The pandemic shed light on big gaps in population health and access to care, elevating the importance of executives overseeing those initiatives.
It is vital for health systems to tackle population health issues to keep their communities healthy and reimagine the care delivery models of the future. The leaders highlighted on this list have a passion for transforming healthcare and driving change within their organizations.
Note: This list was developed through nominations and internal research, and features just population health executives from health systems and providers. Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with any questions or comments on this list. Click here to find open nomination forms for future Becker's lists.
Naomi Diaz, Cailey Gleeson, Georgina Gonzalez, Riz Hatton, Marcus Robertson, Marissa Plescia and Ariana Portalatin contributed to the development of this list.
Parag Agnihotri, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Population Health Services at UCSD Health (San Diego). Dr. Agnihotri oversees UCSD Health's physician network consisting of faculty, regional hospitals, community primary care providers and specialists. He is tasked with collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to improve the health of the population. He has also been selected as an innovation adviser by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and is a fellow of the California Health Care Foundation.
Daphne Bascom, MD, PhD. Vice President of Population Health at Saint Luke's Health System (Kansas City, Mo.). Dr. Bascom is also a professor in the department of biomedical and health informatics at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. She is the former senior vice president of community integrated health for the YMCA of Greater Kansas City and the former chief medical officer of Cerner, a health information technology company.
Scott Berkowitz, MD. Chief Population Health Officer and Vice President of Population Health at Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). Since joining Johns Hospkins in 2003, Dr. Berkowitz has helped lead several initiatives to transform healthcare delivery. He was a fellow of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee during passage of the Affordable Care Act. He also served on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and was a senior healthcare policy development adviser to the governor of Illinois.
Marilu Bintz, MD. Senior Vice President of Health Population and Strategy at Gunderson Health System (La Crosse, Wis.). Dr. Bintz has served in her position since 2015. She started with the system in 1988 as a general surgeon. Gundersen is a physician-led, nonprofit health system with 325 beds serving 22 counties in Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.
Tangerine Brigham. Chief Administrative Officer, Population Health, at Alameda (Calif.) Health System. Ms. Brigham oversees the health system's wellness and disease management programs as part of its efforts to improve patient experience, reduce costs and transition to population health management. She also works within the community and government to improve health equity by addressing key social determinants of health. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit and public sectors.
Marta Brito Perez. Senior Vice President of Population Health and Post Acute Care Services at Adventist HealthCare (Gaithersburg, Md.). Ms. Brito Perez works with a team of nine executives to transform healthcare of the communities Adventist serves. She directs the implementation of systemwide population health programs at the health system, which includes five hospitals, 1,948 physicians and 5,934 employees.
Mallory Callahan. Director of Population Health Management and Innovation for Nebraska Health Network (Omaha). Ms. Callahan joined the Nebraska Health Network in 2017 after working as a certified physician assistant for Nebraska Methodist Health System. The health network includes more than 2,000 primary care providers and specialists, eight hospitals and 11 urgent care centers.
Chuck Callahan, DO. Vice President of Population Health for the University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore). Dr. Callahan has more than 30 years of experience serving in a range of hospital leadership positions and has received more than $2 million in research grants to study population health and other topics. He supports the improvement of health and well-being of the community for the University of Maryland Medical Center, a 789-bed hospital with nearly 1,200 physicians.
Steven Carson, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President, Population Health, Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Mr. Carson oversees the Temple Center for Population Health's operations and oversight. He also develops care management and focuses on the center's performance improvement initiatives. He is a registered nurse with more than 30 years of experience in hospital and leadership positions.
Sang-ick Chang, MD. Division Chief of Primary Care and Population Health of Stanford (Calif.) Medicine. Dr. Chang practices family medicine and is a clinical professor of medicine-primary care and population health at Stanford. He's published articles on patient and provider perspectives on the development of personalized medicine in the Journal of Community Genetics and on primary care 2.0 in the Official Journal of the American College of Medical Quality, as well as other writings. Dr. Chang is known as a collaborative leader by his peers.
Nichola Davis, MD. Vice President, Chief Population Health Officer for NYC Health+Hospitals. Dr. Davis implements innovative care models, population health analytics and chronic disease prevention and management. At NYC Health + Hospitals, she carried out a technology solution to help patients with diabetes manage their care. During the pandemic, she helped patients get access to blood pressure monitors and co-chaired the COVID-19 research steering committee.
Desiree de la Torre. Director of Community Affairs and Population Health Improvement of Children's National (Washington, D.C.). Ms. de la Torre leads the organization's population improvement planning efforts by supporting community-based organizations, improving health equity and making sure compliance with federal community benefits regulations is completed. She's completed partnerships with schools, government agencies and payers. Ms. de la Torre is also chair of the Commission on Health for Montgomery County.
Dan Edelman, DO. Chief Medical Information Officer, Florida Region, and Chief Population Health Officer of Cleveland Clinic (Weston, Fla.). Dr. Edelman leads initiatives for EMR and EHR application and software optimization. His primary goal is to decrease variability and optimize healthcare outcomes. In 2010, he was selected as an Epic Physician Champion.
Kristine Fay. Chief Officer of Population Health and Physician Services at Lee Health (Fort Myers, Fla.). Under Ms. Fay's leadership, Lee Physician Group went from 200 providers to 750 providers. Ms. Fay also helped the hospitalist program from disparate groups, turning it into a service line that provides improved quality metric performance. Ms. Fay's leadership role included the expansion of Lee Behavioral Health outpatient and inpatient services that resulted in a 300 percent visit increase.
Rob Fields, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer of Mount Sinai Health System (New York). Mr. Field's position is all about embracing value-based care and evaluating new payment models. He has 10 years of experience in clinical leadership. Before his role at Mount Sinai, Mr. Field led one of the first ACOs in North Carolina.
Don Franke. CEO of Amita Health Care Networks and Senior Vice President of Population Health at Amita Health (Arlington Heights, Ill.). Mr. Franke has experience in integrated health delivery systems and commercial payer startup, strategy and operations. In his role, he develops various strategies to initiate and support population health and growth. He has experience leading high-performing teams to success.
Kristene Grayem, MSN. Chief Population Health Officer and Executive Director of Akron (Ohio) Children's Health Collaborative. In this position, Ms. Grayem executes the hospital's population strategy and oversees new care models. She also conducts demonstration programs in coordination with CMS. Ms. Grayem is a certified pediatric nurse.
Reshma Gupta, MD. Chief of Population Health and Accountable Care at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Gupta leads more than 100 medical professionals in population health and affordability-boosting initiatives. She also is a co-director of Costs of Care, a nongovernmental organization focused on improving care affordability, where she leads a learning community of over 500 international health leaders and educators. She is also a senior adviser to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations' Comprehensive Primary Care program to test payment reform.
Patrick Hammond, MHA. Chief Market Services Officer and Chief Innovations and Population Health Officer, Emory Healthcare; CEO, Emory Healthcare Network (Atlanta). A member of the Emory Healthcare Executive Leadership, Mr. Hammond first joined Emory Healthcare in 1991. He graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and later received a Master of Health Administration degree from Duke University.
Terri Hanlon-Bremer, MSN, RN. Senior Vice President of Employer Solutions and Population Health at TriHealth (Cincinnati). With over 30 years of experience in healthcare, Ms. Hanlon-Bremer uses her clinical expertise and business acumen to help TriHealth in its transition to value-based care. She also serves as COO of TriHealth's corporate health division. Her leadership and management skills are evident through the successful rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in Cincinnati.
Carrie Harris-Muller. Senior Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer at OhioHealth (Columbus). In her role at OhioHealth, Ms. Harris-Muller oversees the strategy for population health initiatives, care management initiatives and business-to-business strategies. She especially focuses on how innovations and trends can fit into population health. Prior to OhioHealth, Ms. Harris-Muller held executive roles at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina Healthcare.
Susan Hawkins. Senior Vice President of Population Health at Henry Ford Health System (Detroit). Since rejoining Henry Ford Health System as a top leader in the population health team in July 2016, Ms. Hawkins has spent her time providing leadership and direction to help the system develop and implement an approach to population health. She has experience developing large-scale, innovative changes to strategies and processes to help drive better outcomes at lower costs.
Ethan Helm, MD. Vice Chancellor of Population Health for Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and Deputy Chief Population Health Officer at RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). Kicking off his role in January 2022, Dr. Helm is responsible for building population health efforts and ensuring they align across Rutgers Health, RWJBarnabas Health and University Hospital in Newark. The first in the role, he will also establish the Rutgers Consortium of Population Health, which will encourage collaboration and innovation in the field. Dr. Helm is a respected scholar and, prior to Rutgers, served as a professor of internal medicine and population and data sciences at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Jennifer Houlihan. Vice President of Value-Based Care and Population Health at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (Winston-Salem, N.C.). Since joining the health system in 2019, Ms. Houlihan has served as a healthcare educator and leader focused on operational and financial performance in value contracts. She also takes best practices from innovation and translates them into the clinical practice space, as well as engaging with community partners. She has also previously served as a professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Jonathan Jaffery, MD. Chief Population Health Officer at UW Health (Madison, Wis.). Dr. Jaffery provides UW Health with a strategic direction in terms of population health management and ensures that the community has access to high-quality healthcare. He also serves as a professor in the division of nephrology within the department of medicine. He previously served as the chief medical officer for Wisconsin's Medicaid program.
Bill Johnjulio, MD. Chief Population Health Officer of Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh). As part of his role, Dr. Johnjulio works with primary care practices, social service agencies and specialty practices to develop more equitable and cost-effective care models to serve a plethora of unique populations. He joined the health system in 2010 and maintains a practice.
Lindsay Jubelt, MD. Chief Population Health Officer of Mass General Brigham (Boston). Taking up the post in November 2020, Dr. Jubelt heads up the team that designs the population healthcare operations that touch 700,000 patients and are used by 1,000 physicians. These programs are meant to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction and reduce overall healthcare costs. Previously, Dr. Jubelt held an executive role at Mount Sinai Solutions, New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System's direct-to-employer business.
Anthony Keck. Executive Vice President for System Innovation and Chief Population Health Officer at Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). Mr. Keck is responsible for strategy, marketing, government affairs and several other programs. He helped establish the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum after Hurricane Katrina and was on the Board of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. Before his current position, he was the director of HHS for South Carolina.
Meaghan Kim, BSN, RN. Director of Population Health at Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Ms. Kim has worked in healthcare for several decades, particularly on helping those with diabetes. In her role, she is in charge of growing Temple's Diabetes Prevention Program and the Diabetes Education Program. Before working at Temple, she was the director of Population Health at Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare Health System.
Rhonda Medows, MD. President of Population Health Management at Providence (Renton, Wash.). On top of her role as president of population health management, Dr. Medows is the CEO of Ayin Health Solutions, a population health management company created by Providence. She leads the system's Medicaid, Medicare, commercial and employer population health strategies. Before Providence, she was executive vice president and chief medical officer at UnitedHealth Group.
Adam Myers, MD. Chief of Population Health at Cleveland Clinic and Chair of Cleveland Clinic Community Care. In his role, which is new to Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Myers leads ambulatory practices, community internal medicine, geriatrics, community pediatrics, family medicine, hospital medicine and other services. He previously worked as chief medical officer and COO of Texas Health Physicians Group. His credentials include serving as a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Institute of Healthcare Quality and the American Association of Family Physicians.
Tina Mycroft. CFO of EvergreenHealth Kirkland (Wash.). Before joining EvergreenHealth in 2016, Ms. Mycroft served as CFO of St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, a California-based nonprofit medical practice foundation. The foundation has more than 750 providers in eight medical groups and more than 1,300 physicians in an affiliate network model with 10 hospital sponsors across St. Joseph and California.
David Nash, MD. Founding Dean Emeritus at Jefferson College of Population Health (Philadelphia). In addition to being founding dean emeritus, Dr. Nash is a special assistant to the chief physician executive of Jefferson Health. He is also chief health adviser for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Additionally, he has written and peer reviewed several articles and books.
Carrie Nelson, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Population Health and Health Outcomes at Advocate Aurora Health (Milwaukee, Wis., and Downers Grove, Ill.). Dr. Nelson is responsible for patient safety, health outcomes, risk management and population health. She was previously chief clinical officer at Advocate Physician Partners for more than 10 years. She was also board chair for the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians for three years.
Susan Neves. CFO of Hill Country Memorial Hospital (Fredericksburg, Texas). Ms. Neves joined Hill Country Memorial Hospital in 2018. In addition to her role at the hospital, she also serves as principal of C2x Seven LLC, an independent consulting and interim management firm.
Judi Nightingale, DrPH, RN. Director of Population Health at Riverside University Health System (Moreno Valley, Calif.). Ms. Nightingale has more than 25 years of experience in large-scale program and project management as well as change management and strategy. Prior to her current role, she worked at Riverside County Regional Medical Center for more than six years and at Loma Linda University Medical Center for three years.
Derek Novak. President of the Population Health Services Organization at MercyOne (Des Moines, Iowa). As president of MercyOne’s Population Health Services Organization, Mr. Novak also provides direction to MercyOne Business Solutions and MercyOne Community Health & Well-Being. He has served at MercyOne in various capacities for nearly 15 years. Before stepping into his current role, he served as COO of MercyOne PHSA from October 2017 to February 2019, and before that as the division director of operations for four years. Before landing at MercyOne, Mr. Novak worked for aviation and aerospace firm Textron for five years. He earned his master's in business administration from Upper Iowa University in Fayette in 2008.
Kara Odom Walker, MD. Chief Population Health Officer at Nemours Children's Health (Melbourne, Fla.). As the chief population health officer and executive vice president for Nemours Children’s Health, Dr. Walker leads the Nemours National Office of Policy and Prevention, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of national and state-specific advocacy strategies. She joined Nemours after serving as secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Services from January 2017 through September 2020. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018.
Dawn O'Neill. Vice President of Population Health at St. Agnes Hospital (Baltimore). Ms. O'Neill has served as St. Agnes Hospital's vice president of population health for more than four years. Before that, she served for two years as deputy commissioner of population health and disease prevention at the Baltimore City Health Department, where she occupied multiple roles in her 25 years working in the healthcare industry. In May 2019, she was named one of Maryland's top 100 women by state business publication The Daily Record.
Philip Oravetz, MD. Chief Population Health Officer at Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Dr. Philip Oravetz has served in various roles at Ochsner Health for more than 10 years. Before stepping into his current role, he served for more than six years as the health system's medical director for accountable care. He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and earned his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. Dr. Oravetz completed his residency in family medicine at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Andrew Ozmun. Finance Director of Riverton (Utah) and Alta View Hospital (Sandy, Utah). Mr. Ozmun has been with Intermountain Healthcare for over six years. He began his position in 2015 as an accounting manager and made his way to finance director of Riverton and Alta View Hospital in 2019.
Ami Parekh, MD. Chief Medical Officer for Population Health and Clinical Integration at University of California San Francisco Health. Dr. Parekh leads UCSF Health's Office of Population Health and Accountable Care and UCSF Health's Clinically Integrated Network. While attending Yale University for medical school and law school, she served on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, where she served as the co-convenor for the health policy advisory committee. After finishing law school and medical school, she joined the internal medicine residency program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where she was selected as a chief resident at the Faulkner Hospital.
James Parr. Executive Vice President of Operations and CFO of Salem (Ore.) Hospital. Mr. Parr has been with Salem Health since 2007. Salem Health's Salem campus is a level II trauma center with 454 acute-care beds and 465 physicians on the active medical staff.
Samatha Patrick. CFO of Clark Regional Medical Center (Winchester, Ky.) and Bourbon Community Hospital (Paris, Ky.). Mr. Patricks came into her current role as CFO in 2020. She oversees the finances of both hospitals and acts as chief staffing officer for more than 600 employees.
Michael Perry. Vice President of Finance and CFO of Mid Coast-Parkview Health (Brunswick, Maine). Before his current role, Mr. Perry served for 17 years as senior director of finance and controller for Mid Coast–Parkview Health. Mid Coast–Parkview Health provides a variety of healthcare services through its 93-bed Mid Coast Hospital, Mid Coast Senior Health and CHANS Home Health & Hospice.
Adam Popp. CFO of Prairie Lakes Healthcare System (Watertown, S.D.). Mr. Popp joined Prairie Lakes Healthcare System in 2018 as CFO. Prairie Lakes has more than 600 staff members and 200 volunteers.
Trever Porter. Finance Director of Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital (Ogden, Utah). Mr. Porter oversees the finances of Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital. The nonprofit facility has 310-beds and was founded in 1910.
Tony Reed. Vice President for Population Health Operations at ChristianaCare (Newark, Del.). As ChristianaCare's vice president for population health operations, Mr. Reed leads network development, contract management, clinician engagement, quality and regulatory affairs and risk coding. Mr. Reed has more than 20 years of experience in health care and previously served as vice president of population health strategic solutions for Ascension Medical Group's clinical and network services. He has served on the board of directors for the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations since 2018.
Jamie Reedy, MD. Chief of Population Health at Summit Health (Berkeley Heights, N.J.). In her current role at Summit Health, Dr. Reedy is responsible for ensuring the success of the organization's value-based care programs. She previously served as senior vice president and medical director of population health and quality at Summit Health and was also formerly chief of hospital medicine and post-acute care. Prior to joining Summit, Dr. Reedy was medical director, compliance officer and a practicing physician with Paramount Medical Group in Westfield, N.J.
Devdutta Sangvai, MD. Vice President for Population Health Management at Duke Health (Durham, N.C.). In addition to serving as the vice president for population health management, Dr. Sangvai is Duke University Health System's associate chief medical officer and the executive director of Duke Connected Care. Dr. Sangvai has been at Duke since 2003 and previously served as Duke's chief of family medicine. He has served as president of the North Carolina Medical Society, the chair of the young physicians section of the American Medical Association and the national chair for the Association of American Medical Colleges' organization of student representatives and organization of residents.
Navkiran Shokar, MD. Chair of the Department of Population Health at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School (Austin, Texas). Before her current position at Dell Medical School, Dr. Shokar served as a tenured professor of family and community medicine and molecular and translational medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. She has more than 20 years of academic medical experience and has served as a clinician, educator and clinical researcher.
Mark Sparta. Executive Vice President of Population Health for Hackensack Meridian Health Network and President of Hackensack University Medical Center (Edison, N.J.).Before his current role, Mr. Sparta served as executive vice president and COO of Hackensack University Medical Center. Mr. Sparta is also a licensed physical therapist and practiced clinically at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Douglas Spotts, MD. Chief Health Officer of Meritus Health (Hagerstown, Md.). Dr. Spotts joined Meritus Health in 2018 as the system's first chief population health officer, a role that was later renamed chief health officer. He previously served as president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
Nicholas Stine, MD. System Senior Vice President of Enterprise Population Health atCommonSpirit Health (Chicago). Dr. Stine currently serves as a primary care physician in San Francisco in addition to his role at CommonSpirit. His prior work spans public, private and nonprofit spheres: He was the founding CMO for the New York City Health + Hospitals accountable care organization, and he served on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Mark Terpylak, DO. Senior Vice President of Population Health at Summa Health (Akron, Ohio). Before his current role as senior vice president of population health, Dr. Terpylak served as president of NewHealth Collaborative, Summa Health's accountable care organization. He has been a Summa physician leader for more than 20 years.
Jim Tidwell, MD. Vice President of Population Health of Owensboro Health (Owensboro, Ky.). Dr. Tidwell was appointed to his current role in 2019, while working for the health system as a plastic surgeon. Before joining Owensboro Health, he served for two years as an assistant professor at Scott & White/Texas A&M Health Science Center (now known as Baylor Scott & White), where he also served as associate program director of the Scott & White Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program. He has done fellowship training for microsurgical reconstruction in Belgium and Taiwan.
Debbie Welle-Powell. Chief Population Health Officer at Essentia Health (Duluth, Minn.). Ms. Welle-Powell joined Essentia in 2015 and was appointed to her current role in 2017. As chief population health officer, she integrates population health management, community health and well-being services to focus on the social determinants of health. She began serving a term as chair of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations in 2022.