Nancy M. Albert, PhD, RN, CCNS, CCRN, CNA
Nancy M. Albert is Director, Nursing Research and Innovation in the Division of Nursing and Clinical Nurse Specialist in the George M. and Linda H. Kaufman Center for Heart Failure at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, she holds a Clinical Instructor of Nursing (Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing) at Case Western Reserve University and is an Adjunct Clinical Associate at Kent State University School of Nursing. She is actively involved in program development for chronic heart failure, medical and nursing research as related to heart failure, nurse education and consultation. She is well published in the area of cardiac nursing and has presented at national as well as international meetings on topics related to heart failure and critical nursing care.
Dr. Albert is a member of: 1) American Association of Heart Failure Nurses, and serves as National President, 2) Council of Cardiovascular Nursing of the American Heart Association and serves as a member of the leadership group as a Member-at-Large; in addition, serves on the Heart Failure and Transplantation Committee, the "Get with the Guidelines" National Steering Committee and the Heart Failure Advisory Task Force; 3) Heart Failure Society of America, serves as a member of the Care Standards Committee; 4) International Society of Heart & Lung Transplantation; 5) American Association of Critical Care Nurses; and 6) Society of Critical Care Medicine. In September 2000, she was awarded "Nurse of the Year" for the Greater Cleveland Center for Health Affairs. In November, 2000 she was elected as Fellow of the Council of Cardiovascular Nursing of the AHA.
Blake T. Andersen, PhD
For over 20 years, Blake Andersen has been a leader in health behavior change, chronic care improvement, healthcare workforce development and performance improvement. Dr. Andersen began his career as a health psychologist with a Seattle-area multi-specialty health care center. He also served on the clinical training faculty of the University of South Florida (USF) College of Medicine (Division of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine). He was also a faculty member with the USF Department of Gerontology and served as acting clinical director of the Department of Aging and Mental Health. He later designed and led one of the largest health care workforce development projects in Florida, though Enterprise Florida and the Florida Health Care Association.
Dr. Andersen completed training in Human Resources at USF, earning certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). He went on to be team leader with Andersen Business Consulting’s US Strategy, Organization and People (SOP) practice, where he led organization development, performance improvement, change management, and workforce development engagements for some of the largest health and service corporations in the US. Dr. Andersen received his MA and PhD in Counseling Psychology in 1986 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He completed a post-doctoral residency at Western State Hospital in Tacoma, as well as post-doctoral training in Health Psychology at the USF College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. He has published numerous publications on topics ranging from health related change, motivational interviewing, and chronic care improvement. Dr. Andersen is currently the president and CEO of HealthSciences Institute.
Susan Benson, BSN, RN, MSN, P-MS, FNP, DNP, CCP
Dr. Benson has served as a care manager for a leading disease management organization. Earlier positions include collegiate teaching, large scale continuing education program and product development, grant creation, implementation and management, organizational redesign, and product sales and marketing. Her academic credentials include a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and graduate MBA courses at Wharton School of Business for the business and health care administration specialization component. Other certifications include ANCC clinical nurse specialist, school nursing, and LERN program planning. She received her BSN from University of Minnesota School of Nursing and completed the Family Nurse Practitioner program. She is an ANCC board certified family nurse practitioner and completed her Doctorate of Nursing Practice at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in May 2009.
Susan Butterworth, Ph.D., MS
Dr. Butterworth has been in the health promotion field for over 20 years. She received her doctoral degree in adult education and training with a cognate in health promotion from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Butterworth’s special area of expertise and research is Motivational Interviewing-based health coaching, and she is a highly-sought presenter, trainer, and consultant on this topic. She has been awarded two NIH grants to study the efficacy and impact of health management interventions, and has published multiple papers on the theory and outcomes of health coaching.
Dr. Butterworth is the founder of Health Management Services (HMS), which was developed at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and transitioned to Health Future LLC. Under her leadership, HMS has been awarded Best Wellness Vendor for 2007 and 2008 by Health Industries Research Companies. Dr. Butterworth currently holds the position of Vice-President at Health Future and as associate professor at both the Schools of Medicine and Nursing at OHSU.
James Couch, MD, JD, FACPE
Dr. Couch has dedicated the past 25 years of his professional career to improving the quality and safety of health care. Most recently, as Chief Medical Officer of Patient Safety Solutions, LLC, he developed a copyrighted 300 question patient safety practice assessment tool, drawn from nationally authoritative sources and the latest research reported in leading peer-reviewed journals. This tool has been successfully implemented now at two of the nation’s largest integrated health care delivery systems. Dr. Couch was previously Chief Medical Officer of the American Re-Insurance Company. Before American Re, Dr. Couch led the health care quality and disease management efforts for MetLife, Travelers and Coopers and Lybrand (PricewaterhouseCoopers) over a nine year period. Dr. Couch is the editor of three major books on health care quality and medical management, including “Health Care Quality Management for the 21st Century” published in 1991 by American College of Physician Executives and the American College of Medical Quality. He served as a reviewer for the Annals of Internal Medicine for five years and authored the chapter on the Joint Commission (JCAHO) in a major book on clinical quality published by the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Couch authored one of the first books on disease management in 1995 (The Health Care Professional's Guide to Disease Management). He is a Fellow and Life Member of the American College of Physician Executives. He advised both the Clinton Task Force and Newt Gingrich’s House Leadership Working Group on Healthcare Reform on the role of quality and specific uses of information technology in national health care reform. He has recently advised the Health Care Subcommittee of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee. In 1992 he was the first physician to apply Six Sigma system evaluation and improvement methodologies to the health care and financial services industries From 1992-1994, he was the only physician Senior Examiner for the Baldrige Award, during which time, he helped to develop the Baldrige Award for Health Care. In 1987, he published the first article which fully developed the concept and practice of health care value purchasing. Dr. Couch has served on the Public Policy Council of the National Business Group on Health for five years.
Sabrina Girolami, RN, MHSA, CCM
Sabrina Girolami is the director of Care Coordination for Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) in Danville, PA. GHP is a rural HMO and is part of Geisinger Health System, a large integrated delivery system. Girolami has led the development, primary/specialty care integration, and measurement of disease management programs for GHP since 1995. All programs are internally developed and NCQA Disease Management accredited. In 2006, Girolami was integral in redesigning the delivery of disease management for GHP to include the coordination of post-discharge, history of discharge and high utilization care – all with a strong disease management component. Recognizing the importance of hiring the “right” nurses for disease/case management, Girolami has a wealth of experience in this area and has led the design and implementation of processes to address the professional needs of this special group of nurses.
Girolami has a Bachelor’s in Nursing from College Misericordia in Dallas, PA and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Saint Joseph’s College in Maine. She is certified in case management and has co-authored several articles on the impact of disease management. Girolami has presented at state and national conferences and has served as an abstract reviewer for DMAA. She has hosted consortiums with other health plans interested in learning more about the GHP disease/case management model. In 1999 Girolami earned the Diagnostic Diabetes Leadership Award from Roche Diagnostics and was a PA Nightingale Finalist in Nursing Administration.
Bill Gold, MD
Dr. Bill Gold is a healthcare consultant with expertise in health plan care management, quality management and organizational effectiveness. He most recently was Senior Vice President of Insights and Innovations at Healthways, Inc. based in Nashville, TN. and previously served as Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota where he was responsible for the care management programs including the Center for Prevention.
A native of Davenport, Iowa, Dr. Gold earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell College and a medical degree from the University of Iowa. He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Georgetown University with advanced training in High Risk Pregnancy. He has held academic positions at Georgetown University and Texas A&M College of Medicine prior to his move to Minnesota. He writes a monthly column on population health for Managed Care Interface and also serves on the board of Hudson Hospital. Dr. Gold resides in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota.
Sean Kesterson, MD, FACP
Dr. Kesterson is currently a medical director and attending physician at the University of Michigan. He has led quality, safety, and innovations in the University’s Health System in a number of areas: medical education, cardiac preoperative evaluation, aminoglycoside dose standardization, and heart failure treatment, outpatient treatment of deep vein thrombosis, diabetes care, and asthma care. He has also been a Medical Director of both the University’s Brighton Health Center and West Ann Arbor Health Center overseeing quality, service, budget and facilities since 1997. He has also served on the Board and as the Medical Director of Michigan Visiting Nurses. He has been recognized for medical student teaching, mastery of clinical medicine, and leadership by the University during this time. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and is listed in Best Doctors in America. He has served as an instructor and group leader in the Global Institute for Leadership Development (Linkage Inc.) and has remained an avid student of effective leadership in business and organizations.
Dr. Kesterson has delivered many lectures on subjects including servant leadership, quality in healthcare, professional development, outcomes improvement, and behavior change. He has published articles and book chapters on the subjects of physician leadership, executive healthcare, chronic back pain, and heart failure. He has become increasingly interested in current trends in healthcare reform and care improvement in primary care. He has actively focused his recent sabbatical on behavior change and motivation psychology. He attended The Ohio State University for degrees in Biochemistry and Medicine from 1981-1989 where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. He trained at the University of Michigan, completing his residency in Internal Medicine from 1989-1992. He spent the next two years in Cambridge England, serving as a Registrar at Addenbrooke’s hospital and a Clinical Instructor at Cambridge University.
Robert Luke, PhD
Dr. Robert Luke is currently director of Applied Research & Innovation at George Brown University in Toronto and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Knowledge Media Design Institute. He previously served as Manager, Educational Informatics Oncology Education at Princess Margaret Hospital University. His research is focused on design science and the development and application of innovative technologies in healthcare and education, from clinical information systems to accessible patient education. Dr. Luke investigates situated technology design and use, the development of information systems and knowledge management for education and other information practices, and information interaction and retrieval.
Dr. Luke has extensive experience in e-learning research, design and evaluation. Current projects include developing patient-centered web services models, use cases and repository services that assist patients in navigating and accessing health services and resources where and when they are most needed. Dr. Luke is principal investigator of the PEPTalk project (Patient Education Prescription), which is designing a clinical information tailoring system. He teaches human-centred design for KMDI. Dr. Luke received his BA in English from the University of Northern British Columbia, MA in English Language and Literature Queens Univeristy, and PhD in Curriculum, Teaching & Learning from the University of Toronto.
Michiko Moriyama, RN, MSN, PhD
Dr. Michiko Moriyama, is a Professor of Clinical Nursing, Department of Nursing Science, Graduate School of Health Sciences at Hiroshima University in Japan. Dr. Moriyama is a board member of the Japanese Society of Health Support Science, the Disease Management Association of Japan, Japan Society of Health Care Administration, and the Japanese Association for Research in Family Nursing. Dr. Moriyama, is author of 17 books and 167 journal publications, including the 2007 book: A New Chronic Care Model: Disease Management and Nursing Case Management. Dr. Moriyama has supported HealthSciences in knowledge exchanges between the US and Japan, including a 2008 visit between HealthSciences CEO Dr. Blake Andersen and the Presidents of the Disease Management Association of Japan and the Japan Society of Health Support.
Sheryl Niebuhr, PhD
Dr. Niebuhr is currently the Global Manager of Employee Assistance with 3M. She has provided strategic leadership for the design of 3M's health and productivity services, including personal health and disease management, work and personal life resources, employee assistance, and leader and organizational consultation for the past several years. She has also served as part of the strategic planning leadership for 3M's healthcare plans, integrated disability management programs, and multi-employer and purchaser initiatives to influence healthcare market reform. Most recently she has assumed leadership for the globalization of 3M's employee assistance services. Prior to joining 3M in 1990, Dr. Niebuhr worked as a practitioner, service design and resource developer, program manager, trainer and consultant with the Wilder Foundation. She also served as lecturer on aging and adjunct clinical assistant professor in counseling psychology at the University of Minnesota for a number of years. Dr. Niebuhr is a licensed psychologist. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Edward Ratner, MD
Dr. Ratner is Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He received his M.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and completed a geriatric fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He has been certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Home Care Medicine and Home Care Medical Direction. He is the past President of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians and the President-Elect of the Minnesota Medical Directors Association. Dr. Ratner currently serves as Medical Director for Heartland Home Health Care and Hospice, working with its home health program in Minnesota and its infusion program nationally. He has served on the Minnesota Commission on End of Life Care and on the Boards of Directors of Volunteers of America (Minnesota), Community Housing, and Shalom Home. In addition, Dr. Ratner has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) and other organizations to help health and human resources professionals care for those with chronic disease. This has been accomplished through a software company he founded, Infingo, LLC, that has created handheld decision support tools to drive evidence-based care in health care and community-based settings.
Jaan Sidorov, MD
Jaan Sidorov M.D. is a health care consultant with an extensive background in primary care, disease management and population based care coordination. He was previously a medical director for Geisinger Health Plan, where he led the development of its NCQA accredited disease management programs.
He received his medical degree from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, and did his internship and residency at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. He has also served as a Chief Resident, at Reading Hospital, Reading, Pennsylvania. He received additional training in health services research through the Faculty Development Fellowship of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in managed care through the American Association of Health Plans certified managed care executive program. He also has a Masters Degree in Health Services Administration from Marywood University in Scranton Pennsylvania. He was formerly a member of the executive committee of the Board of Directors of the Disease Management Association of America--The Care Continuum Alliance). Treasurer, and head of the Audit Committee.
Dr. Sidorov has numerous publications of original research, two of which were named as “Best Article” by DMAA and one of which was listed as “most read” by the prestigious health policy journal Health Affairs. He has also presented his findings in workshops and presentations at local and national academic and industry meetings. Dr. Sidorov is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for PMSLIC, the largest physician malpractice insurance company in Pennsylvania. He also holds a Master rank in Chimukwan style TaeKwonDo.
Alexis Skoufalos, EdD
Dr. Skoufalos is Vice Chair and Program Director of Education and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College. Prior to joining Jefferson, Dr. Skoufalos was Senior Manager of Organizational Development for Bancroft NeuroHealth, a provider of specialized services for individuals with developmental disabilities and neurological impairments. During her tenure there, she retained primary responsibility for leadership and management development, new staff orientation and recertification training. She also organized professional conferences, served as the organization’s director of continuing education and administrator for its corporate university program.
Dr. Skoufalos received her doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. Her dissertation work focused on employee retention strategies for direct support professionals in the disabilities services field. She holds a Master’s degree in Management and Administration of Education Programs (Nova Southeastern University) and a Bachelor’s in Secondary Education (Temple University). She recently completed work with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration as part of the National Training Institute for Frontline Supervisors, a training and demonstration project aimed at increasing employee retention and satisfaction.
The majority of her professional efforts over the past ten years have been devoted to developing and delivering specialized training and education programs for managers, paraprofessionals, and medical and behavioral health professionals.
Darlene Trandel, PhD, FNP, RN, CCP
Dr. Trandel holds a Ph.D. in health care and nursing science research from the University of Washington in Seattle. She has a BSN from St. Xavier University in Chicago; a MSN in psychiatric-mental health nursing as well as a family nurse practitioner degree (FNP) from the University of Virginia, School of Nursing and School of Medicine, respectively; and completed graduate studies in public health while at Harvard University. She is licensed as a RN (registered nurse) and FNP and is certified as a Chronic Care Professional (CCP). She maintains a strong interest in health coaching and consultation.
Dr. Trandel has worked in multiple health care settings including clinical positions and academic research and teaching positions at major universities. She has served as a clinician for organizations including Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, Mercy Hospital Medical System in Chicago, King County Health Department in Seattle, and the University of Virginia. Dr. Trandel has served on the nursing faculties of the University of Washington, the University of Virginia, and Queens College. She has also published numerous professional journal articles. Dr. Trandel directs the "Building Bridges in Ecuador," humanitarian effort that recruits and organizes a team of 50 volunteers to provide health care, education and community service to an indigenous population in the Andes of Ecuador every summer.
 |
 |
 |
 |
