2017 Speaking Faculty

Dr. Bartlett Ellis is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing (Indianapolis) and has been in this role since 2013 following completion of her PhD. She brings expertise in symptom management, behavioral theory, and understanding mechanisms of behavior change in chronic illness self-management. Dr. Bartlett Ellis is a board certified advanced practice clinical nurse specialist and has expertise in influencing healthcare in three spheres of influence 1) the patient/family, 2) the healthcare team, and 3) the healthcare system. Her expertise is grounded in her clinical practice in adult health and research in behavioral science related to self-care and medication management. Since 2005, she has been involved in interdisciplinary research and all of her research experiences have focused on biobehavioral, interdisciplinary projects involving children or adults with acute or chronic illness. Dr. Bartlett Ellis's research aims to produce new knowledge to reduce the complexity of medication self-management and improve adherence in people managing multiple chronic conditions. Her research interests lie in in the use of sensors and mobile health (mHealth) technologies to measure the socio-cultural contexts and biobehavioral mechanisms related to medication-taking behaviors, adherence and treatment efficacy.

Laura Cooley, PhD is Senior Director of Education and Outreach for The American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH). She leads strategic efforts to support the AACH mission by collaborating with healthcare leaders to develop and deliver customized communication skills training programs. While earning her doctorate in health communication she examined organizational and interpersonal communication dynamics encountered across the healthcare context. Her research interests include the intersections between patient-centered care, interpersonal skills, mindfulness, empathy, and communication in the end-of-life context. She has led presentations at many notable U.S. healthcare centers and at national events hosted by organizations such as, The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The American Medical Group Association (AMGA), Planetree, The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), The Beryl Institute, and Press Ganey.

Dr. Dearman is Director of Pharmacy and Health Risk Management for Vantage Health Plan which is a regional HMO located in Monroe, Louisiana. Over the past 6 years, he developed Clinical Pharmacy Services including programs for MTM, Disease Management / Case Management, Medication Adherence, High-Risk Medication Reduction, and Tobacco Cessation for Vantage.
He is Clinical Team leader of the VantageCare Disease Management Program which provides personal telephonic disease management and coordination with other health-care professionals in caring for patients who have multiple chronic conditions, and are considered high-risk and high-utilization.

Dr. Dearman is also a practicing Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacist providing face-to-face and telephonic MTM, Tobacco Cessation Treatment and lung-function testing in Affinity Health Group Medical Clinics on a weekly basis.
Over the last two decades, Dr. Dearman has educated a wide variety of healthcare professionals as well as industry, students and other public groups of all ages on topics such as MTM, What Pharmacists Can Do To Improve Health and Patient Care, Medications for Treating Diabetes, Asthma Pharmacotherapy, Asthma Patient Care, Herbal Medicines and Phytotherapy, Patient-Centered Medical Home Clinical Pharmacy Services, Medication Management in the Elderly, Disease Management in the Medical Home, Medications for COPD, Managing Your Medications, and Client-Centered Medication Analysis and Management Therapy.

Dr. Dearman obtained his Bachelors of Science degree in Pharmacy from ULM School of Pharmacy and his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. Upon completion of training, he obtained his BPS Board Certification in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy and holds certifications as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist (CTTS), as well as a Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C) and Certified Disease Manager in Diabetes (CDM). He was previously with the Louisiana Asthma H.E.L.P. program working through the Office of Outcomes and Research Evaluation located at the ULM School of Pharmacy providing telephonic pharmaceutical care for Medicaid recipients diagnosed with asthma.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, he volunteered his time and knowledge to provide disease management, counseling, supplies, patient care and emergency medications to evacuees while working with the National Guard, Louisiana DHH, FEMA, the Red Cross and other volunteer clinicians from around the country. Dr. Dearman is a member of many professional Pharmacy and trade organizations including the Louisiana Pharmacists Association, the American Pharmacists Association, the American College of Clinical Pharmacists, the Fifth District Pharmacists Association, and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists.

Jon Easter joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in January 2016 as a Professor of the Practice and Director, Center for Medication Optimization through Practice and Policy (CMOPP). The goal of the CMOPP is to create real world, validated evidence that demonstrates the impact of medication optimization within emerging value based payment models.

Previously, Jon spent 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he primarily worked in the health policy arena. He led a team that facilitated the adoption of evidence based quality measures and drove care delivery improvements through better coordination and medication management. Jon championed North Carolina First in Health, a self-insured patient-centered medical home project. He co-authored a prescriptive analytics pilot through a collaboration with Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) that aimed to improve patient care through better medication management. He was also directly involved with replication of the Asheville Project, a recognized model for care coordination to improve patient outcomes for chronic disease. Jon has a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Georgia and is a registered pharmacist.

Lynn Deguzman, Pharm.D., has served as the Clinical Operations Manager for Northern California. She manages several Kaiser Clinical Pharmacy programs, including the Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management, Medication Adherence and De-prescribing programs at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA.

Lynn has been with Kaiser Permanente for 10 years. She began her career at Kaiser Permanente as an Inpatient Pharmacist in 2003 and served as an Ambulatory Care Pharmacist from 2007-2011. As an Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, she actively managed patients with diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, COPD and anticoagulation needs.

Lynn received her B.S. in Chemistry/Biology from St. Mary’s College of California in 1997 and her Pharm.D. from the University of California School of Pharmacy in 2003.

Sarah Hodkinson is VP, Marketing for Smarter Travel, a subsidiary of TripAdvisor. In this role Sarah oversees a team that is responsible for driving consumer acquisition and engagement. Her charter includes search engine marketing, digital advertising, CRM, brand marketing, PR and creative functions.

Prior to joining TripAdvisor, Sarah spent 5 years as Senior Director, Marketing at PayPal, overseeing marketing operations and strategic partnerships.

A passionate advocate for diversity in tech, Sarah has previously served on the board of StartOut, a non-profit that cultivates entrepreneurship within the LGBTQ community and has also spoken at the Lesbians Who Tech summit and Fenway Community Health.

In 2015, Sarah was honored by VC firm, Accomplice, as one of Boston’s Top 20 Women in Tech. Originally from the UK, Sarah graduated from Lancaster University. She is also an active angel investor, advisor to start-ups and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Radius Bank.

Eva Klein is VP of Customer Success at HubSpot, a technology company that builds sales and marketing software. In her current role, Eva brings her 15+ years of experience in the quantifiable world of business development, to the softer art of customer success. Prior to joining HubSpot, Eva held senior positions at Constant Contact, Invoca, Enservio and FatWallet where she delivered substantial customer and revenue growth. Eva has also served on advisory boards for Google, Rakuten Marketing, Commission Junction, and CouponCabin.

Scott LaNeve is the Senior Vice President of Health and Patient Care Systems at HealthTrackRx, a clinical solutions provider based in Denton, Texas. He is a national advocate for the prevention of opioid misuse through vigilant patient monitoring. Working with federal, state, and local leaders, Mr. LaNeve recently developed and launched a clinical support program to help providers meet best practice monitoring protocols, a program that now includes 30 clinical sites in locations hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. His career experience includes leadership roles with healthcare companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Roche and Quest Diagnostics. He is certified in both Six Sigma and Lean process engineering. Mr. LaNeve is a former Army officer and combat veteran.

Melanie Livet, Ph.D., joined the Center for Medication Optimization through Practice and Policy in September 2016 as research assistant professor. As the CMOPP implementation scientist, she is instrumental in infusing implementation practice and research into the Center projects. Livet has more than 13 years of professional experience in the areas of public health and social sciences, with specialized expertise in the application and testing of implementation science frameworks, capacity building strategies, organizational factors, evaluation methodologies, and digitized implementation support tools.

Livet has contributed to implementation science through a number of applied research and practice projects, including operationalization of the Interactive Systems Framework and Getting To Outcomes model for youth development and public health emergency preparedness; evaluations of implementation feasibility in violence prevention; contributions to the practice and theory of empowerment evaluation; and the development and testing of digitized implementation support tools. Livet authored and co-authored multiple articles in peer-reviewed journals on diverse implementation science and evaluation topics, and has written numerous reports.

Livet previously worked in both private industry and academia, as implementation scientist for the 3C Institute, an R&D; firm; associate director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department for Scimetrika, a government contracting organization; and assistant director and senior evaluator for the University of South Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Sarah leads BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina’s corporate customer experience and large group product marketing areas. She has championed numerous consumer engagement efforts including the direction of sponsored well-being programs, implementation of a corporate virtual visit solution and most recently the creation and execution of the company’s digital strategy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Relations from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in Political Management from George Washington University.

Jerry McKee is a psychiatric pharmacy specialist with over 30 years in public mental health systems in inpatient psychiatry and residential developmental disabilities, academia, and correctional mental health services. Jerry is Board Certified in Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacy, having received his undergraduate and graduate pharmacy training at UNC, and currently serves as Medical Affairs Director of Pharmacy with Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) in Raleigh, N.C. One of the primary projects with which he is associated at CCNC is connecting patients with behavioral health and medical needs and their providers with a pharmacy network designed to meet the unique needs of this population, who will be reimbursed for clinical and enhanced dispensing services. He serves as an active member of many professional organizations, including the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, past president of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists and current Foundation Board member, past member and chair of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties Psychiatric Specialist Council, and current member of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties Executive Board of Directors representing psychiatric pharmacy. Jerry is a certified adult Mental Health First Aid instructor.

Joe Moose, PharmD, is a clinical pharmacist and co-owner of Moose Pharmacy and it’s 6 locations in NC. Joe received his Doctorate of Pharmacy from Campbell University (1990). Joe serves as a primary preceptor with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Community Pharmacy Residency Program. He is also a preceptor for students completing introductory and advanced practice experiential education rotations with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Campbell University, Pittsburg University and Wingate University School of Pharmacy.

He has contributed to the state of North Carolina by serving on a variety of committees, including chairperson for the NC Medicaid Drug Utilization Review. In his role at Moose Pharmacy, he has established collaborative practice agreements with local physician’s offices to integrate community pharmacists into a patient-centered medical home. Under his leadership, Moose Pharmacy has also partnered with the City of Charlotte and Union County to manage employees enrolled in diabetes and other disease management programs. Working with his pharmacy staff, Joe has implemented and enhanced a variety of clinical services in his pharmacy, including MTM.

Joe also serves as the Lead Community Pharmacy Coordinator for Community Care of North Carolina. In this role he has built a network of over 200 high quality community pharmacies that strive to offer enhanced value to payors.

He is the recipient of the Bowl of Hygiea 2016, Next Generation Pharmacist of the Year Award, Next Generation Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2015 APhA Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence in Precepting Award, and 2010 NCPA Nation Preceptor of the Year.

He has maintained professional affiliations with the National Community Pharmacists Association, American Pharmacists Association, and North Carolina Association of Pharmacists.

In this role, Ms. Petrin handles the overall strategic management of RxAnte’s portfolio of client accounts, serving as an expert on client issues and the development and deployment of RxAnte’s products and services. Prior to joining RxAnte, Ms. Petrin worked as a Project Officer for the Beacon Community Program, a $250M federal health IT demonstration project at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), managing a portfolio of investments in several geographic regions and acting as the program lead for data and performance measurement activities. Before joining ONC, Ms. Petrin held roles at The Brookings Institution concentrating on quality measurement and accountable care, and the Puget Sound Health Alliance, focusing on quality measurement and public reporting for a multi-stakeholder regional collaborative in the Puget Sound region of Washington State.

Ms. Petrin holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science from Duke University.

Adam has been with UPMC Health Plan for 10 years holding various roles in Sales and Product Development. Currently he is responsible for strategic development and P&L; for the Individual and Small Group market segments. He was responsible for launching the Individual business line in 2012 for UPMC and subsequent launch of ACA compliant Small Group and Individual plans in 2014.

Jan Reed recently joined the RelayHealth Business Development team for Payer Solutions. Previously with Molina Health Care, she focused her team on outreach efforts aligned to HEDIS and CAHPS improvement. She brings passion and experience for consumer health, leveraging her experience and knowledge to help ensure bottom line results.

With over 20 years of leadership experience in operations, marketing and product development, Jan understands the requirements, the barriers, and the regulatory environment. Through her experience in PBM, Government Health Plans, Third Party Administration, Population Health and Chronic Disease Management, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her customers to help best align their strategic goals with customized solutions.

Susan helps companies facing massive change solve problems and capitalize on opportunities more effectively, through more creative thinking. Some of the world’s largest corporations call on Susan to consult with them on innovation initiatives, strategy, and culture. Clients include Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Florida Blue, & Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

She was a keynote speaker at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center Innovation Expo, and is a frequent speaker in creativity and innovation across the U.S. and around the world. She has spoken at conferences and led innovation initiatives in places as diverse as South Africa, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the U.K., China, France, Brazil, Mexico, and Greece.

She teaches executive education and graduate level courses in creative thinking at Harvard University, as well as being a senior faculty member at the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute, the largest and longest-running innovative thinking conference in the world.

Chuck Rynearson is responsible for application of analytics and data to a wide range of business scenarios – health analytics, reporting, solution development, research, quality, medical/pharmacy expense and utilization. In addition, he is responsible for, development of future pharmacy benefit designs and formulary management. Chuck graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with his B.S. in pharmacy and later earned his M.S. in Health Care Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Chuck has over 19 year of managed care experience. He helped to set up the Medicare Advantage Part D program at Network Health and has been working with the program since its inception in 2006.

Dr. Michael Sherman recently joined Harvard Pilgrim Health Care as senior vice president, chief medical officer. For the preceding four years, he served as corporate medical director, physician strategies for Humana, focusing on developing collaborative programs with provider organizations to support their mutual goal of delivering the highest quality care to their patients. Under his direction, Humana implemented a number of Pay for Performance programs as well as a leading edge Medical Home initiative that had over 50,000 members receiving care in affiliated practices and successfully reduced ER and inpatient spend while simultaneously improving the quality of care provided and both physician and member satisfaction.

Prior to joining Humana, he held several roles with UnitedHealth Group, including vice president, network and consumer solutions, for Ingenix and also spent time supporting UnitedHealthcare's commercial business. He also served as chief business development officer for United's Medicare Part D business, overseeing its channel partner strategy & execution, including sales to employers, brokers and states.

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Dr. Sherman held the position of vice president and general manager at Thomson Medstat (now Thomson Reuters), which provides health information solutions to the payer, provider and research markets. He also served as vice president, business development and product management, for HealthAllies, an organization created to provide discretionary medical benefits to the cash-pay market, which was purchased by UnitedHealth Group in 2003. Dr. Sherman's other roles include stints at Immusol, a San Diego-based biotechnology company, where he served as vice president, medical and clinical affairs and as director, business development, at Total Renal Care (now known as Da Vita), a national provider of dialysis services.

Dr. Sherman holds a B.A. degree in Anthropology and Natural Sciences and an M.S. in Biomedical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his M.D. degree from Yale and M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Dr. Sherman is a diplomate of both the American Board of Anesthesiology and American Board of Medical Management, and he practiced as a cardiac anesthesiologist prior to pursuing his MBA. In addition, in 2009, he was named a fellow of the American College of Physician Executives in recognition of his national contributions to the field of medical management.

Dr. Sherman has been a frequent speaker at national meetings and has been a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School. He is on the editorial board of the journal, Biotechnology Healthcare, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Hennepin County History Museum.

Troy Shirley received his doctor of pharmacy degree from Ohio Northern University, completed his pharmacy residency at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, and received his MBA from Ohio University. Dr. Shirley’s residency had a strong emphasis on ambulatory pharmacy and his first role post-residency training was as a clinical pharmacist with a family medicine program and anticoagulation clinic. Dr. Shirley then transitioned to hospital leadership roles with OhioHealth in Columbus, ranging from pharmacy leadership to general hospital operations, and was instrumental in the development and growth of hospital and ambulatory service offerings with a new start hospital in central Ohio. Dr. Shirley has also served as the corporate pharmacy leader for Lakeland Health in St. Joseph, Michigan, developing the overall organizational strategy and operational leadership for the pharmacy. Currently, Dr. Shirley serves as the System Director of Pharmacy for Bronson Healthcare, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His primary focus is expanding the pharmacy service line across the system, which includes the recent implementation of an ambulatory pharmacy program and expansion of the discharge medication program. In addition to his leadership roles, Dr. Shirley has also led pharmacy residency programs; held faculty appointments with Ohio Northern University, Ohio State University, and Ferris State University; was on the board of directors for the Ohio Society of Health System Pharmacists; is a current committee member for the Michigan Pharmacists Association; and serves on the board of directors for Senior Services of Southwest Michigan.

Juhan Sonin specializes in healthcare design and system engineering. He is the Director of Involution Studios (goinvo.com). His work has been recognized by the New York Times, Newsweek, BBC International, WIRED, and National Public Radio (NPR) and published in The Journal of Participatory Medicine and The Lancet. Juhan has spent time at Apple, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and MITRE. He currently lectures on design and engineering at MIT.

Juhan’s laser focus on healthcare and open source design has infected national efforts for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). His open source healthcare products have also been leveraged by Walgreens, Crossover Health, NextGen EHR, and Hallmark Clinics, to name a few. In 2017, his team is shipping a national clinical decision support (CDS) authoring tool and open source precision medicine services.

Dr. Strohecker is the Senior Pharmacy Director for Molina Healthcare, in Long Beach, California. She oversees clinical pharmacy initiatives which span MTM services, adherence interventions for STAR and HEDIS metrics, and corporate quality improvement projects. She is actively involved in outcomes research within Molina Healthcare. Her areas of expertise include clinical research, components of effective pharmacist/patient communication, medication adherence, and pharmacy process improvement.

Dr. Strohecker has practiced as a pharmacist for 17 years in a variety of settings including the pharmaceutical industry, community pharmacy, pediatric intensive care unit, cardiology ambulatory care, and as full-time faculty with a college of pharmacy. In 2010, her research with patient-physician communication regarding warfarin and herbal supplements was recognized at The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions Meeting in Chicago, Illinois and the Heart Rhythm Society Meeting in Denver, Colorado as notable media pieces. In 2017, she was selected by PQA to present her Hepatitis C research at their national meeting. She is a nationally recognized speaker for MTM and has chaired several MTM conferences. Dr. Strohecker participates in annual mission trips to Cuba and Guatemala and is an active member of several national pharmacy organizations.

Dr. Strohecker received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida, followed by postgraduate training, including Board Certification as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist.

Cecilia Sun is vice president of Digital Customer Experience at Blue Shield of California, a 4 million-member nonprofit health plan that serves the state’s commercial, individual and government markets. She is responsible for Blue Shield’s digital experience across all user groups, including members, providers, brokers and employers.

Cecilia has more than 15 years of experience in product development, partnership management and customer experience for large organizations. Prior to joining Blue Shield, she served as vice president of Global Digital Servicing at American Express, where she led a global team of product managers responsible for developing customer facing digital products and experiences, including live chat, voice response and mobile video service channels.

Cecilia earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Patrick Tracy is the Senior Director of Exchange Operations and for UPMC Health Plan of Pittsburgh. In addition, he also oversees the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) product at UPMC, known as UPMC for Kids, which is the largest CHIP program in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Tracy has almost 20 years of experience in health care administration and consulting, with a focus on product implementations, operations, and regulatory compliance. He has presented at national conferences on many topics, including member retention and engagement, Exchange compliance, and regulatory audit readiness.

Prior to joining UPMC Health Plan, Mr. Tracy was a health and human services consultant with Deloitte in Pittsburgh and with CGI Group, Inc., in New York City. He has a B.A. from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and an M.P.A. from New York University.

Jim manages the Federal Government Markets Unit at Connecture and is responsible for all aspects of delivering software, data, and services to Federal agencies, including the operations of the Medicare Part D Plan Finder and Online Enrollment Center for Medicare.gov, the first Federal Healthcare Exchange. Prior to its acquisition by Connecture, Jim was head of Business Development for DRX, where he managed the firm’s initial implementation of the Medicare Part D systems for CMS from 2003-2006. Jim joined DRX from Acacia Capital Partners, an advisory firm to private equity investors. Before Acacia, he co-founded Futurestep while at the idealab! incubator (now a division of Korn/Ferry) and served as its VP of Business Development. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Jim was a consultant with McKinsey and Company.