Women are increasingly becoming involved with health IT, thanks to the many women who have pioneered in the field for years.
Here is a list of women to watch in health IT to watch, including those who have accomplished much over the years and rising stars in the field.
Paola Arbour. Executive Vice President and CIO of Tenet Healthcare (Dallas). Ms. Arbour is executive vice president and CIO of Tenet, overseeing leadership and strategic direction for the health system's IT systems. She also identifies opportunities to support the company's care network with digital technology, data automation and customer experience. In 2018, she headed four strategic imperatives, including the Voice of the Consumer strategy, which made IT a business enabler to achieve companywide objectives and outcomes. She also helped the system launch a vendor revitalization program, re-contracted with Cerner and Microsoft, and launch a self-funded innovation team. Ms. Arbour also serves on the Dallas CIO Governing Board and speaks at many Women in Technology forums.
Pamela Arora. Senior Vice President of Information Services and CIO of Children's Health (Dallas). Ms. Arora has more than three decades of IT experience. At Children's, which she joined in 2007, she is responsible for systems and technology, health information management and biomedical technology and support. During her tenure, the health system has achieved HIMSS Stage 7 EMR Adoption designation and earned the HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award for innovative use of EHRs. Ms. Arora previously was senior vice president and CIO of Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health Care and CIO of Dallas-based Perot Systems.
Robyn Baek. Vice President of Analytics at SOC Telemed (Reston, Va.). Ms. Baek built a data-driven culture at SOC Telemed that transformed the organization and its financial performance. She helps support the company's business decisions with timely data and drives better operational performance. She was able to make data and analytics more easily accessible through an online portal and display the data in real time at the headquarters' office. She also created dashboards to help client hospitals compare metrics against peer groups and helped double the company's telepsychiatry business through acquisitions.
Lindy Benton. President and CEO of Vyne (Dunwoody, Ga.). Ms. Benton became CEO of Vyne in 2011, and the company was acquired by a private equity firm in 2019. She now focuses on integrating systems to facilitate secure and audible patient information exchange between providers. Ms. Benton is a past chapter president of HIMSS and frequently speaks on transforming healthcare to support caregivers. She has previous experience at Digital Equipment Corp. and Cerner, where she helped build a national consortium of healthcare leaders to identify synergies for future health IT initiatives.
Julie Berry. CIO of Steward Health Care System (Dallas). Ms. Berry has more than 20 years of experience in health IT. She served as Steward's chief technology officer before being named CIO in 2013. Before joining Steward, Ms. Berry was on the IT executive teams of Boston-based Partners HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She is a member of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Technical Advisory Board.
Joanne Burns. Chief Strategy Officer at Cerner (North Kansas City, Mo.). Ms. Burns joined Cerner in 2004 and held various positions responsible for large scale company development before she became chief strategy officer. In her role, Ms. Burns oversees the execution of Cerner's business and aligns business units to deliver on company strategy. She also has a background in crisis management, financial planning, solution strategy and development. Before joining Cerner, Ms. Burns led the Tiger Institute, a public/private partnership Cerner had with the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Bobbie Byrne, MD. CIO of Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee). Dr. Byrne has more than 15 years of experience in clinical informatics and 10 years of professional practice experience. She is CIO of 28-hospital Advocate Aurora Health, one of the nation’s 10 largest not-for-profit, integrated health systems, formed by the merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care. Before the merger, she was CIO of Advocate.
Debbie Cancilla. Vice President and CIO of Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Ms. Cancilla has more than 25 years of healthcare CIO experience. She became the CIO of Atlantic Health System in 2017 after spending time as senior vice president and CIO of PinnacleHealth. In her current role, she led Atlantic health through an EHR installation and spearheaded efforts CHIME recognized with its 2019 HealthCare's Most Wired report.
Suja Chandrasekaran. Chief Information and Digital Officer of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago). Ms. Chandrasekaran was appointed senior executive vice president, chief information and digital officer for CommonSpirit in August 2019, responsible for the health system's operational technology strategy and digitizing core processes. She also advances the use of analytics, artificial intelligence and digital tools to improve patient navigation and experience. Prior to joining CommonSpirit, Ms. Chandrasekaran was SVP and chief information and digital officer of Kimberly-Clark and chief technology and data officer at Walmart.
Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN. CNO of Vocera Communications (San Jose, Calif.). Dr. Collins became CNO of Vocera in 2014, responsible for working with nurse leaders to improve their understanding of the company's solutions. She has previous experience as vice president and business manager of Fresenius Kabi, USA, where she launched the company's intravenous infusion pump in the U.S. She also has experience as vice president of nursing at Masimo and vice president of women and children's services at Baylor University Medical Center.
Kristin Darby. CIO of Envision Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Darby joined Envision as CIO in 2018 after spending more than 25 years in health IT, finance, strategy and leadership. She has previous experience as CIO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America where she built the organization's information systems, informatics, digital and innovation function. She also has experience as CIO of Nashville-based Vanguard Health System and Tenet Healthcare.
Myra Davis. Senior Vice President and CIO of Texas Children's Hospital (Houston). Ms. Davis joined Texas Children's Hospital more than 10 years ago as a director of the hospital's information services department. Ms. Davis has won awards for leadership in her current role as senior vice president and CIO of the hospital, including the Transformational Leadership Award in 2013 from CHIME and the American Hospital Association. Under her guidance, Texas Children's Hospital was named one of CHIME's HealthCare's Most Wired hospitals in 2018.
Liz Devereux. Senior Director of Infrastructure Design and Support at Banner Health (Phoenix). Ms. Devereux became the senior director of IT infrastructure in 2018 after spending more than 11 years in various other IT and infrastructure roles with the health system. She has experience deriving business value from technology and focuses on strategic planning and IT service management in her current role. Ms. Devereux has more than 20 years of experience in the field and is known for inspiring and guiding teams through foundational change.
Bridget Duffy, MD. CMO of Vocera Communications (San Jose, Calif.) and Co-founder of Experience Innovation Network. Dr. Duffy has a background in hospitalist medicine and launching programs to accelerate clinical discovery in integrative and heart-brain medicine. Prior to becoming CMO of Vocera, Dr. Duffy was CEO of ExperiaHealth, a technology and solutions company that Vocera acquired. She also spent time as the chief experience officer of Cleveland Clinic.
Marcy Dunn. Senior Vice President and CIO of Maine Medical Center and MaineHealth (Portland). Ms. Dunn has 30-plus years of healthcare IT and systems management experience, including holding CIO roles with Episcopal Health Services in Uniondale, N.Y., and Catholic Health Services of Long Island in Melville, N.Y. She took on the title of CIO at Maine Medical Center and MaineHealth in 2016, overseeing IT projects such as the health system's shared EHR program. Under her leadership, the 637-bed Maine Medical Center was named one of HealthCare's Most Wired hospitals in 2018.
Sandra Elliott, Vice President of Life Sciences and Innovation at Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. Ms. Elliott is responsible for developing a culture of innovation within Hackensack Meridian Health and bringing in transformative solutions to support the system's strategic planning. In particular, she is looking at precision medicine, new device development and remote care models as well as population health solutions. Ms. Elliott is also involved in emerging research and publishes articles in healthcare and business magazines.
Renee Fosberg. Vice President and CIO of Emerson Hospital (Concord, Mass.). Ms. Fosberg has over 20 years of experience in healthcare information systems. In her current role as senior director and CIO, Ms. Fosberg implements Emerson Hospital's IT and telecommunication systems strategy and has guided the health system through adopting an EMR platform. Under her leadership, Emerson Hospital was named a HIMSS Analytics stage 6 hospital, the second-to-last stage in HIMSS' measurement of EHR adoption and usage.
Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Children's National Health System (Washington, D.C.). Dr. Eskandanian is responsible for Children's National's Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization as well as the research operations for the Sheikh Zayed Institute and the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, which will open in 2020. Dr. Eskandanian is also the executive director of National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, an FDA-funded consortium focused on accelerating the time to market for pediatric devices.
Judy Faulkner. Founder and CEO of Epic Systems (Verona, Wis.). Ms. Faulkner founded Epic in 1979 and continues to serve as CEO. The company has grown significantly over the past decade and reported $2.9 billion in 2018 sales. The EHR vendor of choice for many of the top hospitals and health systems in the nation, Epic supports medical records for more than 250 million patients. She was named one of Forbes' America's Top 50 Women in Tech 2018.
Virginia Feldman, MD. Co-founder and CEO of Nexus Health Resources (Middletown, N.Y.). Dr. Feldman is responsible for the strategic direction of Nexus Health Resources, a company she co-founded, which is focused on automating communications and optimizing reimbursement. Prior to founding Nexus, Dr. Feldman co-founded Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, which generated $5 million in revenue.
Helen Figge, PharmD. Chief Strategy Officer at Medicasoft (Arlington, Va.). MedicaSoft named Dr. Figge chief strategy officer in 2018. She also serves in senior advisory roles to organizations across the U.S. and sits on committees and boards for HIMSS, CHIME, The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and other organizations. Prior to joining MedicaSoft, Dr. Figge worked for AmerisourceBergen, Allscripts and Alere; she also supported and guided several health IT start-up companies.
Linn Foster Freedman. Partner at Robison+Cole (Providence, R.I.). Ms. Freedman focuses her law practice on data privacy and security, cybersecurity and complex litigation across multiple sectors, including healthcare. She works with her clients for data breach preparedness and assists with developing and training data breach response teams. She is nationally ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the privacy law area. Ms. Freedman also chairs the firm's data privacy and security team.
Angie Franks. President and Chief Executive Officer at Central Logic (Salt Lake City). Ms. Franks joined Chart Logic in 2017 after holding leadership positions with The Advisory Board Company, Lawson Software and GeoAccess. She has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology and a background in transformational leadership, increasing revenue and driving new market growth.
Shirley Gabriel. Vice President of Information Systems and CIO of University Health Care System (Augusta, Ga.). Ms. Gabriel has served as the vice president of information systems and CIO of the 10-hospital University Health Care System since January 2015. Before joining University Health Care System, she was the vice president and CIO of the Tucson-based University of Arizona Health Network.
Deborah Gage. President and CEO of Medecision (Dallas). Ms. Gage has founded and led multiple healthcare technology companies as well as growth businesses in analytics, financial and clinical sectors. Prior to becoming president and CEO of Medecision, Ms. Gage was CEO of SolutionPoint, a database management and decision support software products, and GTESS Corp., a software-as-a-service provider for claims automation solutions for payers. In her role with Medecision, she transformed the company from a care management workflow engine for health plans to a provider of big data solutions, visualization, workflow and engagement solutions.
Lisa Grisim. Vice President and Associate CIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Ms. Grisim has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology. She joined Lucile Packard Children's in 2002 with a background in nursing as well as information systems. She focuses on EMR optimization and helped lead the hospital to develop an adopt Lean tools and techniques. Ms. Grisim's team of more than 100 employees and consultants helped the system earn HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Level 7 in 2015 and the HIMSS Davies Award for the use of EMR data to improve patient outcomes and decrease costs in 2018.
Joy Grosser. CIO of UW Medicine (Seattle). Ms. Grosser has more than 20 years of experience in senior IT leadership. In her current role, Ms. Grosser oversees UW Medicine's IT infrastructure across eight entities in the Puget Sound region, including four hospitals, 14 UW Neighborhood Clinics, the UW School of Medicine and the UW Physicians practice group encompassing 2,000 physicians. Before joining UW Medicine in 2017, Ms. Grosser was the CIO of Cleveland-based University Hospitals.
Tamara Havenhill-Jacobs. CIO of Bozeman (Mont.) Health. Ms. Havenhill-Jacobs oversees IT for Bozeman Health, a two-hospital health system with around 2,000 employees. She has more than 25 years of experience in management and in her current role also oversees the health system's technology and innovation efforts. In the next year, she plans on building partnerships for digital initiatives.
Karen Ignagni. President and CEO of EmblemHealth (New York City). Ms. Ignagni leads EmblemHealth, a nonprofit health insurance company that serves around 3.1 million people in New York. She joined the company in 2015 after serving as president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans where she worked with the White House and Congressional leaders to develop healthcare reform legislation. In addition to her work with EmblemHealth, Ms. Ignagni sits on the Governor's Council on Women and Girls as well as the New York Department of Financial Services Insurance Advisory Board.
Beverly Jordan, MSN, RN. Vice President and Chief Information and Transformation Officer of Baptist Memorial Health Care (Memphis, Tenn.). Ms. Jordan has served Baptist in clinical, educational and leadership roles for nearly 40 years. In 2015, she was made responsible for the largest project in the 100-plus-year history of the organization — the systemwide implementation of an EHR and patient financial system. Her previous roles at Baptist include chief clinical transformation officer and chief nursing officer. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Action Coalition, a group whose mission is to ensure all Tennesseans have access to high-quality, patient-centered healthcare.
Rebecca Kaul. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of MD Anderson (Houston). Ms. Kaul is responsible for the innovation center at MD Anderson, which is focused on developing creative and effective approaches to patient care as well as bringing new solutions to market. Ms. Kaul has previous experience as the chief innovation officer and president of UPMC Development Center, where she developed the program's portfolio of partnerships, investments and new companies.
Janice Kelly, RN-BC. President of AORN Syntegrity (Denver). Ms. Kelly leads AORN Syntegrity, which provides evidence-based perioperative information for EHRs. The solution includes standardized scheduling procedure list, standardized nursing documentation content and care planning. Ms. Kelly has experience as the governing director for AORN and regional chief nursing informatics officer at Providence Health & Services Alaska Region.
Lisa Khorey. Executive Vice President and Chief Client Delivery Officer for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Chicago). Ms. Khorey oversees all aspects of delivering Allscripts solutions to clients. She has spent more than 20 years of her career in IT leadership, including time at UPMC where she was CIO and spearheaded the health system's enterprise analytics program and was responsible for the enterprise system oversight, data aggregation platforms and business intelligence tools. Ms. Khorey also has experience as executive director in Ernst & Young's Healthcare Advisory Services Practice.
Jeri Koester. Interim CIO and Vice President of IT Business Management and Shared Services IS Solutions at Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System. Ms. Koester has spent the past eight years with Marshfield Clinic, now overseeing the long-term information services needs and technology vision for the system. She has experience developing IT strategy, software development and hardware acquisition and integration. Ms. Koester was able to generate at least 6 percent savings with her team in 2019 on operational improvements. She has led several key initiatives, including expanding IT business management practices to support the system's strategic planning and a 50 percent reduction in cost for data connectivity between remote sites and its data center.
Lauren Koniaris, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Northern Region for Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). In her role as CMIO of the Northern Region for Hackensack Meridian Health, Dr. Koniaris played a key role in the system's EHR rollout at network hospitals. She also strives to ensure clinical workflows and processes at each hospital within her purview are modified as needed for safe and efficient patient care. She also brings expertise in informatics to enhance clinical quality with technology and helps translate challenges with the physician workflow to the system's tech team. Dr. Koniaris previously served as CMIO of Hackensack University Medical Center.
Jan Lee, MD. CEO of Delaware Health Information Network (Dover). Dr. Lee oversees the Delaware Health Information Network, a statewide clinical health information exchange with a budget of around $8.5 million. She has experience working with hospital, ambulatory practice and health plan leaders to aggregate clinical data into a longitudinal health record. Dr. Lee has a background as a family practice physician and spent time as vice president of knowledge base and content for NextGen Healthcare before taking on her current role.
Chun Li, PhD. Chief Data Scientist of Diameter Health (Farmington, Conn.). Dr. Li leads the development of Diameter's analytical platform and core solutions. She joined the company after spending time as a senior analyst at Boston-based Health Advances, a healthcare management and strategy consulting company. Dr. Li is also a speaker at international science conferences.
Becky Magee. Senior Vice President and CIO of Washington Regional Medical System (Fayetteville, Ark.). Ms. Magee has over 30 years healthcare information technology experience and has worked all sides of the health IT triad – health system, vendor and consultant. She joined WRMS in 2001 when a new replacement hospital was being built and oversaw the technology architecture of the new facility. WRMS comprises a 425-bed hospital and over 40 clinic locations. The health system consists of 3,000 employees with revenues in excess of $1 billion. WRMS was the first hospital in the U.S. to enterprise-wide implement CISCO's VOIP solution in early 2000.
Novlet Mattis. CIO of Orlando (Fla.) Health. As Orlando Health's CIO, Ms. Mattis leads a team of nearly 600 clinical and IT professionals. Since becoming CIO in January 2018, Ms. Mattis and her team's accomplishments include the development of a screening tool that identifies high-risk traumatic brain injury patients. Before joining Orlando Health, Ms. Mattis served as vice president of IT at Ascension Information Services in St. Louis.
Sheree McFarland. CIO of West Florida at HCA (Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla.). Ms. McFarland oversees health IT for 16 hospitals and more than 50 physician practices and other facilities for HCA's West Florida region. In this role, Ms. McFarland provides strategic planning, budgeting and project management support for the health system. She has previous experience as director of IT for Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Pamela McNutt. Senior Vice President and CIO of Methodist Health System (Dallas). Ms. McNutt has nearly 30 years of health IT experience. In addition to her responsibilities as senior vice president and CIO of the four-hospital Methodist Health System, Ms. McNutt serves as a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Data Initiative Executive Committee and the State of Texas' Health Care Information Council Hospital Data Collection Workgroup.
Betsy McVay. Vice President and Chief Analytics Officer of UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Ms. McVay has focused her efforts with UnityPoint Health on using data and analytics to improve care quality and promote efficiency. She supports the health system's efforts toward analytics maturity and mastering descriptive and predictive analytics. In her role as vice president and chief analytics officer, Ms. McVay partners with both clinical and business leadership to solve healthcare challenges.
Theresa Meadows. Senior Vice President and CIO of Cook Children's Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas). Ms. Meadows oversees the formulation and implementation of Cook Children's Health Care System's IT strategy and information systems across the system's eight companies. She also spearheads planning, prioritization and negotiation for all major information management technology and services that the health system acquires. In addition to leading the health system's information management strategies, she also oversees data security and advocates for technology use to improve patient care. Ms. Meadows received the 2019 CHIME Federal Public Policy Award.
Amy Merlino, MD. Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino joined Cleveland Clinic in 2010 as director of clinical informatics and became CMIO in 2017. Her medical background is in obstetrics and gynecology, and she has certification in preventative medicine as well as clinical informatics. In 2018, Crain's Cleveland Business named Dr. Merlino among its list of Notable Women in Technology.
Leah Miller. CIO of Medical City Healthcare (Dallas). Ms. Miller is responsible for Medical City's clinical and facility solutions spanning its hospitals and free-standing surgery centers. She helps the system solve complex organizational challenges. She has previous experience in leadership, organizational transformation and solution-delivery accomplishments in healthcare, retail software as well as other sectors. Over the past five years, Ms. Miller has built a team of more than 200 IT professionals to collaborate on innovations, and the team was able to connect physicians and nurses with mobile technologies to improve patient care and predictive analytics. In 2019, Ms. Miller received the CIO 100 Award and D CEO Magazine – Excellence in Healthcare Award finalist recognitions.
Karen Murphy, PhD, RN. Chief Innovation Officer of Geisinger (Danville, Pa.). Dr. Murphy is the founding director of the Steele Institute for Health Innovation at Geisinger and executive vice president and CIO of the health system. In her role, Dr. Murphy supports the system's four principles to fulfill its mission of caring through technology and innovation. She previously served as the secretary of health for the state of Pennsylvania and the director of the State Innovation Models Initiative at CMS, leading the agency's $990 million investment.
Kristin Myers. Senior Vice President of Technology at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Ms. Myers is the senior vice president of technology at Mount Sinai, where she oversaw the $100 million implementation of its EHR. In 2012, the health system received the Enterprise HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence. Ms. Myers has a background in IT and law, as well as project management.
Jamie Nelson. Senior Vice President and CIO of Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Ms. Nelson took the helm of Hospital for Special Surgery's IT department in April 2012. Since then, she has revamped the team, growing ranks and creating new leadership positions like CMO, chief technology officer and chief information security officer. Under her leadership, the orthopedic hospital completed an EHR installation in January 2016 and earned HIMSS stage 7 certification in November 2017. The hospital earned the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence for IT last year. Before HSS, Ms. Nelson held IT leadership positions at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, where she served as CIO, and NewYork-Presbyterian, where she served as vice president of IT.
Jeana O'Brien, MD. CMIO of Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas and Temple, Texas). Dr. O'Brien plays a key role in driving Baylor Scott & White's data-driven future as CMIO. She has a background in information services and clinical informatics, and works to deliver technology solutions to support clinical practice and research. She was part of the health system's efforts to unite 51 hospitals and more than 7,500 providers under a single EHR system and continues to strive for transparency in her approach to organizational change management. Throughout her career, Dr. O'Brien has helped the health system achieve HIMSS Level 7 Award for multiple hospitals and clinics.
Natalie Pageler, MD. CMIO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children's Health (Palo Alto, Calif.). Dr. Pageler brings experience as a pediatric and obstetrics physician and administrator to the role of CMIO. She leads the hospital's digital health program, which aims to transform the model of care for pediatrics and obstetrics. Dr. Pageler helped lead Stanford Children's Health to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 recognition for inpatient and ambulatory surgery in 2015 as well as the HIMSS Davies Award in 2017. Dr. Pageler is an advocate for thoughtful and appropriate patient engagement tool development for pediatric patients and families. She is also the program director for Stanford School of Medicine's clinical informatics fellowship.
Gail Peace. Founder, President and CEO of Ludi (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Peace is founder and CEO of Ludi, a company focused on providing technology to hospitals to optimize physician spend. She has spent her career in healthcare technology, business development and sales leadership with hospitals and health plans. Prior to founding Ludi, Ms. Peace was vice president of business development at Vanguard Health in Chicago and vice president of client solutions for WebMD Health Services.
Aimee Quirk, CEO of innovationOchsner (New Orleans). Ms. Quirk oversees innovationOchsner, the innovation lab associated with New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System. Opened in 2015, the lab is an accelerator that aims to reimagine the healthcare delivery experience, improve quality of care and reduce costs. Prior to joining Ochsner that same year, Ms. Quirk spent time as the senior advisor for economic development in the Office of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Stephanie Reel. Vice President for Information Services and CIO of Johns Hopkins University and Health System (Baltimore). Ms. Reel holds more than 25 years of information systems experience, stepping into her role at Johns Hopkins University and Health System in 1999. She also has served as vice president for information services at Johns Hopkins Medicine since 1994. Under Ms. Reel's oversight, Johns Hopkins has advanced use of its EHR, embraced a regional health record and implemented self-service solutions for faculty, staff and students, among other initiatives.
Rose Ritts, PhD. Chief Innovation Officer of Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Dr. Ritts oversees innovation efforts at Jefferson Health, including initiatives to develop products and services for commercialization. She heads partnerships to transform patient care delivery and bring new therapies to market. Dr. Ritts also has responsibilities with the system's Office of Technology Transfer and Jefferson Accelerator Zone. She has more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles, previously serving as the director of biotechnology and materials at Sarnoff Corp., as well as working with Duke University in Durham, N.C., to create partnerships with emerging technology companies.
Sylvia Romm, MD. Chief Innovation Officer of Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Dr. Romm has a background in clinical leadership as a board-certified pediatrician. She spent time as the vice president of clinical transformation for American Well, a large telemedicine company, before joining Atlantic Health System where she now serves as chief innovation officer. Dr. Romm is responsible for developing relationships with local and national innovation partners to expand the system's research profile as well as finding new ways to improve access to care.
Fidelma Russo. Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Iron Mountain (Boston). Ms. Russo became chief technology officer and executive vice president of Iron Mountain in 2017 after serving as senior vice president and general manager for Dell EMC's enterprise storage and software business. At Iron Mountain, she is responsible for the company's technology strategy to strengthen its product offerings.
Roberta Schwartz. Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Houston Methodist. Ms. Schwartz is executive vice president and chief innovation officer for 924-bed Houston Methodist, leading its digital innovation platforms, telemedicine strategy and artificial intelligence initiatives. She has previous experience as director of business development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. In 2016 she was inducted into the Greater Houston Women's Hall of Fame and three years later in 2019, Ms. Schwartz received the ACHE Healthcare Regent's Award.
Laura Semlies, Vice President of Digital Patient Experience at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Ms. Semlies became the vice president of digital patient experience at Northwell in November 2017 to develop the health system's digital footprint for patients. Over the past two years, Ms. Semlies has developed a team and executive council to lead the system's digital transformation with experts from business, digital marketing and IT. She has previous experience as vice president of finance for the health system and she launched an enterprisewide integrated patient access program and systems.
Lisa Sershen, Chief Digital Officer of Westmed (Purchase, N.Y.). Ms. Sershen has a background in project management, web and database development implementation and digital marketing. She has spent the last decade at Westmed Medical Group, initially joining as an analyst and managing the practice's web services. She is now the chief digital officer overseeing the group's technical and digital innovation efforts.
Ramya Sita Palacholla, MD. Lead Scientist at Partners HealthCare (Boston). Dr. Palacholla heads the team tasked with conducting needs assessments across Partners HealthCare's system as well as product development and evaluations. Dr. Palacholla has presented her work at the World Economic Forum and G8 Summit, and she continues to focus on new frontiers in digital health. She has a focus on research to prove the value and outcomes of digital health solutions. She also serves as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Laura Smith. Vice President and CIO of UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Ms. Smith is responsible for the IT division of UnityPoint Health, which includes a team of 600 IT professionals in several locations, the oversight of a $179 million IT operating budget and delivery of an IT portfolio of projects each year. Her team spent 2018 launching a multifactor authentication system to all team members, providers and independent providers to ensure hospitals are safe from cyberattacks.
Lesley Solomon. Senior Vice President for Innovation and Chief Innovation Officer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston). Ms. Solomon became the senior vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in June 2017 after serving as the executive director of the Brigham Innovation Hub at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She also spent time as the director of strategy and innovation for Brigham Research Institute. In her current role, Ms. Solomon focuses on innovation and opportunities to collaborate with other organizations and health systems.
Tressa Springmann. Senior Vice President and CIO, Enterprise IT and Process Improvement of LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). Ms. Springmann directs information services and telecommunications management at LifeBridge Health and its subsidiaries. She oversees health information management and participates in strategic planning and operations of the information systems and telecommunication. She has spent six years with LifeBridge, serving as CIO since 2012, and she is chairman of the technology committee for Maryland's state health information exchange. She is a past president of Maryland HIMSS and serves on the healthcare management program advisory board for Towson (Md.) University.
Michelle Stansbury. Vice President of IT innovation at Houston Methodist. Ms. Stansbury joined Houston Methodist in July 1993 and has grown within the system to become vice president of innovation. She was instrumental in the health system's Epic deployment for the flagship medical center as well as physician practices. Ms. Stansbury has a passion for digital health innovation and is a member of the team leading innovation initiatives at Houston Methodist.
Terri Steinberg, MD. Chief Health Information Officer and Vice President of Population Health Informatics at ChristianaCare (Wilmington, Del.). Dr. Steinberg focuses on technology adoption by clinicians and how technology can affect safe medication practice. In her role as chief information officer and vice president of population health informatics, Dr. Steinberg also examines how technology can drive population health management. She led the ChristianaCare team that developed an IT platform for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation award, which developed a technology-enabled prediction analytics care management platform.
Lisa Stump. Senior Vice President and CIO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health and Yale School of Medicine. Ms. Stump has experience as a lecturer and commentator on health IT and digital health. She is the senior vice president and CIO of Yale New Haven Health and Yale School of Medicine, where she oversees a robust IT department. She also serves as an adjunct professor and board of visitors member of the College of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
Phyllis Teater. Associate Vice President and CIO of The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center (Columbus). Ms. Teater began her career at the OSU Wexner Medical Center more than 25 years ago and has been instrumental in the adoption and rollout of the seven-hospital system's ambulatory and inpatient EMR systems. She also provides technological support for the hospital's research IT services and education initiatives. Before becoming CIO, Ms. Teater worked as deputy CIO at the hospital and oversaw all of its EMR, financial and human resource systems.
Tanya Townsend. Senior Vice President and CIO of LCMC Health (New Orleans). Ms. Townsend oversees IT for the five-hospital LCMC Health. She has a background in financial leadership and spent more than 20 years in the healthcare industry. She previously served as a CIO of healthcare organizations and hospitals in Wisconsin before taking on her current role. She also sits on the advisory board for NetApp, VMWare and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Laura Wilt. CIO of Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Ms. Wilt became CIO of Ochsner Health in 2016, three years after joining the health system as the associate vice president of clinical systems. She is responsible for leading the technology, clinical and corporate applications for the health system as well as its cybersecurity strategy and analytics teams. Ms. Wilt has previous experience working on Epic's implementation services team. She is a certified healthcare CIO by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Deanna Wise. Senior Vice President and CIO of Banner Health (Phoenix). Ms. Wise became CIO of Banner Health in 2019, responsible for developing the health system's consumer and clinician experience. She has a background in working with teams that leverage innovative technologies, including robotic process automation, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. She has previous experience as CIO of Dignity Health, where she oversaw the implementation of its EHR and creation of its clinically integrated predictive analytics program. She was named among the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology in 2019.
Sara Vaezy. Chief Digital Strategy and Business Development Officer at Providence (Renton, Wash.). Ms. Vaezy is responsible for the digital strategy and partnerships for Providence, a 51-hospital health system. She has a background working with technology companies, commercialization and digital business development. Ms. Vaezy worked for healthcare management consulting firm The Chartis Group prior to joining Providence.
Angela Yochem, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.). Ms. Yochem oversees efforts to implement digital solutions across Novant Health's system as the chief digital and technology officer. She is responsible for protecting patient health records while delivering differentiated digital products and services that improve patient care. She focuses on a consumer-centric digital health business model and she co-founded the system's Institute of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. In 2019, HMG Strategy named Ms. Yochem a Top Technology Executive to Watch.
Karley Yoder. Vice President and General Manager of Artificial Intelligence at GE Healthcare (Chicago). Ms. Yoder oversees artificial intelligence strategy and product implementation for GE Healthcare's product portfolio. She leads internal project management as well as partnership activities related to developing a healthcare-specific platform for creating deep learning models that are integrated into the company's product lines. She has previous experience at Apple Health and Doctor on Demand.