate in bioorganic chemistry from the University of British Columbia and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

Juan Rivera joined Simon-Kucher & Partners’ US enterprise in its start-up phase and has led many efforts to scale up the Company.  Juan is an expert in pricing, market access and commercial strategy in the life sciences. He has consulted to more than 25 global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, diagnostic and agrochemical companies in more than 25 countries.  Juan received an MBA with High Honors from Boston University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Payor Panel: Healthcare Relations, Its Complicated…

While many patients have a positive relationship with their healthcare provider, insurers often deal with both disgruntled patients and providers. There is a level of distrust between patients and insurance companies, while complicated processes and a lack of consistency hurt provider and payor relationships. This panel aims to explain how insurance companies are reimagining these relationships and improving health insurance to move toward a more patient-centered approach. Moreover, it will look at how these trends are repositioning the insurance industry and solutions offered.

James Ribetzer is a professor of management, economics and public policy at Questrom where he chairs the Markets, Public Policy and Law Department. He has held several other academic institutions including Case’s Weatherhead School of Management, MIT’s Sloan School of Management and at the University of Texas in Austin. James is a  Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Levy Economics Institute, a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and Cornell’s Compensation Research Institute and is an Affiliate of the Sloan Industry Centers Project. He has published papers in many top academic journals and has had articles appeared leading newspapers such as the New York Times.

He has won the Arrow Award given by the International Health Economics Association has also won The Health Care Research Award: from the National Institute of Health Care Management.

Mary Hennings is Vice President of Product Innovation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  In that capacity, she product strategy and new product development.  Her area formulates product strategy and develops new offerings as value based benefit designs, reference based benefits and tiered network products for the commercial market.  Mary represents BCBSMA on the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s committee for national product and services development. She brings a broad perspective to these efforts, with experience in the healthcare industry in the provider, employer/purchaser and insurer settings.  Mary has also served on several charitable boards in the Boston area.

Robert J. Master, MD is the co-founder and former CEO for Commonwealth Care Alliance, a nonprofit prepaid care system and has co-founded two other care delivery organizations. Previously, he was the chair of the Health Service Department at Boston University School of Public Health, and has remained a practicing physician providing direct patient care throughout his career. He has also held positions of leadership in government, academia and as a nonprofit entrepreneur. He was the first to direct the Massachusetts Medicaid program as Medical Director, and founded the Urban Medical Group and has been awarded with a National Health Quality Award.  

Erin is a senior VP in Aon’s Cammack Health group. As a health care strategist and account executive, she manages key relationships with our healthcare industry clients. She provides guidance to health plan and clinical leaders in key areas impacting plan and network design, vendor partners, operational integration with the delivery system and population health management. Prior to joining Cammack Health in 2004 she was the chief HR executive at two large healthcare organizations for over seven years, one of which operated several health plans. Erin’s key areas of expertise include organizational development, engagement, and change management. She has developed successful engagement and communication strategies for physicians, organizational leadership, and employees. She excels at logistics to create and embed processes that help overcome barriers to change. Erin has also worked with self-insured employers and health systems to create new relationships to improve health and reduce cost.

Shashi Shrimali is an Associate Director within Cognizant Consulting’s Healthcare Practice. Shashi obtained his MBA from Columbia University and undergraduate degree in engineering from National Institute of Technology in India. He has over 15 years of experience in management consulting, practice development and program management in the health industry across the payer, pharma and provider markets. Shashi has significant experience in driving patient and member experience strategy for various regional and national health plans. His most recent experience is in helping a regional health plan transform into a member centric organization by transforming its sales, marketing and operation functions. He is passionate about helping organizations leverage emerging technologies to identify new market opportunities, create sustainable competitive advantage and achieve operational excellence by using design thinking principles.

Medical Device Panel: Medical Devices: Trends, Opportunities, and Risks

Between 2010 and 2020, a majority of the American baby boomer population turns 65, representing 28 percent of the population (US Census Bureau). While they make up the more active and wealthiest generation in recent history, baby boomers are more likely to be challenged by chronic health issues. According to United Health Foundation, in the next 14 years 55 percent more senior citizens will have diabetes than there are today, and about 25 percent more who are obese. As medical technology advances, Baby Boomers are the early adopters and a catalyst for high quality care at lower costs. As life expectancy continues to increase, the management of chronic conditions represents a challenge for this generation and for the healthcare industry. Medical technology holds promise as a high-value mechanism to maintain a high quality of life throughout retirement. This panel aims to shed light on how healthcare stakeholders consider patient preferences and commercialization barriers in developing medical devices.

Christina recently joined GE Healthcare Digital as the GM for Cardiology IT.  She manages and leads strategy, product development, and commercialization activities for the Cardiology IT business, including enterprise imaging, workflow, and administrative IT solutions.

Christina brings more than 25 years of clinical experience and med-tech product development.  She began her career as a Clinical Engineer for 10 years at two of Boston’s teaching hospitals, Brigham and Women’s and New England Medical Center.  She then joined Draeger Medical, where she spent 15 years in Patient Monitoring Systems.  At Draeger Medical, Christina held various roles including more than five years as the Vice President of R&D.  

She is active in the Boston med-tech community including the Medical Development Group and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute for Applied Life Sciences.

Christina holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and a M.S. in Management from Lesley University.

Jody Holtzman is the Senior Vice President of Market Innovation at AARP, finding ways for AARP to spark innovation in the market that benefits people over 50. He has envisioned and developed the concept and market category of Longevity Economy and the Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch franchise with United Healthcare. Jody has also led AARP’s Research and Strategic Analysis department, and created AARP’s first competitive intelligence group. Previously, Jody held senior leadership roles in several strategy consulting firms. He has spoken at many venues and has had his work published in many prestigious journals including Venture Capital Review, the Journal of Business Strategy and Competitive Intelligence Magazine.  His work has also been recognized in the Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Forbes, PBS News Hour, VentureBeat, MedCity News, Information Week, Xconomy, and other leading media outlets.

Jody earned his graduate degree in international political economy from the University of Chicago.

Jaydeo Kinikar is an accomplished marketing & innovation leader with deep experience in leading companies in Healthcare, Energy & Industrial sectors to establish new business ventures with required competencies, mindset & organizational structure. He leverages unique combination of lean startup, design thinking & customer co-creation methods to develop Connected/IoT solutions for market’s evolving needs. He has also created large new revenue streams & commercial opportunity by transforming business models to deliver IoT value through outcome driven capabilities & innovative commercialization methods. In his current commercial executive leadership role, he heads Strategic Marketing, Product Management & BD for an innovation business unit at Philips focused on Wearables / Digital Health/ IoT. This venture is focused on solving clinical & patient challenges through integrated portfolio of connected devices, software & analytics. Prior to this role, Jaydeo led similar efforts at General Electric to build IoT solutions for monitoring the health of machines and optimizing operations through predictive analytics for preventative maintenance.

Erin McKenna is Deputy Director and Senior Project Manager for the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center, a life sciences accelerator funded by the National Institutes of Health and its academic member institutions to speed the translation of promising research into medical products.  Previously she worked at Boston Scientific in Research and Development, where she launched several vascular graft and peripheral embolization products before shifting her focus to identifying and implementing company-wide product development lifecycle process improvements. Erin earned MBA and MS degrees in Global Management from Babson College, a BE in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, and holds 9 issued patents.

Population Health Panel: The Opioid Epidemic: A Massachusetts Public Health Crisis

Massachusetts has surpassed the national average in opioid related deaths. Moreover, the opioid epidemic has impacted more than two-thirds of towns and communities across the Commonwealth. Our panel will be comprised of people working on the ground fighting the opioid crisis, as well as thought leaders working to change city and state policies around how we respond to this epidemic. Within this discussion, this panel will speak to how our Boston healthcare industry is answering these challenges, and how we as a community are responding to this crisis.

Ned has been a social entrepreneur and educator. He is the Faculty Director of the Health Sector Management Program at BU’s Questrom, serving as a Senior Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence. Ned was previously the Founder and Executive Director of Chronic Care Community Corps, a healthcare reform initiative. Previously he was CEO and co-founder of a start-up for innovative palliative care. He was co-founder and Managing Director for Citizen School where he continues to serve on their board.

Ned has international work experience having been trained by the American Red Cross to serve as an international delegate for global natural disasters.

He serves on the Health Story Collaborative board, is an Innovation Fellow at MGH Center for Innovations in Care Delivery, and is an alumnus of LeadBoston.

Ned earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont, an MBA from Boston University, and a M.Ed. from Harvard University.  

Kim Lenz is the Clinical Pharmacy Manager for the Office of Clinical Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In this role, she serves as the Clinical Pharmacy Manager for the Massachusetts Medicaid Program, and is responsible for the development and oversight of clinical initiatives.

Dr. Lenz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in the School of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has appointed Dr. Lenz an ex-officio member of its New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council, an independent panel that reviews objective evidence reports and develops recommendations on how the quality and value of health care can be improved.

Her areas of professional interest and topics she often presents on at conferences include appropriate opioid prescribing, substance use disorder, transitions of care and a multidisciplinary approach to complex disease states. Dr. Lenz holds a PharmD from the University of Connecticut and completed a residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Mariana Matus is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Biobot Analytics. She is a computational biologist completing doctoral studies at MIT. Her PhD work on wastewater epidemiology has set the foundation for Biobot, and it has been extensively covered by media outlets such as the Boston Globe, The Guardian and Wired.

Mariana is passionate about creating new tools to proactively map population health and provide timely feedback to local authorities and citizens.

Dr. Shanahan is a practicing primary care physician, board certified in both Internal and Addiction Medicine with 14+ years of experience in clinical and research Information Technology (IT). Dr. Shanahan’s expertise centers around clinical and research informatics, substance abuse disorders, chronic pain and community medicine.  He has collaborated to design and develop substance-use focused programs and research studies enhanced through IT.

Dr. Shanahan is the Director for the Community Medicine Unit  for Boston HealthNet. His  current projects include transforming opioid prescribing in primary care, targeting effective analgesia in clinics for HIV, and Carefusion. As Director of the Clinical Research Informatics and Technology Consultation (CRITC) Service he assists BU/BMC researchers with planning and use of IT and informatics to facilitate clinical studies. As Faculty Lead of the CTSI’s Research Networking Effort he leads a Multidisciplinary team that implemented and manages BU-Profiles, a Research Networking application.

Alexander Y. Walley, M.D., M.Sc., is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a general internist and addiction medicine specialist at Boston Medical Center.  He is the director of the Boston Medical Center Addiction Medicine Fellowship program. His research focus is on the medical complications of substance use, specifically HIV and overdose, and is an active investigator on clinical trials and cohort studies. He provides primary care and office-based addiction treatment for patients with HIV at Boston Medical Center and methadone maintenance treatment at Health Care Resource Centers. He is the medical director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Pilot Program. Since 2007, the MDPH program has trained over 60,000 people in Massachusetts’ communities, including people who use opioids, people in recovery, and their social networks.

Precision Medicine Panel: Precision Medicine Era, the Beginning

In the consumerism world, healthcare missed the personalization and digitization train. Precision medicine, however, will redefine how patients and doctors talk about treatment options. It will take out the guess work and the extra costs associated with it, and enable doctors to treat more effectively. Our panel will include thought leaders that work in finding various approaches to treating different types of diseases, knowing that a “one size fits all” approach does not always work for complex diseases. This session will also discuss how a precision medicine approach can offer better value from providers to patients, while considering the added complexity it will bring to pricing and reimbursement between providers and payers. We will have representation from different disease fields that will show us how they are identifying and treating various problems, and how they believe precision medicine is helping us advance the way medicine will be delivered in the future.

George O’Connor, MD, MS is a professor of medicine at Boston University, Director of the Adult Asthma Program at Boston Medical Center, and Director of Clinical Research of the BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He has been the BU principal investigator of multiple past and ongoing NIH-sponsored multi-center clinical investigations, including the Sleep Heart Health Study, Feasibility of Retinoid Treatment for Emphysema Trial, Inner-City Asthma Consortium (Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma Study, Inner-City asthma Treatment with Anti-IgE Trial, and other studies), the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial, and the All of Us Research Program of the NIH’s Precision Medicine Initiative. His research uses the tools of epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, gene expression, environmental science, and clinical trials to gain new insights into chronic respiratory diseases including asthma, COPD, and sleep apnea. He collaborates with research colleagues in many disciplines including radiology, biostatistics, statistical genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, immunology, environmental science, and others. He is an associate editor of JAMA.

Dr. Safia Khalil Rizvi is the currently the Managing Partner of “The Blue Group”: A strategic advisory service for Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industry.  Ms. Rizvi has extensive experience across the value chain of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry in three continents.

Prior to this role she was GM/VP of Galderma’s Pharmaceutical business in the US and managed all aspects of ~700 Million business. She served as Managing Director/GM of India for UCB Pharmaceutical and was a member of the UCB’s Asia Pacific leadership team for several years.

Before joining UCB she worked at Medlmmune as Senior Director, International Marketing. She started in industry at GlaxosmithKline, where she spent 9 years in several roles. She is a graduate of Wharton School of Business where she received her MBA in Health Care Management. She also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry. She is the author of numerous published articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is an inventor on > 30 patents.

She has been deeply involved in the empowerment of economically challenged women through access to education. She is the founder of eLIT — empowerment through Learning Information Technology, a global, not-for-profit initiative dedicated to providing information access and computer literacy for economically disadvantaged women and children.

Julie Wallace is Director of Revenue Cycle Planning at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  In this role, she provides strategic, analytic, and project management support to enhance revenue cycle performance.  Julie has extensive experience assessing and managing the revenue cycle impacts of complex new initiatives at the Institute, including implementation of a new electronic health record and revenue cycle system.  Julie is an active member of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers Revenue Cycle Committee and the Molecular Pathology and Patient Access subcommittees.

Prior to Dana-Farber, Julie was a Manager at Back Bay Life Science Advisors (BBLSA), a boutique life science sector strategic consulting and financial advisory firm. During her time at BBLSA, Julie utilized her expertise in market research, product development, commercial strategy, and lifecycle management to help health care companies identify new market opportunities across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Julie holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA with a focus in the Health Sector Management from Boston University.

Jerry Williamson brings more than 30 years of commercial operating, business development and corporate management experience in the diagnostic and life science marketplace where he has held executive leadership roles responsible for value creation, growth and profitability.  Jerry is presently the President and CEO of KEW, Inc., a genetic diagnostic provider utilizing gene sequencing and proprietary bioinformatics for precision medicine.

Prior to KEW, Jerry was President and CEO of Metamark Genetics, Inc., a private molecular diagnostics company.  His executive experience also includes: Partner with Flagship Ventures, an early-stage investment and innovation firm based in Cambridge, MA; President of Global Commercial Operations for Genetix Ltd., a UK-based bioresearch imaging company that was sold to Danaher and merged with Molecular Devices; President of Biacore, Inc., the US operations of a biotech instrument supplier that was sold GE Healthcare; and President of Pyrosequencing, Inc., the US subsidiary of a Swedish-led DNA sequencing platform provider.

Jerry received a BS degree in Biochemistry from the University of Vermont and holds an MBA degree from Boston University.

Networking Lunch and Keynote: Future of Digital Health and Care Delivery

Vera Tice is a senior executive and global advisor whose career has been focused on innovating healthcare. Her experience extends across the care continuum, from in-person to virtual care. She has held a range of strategic and operational leadership positions with startup and Global 500 technology companies in the healthcare, medical device, and mobile telecommunications industries. As a strategic, industry, and technical advisor, she has advised on major healthcare research and innovation initiatives funded through Canada and the United Kingdom for national and global impact, and consulted to technology companies, healthcare providers, investors, universities, and other organizations focused on advancing healthcare and improving human health.

Most recently, Vera co-founded and served as the Founding Managing Director of the Healthcare Delivery Institute (HDI), the first university-wide and multidisciplinary healthcare research and innovation institute at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Prior to WPI, Vera served as COO and VP of Product Development for Enmar Health, a digital health technology company developing a technology platform and connected health solutions for patients/consumers to manage their healthcare. Previously, she was Senior Director of Technical Operations and Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Healthwyse, a healthcare IT company developing electronic medical record (EMR) solutions and services for home health, hospice, and private duty care. Before joining Healthwyse, Vera held several senior management and engineering leadership positions at Hewlett-Packard’s Medical Products Group (now Philips) and Nokia. Vera holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Engineering degrees, both in electrical/computer engineering, from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Stevens Institute of Technology, respectively.

Consumer Health Panel: Patients Have Tools, Too

The Department of Health and Human Services has included greater use of technology as one of its Healthy People 2020 objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Telehealth, e-health, m-health, e-visits, personal health apps, and home health monitoring are all mechanisms that are helping patients change the way they are taking charge of their health. There are many companies focused on how we can empower patients to know what is happening with their health by mechanizing ways to track, treat and manage health outcomes with a network of providers and loved ones. Our panelists will discuss how their products use computers, wearables, phones, and other devices to help patients gain better access to their providers, and manage health outcomes with their loved ones. Additionally, they will discuss the future trends within the consumer health market.

Andrea Sodano, Ph.D. is an Executive in Residence at the Questrom School of Business.  She has held executive positions at IBM, Symmetrix, the Hay Group and Wal-Mart. Her primary focus has been business transformation, consulting, and organization change. She also was a senior consultant and adjunct faculty at Dartmouth Medical School. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in Clinical and Organization Psychology. She was a predoctoral intern at Yale Medical School and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the Boston Club and holds Board positions with the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and Eastman Community Association. She currently is the Faculty Director of the Health Sector Management Internship Program and the Dean’s Health and Life Sciences Fellows Program.

Dr. Garvin is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at BU’s School of Public Health and SPH Faculty Director of the MBA-MPH Dual Degree Program. She teaches PH 718 Leadership and Management in Public Health and PM 824 Organization Theory. Dr. Garvin is also an Investigator with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Her research focuses on how providers and patients use health information technology (HIT) for improved access and more effective, efficient care. Dr. Garvin is currently PI on a study of Veterans’ patient engagement through relational coordination with healthcare providers using VA’s My HealtheVet patient portal. She is also a co-investigator on a study evaluating VA care coordination partnerships with rural community providers.  Prior to joining BUSPH, Dr. Garvin served as VP of Corporate Communications for MilliporeSigma, a division of Merck KGaA, and held leadership positions at Boston Children’s Hospital, IBM and Gillette.

Sombit Mishra is the Founder and CEO of QMedic (www.qmedichealth.com), a proactive medical alert service that connects high-risk aging and disabled consumers with the right services at the right time, while dramatically reducing unnecessary ER visits.  Sombit has over a decade of experience in UX, strategy, and product management/marketing at tech startups.  He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences on healthy aging and health IT, including Aging 2.0, Health 2.0 and AARP.  He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was awarded the Patrick J. McGovern Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Seth H. Pritikin (MET ’06, Questrom ’10) is the Director of Professional Services for American Well, leading the team responsible for implementing telehealth with many of the nation’s most prestigious health systems.  Seth’s team partners with clients to ensure a seamless integration of telehealth for health care providers and their staff, leveraging American Well’s enterprise health care delivery.

Seth joined American Well after serving in consulting, project and administrative roles serving a diverse clientele in professional services, healthcare, software, information technology, after starting his career in higher education at Boston University.  Seth resides with his family in Hanover, Massachusetts.

Sarah is a Project Manager with Dimagi recently transferring to Dimagi’s Cambridge HQ following three years based in Dakar. In her position, she supported mobile technology deployments in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal, across sectors including agriculture, education, nutrition, and HIV prevention. Her largest project work consists of overseeing the implementation of mobile tools to monitor indoor residual spray campaigns to combat malaria across 12 sub-Saharan African countries. Sarah has represented Dimagi at West African supply chain workshops, Senegalese Ministry of Health meetings and malarial technical convening.

Previously, Sarah received a Princeton in Africa Fellowship to work as the Pipeline and Reports Officer with the World Food Program in Benin. With WFP, Sarah was responsible for monthly activity briefs, donor reporting, and management of the pipeline. Sarah graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a BA in History and Political Science and a minor in French.

Neha Suri has nine years of experience providing consulting and analysis services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and has collaborated with numerous clients providing them key insights through in-depth market research and deep industry knowledge. She specializes in scientific and competitive intelligence, market assessment and strategic planning, with expertise in neurology, ophthalmology, infectious disease diagnostics, oncology, women’s health, rare diseases medical devices and diagnostics. In addition, Neha’s interest also lies in patient support programs, pricing and managed care strategy and tools and services to improve medication adherence, including wearables.

Previously, Neha was a Project Manager at Global Prior Art, Inc., an intellectual property research and consulting firm, where she worked closely with life science companies and law firms to support patent litigation and prosecution. Prior to that, she conducted bench research at Amgen focusing on developing a high-throughput drug screening assay to identify novel therapeutic candidates for Multiple Sclerosis.

Neha holds a M.S. in Biotechnology from University of Pennsylvania and B.S. in Biotechnology from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, India. Her Graduate work at University of Pennsylvania focused on identifying novel drug candidates for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Policy Panel: Healthcare, Government, and Value-Based Care

Each day we are hearing of potential changes to the national health policy landscape. This panel seeks to offer a bit of clarity as to how current policies are changing the way our industry is doing business and how value-based care might be incorporated into current business models. We will have participants that range from researching and helping write policy, to panelists that have to react to what the current policy is within their hospital. They will shed some light on what we might expect in the next few years, and how our Boston community can be proactive in staying patient-centered amidst policy uncertainty.

Keith M. Marzilli Ericson is an Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy, and Law at the Boston University School of Management, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research has examined health care markets showing how pricing regulation interacts with imperfect competition, and how health insurers use dynamic pricing strategies. His recent work includes studying how  product standardization affects choice on insurance exchanges. He has also explored the foundations of behavioral economic, running experiments on limited memory, the endowment effect and expectations about the future, intertemporal choice, and the effect of privacy on truthful disclosure of sexual orientation.

His work has been published in numerous journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and his research also been featured in The Atlantic, Freakonomics Radio, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

He has a MA and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Respected as a leader in the New England healthcare industry for nearly two decades, Win Brown serves as President and CEO of Heywood Healthcare, a north central Massachusetts, non-profit healthcare organization, which includes Heywood Hospital, Gardner, MA and Athol Hospital, Athol, MA. Mr. Brown has served as President and CEO of both organizations since January 2013. Prior to building the partnership with Athol Hospital, which resulted in the development of Heywood Healthcare, Mr. Brown served as President and CEO of Heywood Hospital since 2011. His engaging leadership style and optimistic drive drives the organization to encourage innovation and embrace new trends in healthcare, leading to significant growth, improved quality, and patient and employee satisfaction.

During his tenure, he has commanded the growth of the Heywood Healthcare system having established the Center for Specialty Care, Diabetes Center, Heart and Vascular Center and the Center for Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery at Heywood Hospital and expanded its behavioral health partial hospitalization program three-fold, improving access to behavioral health care in the region. Athol Hospital has also seen substantial growth under his leadership, adding on-site diabetes, cardiology and physical rehabilitation services, in addition the establishment of the Center for Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation.

As part of the organization’s Fulfilling Our Promise Capital Campaign, Athol Hospital will soon break ground on a new Emergency Department and Medical Office Building, Heywood Hospital is planning a  new Surgical Pavilion and the Quabbin Retreat in Petersham will open this spring, answering the region’s pressing need for greater access to behavioral health and addiction treatment services.

Prior to his role at Heywood, Mr. Brown served as Vice President of Administration at Lowell General Hospital, Vice-President of Marketing, Planning and Development at Northern Berkshire Healthcare in North Adams, MA, and Executive Director and Vice President of St. Mary’s Foundation – St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, Maine.

Mr. Brown has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bates College, a Master of Science in Business from Husson University and a Master of Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) and chairs its Public Affairs standing committee; Vizient and the United Way of Central Massachusetts; Mount Wachusett Community College Foundation; the Young Presidents’ Organization of New England; the GFA Credit Union Supervisory Committee; Heywood Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) and the SHINE Initiative.

Mohammad Dar, MD (Modar) serves as Associate Medical Director at MassHealth, the combined program for Medicaid and CHIP in Massachusetts.  In this role, he focuses on delivery system reforms that are bringing MassHealth into an Accountable Care Framework.

In previous roles, Mohammad has worked on implementation of the Affordable Care Act at the White House Office of Health Reform, and volunteered with public health initiatives in rural Uganda.  He was also the founder and first President of the Student Association of Michigan.  Mohammad graduated from the University of Michigan where he served as Student Body President, and the University of Michigan Medical School where he graduated in the top of his class.  He completed his residency training at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, from which he received the Resident Mentor and Golden Stethoscope awards.  He is a practicing Internist at the Boston VA Healthcare System.  

Tim Dube is a Senior Analyst with the US Department of Health and Human Services, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). His portfolio includes pharmaceutical policy, state innovation initiatives, and Medicare outpatient payment system. Tim joined ASPE after a successful 10 year career at the biotechnology firm Genentech, first in San Francisco and then in Washington, DC. Tim started in drug development, using his BUSPH academic training in biostatistics, and concluded his time at Genentech leading the Government Affairs’ federal and state policy team’s work to advocate for regulatory change. Previous experiences include a stint with the California Department of Health Care Services’ Surveillance Branch, Children’s Hospital Boston, Optum in Boston, and the City of Cambridge’s Environmental Health department.

Tim holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (Biostatistics) from the Boston University School of Public Health, and a B.A. (Political Science) from Boston College. Tim is from Nashua, NH originally. He now lives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington with his wife Sara and son Elliott.

Diane Shapiro is a healthcare leader recognized for expertise in combining strategy development, program design and outstanding implementation.  Her background includes multi-specialty group practices, hospitals, health plans, and management services organizations.   She has advanced the strategy and mission of the organizations through expanding services, reducing medical expenses, improving operational efficiency and enhancing the experience for patients, clinicians and staff.  She has developed and implemented transformational initiatives in the areas of quality and performance, patient-centered care, contracting, and value-based care reimbursement models.

Diane is the COO of the Mount Auburn Cambridge Independent Practice Association (MACIPA) where she oversees the quality improvement, contracting, care management, finance, social work, human resources and pharmacy functions.  Previously, Diane was the COO of Dedham Medical Associates (DMA) where she had responsibility for 25 clinical departments.  She also developed the Quality and Performance, Continuous Improvement, and Patient Advisory Council programs.  Previous experience includes senior roles at Caritas Medical Group/Norwood Hospital, Wellpoint, and Goddard Medical Associates, as well as consulting to various healthcare organizations.

Diane has a BA in Psychology from Tulane University, and a Master of Health Administration from Tulane University School of Public Health.  She studied at the School for International Training in England, and has completed IHI’s Physician Practice Coach Program.

Startup Lightning Round

Startups are revolutionizing the way we view and interact with healthcare. Many startups are empowering consumers to take a proactive approach to managing their health. Ranging from HIV testing to patient monitoring to clinical trials, this panel will examine how Boston-based startups are viewing their products as helping fill in the gaps we have in the healthcare industry. This lightning round will allow startups to briefly explain their product or service, then take questions on how it is working towards empowering patients and embracing health.

Ian Mashiter is currently Managing Director of Entrepreneurship Activities and Senior Lecturer at Boston University where he teaches entrepreneurship and strategy to MBA and undergraduate students in the Questrom School of Business. He is also responsible for many of the entrepreneurship programs that the School runs including incubator and start-up accelerator programs.

Previously, Ian Mashiter was an entrepreneurial executive with more than 28 years of high technology experience. Mr. Mashiter raised $100 million in venture funding since 1996. Over his career, Ian has served as a board member, chief executive officer and Co-Founder of such innovative telecommunications companies as Quarry Technologies, Ennovate Networks, Dymec ,BMS,Nimbit and Kenetic.

As an experienced operational executive and active angel investor, Mr. Mashiter provides advisory services to a number of high tech start-ups. He is a member of both the Hub Angel Group and also the Launchpad Venture Group  as well as a Mass Challenge mentor and judge.

Also Mr. Mashiter is on the board of the Capital Network. The Capital Network is a non-profit (501c3) organization that provides extensive financial education to help early-stage entrepreneurs in Boston.

Sriharsha Bade oversees business development at Purple Dental, a medical device company focused on improving dental treatments for patients and dentists. Purple Dental is a MassChallenge finalist company. Before Purple Dental, Sriharsha worked in Marketing and in Sales for different corporations in India. He holds an MBA from Babson. Sriharsha lives in Boston.

Giffin is the cofounder and CEO of the HIV prevention company UrSure Inc. UrSure makes medical diagnostics that tell doctors which of their patients need more support adhering to their medications. Giffin’s work in infectious diseases started when he was a Fulbright scholar in Bogotá, Colombia. While there, he started and scaled a Hepatitis B prevention program that vaccinated almost 200 sex workers. After returning to the US, Giffin started medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his work to prevent diseases in vulnerable patient populations by starting an HIV prevention clinic in Philadelphia with his cofounder Dr. Helen Koenig. Together, they grew that clinic to over 200 patients and founded UrSure to develop and commercialize patient friendly adherence tests that their patients needed. Since incorporating, UrSure has won the Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition and the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge.

Jim Schwoebel is a dynamic executive with experience starting, growing, and scaling seed-stage startups. He has taken the roles of CEO, CTO, COO, board member, investor, and advisor in multiple startup companies. His core expertise is to develop and execute strategic plans for early-stage companies to reach product development, customer growth, and investment milestones.

Currently, Jim is the founding CEO of NeuroLex Labs, a company that is applying machine learning models on speech and text data to detect health conditions early, before full-blown symptoms appear.

Previously, Jim was a founding Partner of NeuroLaunch and CyberLaunch which invested in and grew over 22 companies in the neuroscience, cybersecurity, and machine learning verticals.

For his work, Jim was awarded the Alvin M. Ferst Leadership and Entrepreneurship Award in 2014. Jim holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Closing Keynote: Future Vision of Health Care

James Roosevelt, Jr. has broad experience as Chief Executive Officer, Board Chair and Committee Leader of health care public policy professional associations and politics. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government last year and is counsel to the law firm of Verrill Dana.

Roosevelt joined Tufts Health Plan (THP) in 1999 as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and held that position until June 2005, when he became President and Chief Executive Officer. As CEO he led a turn-around raising membership from 587,000 to over 1,000,000. Revenue more than doubled and finances stabilized, while receiving top quality ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is now the largest qualified health plan in enrollment on the Massachusetts Affordable Care Act marketplace and the largest Medicare Advantage Plan in New England.

Roosevelt serves on the board of directors of Alere, chairing its Compensation Committee and serving on its Nominating and Governance Committees. In addition, he continues as a consultant to Tufts Health Plan and is a board member and chair of the Policy Committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans. In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama appointed him to his transition team to co-chair a review of the Social Security Administration. Today he is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and Vice-Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Chief Legal Counsel to the Massachusetts Democratic Party, he is also a member of the Executive Committee and co-chairs the Rules and By-laws Committee of the Democratic National Committee.

Ned has been a social entrepreneur and educator. He is the Faculty Director of the Health Sector Management Program at BU’s Questrom, serving as a Senior Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence. Ned was previously the Founder and Executive Director of Chronic Care Community Corps, a healthcare reform initiative. Previously he was CEO and co-founder of a start-up for innovative palliative care. He was co-founder and Managing Director for Citizen School where he continues to serve on their board.

Ned has international work experience having been trained by the American Red Cross to serve as an international delegate for global natural disasters.

He serves on the Health Story Collaborative board, is an Innovation Fellow at MGH Center for Innovations in Care Delivery, and is an alumnus of LeadBoston.

Ned earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont, an MBA from Boston University, and a M.Ed. from Harvard University.