Geri Lynn Baumblatt, MA
Articulations Consulting & Co-founder
Difference Collaborative Alliance
Geri Lynn Baumblatt has worked at the intersection of health literacy, patient engagement, shared decision making, patient-clinician communication, and health technology for over 20 years. She serves on PCORI’s Patient Engagement Advisory Board, the Journal of Patient Experience Leadership Board, is a columnist on Healthcare IT Today, and serves as Docola’s Chief Engagement Officer.
Martie Carnie
Senior Patient Experience Advisor
Center for Patients and Families
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston MAPCORI Ambassador
Martie Carnie is the Senior Patient Experience Advisor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a PCORI Ambassador, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Family member on Patient Engagement and member of the HOMERuN Patient and Family Advisory Council. She brings over 50 years of communication, customer service, and management experience to her leadership roles related to patient and family centered care. In addition to being a survivor of breast and melanoma cancers, she has served in many leadership roles focused on bringing the patient perspective and voice to these endeavors. She has published articles regarding patient engagement in health care, research, patient experience, patient safety, and design and presents nationally and internationally.
Anne Dellos, MBA, PHS
Administration & Operations Supervisor of the CARES Team
MCDPH
Anne spent 25 years as an international business leader in telecommunications and media. She returned to Phoenix in 2017 after 20 years’ living and working in Singapore. She holds an MBA in Global Business from Thunderbird, and began her career in Public Health as a volunteer during the Covid-19 response. Anne was instrumental in the creation and design of the CARES Team, and is very proud of this award-winning unit that has expanded from it’s initial design as a “Call Center” into what is now a full-service community relationship building initiative.
Melissa Elliott
Area Agency on Aging
Melissa Elliott is an MSW who has worked with older adults for over 20 years in both social services and therapeutic recreation programming. She has been at the Area Agency on Aging, Region One in Phoenix for 16 years and is currently the Senior Vice-President of Programs & Services. Melissa was selected as a 2017 Virginia G. Piper fellow. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University since 2011.
Patricia Evans, RN, PhD
Patricia Evans, RN, PhD, is retired from her role as Chief Mission Office for the South Atlantic Division. She was appointed to public health councils by five Delaware Governors and currently serves as a member of Advisory Council to the Christiana Care Health System in Delaware. She also serves as a volunteer with the Bluffton Jasper Volunteers in Medicine and as a member of the HOMERuN Patient and Family Advisory Council. During her career, she oversaw international projects in Bolivia and India, created an eight-state comprehensive patient navigation center, including social work and nutritional services, and updated the physical plants for four of the five Hope Lodges in the division.
James Harrison MPH, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Hospital Medicine University of California San Francisco
Research Director UCSF Age Friendly Health System
Dr. James Harrison is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF. James is a researcher and implementation scientist who uses patient and stakeholder engagement to improve the hospital care transitions of older adults. In addition to research, James participates in efforts to ensure the patient, family, and community voice are systematically incorporated into UCSF’s clinical, research, education, and public missions. He also convenes the Hospital Medicine Reengineering Network Patient and Family Advisory Council and is a PCORI Ambassador.
Jill Hecker Fernandes RN, MSN, DNP, MLS
The Emily Center
Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Dr. Jill Hecker Fernandes, RN, MSN, DNP, MLS is a pediatric nurse of 33 years. Her experiences includes Neonatal Intensive Care, Pediatric Intensive Care, Open Heart Newborn, Flight Nurse, and Academia as a Clinical Assistant Professor. She is certified as a Consumer Health Information Specialist Level II through the National Library of Medicine and received a Healthy Literacy Specialist Certificate through the Institute for Healthcare Advancement. She is currently employed as a Health Information Nurse Specialist in the Emily Center at Phoenix Children’s in Phoenix, Arizona.
Catherine (Cathy) Hanson BA
Director, Patient Engagement, Patient and Family Centered Care
University of Miami Health System
Cathy Hanson is Director of Patient Engagement and Patient- and Family-Centered Care at the University of Miami Health System. She is also a PCORI Ambassador, a member of the Hospital Medicine Reengineering Network (HOMERuN) Patient and Family Advisory Council, and a teacher for the National Alliance for Mental Health. She is also responsible for launching the Health Literacy program at the University of Miami Health System.
Eran Kabakov, PT, DPT
Docola
Eran Kabakov is the founder and CEO of Docola. Eran is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, digital health innovator, entrepreneur, and public speaker. Early in his career Dr. Kabakov recognized a shift in how healthcare was being delivered. The result of this change being a growing communication chasm between providers and patients. To solve this issue, Eran has been designing web-based care-communication solutions since 2001.
Kimberly Manning, Patient & RN, BSHA, CPHQ
Quality Nurse Specialist II
ECU Health
Kimberly Manning is an RN at ECU Health in North Carolina. She is also a bariatric surgery patient.
Jhoana Molina
Immunization Equity Manager
Maricopa County Public Health
Jhoana Molina has been with the Maricopa County Public Health for 16 years. She is currently the Immunization Equity Manager, a role that was created during the COVID-19 pandemic to respond to the needs of underserved populations. Before this role, she spent 14 years as the Spanish speaking Public Information Officer and the hard-to-reach populations coordinator for the department. Prior to coming to work for the Public Health Department, Jhoana worked as an anchor/reporter for Univision, AZ. She graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU and sits on several boards including the Arizona Latino Media Association Board (ALMA) and the Grand Canyon University Parent Council.
Michael Paasche-Orlow
Editor-in-Chief
HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice
As a primary care clinician and a nationally recognized expert in the field of health literacy, I have dedicated my career to improving the care of vulnerable populations. I am currently a PI on seven clinical studies that examine health literacy and doctor-patient communication, various modes of patient education, and empowerment. I have been the lead designer of nine patient-oriented interactive behavioral informatics programs and have helped create and evaluate a range of patient empowerment and decision support tools. With over 200 peer-reviewed papers, my work has brought attention to the role that health literacy plays in racial and ethnic disparities, improving informed consent, and improving advanced care planning, as well as to the fact that appropriately designed information technologies can be empowering for patients with low health literacy. I serve as the Editor-in-Chief for Health Literacy Research & Practice and as the Director of the HARC.
Satya Sarma, MD
Principal Investigator
Maricopa County Department of Public Health
Dr. Sarma is an Internal Medicine physician with 33 years’ experience, with expertise in improving health systems to drive quality and affordability through integrating behavioral health and social needs into the systems of care. Dr. Sarma has 14 years’ experience as a corporate executive in large national Managed Care Organizations, and in healthcare policy, public health and consulting. Her health plan expertise extends from Medicaid and Medicare to commercial insurers. Dr. Sarma served as Medical Director at Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System (AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid agency) during the pandemic. Her public service also includes teaching at Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions in their doctoral program for Integrated Behavioral Health. Currently, Dr. Sarma serves as Principal Investigator for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, for a project funded by the Office of Minority Health to advance Health Literacy through partnership between Community Health Workers and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Satya serves on the board of the Arizona Public Health Association and Vitalyst Health Foundation.
Michael Villaire
President/CEO
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Michael Villaire, MSLM, is President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, a healthcare nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to empowering people to better health, with a major mission emphasis on health literacy and health equity.
Mr. Villaire has written numerous articles on various aspects of health literacy, and lectures nationally on health literacy. He is co-author of the textbook, Health Literacy in Primary Care- A Clinicians Guide, published by Springer in 2007, and the self-help health book, What To Do When Your Child Is Heavy, published by IHA in 2009.
As its CEO, Mr. Villaire leads IHAs health literacy initiatives:
- The IHA Health Literacy Solutions Center
- The Health Literacy Specialist Certificate Program
- Two national, annual, continuing education conferences: Operational Solutions to Improve Health Literacy, and the co-sponsored Health Literacy in Action conference
- IHAs self-help health book series, What To Do For Health, and the micro-pub series on mental health, and one on managing chronic illnesses
- Health Literacy Research and Practice, an online, peer-reviewed, open access journal in health literacy.
Alicia Willey, MD
Director Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Valleywise Health Medical Center
Co-Director Women's Global Health Fellowship, Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance
Assistant Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Arizona
Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty, Valleywise Health Medical Center
Dr Alicia Willey’s OBGYN training at Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance was enriched by the diverse population in the local community. She began her global health career by completing the Women’s Global Health Fellowship through Creighton University. Her current practice at Valleywise Hospital is enriched by time working at global health sites such as Foundation for African Medical Education (FAME) in Tanzania. Dr. Willey has taken on the role of Director of Refugee Women’s Health Clinic at Valleywise, allowing her to continue following her passions in global health and health equity.