2018 Speaking Faculty

For the past 12 years, Katie Alexander has progressed through the industry of physician relations from a field representative to her current role as Director of Physician Relations and Community Engagement for Tampa General Hospital. Her efforts have grown the physician relations department from a team of two that served primarily as liaisons for existing medical staff to a department of 11, focused on business development. Her department has successfully maintained an ROI of greater than 100 percent and have worked to streamline referrals from employed providers to achieve 74% retention. She is a mother of two and Florida native.

Josh Cameron is a Senior Client Success Strategist at Marketware. He partners with different healthcare organizations throughout the country to identify growth opportunities through Marketware’s relationship management and analytics technology. Previously, he served in the marketing department for an oncology group by leading a liaison team in the competitive Houston market. He is currently working towards completing his MBA in Healthcare Management at UT Tyler. Outside of his role at Marketware, Josh and his wife are frequent attendees at Astros games here in Houston.

Over the past ten years, Hunter has served in a variety of roles in healthcare. Her current role as Physician Access Liaison has allowed her to stretch her passion for this community beyond county lines and take a regional approach to needs and access to care. In former roles, she had the opportunity to serve our regional hospital alliance group’s Health Information Exchange (HIE), connecting over 720 providers in an eleven county region. Her current role allows her to build off many of these relationships, serving as an advocate between providers in the community and healthcare leaders. Housed in Strategic Services, Hunter’s role as Physician Access Liaison allows her to interact with providers in both our primary and secondary markets—gaining better understanding of needs, potential areas of collaboration and ultimately to ensure we are delivering the best quality of care to patients in our region as whole. As a regional trauma center, it is vital we understand the ever-evolving needs, landscape and systems in our secondary markets. Closing gaps in access to care is another way her role allows her to support NHRMC’s belief that our commitment to the patient extends beyond the doors of our facilities, working to build a healthier community.

Aaron Fisher grew up in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Biology. He has 17 years of healthcare sales and marketing experience, and currently serves as Director of Physician Liaison Services for Atrium Health, formerly known as Carolinas HealthCare System. In this role, Aaron is responsible for leading service line outreach planning for Atrium Health’s 18 metropolitan facilities.

Aaron is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Association of Physician Liaisons and was recently elected to serve on the Board for Lincoln County Habitat for Humanity. Outside of work, Aaron enjoys spending time on the lake with his wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 3. His family also looks forward to the arrival of their third daughter this Spring.

Kenya Gibbs a graduate of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA and currently works in Business Development for Shriners Hospitals for Children – Houston as a Physician Liaison, charged with the growth of referrals, hospital exposure, community involvement and awareness covering the entire state of Texas and boarding states.

Kenya has been in various areas of business development for 20+ years with progressive experience in developing cutting edge business methodologies, sales strategies, and account management with a recent focus in the medical field providing business development and sales management.

She has gone from sales manager to Assistant VP in the banking industry, owned several businesses from retail, real estate to business consultant. Kenya presently sits on the board for 2 nonprofit organizations that focus on underserved youth. She is also a member of the Houston Live Stock and Rodeo Black heritage Committee.

Kenya the proud mother of two strong academically and athletic teens, one pursuing his aspirations to compete in the Olympics in Track and Field and the other passionately thriving to become a professional tennis player. Her passions include helping others pursue and accomplish goals in their business image, enjoying and collecting art form around the world, cooking and traveling. For 2018 Kenya has charged herself with exceeding all previous years referral goals, obtaining her real estate license, visiting two new countries, and taking Spanish courses.

With a background in recruitment, retention, locum tenens placement, medical staff development and credentialing, Kathy has been in the Physician Relations field for over 30 years.

To date, Kathy has initiated Physician Recruitment and Relations departments in private practices, academic institutions and large hospital systems. In addition to starting her own consulting firm, Kathy has placed physicians throughout eastern North Carolina for clients such as Wake Med, Raleigh Internal Medicine, LeBauer Group, ECIM, Wilmington Health Associates and most recently, New Hanover Regional Medical Center where she serves as the Director of Physician Relations.

Kathy graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health with a degree in Health Education. She served as a Board Member for Carolinas Association for Physician Services and as President in 2011. She is a member of the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters and the North Carolina Medical Group Managers Associations. She is very active in numerous community non-profit agencies, most recently as President of the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services Board and was Auction Chair for the 2014 and 2015 Cape Fear Heart Ball.

Kathy has two daughters who are also service oriented. Catherine Ayer just completed two years in the Americorp program serving in Denver, Colorado. Margaret recently graduated Magna Cum Laude in at North Carolina State in Raleigh in the School of Engineering and is pursuing her Naval career as an Ensign in the United States Navy where she too, serves as a Naval recruiter. When not in the hospital, you will find Kathy fishing, cooking or enjoying her standup paddleboard.

Keith serves as the Director of Marketing, Physician Relations and Industry for Person Memorial Hospital of Duke LifePoint Health. His role at the facility is wide-ranging encompassing marketing, physician relations, business development and physician recruiting. As someone who enjoys an exciting challenge, Keith’s varied personal, educational and professional background and skill set have suited him for such a diversified role.

Keith entered the business of healthcare through the competitive domain of physician recruiting in Dallas, Texas, learning consulting and internal recruiting from top organizations such as AMN Healthcare, Humana, Inc and Baylor, Scott & White Health. Prior to returning to the community hospital setting, he had the entrepreneurial opportunity to co-found and operate Afferent Solutions, a physician recruiting and financial services firm. In a previous career, Keith enjoyed the exciting lifestyle of an expatriate abroad where he served as a Professor of English at Chungbuk National University just outside of Seoul, South Korea giving him the opportunity to spend his summers backpacking around Asia.

His experiences in business of healthcare has inspired him to pursue ongoing educational opportunities earning Masters’ Degrees in Healthcare Management and an Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas in addition to graduate and undergraduate degrees in Psychology and a Yellow Belt in Lean Six Sigma for Healthcare. Keith is passionate about the importance of quality community healthcare, particularly in underserved areas, and has a keen professional interest in recruiting and retaining physicians where they are needed most.

Shannon Kimich is an experienced leader with over 15 years in the healthcare industry. In her current role as the Director of Business Development and Service Line Administration for Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital and Memorial Hermann Pearland Hospital, she manages the business development and physician liaison teams. She has extensive experience with strategic planning, service line and program development and physician recruitment. Her targeted strategies in physician alignment have earned her double digit year-over-year growth in core profitable service lines such as Heart & Vascular, Orthopedics and Oncology. She has a BFA in Advertising from Stephen F. Austin State University and is a Fellow of the Advisory Board Company.

A graduate of the University of Michigan with a Master of Health Services Administration. Current Director of Physician Relations and Business Development at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland (SJMO) in Pontiac, MI which is part of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System regionally and Trinity Health Nationally. Tom is responsible for SJMO’s physician recruitment, outreach, on-boarding, contracting, and strategic growth for a medical staff of over 750 physicians in northern Oakland County, Michigan.

Donny Lawrence is VP for Regional Development. Donny is responsible for driving growth through Ochsner’s Regional Referral Center and expanding our Ochsner Health Network through strategic partnerships with other health systems. Donny has 17 years of progressive health care experience. Donny previously served as AVP of Revenue Management and Analytics with Ochsner Health System’s Revenue Cycle. A proven leader with experience in providing strategic solutions that drive profitable growth including revenue optimization, cash flow enhancement, process improvement, cost reduction, and financial analysis. Donny received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree from Loyola University New Orleans and Master’s in health Care Management degree from University of New Orleans.

Kristine Parker, Physician Liaison and Business Development Lead at Astria Sunnyside Hospital in Sunnyside Washington.

Kristine Parker currently holds the position of Physician Liaison and Business Development Lead at Astria Sunnyside Hospital in Sunnyside, Washington. Kristine has been involved in diverse healthcare marketing and management roles over the last five years. Kristine developed Astria Sunnyside Hospital’s physician liaison program, encompassing 38 employed providers including physician specialties ranging from Family Practice and Mid Level provider services to Electrophysiology and Neurosurgery. Additionally, Kristine manages Astria Health’s other physician liaisons at it’s two sister facilities in the Yakima Valley, Washington.

Kristine served in the US Army Military Police Corps, and graduated magna cum laude from Colorado Technical University with a degree in healthcare management.

Jack Taylor is from Enfield, Connecticut. He has worked in Healthcare for approximately 35 years including several hospital systems in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic areas. Jack previously held the position of Administrative Director of The Heart Institute at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia. He presently holds the position of Director of Business Development at Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. Presently Cabell Huntington Hospital has acquired St. Mary’s Medical Center and it is expected the two hospitals will become one system early second quarter 2018.

Jack holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, and two graduate degrees from University of Maine and Marshall University, in Orono, Maine, and Huntington, West Virginia, respectively. He is married with five children and three grandchildren. He is an avid golfer. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Ms. Tiller-Hewitt is leads a strategic healthcare growth strategy firm that works with the C-level teams of hospitals, regional health networks and national healthcare systems, launching hundreds of programs nationwide over 16 years. She previously held leadership positions with BJC HealthCare in St. Louis. She earned her Master's in Healthcare Administration from Trinity University, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a John Maxwell certified leadership coach and trainer.

Tiller-Hewitt HealthCare Strategies designs and executes nationally recognized Physician-Hospital Relations and Retention programs across the U.S. to drive revenue and market share growth in the value-based economy.