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C
Speaker Biographical Sketches
Atum Azzahir founded the nonprofit Phillips-Powderhorn Cultural Well-
ness Center in 1996. It functions to provide a place where people can learn
their own and each other’s cultural traditions and health practices. The
mission of the center is to unleash the power of citizens to heal themselves
and to build community. A major goal of the center is to be the recognized
authority on cultural approaches for preventing sickness and improving the
health of individuals in a community context. Azzahir is the recipient of
numerous awards, including the Salzburg Fellowship, Salzburg Seminars,
Salzburg, Austria, 1993; Community Health Leadership Award, 1995,
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Community Camara Award, Young
Entrepreneurs Institute, 1999; Ruby H. Hughes Elder and Outstanding
Citizenship Award, 2000; Race Unity Award of the BaHai Faith, 2000;
recognition of outstanding community leadership, Leadership for a Chang-
ing World, 2002; and recognition as one of the 100 most influential health
leaders in the Minnesota Physician August 2000 edition. Azzahir was
also the recipient of the Leadership in Neighborhood grant to fund travel
to Senegal and Benin, West Africa, Grenada in the West Indies, Jackson,
Mississippi, and Cairo, Egypt, to study the role of elders in traditional
African societies and compare them with the contemporary African elders
in African American communities of the south. She has served on several
key boards and committees, including the Minnesota Women’s Fund, Chair,
1990–1992; National Network of Women’s Fund, Chair, 1990–1993; The
Sister Fund of New York, 1992; Medica Health Plans: Quality Committee,
Community Affairs Committee, Executive Committee, 1997–2000; and
HOPE Community Inc. Board of Directors, 1999–2001. Prior to found-
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120 POLICY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES
ing the Phillips-Powderhorn Cultural Wellness Center, Azzahir served as
vocational educational advisor, Minneapolis Technical Community College,
1981–1984; executive director, Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter, 1984–
1989; and executive director, Way to Grow Youth Coordinating Board,
1989–1994. Azzahir currently serves on the Hennepin Health Systems
Board as chair of the Governance and Mission Effectiveness Committee.
Larry Cohen, M.S.W., is founder and executive director of Prevention
Institute, a nonprofit national center that moves beyond approaches that
target individuals to create systematic, comprehensive strategies that alter
the conditions that impact community health. With an emphasis on health
equity, Cohen has led many successful public health efforts at the local,
state, and federal levels focused on injury and violence prevention, mental
health, traffic safety, healthy eating and physical activity and chronic disease
prevention. Prior to founding Prevention Institute, he formed the first U.S.
coalition to change tobacco policy and created the nation’s first multicity
smoking ban. He established the Food and Nutrition Policy Consortium
and helped catalyze the nation’s food labeling law.
Tom Granatir, A.M., serves as the Director of Public Health Initiatives at
Humana, Inc. He has 20 years of experience in health policy at the Ameri-
can Hospital Association, the Health Research and Educational Trust,
the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the
Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Humana Inc., and Humana
Europe. His policy work has focused on patient-centered care, quality
improvement, and public accountability in the mental health, hospital,
long term care, and managed care sectors. He has served on the govern-
ing boards of the American Health Quality Association, the Institute for
Safe Medication Practices, Bridges to Excellence, the National Association
of Health Data Organizations, and Henry Booth House, a service agency
for poor residents of Chicago. He has been an examiner for the Malcolm
Baldridge National Quality Award Program and a member of the Health
Policy Roundtable of the Michael Reese Health Trust. He currently serves
on the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination
of Health Disparities of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy
of Sciences and is on the board of the Alliance to Make U.S. Healthiest.
Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., is the Alameda County, California, Pub-
lic Health Department director and health officer. Iton’s primary interest
is the health of disadvantaged populations and the contributions of race,
class, wealth, education, geography, and employment to health status. He
has asserted that in every public health area of endeavor, be it immuniza-
tions, chronic disease, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, or
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APPENDIX C
even disaster preparedness, local public health departments must recognize
that they are confronted with the enduring consequences of structural pov-
erty, institutional racism, and other forms of systemic injustice. He further
asserts that the only sustainable approach to eliminating health inequities
is through the design of intensive, multisectoral, place-based interventions
that are specifically designed to identify existing assets and build social,
political, and economic power among a critical mass of community resi-
dents in historically underresourced communities. Iton received his medi-
cal degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School and subsequently trained in
internal medicine and preventive medicine at New York Hospital, Yale
University, and the University of California, Berkeley, and is board certi-
fied in both specialties. He has also received a law degree and a master’s
of public health degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and is
a member of the California Bar. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious
Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Public Health Work, awarded
by the American Public Health Association to a U.S. local health official
in recognition of outstanding creative and innovative public health work.
Nicole Lurie, M.D., M.S.P.H., is a senior natural scientist and the Paul
O’Neill Alcoa Professor of Health Policy at the RAND Corporation. She
directs RAND’s public health and preparedness work as well as RAND’s
Center for Population Health and Health Disparities. She has previously
served in federal government, as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; in state
government, as medical advisor to the commissioner at the Minnesota
Department of Health; and in academia, as professor in the University of
Minnesota Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Lurie has a long his-
tory in the health services research field, primarily in the areas of access to
and quality of care, managed care, mental health, prevention, public health
infrastructure and preparedness, and health disparities. She attended college
and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and completed her
residency and M.S.P.H. at the University of California, Los Angeles, where
she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. She
serves as senior editor for Health Services Research and has served on edito-
rial boards and as a reviewer for numerous journals. She has served on the
council and was president of the Society of General Internal Medicine, is
currently on the board of directors for the Academy of Health Services
Research, and has served on multiple other national committees. She is the
recipient of numerous awards, including the Association for Health Ser-
vices Research Young Investigator Award, the Nellie Westerman Prize for
Research in Ethics, and the Heroine in Health Care Award, and is a mem-
ber of the Institute of Medicine. In addition to her work in health services
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122 POLICY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES
research and health policy, Lurie continues to practice clinical medicine in
the health care safety net.
Sanne Magnan, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed Minnesota Commissioner
of Health by Governor Tim Pawlenty on September 28, 2007. Magnan
is responsible for directing the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
MDH is the state’s lead public health agency and is responsible for pro-
tecting, maintaining, and improving the health of all Minnesotans. The
department has approximately 1,300 employees in the Twin Cities area
and in seven offices in greater Minnesota. Prior to being appointed com-
missioner, Magnan served as president of the Institute for Clinical Systems
Improvement (ICSI) in Bloomington, Minnesota. An independent, nonprofit
organization, ICSI facilitates collaboration on health care quality improve-
ment by medical groups, hospitals, and health plans that provide health
care services to people who live and work in Minnesota and adjacent
states. Magnan serves as a staff physician at the Tuberculosis Clinic at St.
Paul-Ramsey County Department of Public Health and a clinical assistant
professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota. She was named one
of the 100 Influential Health Care Leaders by Minnesota Physician in 2004
and 2008. Magnan holds a medical degree and a doctorate in medicinal
chemistry from the University of Minnesota. She earned her bachelor’s
degree in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina.
Richard “Dick” Pettingill, M.A., is chief executive officer of Minneapolis-
based Allina Hospitals and Clinics, a nonprofit health care organization
serving communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Allina
owns and operates hospitals, clinics, hospice services, pharmacies, medi-
cal equipment, and emergency medical transportation services. It employs
approximately 22,000 people. Prior to joining Allina in 2002, Pettingill
served for 6 years with Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente, one
of the nation’s largest health care systems. He was executive vice president
and chief operating officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospi-
tals, president and chief executive officer of Kaiser’s California Division,
and senior vice president/service area manager of Kaiser Foundation Health
Plan and Hospitals. Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Pettingill served as
president and chief executive officer of Camino Healthcare in Mountain
View, California, and has held executive positions with El Camino Hospital
and the El Camino Hospital District. He also served at Stanford University
Hospital in Palo Alto, California, in several senior administrative roles.
Pettingill’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in public
administration from San Diego State University, San Diego, California, and
a master’s of arts degree in health care administration from San Jose State
University. In 2001, he completed the Harvard Business School Executive
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APPENDIX C
Leadership Program. Pettingill serves on the Allina Hospitals and Clinics
board of directors. In March 2004, he joined the board of directors of
Texas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a publicly traded company.
R. T. Rybak was first elected mayor of Minneapolis in 2001 with his first
run for public office and was just reelected to serve another term for the
people of Minneapolis. Rybak has a broad background in business, jour-
nalism, and community activism. Prior to becoming mayor, Rybak was a
business consultant, newspaper publisher, Downtown Council develop-
ment director, and a reporter with the Minneapolis Tribune. As mayor,
Rybak streamlined the city’s economic development functions, created a
$10 million housing trust fund, adopted the city’s first Code of Ethics,
and saved taxpayers millions by reducing $72 million of inherited debt
with six balanced budgets in 4 years. Minneapolis now leads the state in
affordable housing production, job creation, and the arts, with nearly $3
billion of development investment under way. Rybak is a lifelong Min-
neapolis resident and the son of a pharmacist in the Phillips-Powderhorn
neighborhood. Rybak currently lives in the East Harriet neighborhood
of Minneapolis with his wife, Megan, and their two children, Grace and
Charlie. Professional history: reporter, Star Tribune, 1979–1986; devel-
opment director, Downtown Council, 1986–1989; consultant, Eberhardt
Development, 1989–1990; principal, R. T. Rybak Company (marketing
consultant), 1990–1995; publisher, Twin Cities Reader, 1995–1997; vice
president, Channel 4000, Internet Broadcasting, 1997–1999; principal,
R. T. Rybak Company (Internet consultant), 1999–2001; and Minneapolis
mayor, 2002–2005.
Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D., is vice president and director of the Health Policy
Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washing-
ton, D.C. Formerly, Smedley was research director and cofounder of a com-
munications, research, and policy organization, The Opportunity Agenda
(www.opportunityagenda.org), whose mission is to build the national will
to expand opportunity for all. Prior to helping launch The Opportunity
Agenda, Smedley was a senior program officer in the Division of Health
Sciences Policy of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), where he served as study
director for studies that culminated in publication of the IOM reports In the
Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Work-
force and Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in
Health Care, among other reports on diversity in the health professions and
minority health research policy. Smedley came to the IOM from the Ameri-
can Psychological Association (APA), where he worked on a wide range of
social, health, and education policy topics in his capacity as Director for
Public Interest Policy. Prior to working at the APA, Smedley served as a
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124 POLICY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES
Congressional Science Fellow in the office of Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA),
sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Among his awards and distinctions, in 2004 Smedley was honored by the
Rainbow/PUSH coalition as a Health Trailblazer award winner, in 2002
he was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Hero award,
and in August 2002 was awarded the Early Career Award for Distinguished
Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest by the APA.
Gordon M. Sprenger, M.H.A, is the former president and chief execu-
tive officer of Allina Health System. He was previously an executive for
the HealthSpan Health Systems Corporation, Lifespan Inc., and Abbott
Northwestern Hospital. Sprenger serves on the board of directors for the
Joint Commission Resources and has held a number of other leadership
positions with the Joint Commission. He holds a bachelor’s degree from
St. Olaf College and a master’s in health administration from the University
of Minnesota, where he also served as a faculty member until 2007.
Mildred Thompson, M.S.W., is the senior director and director of the
PolicyLink Center for Health and Place, where she leads the work of the
organization’s heath team, participates in research focused on understand-
ing community factors that impact health disparities, and identifies practice
and policy changes needed to improve individual, family, and community
health. She is also deputy director of the Robert Wood Johnson Founda-
tion’s Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity. Thompson has authored several
reports and journal articles focused on reducing health disparities, increas-
ing awareness about social determinants of health, and effective ways to
impact policy change. Prior to joining PolicyLink, she was director of Com-
munity Health Services for the Alameda County, California, Public Health
Department; Director of Healthy Start, a federal infant mortality reduc-
tion program; and director of San Antonio, Texas, Neighborhood Health
Center. Thompson has degrees in nursing and psychology and a graduate
degree in social work from New York University. She has also taught at
Mills College and San Francisco State University and has worked as an
organizational development consultant. Thompson is frequently sought
for presentations and keynote addresses and serves on several boards and
commissions, including The Zellerbach Family Foundation; cochair, the
Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and
the Elimination of Health Disparities; the California Health Policy Institute;
and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children.
Joel S. Weissman, Ph.D., is on leave from Harvard Medical School while
he serves as the Senior Health Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Execu-
tive Office of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachu-
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APPENDIX C
setts, and as professor of family and community medicine, University of
Massachusetts Medical School. Among his responsibilities are to provide
general policy guidance and to lead multipayer, multistakeholder health
reforms in the areas of primary care, avoidable readmissions, health infor-
mation technology, and disparities for vulnerable populations. At Harvard,
Weissman holds joint faculty appointments at the Institute for Health Policy
at Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Harvard School of Public
Health. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on the topics of
quality and patient safety; racial-ethnic disparities; the uninsured; health
care financing, including uncompensated care; drug policy; and academic-
industry relationships in biomedical research. He is author (Arnold Epstein
as coauthor) of the book Falling Through the Safety Net: Insurance Status
and Access to Care, with a forward by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Weissman
received his doctorate in health policy from the Pew Fellows Program at the
Heller School, Brandeis University. He has led numerous federally funded
studies, including those examining the relation of patient safety to hospital
crowding, the reporting and disclosure of medical errors to patients, access
to clinical trials by uninsured participants, E-prescribing in Massachusetts,
and alternative scoring methods for pay for performance and was the lead
evaluator for Consumer’s Union Best Buy Drugs program. Weissman con-
tinues to serve as codirector of a course on health services research methods
for the Program on Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public
Health, portions of which have been taught for the Singapore National
Healthcare Group and the University of Puerto Rico.
Annette Williamson has undertaken the role of delivery manager for the
Infant Mortality National Support Team since February 2009 within the
Department of Health in the United Kingdom. Prior to her current role,
she had 3 years’ experience as a program manager within the Birmingham
Health and Wellbeing Partnership with responsibility for the implementa-
tion of a multimillion-pound plan to reduce infant mortality within one of
England’s most deprived cities. Williamson has worked within the National
Health Service for 30 years, the last 7 of them as an operational commu-
nity manager and subsequently as a commissioner of Children and Young
Peoples Services before joining the Birmingham Health and Wellbeing Part-
nership. Annette is by profession a registered general nurse, registered mid-
wife, and registered health visitor; she holds a master’s degree in primary
health service management and was selected to participate in a King’s Fund
Leadership program, which included an international module.
Winston F. Wong, M.D., M.S., serves as medical director, Community
Benefit, Kaiser Permanente, and Director of Disparities Improvement and
Quality Initiatives. Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s largest prepaid, mul-
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126 POLICY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES
tidisciplinary health care provider, with 8.7 million members, a physician
group of 12,000, and 134,000 employees. Wong is responsible for develop-
ing partnerships with communities and agencies in advancing population
management and evidence-based medicine, with a particular emphasis on
safety net providers and the elimination of health disparities. A previous
captain of the Commissioned Corp of the U.S. Public Health Service, Wong
was awarded the Outstanding Service Medal while serving as both the
chief medical officer for the Health Resources and Services Administration,
Region IX, and its director of California Operations. Bilingual in Cantonese
and Toisan dialects, Wong continues a small practice in family medicine at
Asian Health Services in Oakland, California, where he previously served
as medical director.
