Helen Burstin
Kent Conrad
Jodi G. Daniel
Michael E. Dunn
Carole Redding Flamm
Robert C. Hendel
Hans Kaiser
Rebecca Kelly
Joseph V. Messer
Michael J. Mirro
Andrea Palm
Sarah S. Thomas
Amy Walter
Samuel Wann
Janet S. Wright
Thomas B. Valuck
Helen Burstin, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Helen Burstin, M.D., M.P.H., has served as the director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) since January 2000. The Center expands the knowledge base for clinical providers and patients and translates new knowledge and systems improvement into primary care and prevention. The Center supports the US Preventive Services Task Force. Burstin oversees all health information technology initiatives at AHRQ.
Burstin is a board certified general internist and health services researcher, and a graduate of the State University of New York at Upstate College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed a residency in primary care internal medicine at Boston City Hospital. After residency, she completed fellowship training in General Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Prior to her appointment at AHRQ, Burstin was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the director of quality measurement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. While in this position, she served as chair of the Medical Staff Executive Committee on Quality Assurance/Risk Management and developed the hospital’s computerized Quality Measurement Reporting System. Burstin is the author of over 60 articles and book chapters in her areas of interest, including access to care and quality, medical errors, patient-provider communication, and disparities. In 1996, she won the Clinician Investigator Award of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) New England Region. She also served as national chair of the 2003 SGIM Annual Meeting.
Burstin is president of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) Foundation and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of La Clinica del Pueblo, a free Latino clinic in Washington, D.C., where she is a volunteer staff physician.
[Top]
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Beginning with his first Senate race in 1986, North Dakotans have sent Kent Conrad to represent them in the Senate in four successive elections.
Conrad is a renowned advocate of fiscal discipline and the protection of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, especially in his role as ranking member of the Budget Committee and as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. As the representative of one of the most rural states in the nation, Conrad also serves as a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
A fifth-generation North Dakotan, Senator Conrad was born on March 12, 1948 in Bismarck, and attended Roosevelt Elementary and Hughes Junior High. He began his official career in politics in 1968 when, as a teenager, he headed up a statewide campaign to grant voting rights to 19-year-olds.
In 1980, Senator Conrad won his first statewide race for North Dakota Tax Commissioner. He was reelected to the office in 1984, with what, at the time, was the highest percentage of the vote (79 percent) in a contested race in state history. His subsequent 1986 Senate victory was among the biggest upsets in state history.
Senator Conrad holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, and an MBA from George Washington University. He is married to Lucy Calautti, and has a daughter, Jessamyn Conrad.
[Top]
Jodi G. Daniel, J.D., M.P.H.
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
In October 2005, Jodi Daniel was appointed acting director of the Office of Policy and Research in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As permanent Director, she is responsible for considering the policy implications of key health information technology activities and coordinating health information policy discussions within HHS. Her responsibilities also include leading health information technology research efforts to help inform policy decisions.
Daniel developed an expertise in legal issues and HHS’s strategies regarding health information technology, prior to assuming this position with ONC, as the Senior Counsel for Health Information Technology in the Office of the General Counsel of HHS. She was responsible for coordinating all legal advice regarding health information technology for HHS, and was the lead attorney for ONC. Daniel worked closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the development of the e-prescribing standards regulations and the proposed Stark and anti-kickback rules regarding e-prescribing and electronic health records. She founded and chaired the health information technology practice group within HHS and founded the interagency working group on antitrust and health information technology.
Daniel also brings with her a strong background in health information privacy. As an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Office of General Counsel, she was a member of the core team responsible for developing policies and drafting the final HIPAA Privacy Rule. Daniel was a senior member of the team responsible for the Privacy Rule modifications and the proposed HIPAA Enforcement Rule. Before joining HHS, she was a health care associate at Ropes & Gray, where she advised health care providers and payers on regarding transactional, regulatory, and legislative issues. She also worked at MetLife as an internal management consultant and a health benefits consultant.
Daniel earned a law degree from Georgetown University and a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
[Top]
Michael E. Dunn
President, Michael E. Dunn & Associates
Michael Dunn says he’s a lucky man, because he gets paid to do something he loves to do: increase the grassroots political effectiveness of corporate and professional America.
He regularly counsels clients in the strategic design of their public affairs program structures, messages and communications, specializing in training corporate executives and association leaders to become sophisticated grassroots advocates or solicitors on behalf of their organization’s political action committee.
Dunn’s early career helped shape the core competencies that Michael E. Dunn & Associates is known for today. A product of the political science departments of South Arkansas University and the University of North Texas, he then honed his training skills as a political science instructor for the University of Arkansas. Dunn had the opportunity to refine his practical political skills serving as a legislative assistant for two former U.S. Representatives, including David Pryor of Arkansas and G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery of Mississippi. He also worked for four years as the director of government relations services with the Public Affairs Council, a professional organization for business public affairs executives.
[Top]
Carole Redding Flamm, M.D., M.P.H.
Senior Medical Director, Office of Clinical Affairs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
As Senior Medical Director in the Office of Clinical Affairs at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Carole Redding Flamm’s responsibilities include developing programs to evaluate and improve the quality, safety and health outcomes of care experienced by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan members, through collaboration with the providers to whom their care is entrusted. She also manages and provides clinical oversight to the many quality based Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association initiatives including Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care programs in transplants, bariatric surgery, cardiac care and evolving programs in cancer care.
Prior to her current position, Dr. Flamm was Associate Director of the Association’s Technology Evaluation Center (TEC). Prior to her work at the Association, Dr. Flamm was an instructor in radiology at Harvard Medical School and also served as an Associate in Radiology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Flamm received her Medical Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Harvard.
[Top]
Robert C. Hendel, M.D., F.A.C.C, F.A.H.A., F.A.S.N.C.
Robert C. Hendel, M.D., is presently affiliated with Midwest Heart Specialists (MHS), a group of more than 50 cardiovascular specialists based in the suburbs west of Chicago. Before moving to MHS in 2004, he was the director of the Coronary Care Unit and the director of Nuclear Cardiology, Section of Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center. He remains a Professor of Medicine at Rush.
He received his Bachelor of Art’s degree in biological sciences from Northwestern University and then was granted his medical degree, with distinction, from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1983. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University and went on to receive fellowship training in cardiovascular disease at the University of Medical School. After specialized training in nuclear cardiology, Dr. Hendel briefly joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts as an assistant professor before moving to Northwestern University in 1990. After being at Northwestern for almost 10 years, he moved to Rush University Medical Center, where he became a professor of medicine, with tenure.
He has served at the national level as the president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and has served on the Executive Council of ASNC for 8 years. Hendel was also president of the Cardiovascular Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and in 2003 received the Hermann Blumgardt Award from the Society for outstanding service in nuclear cardiology. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), the American Heart Association (FAHA) and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (FASNC).
He has delivered invited lectureships at the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Society of Nuclear Medicine and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology scientific sessions, as well as at national conferences in more than 10 countries. He has also authored more than 100 papers and book chapters and has published one of the leading textbooks in nuclear cardiology. His areas of research interest include angiogenesis, attenuation-corrected SPECT imaging, patient risk stratification, and pharmacologic stress testing.
Hendel recently has focused his attention on quality initiatives for cardiovascular imaging. In this regard, he co-chairs the Quality Working Group for the Coalition of Cardiovascular Organizations, an American College of Cardiology committtee. He is a member of the Working Group for development of the Appropriate Criteria and was the moderator for the Technical Panel for SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging and, more recently, for the cardiac CT and magnetic resonance appropriateness criteria. Dr. Hendel also served as a Steering Committee member for the Duke-ACC Think Tank meeting on quality in cardiovascular imaging held last February.
[Top]
Hans Kaiser
Vice President of Campaign and Public Affairs, Moore Information
Hans Kaiser directs research projects for corporate and political clients, ranging from health care and energy companies to U.S. Senate and Congressional campaigns. Kaiser draws on more than 20 years of experience in business, public affairs and politics to provide his clients with a well-rounded perspective when designing and interpreting research data.
Since Kaiser began working for Moore Information (MI) in 1995, he has been instrumental in expanding the company's political and corporate client base. He has a wealth of strategic and tactical experience that he combines with an unyielding attention to detail and a steadfast commitment to his clients. Kaiser applies his expertise to ongoing clients such as Microsoft, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (ME) and U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (MT).
Before joining MI, Kaiser served as Campaign Manager for U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton's successful 1994 re-election effort. He also worked closely with the Washington Republican Party to design and implement a coordinated voter program that helped win a historic Republican victory in Washington State.
Kaiser's other previous political and public affairs experience includes three years as special assistant to Sen. Gorton and executive director of George Bush's Victory '92 program in Washington State. He has served as deputy field director at the National Republican Congressional Committee and as a field coordinator at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He also spent three years in New York City helping to coordinate the production of 38 hours of videotaped interviews with Richard Nixon for Frank Gannon Communications.
Kaiser is a 1980 graduate of Hobart College where he majored in English. Born in Buffalo, he grew up in Annapolis, MD, where he now lives with his wife and children.
[Top]
Rebecca Kelly
Director of Regulatory Affairs, ACC
Rebecca Kelly is ACC’s director of Regulatory Affairs. She joined the ACC staff in July 2005 after nearly 12 years at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), where she served as director of Health Economics. Prior to her work with ACOG, she held several positions as a health policy analyst focusing on health care financing and maternal and child health programs. Rebecca received her master’s degree in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, and her bachelor’s degree from Duke University.
[Top]
Joseph V. Messer, M. D., M. A. C. C.
Dr. Messer is Professor of Medicine at Rush Medical College, Senior Attending Physician and former director of the Section of Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Ill. He practices cardiology as a member of Associates in Cardiology, Ltd., and as Chairman of the Board and the Medical Director of Chicago Cardiovascular Associates, S.C., a professional association of 24 cardiovascular practices in metropolitan Chicago.
Messer graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School with residency and cardiology fellowship at Harvard hospitals in Boston. He served in the Air Force as Assistant Chief of the Acceleration Section and Officer-in-Charge of the Cardiopulmonary Measurement Unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He returned to Boston and served as Chief of the Cardiovascular Unit at the Boston City Hospital before joining the faculty at Rush.
He is a Master of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, and the Councils on Circulation and Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association (AHA).
Messer has been active in the local and national activities of several organizations including service as the ACC’s Illinois Governor and Illinois Chapter president and president of the AHA of Metropolitan Chicago and chairman of the Chicago Cardiology Group. Nationally, Messer has served the ACC as chairman of the Board of Governors, and chair of the Board of Governor's Task Force on Managed Health Care, and the College’s Cardiology Carrier Advisory Committee. He has also served on the Private Sector Relations Committee, the Task Force on Performance Measures, and represents the College on the Physicians’ Consortium for Performance Improvement of the American Medical Association. In addition, Messer has served on the ACC’s technical panels for Appropriateness Criteria for Nuclear Imaging and Appropriateness for Computed Cardiac Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging. He is a member of the National Quality Forum’s Ambulatory Care Heart Disease Technical Panel, and the Cardiovascular Consensus Standards Maintenance Committee.
Other society memberships include the Association of University Cardiologists, American Physiological Society, American Federation for Clinical Research, Central Society for Clinical Research and Sigma Xi. He has served as associate editor of Chest, a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Catheterization and Cardiovascular Diagnosis, The Journal of Interventional Cardiology, and Journal of Clinical & Basic Cardiology and has published more than 150 scientific papers. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the ACC's Extended Learning Program (ACCEL), the American Heart Hospital Journal, and is consulting editor for Cardiology of the World Book Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center Encyclopedia.
[Top]
Michael J. Mirro, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Dr. Michael Mirro joined Fort Wayne Cardiology in 1981, coming from the University of Iowa, where he established a cardiac electrophysiology program. Dr. Mirro specializes in the field of cardiac electrophysiology and clinical research.
Mirro is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American College of Chest Physicians. He is also founding board member of the Midwest Alliance for Health Education and founder and current medical director of Parkview Research Center. He is a recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash Award and the Distinguished Hoosier Award and serves on the ACC Board of Trustees, is co-chair of the ACC Advocacy Committee and chair of the ACC HIT workgroup.
Mirro has earned board certification in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, cardiac electrophysiology and geriatrics. He received an accelerated bachelor’s degree from Loyola University, Chicago, and his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. Mirro completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. He also completed his clinical cardiology fellowship an cardiac electrophysiology research fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine. Mirro served as assistant professor of medicine at the University of Iowa and currently as clinical professor of medicine at Indiana University. In 2004, Mirro received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Indiana University.
Mirro is past chairman of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, founding board chair of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center and founding director of Tower Bank.
[Top]
Andrea Palm
Health Policy Advisor, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Andrea Palm serves as the health policy advisor to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), who sits on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. She handles the Senator’s health committee work as well as her health agenda more broadly. A primary focus of her recent work has been on the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit and addressing policy issues raised through this process, as well as Health IT and quality legislation which passed the Senate in November 2005.
Prior to joining Senator Clinton’s staff, Andrea served as Legislative Director to the late Congressmen Robert T. Matsui of Sacramento, CA. She handled Rep. Matsui’s Ways and Means committee issues, including health care and Social Security. She has also done a variety of low-income policy and direct service work for both non-profits and local government.
Andrea is a native New Yorker and received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She has an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis
[Top]
Sarah S. Thomas
Deputy Director, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Sarah S. Thomas is deputy director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Previous to rejoining MedPAC in 2002, Thomas worked at the Congressional Budget Office and at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on a variety of health reform and Medicare managed care payment issues. Before CMS, she was a research director at MedPAC, following four years as an analyst at one the commissions’ predecessor organizations, the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission. Thomas has also held positions in private organizations, including the American Association of Health Plans and the American Hospital Association, and in state government.
Thomas holds a M.S. in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
[Top]
Amy Walter,
Senior Editor, The Cook Political Report
Amy Walter is senior editor of The Cook Political Report, a non-partisan publication that provides analysis of the presidential, U.S. Senate, House and gubernatorial races for its subscribers. The Cook Political Report counts corporations, trade associations, labor unions, government agencies, foreign governments, media outlets and others, as its subscriber base.
Walter is responsible for handicapping and analyzing U.S. House races. In addition, she serves as a political analyst for CNN and has served as a panelist and commentator on CBS' Face the Nation. She provided Election Night commentary for CNN in November 2002 and 2004.
Walter is frequently quoted as a congressional election expert in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post and The New York Times , and has appeared on ABC and CBS evening news programs, Washington Journal (C-SPAN), Inside Politics (CNN) and The Newshour (PBS). She was also a frequent contributor to the CBS Early Show during the 2004 elections. She won The Washington Post's Crystal Ball award for her correct Election 2000 predictions.
Walter also contributes to National Journal magazine and Congress Daily. She provided election night analysis for Voter News Service in 1998 and 2000. She also speaks to numerous organizations about elections. She has served as an adjunct professor at the School of Communications at American University.
Walter has an extensive background in electoral politics. Prior to joining The Cook Political Report, she served as political director of the Women's Campaign Fund and worked for Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-PA). In 1994, she was the campaign manager for Rep. Mezvinsky's re-election effort.
Walter is a summa cum laude graduate of Colby College.
[Top]
L. Samuel Wann, M.D., M.A.C.C.
Dr. Samuel Wann grew up in Wingate, Indiana, a small agricultural community where his father was a veterinarian and his mother was a high school teacher. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University in 1968, majoring in anthropology, later graduating from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he also trained in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident. After completing a cardiology fellowship at Indiana in 1977 under the guidance of Dr. Charles Fisch and Dr. Harvey Feigenbaum, Wann served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Indiana and started the echocardiography program at the Indianapolis Veterans Administration Hospital. He subsequently moved to the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where he eventually became Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiology Fellowship Program. In 1988, Wann served a sabbatical in the Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Unit of the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. He entered the private practice of cardiology with Wisconsin Heart and Vascular Clinics in 1989. He is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Wisconsin Heart Hospital. He is also serves as director of the cardiovascular CT program at the Wisconsin Heart Hospital.
His clinical interests include echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and CT angiography. He has published more than 200 works on issues such as using echocardiography in infective endocarditis; the early demonstration of the usefulness of stress echocardiography; and three dimensional echocardiography. He directed the cardiology hemodynamic research laboratory at the Medical College of Wisconsin for several years, publishing several papers using echocardiography to investigate left ventricular function and pericardial disease in animal models. His more recent work includes use of MRI, including assessment of transmyocardial laser revascularization.
Wann has served as a trustee of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and was chairman of the ACC Advocacy Committee and the ACC Medical Directors’ Institute. He has also been active in the American Society of Echocardiography (Board of Trustees, Management Committee, Advocacy Committee), the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (Community Based Practice Committee, Board of Directros) and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (Nominating Committee and Editorial Board), the Society for Cardiovascular CT (Board of Trustees) and the American Heart Association. Wann was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Independent Physicians Group, a 1500 member Milwaukee IPO.
Wann is also founding president of the Foundation for International Medical Exchange, a nonprofit group working to improve cardiac care in several eastern European and central Asian countries. Wann also volunteers as a primary care physician at the Greater Milwaukee Free Clinic, caring for working but uninsured patients.
[Top]
Janet S. Wright, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Dr. Janet S. Wright practices invasive cardiology as a partner in Northstate Cardiology Consultants, Chico, Calif. She received her medical doctorate at the University of Tennessee and completed her internal medicine residency at Children’s Hospital and Adult Medical Center in San Francisco. Cardiovascular fellowship followed at San Francisco General Hospital and University of California at San Francisco.
Wright was appointed to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Board of Trustees in March 2005. She has been a member or co-chair of the ACC’s Annual Medical Directors’ Institute since 2003 and currently serves as co-chair of the Joint Quality-Advocacy Working Group on Pay for Performance.
As Chair of ACC’s Disease Management Oversight Task Force, she testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health in regard to the Chronic Care Improvement Programs (CCIPs) mandated by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Wright is a member of the Board of Directors of the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA).
Since December 2004, Wright has served on the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee, the 29 member board established by Proposition 71 to oversee the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.
[Top]
Thomas B. Valuck, M.D., M.H.S.A., J.D.
Dr. Thomas Valuck is Medical Officer and Senior Adviser to the Director of the Center for Medicare Management at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). He advises the Center Director, Herb Kuhn, on clinical and policy issues related to Medicare’s payment systems, particularly pay for performance.
Dr. Valuck, a native of Kirksville, Missouri, has degrees in biological science and medicine from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He took clinical training in pediatrics at the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, before obtaining a Master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Kansas.
Dr. Valuck was employed for over nine years in various executive roles, including Vice President of Medical Affairs, at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMed) in Kansas City, Kansas. While at KUMed, Dr. Valuck was awarded the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship, a one year sabbatical during which he served on the staff of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Dr. Valuck relocated to Washington, DC to attend the Georgetown University Law Center where he worked on the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy and earned the BNA Health Law Award and the Federal Legislation Clinic Advocacy Award. As a law student, he worked for the White House Council of Economic Advisers as a health policy assistant to Dr. Mark McClellan, who was the President’s Chief Health Policy Adviser at that time. Before joining CMS, Dr. Valuck was an associate at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he practiced regulatory health law.
[Top]
