Amal Agarwal, D.O., MBA, is a board-certified emergency room physician with clinical, entrepreneurial, administrative and operational experience. Dr. Agarwal’s mission is to help with the necessary transition from a fee-for-service model to a value-based-care model through patient and physician engagement. By merging both patient and health care provider data, he hopes to improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Agarwal is uniquely leveraged, having functioned as a chief medical officer for a health analytics platform, a pharmaceutical consultant for Navigant, health care consultant for Accenture and now as a medical director in the Executive Physician Immersion Program at Humana. After completing his Six Sigma green belt training, he is a firm believer that poor results are primarily attributed to process rather than people.

Outside of work, Dr. Agarwal advises several health care startups. He received his MBA from the University of Illinois, his medical degree from Des Moines University and his B.S. in finance and accounting from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Florida.

Dr. Chris Guinther has worked on a variety of initiatives for pharmacies, health plans and pharmacy benefit managers, including plan design, formulary management, and medical to pharmacy benefit conversions. He currently serves as System Director of Managed Care Pharmacy Services for Mercy Health, the largest health system in Ohio. His recent initiatives include orphan/biologic drug pricing and modeling the effects on plan spending. Prior to joining Mercy Health, he served as a Senior Clinical Consultant for Express Scripts working primarily in the Medicare Advantage space. He has been active at the national and regional level with various pharmacy associations including the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

Dr. Guinther received a Pharm.D. from the University of Florida and a B.S. of Pharmacy from the Ohio State University.

Dr. Pezalla in a leading innovator and consultant on payer strategy for pharmaceutical and device manufacturers. He focuses on unlocking the value of new products by developing industry-leading approaches to incorporating payer requirements into development programs, technology assessment plans, and value frameworks. He works with a variety of policy and industry groups on cutting edge coverage policy, innovations in value-based payments, and adaptive regulatory and market entry pathways. He is currently a Scholar-in-Residence at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy in Washington.

Dr. Pezalla is the former Vice President for Pharmaceutical Policy and Strategy in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at Aetna. In this position Dr. Pezalla developed and coordinated strategy for pharmaceutical evaluation and coverage across both the medical and pharmacy benefit, created Aetna’s framework for innovative contracts, and developed Aetna’s public policy positions on drug and device coverage.

Dr. Pezalla holds both BS and MD degrees from Georgetown University and an MPH from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a board certified pediatrician and was a Health Services Research Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Bio: I participated in cancer immunotherapy drug development since I was a in training at the Vaccine Branch at the National Cancer Institute. The Vaccine Branch investigated variety of novel cancer vaccines and studied factors that could inhibit the immune response triggered by vaccine therapy, such as immune checkpoints. During my clinical oncology fellowship training at NCI I developed a great interest in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies, focusing mainly on pancreatic cancer. My research efforts had led to the development of few clinical protocols using immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer that are currently open for enrollment at NCI and elsewhere. As the hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer team co-leader at University of Virginia I had the opportunity to be the Principal Investigator of three pharma-sponsored multi-center clinical trials, two of which investigated the effects of three different cancer vaccines in pancreatic cancer. I am also the chair of tow investigator-initiated clinical trials using an immune checkpoint inhibitor (anti-PD-1) in combination with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy in pancreatic and rectal cancer. I recently joined the Center for Immuno-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to be part of national and international efforts to advance the field of cancer immunotherapy. In this exciting era of cancer immunotherapy we are currently investigating the combinations of variety of novel immunotherapeutic agents in multiple tumor types and working on identifying biomarkers that could determine clinical response.

Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has nearly fifteen years of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. He has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. He became the CEO of both PAF and NPAF in 2013. From 2006 - 2013, he served as the Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership -- a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research.

Dr. Balch has served on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation since 2007. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the External Advisory Board for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), a member of the Duke-Margolis Payment Reform Group, a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board, a member of the Quality and Outcomes Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and recently served as a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN). Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC, is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Consumer Advisory Council, and sits on the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM).

He earned his PhD in environmental studies with a concentration in political economy in 2003 from the University of California, Santa Cruz; his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1997 from the University of Texas in San Antonio; his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio. Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has a decade of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. From 2006 - 2013, he served as the Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership -- a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research. He has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. For example, he helped to organize and lead a coalition that successfully fought for improvements in the regulatory process for the review of cancer drugs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He also contributed to the development of key federal policies related to the Affordable Care Act.

Dr. Balch serves on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Wellness and Health Promotion Advisory Committee, a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN), a member of the Advisory Board for the Patient Resource Cancer Guides, External Advisory Board member for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) and a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board. Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC and recently accepted an invitation to join the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) newest initiative, the Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM). He is also a member of the 2017 Access to Innovation Forum Steering Committee for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). He earned his PhD in environmental studies in 2003 from the University of California, Santa Cruz; his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1997 from the University of Texas in San Antonio; his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio.

Cynthia Chmielewski attended Rutgers University graduating with degrees in Psychology and Education. Upon her graduation Cynthia secured her first teaching position and immediately fell in love with her chosen profession. Cynthia continued teaching for 28 years until she retired in 2009.

In July 2008 Cynthia was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, after suffering for two years with debilitating back pain which was wrongly attributed to degenerative disc disease. Cynthia has achieved a very good partial remission by using newly FDA-approved novel targeted therapies. Her disease is now stable. She continues myeloma treatment with a maintenance therapy protocol and is enjoying an excellent quality of life.

Now that she is retired Cynthia is using her passion for education to teach a new group of "students" - myeloma patients, their caregivers and others interested in myeloma. Cynthia is on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Multiple Myeloma Networking Group and on the advisory boards of the Patient Empowerment Network and the Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative. Recently Cynthia joined the staff of Patient Power to help with their patient engagement initiatives. She is a trained mentor, advocate and Patient Ambassador. Using social media to educate is Cynthia's passion tweeting at @MyelomaTeacher and sharing myeloma resources on her MyelomaTeacher Facebook page. Cynthia was the co-founder of the #MMSM TweetChat. She is also an active participant in several online support communities. Cynthia serves as a voting member on the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pennsylvania and is a regular panelist on CureTalks Internet Radio Podcast. She is also the patient advocate on the ACCRU (Academic and Community Cancer Research United) Myeloma Steering Committee. Cynthia has spoken and presented posters on using social media in hematology at several medical conferences including the American Society of Hematology's and the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meetings.

Lindsay McKenna is a Partner in McKinsey & Company’s Healthcare practice with experience serving clients both within Pharmaceutical and Medical Products and Channel players. Lindsay lead’s McKinsey’s Value and Access service line within North America, a group of practitioners dedicated to market access analytics, gross to net optimization, pricing and contracting strategy, channel strategy, and managed markets organization design and capabilities. Outside of Value and Access, Lindsay works with clients on a range of topics including brand marketing and sales strategy, corporate strategy, and launch. She also has the privilege of working with several non-profit organizations focused on positive youth development, including the Girl Scouts of Greater NY and the Newark Mentorship Movement. Lindsay has a Ph.D in Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University.

STEPHANIE TRUNK is a partner in the Health Law Group at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, D.C. Ms. Trunk counsels pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, distributors and their customers, including pharmacy benefit managers, on regulatory, reimbursement and compliance matters. Her practice extends to counseling on drug pricing and government price reporting, HIPAA and privacy matters, counseling on Medicare Part D, developing corporate compliance programs, representing clients in contract negotiations and providing transactional support to her clients. Prior to joining Arent Fox LLP, Ms. Trunk was in-house counsel to a pharmacy benefit management company. Ms. Trunk is the author of numerous chapters on health law treatises including a chapter on Controlling Fraud, Waste and Abuse in the Medicare Part D Program in the ABA/BNA’s Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Practical Perspectives. She received a J.D. with Highest Honors from the George Washington University Law School in 2003 where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and a member of the George Washington Law Review. Ms. Trunk also has as a graduate certificate in health management from the George Washington University School of Public Health (2003) and she received a B.S. in Accounting Summa Cum Laude from the University of Maryland in 1997.

Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a public policy research organization that she founded in 1995 to promote an informed debate over free-market ideas for health reform.

She has been instrumental in developing and promoting ideas for reform to transfer power over health care decisions to doctors and patients. She speaks and writes extensively about incentives to promote a more competitive, patient-centered marketplace in the health sector.

• She testifies regularly before Congress and advises senior government officials, governors, and state legislators on health policy.
• She was named by the Speaker of the House in 2013 to serve as a member of the Long Term Care Commission.
• Previously, Grace-Marie served for a three-year term on the National Advisory Board for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and she served as a member of the Medicaid Commission, making recommendations to modernize and improve Medicaid.

She has been published in hundreds of major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today, and has appeared on ABC’s 20/20 and on hundreds of radio and television programs. She is a co-author of Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America, published by HarperCollins in 2011, and editor of Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform. Grace-Marie speaks extensively in the U.S. and abroad, including at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, and the Gregorian University at the Vatican.

Grace-Marie is founder and facilitator of the Health Policy Consensus Group which serves as a forum for analysts from market-oriented think tanks around the country to analyze and develop policy recommendations.

She received the 2007 Outstanding Achievement Award for Promotion of Consumer Driven Health Care from Consumer Health World. In the mid-1990s, Grace-Marie served as executive director of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform. For 12 years, she was president of Arnett & Co., a health policy analysis and communications firm. Her early career was in politics and journalism where she received numerous awards for her writings on politics and economics.