Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to recognize 32 chief population health officers at hospitals and health systems across the country.
The individuals featured here lead initiatives for their organizations focused on improving the health and wellness in their communities. Many of their efforts have served as models for other organizations nationwide, effectively working with at-risk populations to reduce preventable disease, manage chronic illness and overcome negative social determinants of healthcare.
Becker's Healthcare accepted nominations for this list. This list is not an endorsement of recognized individuals or organizations and individuals are listed in alphabetical order. Individuals do not pay and cannot pay for inclusion on this list.
Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments on this list.
Sharon Anderson, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President, Quality and Patient Safety and Chief Population Health Officer for Christiana Care Health System (Wilmington, Del.). Ms. Anderson is responsible for population health at Christiana Care Health, a two-hospital, 1,227-bed health system. During her tenure, Christiana Care achieved the highest ratings in every common condition and procedure in U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals rankings. Ms. Anderson also played a key role in the creation of new cancer care programs, and she received the WHYY Community Caring Award for her cancer care work. Additionally, she has developed case, care and disease management programs for commercial and Medicaid populations.
Tangerine Brigham. Chief Administrative Officer of Population Health of Alameda Health System (Oakland, Calif.). Ms. Brigham leads population health efforts at Alameda Health System, an integrated public healthcare system with five hospitals and four wellness centers. She has spent two decades in nonprofit and public sectors. Before taking on her current position, she was deputy director of managed care services for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. She also held leadership positions in managed care with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, The San Francisco Foundation, L.A. Health Care Plan and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
Patricia M.C. Brown, Esquire. Senior Vice President of Managed Care and Population Health for Johns Hopkins Medicine and President of Johns Hopkins HealthCare (Baltimore). Ms. Brown joined Johns Hopkins in 1994. She currently wears multiple hats; in addition to her role as senior vice president of managed care and population health for Johns Hopkins Medicine, she is president of Johns Hopkins HealthCare, a managed care and population health organization, as well as senior counsel for the Johns Hopkins Health System. Her responsibilities include directing Johns Hopkins Medicine's population health strategies. She also integrates and coordinates managed care contracting and payer and market strategy for Johns Hopkins Medicine's six hospitals, and its provider groups.
Mallory Callahan. Director of Population Health for Nebraska Health Network (Omaha). Ms. Callahan serves as director of population health for Nebraska Health Network, a physician-led accountable care organization created by Methodist Health System, Nebraska Medicine and their affiliated physicians and hospitals. In this role, she serves as one of the health network's six day-to-day staff leaders. She is a certified physician assistant with experience in primary care.
Robert Cercek. Executive Vice President of Physician Practices and Population Health at TriHealth (Cincinnati). Mr. Cercek serves as TriHealth's executive vice president of physician practices and population health. He began the role in December 2017, more than a year after he joined TriHealth as senior vice president of hospital operations, Good Samaritan Region. During his tenure at the system — which can be accessed via more than 130 care sites — Mr. Cercek was executive sponsor for many major clinical integration and operational excellence initiatives, including the outpatient lab partnership with Edgewood, Ky.-based St. Elizabeth Healthcare, as well as the development of the TriHealth Perioperative Services organization.
Sree Chaguturu, MD. Chief Population Health Officer at Partners HealthCare (Boston). Dr. Chaguturu serves as chief population health officer for the Boston-based Partners HealthCare system. He took on the role in 2017 after serving as vice president for population health management at Partners HealthCare. At the system, he oversaw population health management clinical programs and helped manage clinical relationships with payers and governmental entities in risk contracts.
Dave Chokshi, MD. Chief Population Health Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals (New York City). Dr. Chokshi serves as chief population health officer of NYC Health + Hospitals, New York City's public safety-net healthcare system. In this role, he is responsible for aligning the system's population health efforts and will lead initiatives on innovative care models, population health analytics, chronic disease prevention and management, ambulatory care transformation and implementation research. Dr. Chokshi will also helm NYC Health + Hospitals' accountable care organization, HHC ACO. Previously, he was chief population officer of OneCity Health, the NYC Health + Hospitals-sponsored performing provider system and the largest PPS in New York City.
John Chomeau. Chief Population Health Officer of Lee Health (Ft. Myers, Fla.). Mr. Chomeau serves as chief population health officer of Lee Health, which he joined in April 2017. His responsibilities include creating business models and overseeing the development and execution of the system's value-based care strategies. Mr. Chomeau also is responsible for the physician-hospital organization and clinical integration network. Previously, he helmed Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Magellan Health's commercial behavioral healthcare division and was president of Aetna's Medicare healthcare division in Hartford, Conn.
Kevin Conroy. Chief Population Health Officer and CFO of CareMount Medical (New York City). Mr. Conroy serves as thought leader on population health management at CareMount Medical, an independent multispecialty medical group with more than 45 locations. He has played a key role in growing CareMount Medical's population health division to include care coordination, quality, analysts and contracting staff. He oversees the organization's business development, strategic planning, physician group acquisitions and vendor partnerships. Mr. Conroy previously was president of WellCare Health Plan of New York.
Marcel Devetten, MD. Chief Population Health Officer of UnityPoint Clinic (West Des Moines, Iowa). Since 2015, Dr. Devetten has served as chief population health officer of UnityPoint Clinic, UnityPoint Health's primary care and specialty medical group, which has more than 280 clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. In this role, he is responsible for quality, patient experience and clinic technology and for the design and implementation of ambulatory population health strategy. Dr. Devetten previously served as chief quality officer of Omaha-based Nebraska Medical Center.
Jennifer Dunphy, DrPH. Chief Population Health Officer of Regal Medical Group (Reseda, Calif.). Ms. Dunphy creates and oversees population health programs for Regal Medical Group, a physician-owned medical group that has 600,000 members throughout southern California. Ms. Dunphy has created programs for the group's high-risk populations, where she helped incorporate nurse practitioners, social workers and non-clinical staff into patient care plans. The programs have led to a reduction in readmissions for the group's dual-eligible beneficiaries. Her program has since been expanded from the duals to other high-risk populations and is also seeing success.
Angela Fagerlin, PhD. Chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah School of Medicine (Salt Lake City). Dr. Fagerlin brings her training in cognitive and social psychology to her role as department chair of population health. Her work focuses on testing methods for communicating medical data to patients and providers and developing decision support interventions. Dr. Fagerlin's recent work tests the effect of patient decision aids on patient-physician communication. She is also testing several methods for communicating about genetic testing and infectious diseases, such as influenza and Ebola.
Susan L. Freeman, MD. President and CEO of Temple Center for Population Health at Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Dr. Freeman is founding president and CEO of the Temple Center for Population Health, which was established in 2014. The center includes comprehensive programs and initiatives on four value-based platforms: incentive and payment models, patient-centered clinical models, population health management and data analytics. Dr. Freeman also serves as the chair of the Temple Health Substance Abuse Task Force, which is engaged in the implementation of a comprehensive addiction medicine program in North Philadelphia.
Niyum Gandhi. Executive Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer of Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Mr. Gandhi's role involves ensuring the system is the leading population health manager in the area and the best possible partner to its broad physician community. This includes fostering care management and clinical model redesign, working with payers to create new models for delivering value-based care and building Mount Sinai's clinically integrated network. Before joining Mount Sinai, Mr. Gandhi served as a partner in the Health and Life Sciences consulting practice of Oliver Wyman, where he focused on value-based healthcare strategy and transformation for physician groups, hospitals and health plans. He has also worked with ACOs and other population health management companies.
Carrie Harris-Muller. Senior Vice President of Population Health at OhioHealth (Columbus). Ms. Harris-Muller leads overall strategic direction for population health at the 11-hospital health system, which includes expanding OhioHealth's clinically integrated network and market strategies. Before joining OhioHealth, Ms. Harris-Muller served as a corporate senior vice president at Molina Healthcare, where she oversaw health plans and was responsible for strategies involving mergers and acquisitions. She also served as senior vice president of clinical integration, health plans and Medicare ACOs for Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and worked for Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente as the chief administrative officer in the mid-Atlantic states.
Susan Hawkins. Senior Vice President of Population Health for Henry Ford Health System (Detroit). Ms. Hawkins started in her role as the senior vice president of population health in July 2016. She is responsible for providing administrative leadership in developing and implementing a system-wide approach to population health to drive improved patient outcomes at reduced costs. Before her current role, Ms. Hawkins was senior vice president and chief quality officer for Detroit Medical Center, where she led a system-wide team of professionals responsible for quality and safety performance.
Jean Haynes. Chief Population Health Officer of UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.). Ms. Haynes, who joined UCHealth in April 2015, is responsible for the implementation and growth of the system's population-based patient care model. She has nearly 30 years of leadership and management experience in healthcare delivery, managed care and insurance organizations. Under her leadership, the system's teams work to achieve improved patient experience and reduced costs with new innovative care delivery models leveraging the synergies between payers and providers. Ms. Haynes led the 10-hospital system's creation of the UCHealth Integrated Network. She also established a post-acute provider network that includes skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare and long-term acute care centers.
Jonathan Jaffery, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer of UW Health and President of UW Health ACO (Madison, Wis.). Dr. Jaffery leads the UW Health ACO and is responsible for UW Health's population health strategy. Collaborating with community partners, his role includes population health model development and community health efforts to promote better care, better health and lower costs. Additionally, Dr. Jaffery completed a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship, where he worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. He also previously served as a former chief medical officer for the Wisconsin State Medicaid program.
Anthony Keck. Executive Vice President for System Innovation and Chief Population Health Officer of Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). In his current role, Mr. Keck oversees strategy and value-based services, information technology, marketing and communications, government affairs and Ballad Health's new department of community health programs. Before his current role, Mr. Keck served as the senior vice president and chief development officer for Ballad Health. Mr. Keck also previously served as the director of Health and Human Services for South Carolina during the first term of Gov. Nikki R. Haley's tenure and served three years in the administration of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. He has also worked for organizations such as Johnson & Johnson and Ochsner Clinic New Orleans.
Dawn LaForce O'Neill. Vice President of Population Health for Saint Agnes Healthcare (Baltimore). Ms. O'Neill leads Saint Agnes Healthcare's new Health Institute, which was developed in October 2017 to coordinate population health efforts for the health system. In her current role, Ms. O'Neill advances the work of the Health Institute by focusing its efforts on innovative care delivery for vulnerable patients, expanding access to behavioral health services and community engagement. She integrates chronic disease and community programs with new initiatives, such as clinical centers and a comprehensive care center. She previously worked at the Baltimore City Health Department, where she developed and implemented programs such as Staying Alive — a naloxone distribution program.
Susan Mani, MD. Vice President of Medical Affairs, Clinical Transformation at LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). Dr. Mani joined LifeBridge Health in 2014 as Randallstown, Md.-based Northwest Hospital's chief quality officer and chair of medicine. Now, as vice president of medical affairs and clinical transformation, she oversees care management, ambulatory quality and population health for the health system. Dr. Mani has developed numerous evidence-based initiatives tailored to the system's needs, including an emergency department navigation program that created a 78 percent decrease in preventable readmissions across two hospitals. Under Dr. Mani's leadership, Northwest Hospital received the Maryland Patient Safety Center's 2017 Minogue Award for Innovation in Patient Safety.
Rhonda Medows, MD. President of Population Health Management at at Providence St. Joseph Health and CEO of Ayin Health Solutions (Renton, Wash.). Dr. Medows oversees value-based care initiatives, payer strategy, physician services, care management and population health informatics for the 51-hospital Providence St. Joseph Health, as well as the Providence Health Plan and Pacific Medical Group. In February, Providence St. Joseph launched a for-profit health management company, Ayin Health Solutions, and named Dr. Medows CEO. Dr. Medows previously worked in the private and public health sectors as the Georgia Department of Community Health commissioner, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration secretary and CMS Southeast Region CMO. Today, Dr. Medows helps guide HHS policies regarding physician payment models as a member of the Physician-Focused Payment Model technical advisory committee.
Adam Myers, MD. Chief of Population Health at Cleveland Clinic and Director of Cleveland Clinic Community Care. Dr. Myers joined Cleveland Clinic in June 2018 as the head of Cleveland Clinic Community Care, a new population health model designed to augment the system's inpatient care and serve as a blueprint for other organizations. Tasked with reorganizing Cleveland Clinic's primary care practices to enhance population health and value, Dr. Myers leverages a multidisciplinary team and a data-driven approach to manage care across Cleveland Clinic's network of more than 6,000 physicians. The American Hospital Association selected Dr. Myers to chair its committee on clinical leadership for 2018 and 2019.
Ami Parekh, MD. CMO for Population Health and Clinical Integration at UCSF Health. As a senior leader in the UCSF Office of Population Health and Accountable Care, which was established in 2015, Dr. Parekh collaborates with payers and providers across the health system to successfully create and implement alternative care models. She serves on the boards of Emeryville, Calif.-based Canopy Health and UCSF's Medicare Shared Savings Program, as well as California Healthcare Foundation's fellowship alumni network board. While attending Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn., Dr. Parekh worked for President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign as the health policy advisory committee co-convenor.
Douglas A. Spotts, MD. Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer of Meritus Health (Hagerstown, Md.). Bringing 25 years of experience to the role, Dr. Spotts is the first chief population health officer of Meritus Health. He manages community health and wellness for the Meritus Health ACO while overseeing the operations of Meritus Medical Group and its 100-plus providers. Dr. Spotts previously served as Lewisburg, Pa.-based Evangelical Medical Services Organization's chief health information officer and is the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation's president-elect.
Coretta Smith, MSN, RN. Director of Population Health at Duke Health (Durham, N.C.). Ms. Smith has spent more than 14 years with Duke University Health System, gaining nursing experience in various roles related to inpatient care, ambulatory services, research and utilization. With a certification in case management, she leads the Duke Health Population Health Management Office's 100-member team, which oversees the care of 12 populations. Outside of the clinical setting, Ms. Smith shares her expertise as a motivational public speaker.
Kristofer Smith, MD. Senior Vice President of Population Health Management at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Dr. Smith provides clinical and strategic oversight for all population health activities at Northwell Health, which treats about 2 million patients annually in a service area of nearly 11 million people. Before joining Northwell to advance post-acute care continuum initiatives and the Advanced Illness Management program for patients with complex conditions, Dr. Smith served as an assistant professor and assistant program director in New York City-based Mount Sinai's internal medicine department. Dr. Smith also serves as an associate professor in the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, N.Y.
William Tierney, MD. Chair of the Department of Population Health at Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Tierney serves as Dell Medical School's inaugural chair of the population health department, which collaborates with nine community leaders to develop strategies for improving health in underserved areas. Dr. Tierney's previous titles include Regenstrief Institute's president and CEO, Indiana University School of Medicine's associate dean for research and Eskenazi Health's internal medicine department chair, all based in Indianapolis. He is a founding director of both the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare and the Regional East African Center for Health Informatics, which created the first ambulatory EMR in sub-Saharan Africa.
Janet Tomcavage, MSN, RN. Chief Population Health Officer of Geisinger (Danville, Pa.). Ms. Tomcavage guides the implementation of population health strategies across Geisinger's clinical and health plan platforms that serve more than 3 million residents. Under her leadership, the health system has deployed creative solutions such as the Fresh Food Farmacy program, which provides nutritious food prescriptions to individuals in low-income communities. While collaborating with community partners to improve social determinants of health, Ms. Tomcavage remains involved in organizations including the American Nurse Association, American College of Healthcare Executives and Alliance of Community Health Plans.
Ronni Whyte, BSN, RN. Director of Population Health at Temple Health (Philadelphia). Ms. Whyte brings two decades of nursing, care transitions and population health experience to her role, which involves improving population health outcomes through clinical and community engagement. She has overseen the implementation of initiatives such as the CDC-funded Diabetes Prevention Program and helped integrate the behavioral health and primary care disciplines using health IT advancements. Ms. Whyte's professional affiliations include the American Association of Ambulatory Care Nurses.
Patrick Young. President of Population Health at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Mr. Young joined Meridian Health in 2015 as executive vice president and saw the organization through its 2016 merger with Hackensack University Health Network, which now consists of a network of 17 hospitals and more than 500 patient care locations. In his current role, Mr. Young oversees population health solutions such as the system's PatientPing technology, which gives providers real-time notifications when their patients receive care at a range of facilities. His prior titles include chairman and CEO of the accountable care organization Noble Health Alliance, as well as president of Aetna's Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey markets. In 2017, Mr. Young was appointed to serve on the board of directors for Frisco, Texas-based True Health.