Appendix C
Speaker and Moderator Biographical Sketches
Terry Allan, M.P.H., is immediate past president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Since 2004, he has been the health commissioner at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, which serves as the local public health authority for 885,000 citizens in 57 Greater Cleveland communities. He holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Bowling Green State University and a master of public health degree from the University of Hawaii. Mr. Allan is an adjunct faculty member at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and was a Year 13 Scholar of the National Public Health Leadership Institute. He is a past president of Ohio’s State Association of County and City Health Officials and the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners and has served as an at-large member of the NACCHO Board of Directors since 2007. Mr. Allan has worked in public health for 22 years in Greater Cleveland, working to reduce childhood lead poisoning rates by half since 2004 and reducing smoking rates by 11 percent since 2003. He has dedicated his career to cultivating a wide range of partnerships with industry, academia, medicine, nonprofits, and other governmental agencies at the state, local, and national levels to address the public health needs of the community. He served as a representative of NACCHO on the Standards Development Workgroup for the National Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) and chaired a local health department site visit team during the Beta Test of the PHAB standards. In May 2009, Mr. Allan had the honor of testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Government Oversight and Reform Committee concerning public health pandemic
influenza preparedness and resource needs. In addition, he participated in a White House meeting on the national response to Novel H1N1 Influenza in September 2009. In June 2010, Mr. Allan participated on behalf of NACCHO in a congressional briefing on local public health job losses.
Mary Applegate, M.D., is double-boarded in pediatrics and internal medicine. After more than 20 years of experience in rural private practice, Dr. Applegate now serves as the medical director of Ohio Medicaid. She is responsible for infusing high-quality clinical medicine into the program, driving improvements in health outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries. Dr. Applegate leads several quality improvement initiatives across multiple agencies and disciplines—particularly in the fields of perinatal health, physical and mental health integration, and the appropriate utilization of high-risk drugs such as atypical antipsychotics and opioids. She spearheads the perinatal workgroup for the Medicaid Medical Directors Network and co-chairs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expert panel to improve maternal and infant outcomes. Her other interests include home and hospice care, patient empowerment, and health system transformation. Dr. Applegate is an honors graduate of The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Guthrie Birkhead, M.D., M.P.H., is deputy commissioner in charge of all public health programs at the New York State Department of Health. He is the chief public health physician in the department and directs the Office of Public Health, which encompasses public health programs in the Center for Community Health (communicable disease control, maternal child health, chronic disease, nutrition), the Center for Environmental Health, the AIDS Institute (HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis), the Wadsworth Laboratory, the Office of Health Emergency Preparedness, the Office of Public Health Informatics and Project Management, and the Office of Public Health Practice (Article 6 and performance management programs). Dr. Birkhead is board certified in internal medicine and preventive medicine. He is also professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health, University at Albany.
Nicole Carkner, M.B.A., has been the executive director of the Quad City Health Initiative since 2001. As executive director, Ms. Carkner develops and facilitates cross-sector collaborative partnerships to create a healthier community in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Formerly, Ms. Carkner was a health care management consultant working across the country with hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies, health care insurers, and health-related government agencies. Her expertise includes strategic planning, community health assessments, population health manage-
ment, and project leadership. Ms. Carkner serves on the national Advisory Council of the Association for Community Health Improvement. She holds an M.B.A. in health care management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an A.B. degree with majors in biology and government from Dartmouth College.
Joseph Cunningham, M.D., is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Cunningham spent 21 years in private practice serving as a staff physician at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa. He then joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma in 2007 as the medical director of medical services over the Utilization Management and Case Management Departments. Two years later, he was named the company’s vice president of health care management and chief medical officer. In December 2014 he was named the vice president of health care delivery and chief medical officer overseeing both medical and network/provider areas. A native of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, Dr. Cunningham earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry and attended medical school at the University of Arkansas. He also conducted postgraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma–Tulsa. Dr. Cunningham is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and he is a member of both the Oklahoma State Medical Association and the Tulsa County Medical Society.
Paul Jarris, M.D., M.B.A., has served as the executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) since June 2006. Prior to his appointment at ASTHO, Dr. Jarris served as commissioner of health at the Vermont Department of Health from 2003 to 2006. His achievements included conceiving and implementing the Vermont Blueprint for Health, a statewide public–private partnership to improve health while reforming the state’s health care system. Dr. Jarris also led the establishment of Vermont’s first inpatient substance abuse treatment program for adolescents and women. Leaving Vermont to lead ASTHO, Dr. Jarris continued to combine his passion for family medicine and public health. Under his leadership, ASTHO became a founding organization for the Public Health Accreditation Board and the Alliance to Make U.S. Healthiest. During the 2009 H1N1 crisis, Dr. Jarris positioned ASTHO as a vital link facilitating effective pandemic coordination efforts between state health agencies, the White House, Congress, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and national retail pharmacies. Among other accomplishments at ASTHO, he fostered partnerships between state health agencies, the March of Dimes, and the Health Resources and Services Administration that have dramatically improved preterm birth outcomes. Dr. Jarris also oversaw the creation of the ASTHO-supported Primary Care and
Public Health Collaborative, a network of 63 leading health care and public health organizations with the mission of implementing integrated efforts to improve population health and lower health cost.
Sarah Linde, M.D., RADM, is a medical officer in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. She currently serves as the chief public health officer for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which works to improve health and achieve health equity through access to quality services, a skilled health workforce, and innovative programs. Prior to HRSA, Dr. Linde was the deputy director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Office of Public Health and Science in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There, she helped oversee national disease prevention and health promotion activities, including Healthy People, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Physical Activity Guidelines. Her previous assignments include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development, which helps in the development of drugs, biologics, and devices for rare diseases, and the National Health Service Corps in HRSA, where she served as the director of the Shenandoah Valley Family Health Center, a community health center in Inwood, West Virginia. Dr. Linde is board certified in family practice and is a graduate of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Medical School in Bethesda, Maryland.
Paul W. Mattessich, Ph.D., has served as executive director of Wilder Research since 1982, building a research team of about 80 people from multiple disciplines who devote themselves to increasing the effectiveness of services, programs, organizations, and policies intended to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Mattessich lectures frequently throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, especially on topics of organization and service effectiveness, collaboration/partnerships, and major social trends. He has written or cowritten more than 300 publications. Since 2000, he has spent several weeks each year in Belfast, Northern Ireland, working with youth development and civic engagement organizations that promote democratic skills to bring communities together and to resolve conflict. He has served on a variety of government and nonprofit boards of directors and special task forces. He currently sits on the boards of the Hamm Memorial Psychiatric Clinic and of Minnesota Community Measurement. He has an appointment as adjunct faculty in the Department of Youth Studies, School of Social Work, at the University of Minnesota. He received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Minnesota.
Lloyd Michener, M.D., is professor and chairman of the Duke Department of Community and Family Medicine, director of the Duke Center for Community Research, and clinical professor in the Duke School of Nursing. He co-chairs the Community Engagement Steering Committee for the Clinical Translation Science Awards of the National Institutes of Health and is a member of the board of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Dr. Michener is past president of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) and received the APTR Duncan Clark Award in 2013. He is also a past member of the Institute of Medicine committee whose work led to the publication of Primary Care and Public Health: Exploring Integration to Improve Population Health. At Duke, Dr. Michener founded the training programs in nutrition and prevention; helps coordinate the institutional chronic disease programs; and oversees the Master’s Program in Clinical Leadership, a joint program of the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Business, Law, and the Institute of Public Policy. As chair of the department, he leads the family medicine, preventive/occupational medicine, community health, informatics, and physician assistant and physical therapy programs. Dr. Michener’s primary interest is in redesigning health care to improve community health outcomes and in rapidly transforming health care delivery systems with a focus on finding ways of making health care work better through teams, community engagement, and practice redesign. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1974 and from Harvard Medical School in 1978. He was a resident in family medicine at Duke from 1978 to 1981 and a Kellogg Fellow in Family Medicine from 1981 to 1982, after which he joined the Duke faculty. In 1994, he was named professor and chairman of the department.
Shari Nethersole, M.D., is the medical director for community health at Boston Children’s Hospital. For more than 25 years, Dr. Nethersole has been a pediatrician caring for children in Boston and still sees patients in the Children’s Hospital Primary Care Center. In her role as medical director, she oversees the hospital’s community health mission, which addresses the most pressing health issues affecting children in our cities—currently asthma, mental health, obesity, and child development. She works with community organizations, community health centers, schools, and city and state agencies to address health disparities and improve the health of children and families in the community through programming, partnerships, and advocacy. She established the Community Asthma Initiative in 2005 as well as the Fitness in the City Program to address childhood obesity. She is also an active advocate at the city and state level for child health priorities. In addition to external collaborations, Dr. Nethersole facilitates the internal hospital connections and collabora-
tions needed to support the community health mission, trying to align the clinical mission and services of the hospital with community health needs.
Lawrence Prybil, Ph.D., is the Norton Professor in Healthcare Leadership and associate dean at the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Iowa, where he served as associate dean and senior advisor to the dean in the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health. Before returning to Iowa to participate in building its new College of Public Health, Dr. Prybil held senior executive positions in two of our country’s largest nonprofit health systems for nearly 20 years, including 10 years as chief executive officer for a 6-state division of the Daughters of Charity National Health System. Dr. Prybil received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine and is a Life Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has served on the governing boards of hospitals, health systems, state hospital associations, the American Hospital Association, and other nonprofit and investor-owned organizations. He presently serves on the national board of the American Hospital Association’s Center for Healthcare Governance. Dr. Prybil has written or co-written 101 publications. He is recognized for expertise in governance and executive leadership, has directed a series of national studies regarding governance practices in nonprofit hospitals and health systems, and recently completed a study of successful partnerships involving hospitals, public health departments, and other stakeholders focused on improving the health of communities they jointly serve.
Sunny Ramchandani, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, is commander and medical director in the Healthcare Business Directorate, Naval Medical Center San Diego, and is a lieutenant commander and physician in the U.S. Navy. He was previously the integrated chief of general internal medicine at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he cofounded an innovative primary care delivery model that has enhanced quality, reduced overall costs, and been adopted by the entire U.S. military health system. In 2009, he deployed to Afghanistan as the senior medical mentor for the Afghan National Security Forces, guided the execution of a new health care reconstruction strategy, and received the Bronze Star. Dr. Ramchandani earned his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health and his M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, where he received the Norman Herzig Award for his dedication to humanitarian service in India. He earned his B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a Truman Scholar and graduated first in his class academically.
Margaret Reid, R.N., is director of the Division of Healthy Homes and Community Supports at the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). With Ms. Reid’s background in community health nursing, she has spearheaded multiple efforts at the BPHC to connect clinical care with public health systems and policy efforts, most recently working with Boston health centers to introduce into pediatric electronic health records tobacco use screening and referral to counseling for parents and to introduce asthma assessment and referral for home visits. Ms. Reid oversees Breathe Easy at Home and the Boston Asthma Home Visit Collaborative, both recipients of national recognition. Ms. Reid has received the Revere Award for Excellence in Public Health, the highest award given to a BPHC employee.
Julie K. Wood, M.D., FAAFP, became the senior vice president for health of the public and interprofessional activities of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in 2013 after a lengthy period of member service with the AAFP, including serving on its board of directors. She has oversight responsibilities for the public health, scientific, and research activities of the AAFP, as well as the AAFP’s relationships with other medical organizations in the United States and abroad. Through these relationships, Dr. Wood facilitates the continued development of family medicine and coordinates the AAFP’s international activities. Dr. Wood oversees AAFP efforts to involve family physicians in targeted public health activities, including tobacco, obesity, exercise, and immunization. Science staff develops clinical policies and supports, conducts, and disseminates practice-based primary care research with the aim of improving health and health care for patients, their families, and communities. Under Dr. Wood’s direction, the AAFP helps lead family physicians in health promotion, disease prevention, and chronic disease management as outlined in the AAFP’s mission and strategic plan. She leads the AAFP in its efforts to explore collaborative opportunities in additional areas related to the health of the public, such as health disparities, patient education, social determinants of health, and medical genomics. As vice president, Dr. Wood also helps direct organization-wide strategy and policy-development activities in addition to participating actively in the work of the AAFP Board of Directors. She is based at the AAFP’s headquarters office in Leawood, Kansas. Dr. Wood has been a practicing family physician for nearly 20 years, starting out as a solo rural family physician in her hometown of Macon, Missouri. She has a breadth of experience in family medicine, serving a diverse range of patient populations. Before joining the AAFP staff, Dr. Wood served as associate director of Research Family Medicine Residency Program in Kansas City, Missouri. She also served as the medical director of Goppert-Trinity Family Care, a 55-provider
outpatient clinic. Dr. Wood served as the physician lead for the clinic’s involvement in a multicenter, patient-centered medical home pilot project, which led to the clinic being among the first in Kansas City to achieve recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a Level 3 patient-centered medical home. A member of the AAFP since 1988, Wood has served on numerous committees and commissions, including the Commission on Public Health and Science, the Commission on Health Care Services, the Commission on Membership and Member Services, and the Committee for Special Constituencies. She most recently served as chair of the Commission on Public Health and Science. Wood earned her undergraduate degree and her medical degree from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She then completed her residency at Via Christi–St. Francis Family Medicine Residency Program in Wichita, Kansas. She is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and has the AAFP Degree of Fellow, an earned degree awarded to family physicians for distinguished service and continuing medical education.
Theodore Wymyslo, M.D., is a family physician with more than 30 years of experience as a clinician. He has held leadership roles in family practice residency training, medical student teaching, local and state professional associations, free clinic and homeless shelter health care delivery, public health, and patient-centered medical home (PCMH) advocacy across the state of Ohio. He is the immediate past director of the Ohio Department of Health (2011–2014), appointed by Ohio Governor John Kasich. Prior to that appointment, Dr. Wymyslo served as the director of Family Medicine Dayton, a PCMH initiative. As director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Wymyslo established the Ohio Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, convening stakeholders from across Ohio to effect health care delivery reform. Today, Dr. Wymyslo serves as the chief medical officer of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, with 44 Federally Qualified Health Center members serving 563,000 patients in 220 sites across the state, 85 of which are PCMH-recognized. He is also senior advisor to Better Health Greater Cleveland, an alliance for improved health care in Northeast Ohio, with 70 primary care practices across seven counties engaged in a regional learning collaborative. Dr. Wymyslo sits on the boards of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians and Better Health Greater Cleveland and serves as a volunteer family physician at the Physicians Free Clinic at Columbus Public Health. He graduated from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, is board certified in family medicine, and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Family Physicians. He served as the program director of the Miami Valley Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program for more than 20 years, with a teaching appointment in the Department of Family Medicine at the Wright
State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. For his involvement in teaching and community service, Dr. Wymyslo has received a number of recognition awards, including the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation’s Philanthropist of the Year Award in 2003, the American Medical Association Foundation’s Pride in the Profession Award in 2006, the Ohio Academy of Family Physician’s Torchlight Leadership Achievement Award in 2009, the Ohio State Medical Association’s Physician Advocate of the Year Award in 2014, and most recently the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s first Primary Care Community Leadership Award in November 2014. With many years of experience in both primary care and public health, he continues his efforts to identify opportunities for collaboration between these disciplines in an effort to improve population health.
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