March 2021 Speakers

Michael S. Adelberg

Mike Adelberg leads the Healthcare Strategy Practice at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting. He has 25 years progressive healthcare industry and government experience in Medicare, Medicaid and commercial health insurance. Mike spent fifteen years at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), including concurrently serving as the director of the Insurance Programs Group and the acting director of the Exchange Policy and Operations Group in the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) where he oversaw most of the functions of the federally-run health insurance exchanges; serving as the Director of Medicare Advantage Operations, where he supervised the annual cycle for review and award of Medicare Advantage bids and contracts, developed CMS’s operational policy, and led the monitoring of Medicare Advantage contractors; and serving as the associate regional administrator for Medicare operations (Chicago Region) and the director of education and assistance programs. Mike gained private sector experience as vice president of product development and government affairs for the Universal American Corporation, a multi-state health insurer which operated Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plans (subsequently acquired by Wellcare).

He has also led or co-led health policy studies published in Health Affairs and The American Journal of Managed Care. Mike speaks and publishes frequently on healthcare topics and has served on numerous advisory committees. He’s been quoted in the Washington Post, New York Times, Modern Healthcare, NPR, and other leading media. In his spare time, Mike is an author. He’s written three novels, a history book, several scholarly journal articles, and over sixty book reviews.

Susan Beaton

Susan is an innovative and collaborative healthcare industry executive with a passion for engaging consumers outside the four walls of health care. She offers over 25 years of experience as a clinical nurse leader and health plan executive, coming to Wellframe from Blue Cross Blue Shield Nebraska where she was VP of Care Management, Provider Services and Risk. Susan’s direct experience in the clinical and payer arena help teams reimagine the way they can support their members while yielding incredible value.

Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan

Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan is a cardiologist, geriatrician and Chief Scientific Officer at Clover Health where he leads its clinical programs and R&D initiatives for its most medically complex members. Prior to joining Clover, Dr. Dharmarajan developed quality measures used by Medicare, including its Innovation Center. He also led research studies to help hospitals and health systems lower preventable hospitalizations. His work has appeared in top medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs. He earned his AB at Harvard and MD and MBA at Columbia. He continues to practice geriatrics in Clover’s Complex Care Programs and cardiology at Yale New Haven Hospital as an adjunct faculty member at Yale.

Nora Dennis, MD, MSPH

Dr. Nora Dennis is a board-certified psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist and Lead Medical Director for Behavioral Health at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, where she is responsible for leading strategic and operational excellence for the behavioral health team with a focus on value-based care and alternative payment models. Prior to joining the team at Blue Cross NC, Dr. Dennis served as Chief Medical Officer for Monarch, one of the largest behavioral health providers in North Carolina. Dr. Dennis attended medical school and residency at Duke University, and received her MSPH from UNC Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Public Health. Dr. Dennis continues to serve as an adjunct assistant professor in the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Sandhya Gardner, MD

Sandhya is an OB/GYN who practiced clinically for over a decade before becoming a physician executive in healthcare education and technology companies. She has extensive experience providing clinical leadership and overseeing the strategy and development of educational programs and performance improvement solutions designed to optimize clinical & financial healthcare outcomes. Prior to joining Wellframe, Sandhya served as the Chief Medical Officer of Relias, a global healthcare company providing performance solutions aimed at identifying and reducing variation in care for over 10,000 healthcare organizations nationwide.

Amir Goren

Amir Goren is the Program Director of the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) at Geisinger, where he applies psychological and behavioral economic principles to the design and evaluation of interventions to improve patient outcomes and reduce system costs. He received his PhD in psychology from Princeton University, where he coauthored a Science article on the prediction of election outcomes from face-based inferences of competence and served as a teaching assistant for Kahneman and Shafir’s class on judgment and decision making. He received a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Amir conducted postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Health, where he applied structural equation modeling to the longitudinal study of work complexity and intellectual functioning in diverse populations, and the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, where he tested the impact of different communications (informed by social psychology) on public acceptance of policies to reduce unhealthy food marketing to children. Before joining the BIT, Amir was a Senior Director at Kantar Health, consulting on and publishing numerous health outcomes research studies for the pharmaceutical industry, with expertise in identifying and incorporating patient-reported outcome measures (e.g., quality of life, medication adherence, and treatment satisfaction scales) to best assess patient-centered needs and experiences.

Andrea Green, RN

Andrea Green currently assists in the execution of market planning and strategy for the Social Determinants of Health Product solutions. As a licensed registered nurse with a background in clinical Informatics, she provides subject matter expertise on insights and use of SDOH data. Prior to joining LexisNexis, Ms. Green worked as a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Trinity Health Of New England, holding an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Western Governors University.

Karleen M. Haines, MPS

Karleen is a non-profit executive with 23 years of experience in the field of human services. Prior to joining PHP in December 2014, she was Director of Vocational and Employment services at a large non-profit serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), supporting over 500 adults through programs such as day habilitation, supported employment, and pre-vocational. She was instrumental in developing and growing affirmative business models that support gainful work for adults with disabilities. Karleen has participated on Education and Workforce Development Committees for various disability advocacy groups, served as a Diversity in the Workplace facilitator, and worked as an adjunct faculty at Nassau Community College – teaching an I/DD studies course. Ms. Haines recently transitioned into the role of Community Relations Chief after serving as PHP’s Chief of Care Coordination, with oversight of social workers and nurses providing intensive care management to plan members with disabilities. She is a licensed Health Agent in the state of NY; holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Masters in Management from the State University of NY at Stonybrook.

Henry Mahncke

Dr. Henry Mahncke is the CEO of Posit Science. He joined Posit Science at its inception in 2003 as Vice President of Research & Outcomes, where he led the first large-scale clinical trials of a publicly available cognitive training program. He became CEO of Posit Science in 2011. Previously, he served as consultant at McKinsey focused on health care and video games, and then as a science and technology advisor to the British government. Dr. Mahncke  earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco.

Emily Mortimer

Emily Mortimer is Senior Director of Strategy with responsibilities for strategy and development activities for the LexisNexis Social Determinants of Health solutions. In over 8 years at LexisNexis, Ms. Mortimer has served as subject matter expert for medical claims and analytic solutions, holding role leading client services and implementation, managing analytics and statistical modeling resources, and contributing to product management and strategy. Ms. Mortimer has a background in public health epidemiology, holding an MPH from Drexel University School of Public Health.

Henry W. Osowski

Hank Osowski, a Founding Member of Strategic Health Group, is an experienced health care executive and strategist who has provided leadership to commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans for more than 30 years. He currently is the Managing Director of Strategic Health Group, a new boutique strategic and financial advisory firm dedicated to bringing seasoned leadership to enable health care organizations to succeed in a challenging and changing environment. He is an expert in Medicare Advantage and Medicaid long-term care strategies.

Formerly, as Senior Vice President Corporate Development, he was a key member of the senior leadership team that the company from a near death experience to an exceptionally strong financial position. He led SCAN Group's efforts to expand into seven additional California counties. Hank also led SCAN's entry into Arizona and served as the initial President of SCAN Health Plan Arizona and SCAN Long Term Care. The service area expansions represent approximately a quarter of SCAN's membership and added nearly $450 million to SCAN's revenue. He also led the organization's strategic planning efforts and initiated an innovation development regimen to seek improvements in care coordination practices and future care outcome protocols.

Prior to SCAN, Hank served as a Principal in a national health care consulting organization providing a range of strategic, financial and development services for health plans, physician groups and hospitals. He began his California career as a member of the senior management team responsible for the turnaround and financial survival of Blue Cross of California. In this capacity, Hank led the financial turnaround of the Individual and Small Group Division and provided leadership to the organization's strategic planning efforts.

Earlier he served as Vice President International Operations for American Family Life Assurance Corporation where he directed the activities of the company's Canadian and European operations. In this role he directed the development of start-up operations in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, as well as the financial turnaround of the company's Canadian operations. Earlier, Hank also served as Director of Insurance Consulting Services for Coopers and Lybrand, a predecessor to PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

Throughout his career, he has been a frequent speaker on critical issues and challenges facing the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In 2011, Hank spoke to the Managed Medicaid Congress about principles for structuring effective long term care programs, to the Medicare Market Innovations conference about opportunities for strengthening a plan's five star quality rating and offered his strategic projections for the future of Medicare. He also spoke to a diverse health care and technology audience at the Healthcare Unbound conference about leveraging the power of technology to improve the quality of health outcomes and care interventions.

Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, MACP

Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, MACP is the Executive Medical Director, Population Health at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. His expertise encompasses physician leadership, population health management, clinical and operational performance improvement in health care, medical education and scientific communications. He has been one of the driving forces for the creation of and successful maturation of value based models in New Jersey.

Dr. Peskin is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is a clinical preceptor at The Eric B. Chandler Clinic for interns and residents in Internal Medicine. Dr. Peskin assists with the Population Health and business of medicine training for the Rutgers RWJ Internal Medicine physicians in training. Dr. Peskin was advanced to Master of the American College of Physicians in 2020.

Dr. Peskin received his bachelor’s degree from The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. He completed residency at Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and holds an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Andrew Renda

Dr. Andrew Renda is Associate Vice President of Humana’s Bold Goal and Population Health Strategy, leading Humana’s mission to help improve the health of the communities it serves by making it easier for people to achieve their best health.

His work includes leading four population health and social determinants of health work streams: Insights, Strategy & Execution, Informatics, and Thought Leadership. A published author and speaker in the fields of population health, social determinants of health and chronic disease, Dr. Renda’s work strives to inform co-created solutions to improve community health.

Previous roles have included advancing clinical models of care through development, implementation and evaluation of population health initiatives aimed at preventing and delaying progression of chronic disease. This included product and benefit design, as well as health projects ranging from messaging campaigns and self-care interventions to clinician-led disease management programs. Significant initiatives include: Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNP), Metabolic Syndrome Support Service, Asthma and COPD disease management and self-care programs, Sleep Apnea diagnostics and management strategy, Flu and pneumonia campaign, Tobacco cessation service integration and outreach.

Dr. Renda has a B.S. in psychology and biology from the University of Kentucky where he was a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Fellow. He received his medical degree and a diploma in clinical psychiatry from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, followed by a Masters in Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Cassandra Robinson

Cassandra Robinson is a Healthcare Analyst whose primary focus is on evaluation and analysis of population health strategies at CareOregon. She earned a Nursing degree from University of Montana, a MS focused on public health and clinical research and is currently working on a dissertation to complete her PhD in Community Health at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health in Portland, Oregon. With more than a decade of nursing experience and public health education, Cassandra has the unique ability to identify potential implications of strategies and interventions at the individual level as well as the community and population level. She is motivated by a desire to reduce health inequities and improve the health of individuals with Medicaid and Medicare through identification of disparities related to race, ethnicity, language, disability, and unmet social needs.

Banafsheh Siadat

Banafsheh Siadat is the Regional Director, Medi-Cal Strategy and Operations, at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. Banafsheh leads implementation of key regional initiatives including the ​​California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) Population Health Management strategy and the Health Homes Program.

Banafsheh began her career at KP in 2014 as a Manager within Strategic Market Planning & Execution (SMP&E) where she worked on developing Medi-Cal market and Duals market strategies. She later joined the NCAL Medi-Cal team as a Service Director for the Sacramento GMC area, where her work has expanded to include the Health Homes programs in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Clara as well as the upcoming Medi-Cal reform (CalAIM).

Banafsheh holds a Doctorate of Science (ScD) in Public Health from Harvard University, where she studied the impact of universal health coverage in Ghana. Banafsheh’s work prior to joining KP included consulting positions in the U.S. health care industry and later with international development organizations including the World Bank, WHO, etc.

Melissa Smith

Melissa Smith is the Executive Vice President of Consulting and Professional Services at HealthMine, bringing over 25 years of experience in Star Ratings, strategy, sales, and marketing for health plans, providers, pharmacy benefit managers, and industry vendors. Melissa has extensive experience developing strategic and tactical solutions to meet client needs and a strong background of building productive partnerships across internal teams and with external vendors to improve performance on clinical, medication, patient survey, and administrative quality measures.

Most recently, Melissa was Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, Strategy and Stars at Gorman Health Group. She is a well-known thought leader and healthcare strategist with proven success developing enterprise-wide solutions to improve Star Ratings, quality performance, health outcomes, and the member experience. Melissa’s team helps clients improve performance within quality ratings systems, evaluate market dynamics and opportunities, optimize distribution channels, and support our clients’ strategic planning needs.

Prior to Gorman Health Group, Melissa served in a leadership capacity at Cigna-HealthSpring. Before working in Medicare Advantage and quality ratings systems, Melissa was an Associate Director at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Melissa received her degree from Purdue University and began her career at KPMG, LLP. Melissa’s unique background of business process, regulatory compliance, and healthcare quality offers our clients unique access to healthcare strategy, quality performance, revenue optimization, and more.

Alicia Sobocinski

Dirk Soenksen

Dirk Soenksen is co-founder and CEO of Ceresti Health, a digital health company that specializes in virtual care for seniors with cognitive impairment (e.g., dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s). The Company is first to market with a specialized caregiver support program for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). Prior to co-founding Ceresti, Mr. Soenksen was founder and CEO of venture-backed Aperio which he built into the recognized global leader in digital pathology. Aperio was acquired by Danaher/Leica Biosystems in October 2012. In 2006, Mr. Soenksen founded the Digital Pathology Association (DPA), a non-profit organization comprising major vendors and leading pathologists, with the goal of establishing best practices and increasing awareness of digital pathology. Dirk served as President of the DPA from its inception until 2012, and as a board member of the DPA through the end of 2014. He has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Bowdoin College, and a graduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned his MBA from Pepperdine University.

Michelle Squire

Michelle Squire currently oversees Case Management at Affinity Health Plan. She has more than 20 years of expertise in the healthcare industry; beginning her career caring for critically ill pediatric and neonatal patients. Michelle’s expertise lies in the insurance sector, working with private health insurance and managed-care companies to implement care management and population health programs. Michelle is a published author about Integrated Case Management, with her most recent publication focusing on an evidence-based and holistic approach to population health and the necessity for an integrated method in care coordination. She is excited to have the incredible opportunity to bring her clinical and teaching expertise to organizations nationwide, engaging providers and assisting them with integrating care in hospital and insurance-based settings.

Michelle earned her Associate of Applied Science in Nursing degree in 1998. In 2016, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Walden University. In 2018, Michelle completed her graduate studies, earning her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Walden University.

Summer Sweet

Summer Sweet is the Triage and Data Integration Manager of Population Health at CareOregon. Summer received her BS in both Neuroscience and Psychology from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She was a recipient of Psychology Dean’s Research Scholarship to develop and support a Longitudinal Study of Decision Making with persons diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease led by Dr. Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe and continued to support the project as a post graduate. Summer has a broad knowledge base from her diverse experience across the spectrum of healthcare. She has experience in direct patient care, customer service, billing and coding, insurance, care coordination and technical systems. She has a unique understanding about how to integrate systems, assist with data analysis, and coordinate care. She is extremely passionate about the healthcare service industry and utilizing the technological tools available to improve process, reduce cost and utilization impacting our most vulnerable and underrepresented populations.

Dr. Hyong Un, MD

Dr. Hyong Un, MD, is the Chief Psychiatric Officer of Aetna, a CVS Health company. He leads the development and implementation of the clinical behavioral health strategy for Aetna and CVS Health. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and completed his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Aetna in 2001, he served as psychiatrist-in-chief at Friends Hospital, the nation's first private psychiatric hospital and as the executive Medical Director of Penn-Friends Behavioral Health System, a joint venture between the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Friends Hospital. Dr Un’s clinical interest are in neuropsychiatry, workplace mental health and determinants of overall health and wellbeing. Dr. Un has served on multiple boards including advisory board to the Director of National Institute of Mental Health, APA’s Center for Workplace Mental Health, Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, and National Depression Center of Excellence.

Karin VanZant

Lucy Theilheimer

Lucy joined Meals on Wheels America in January 2016 as Chief Strategy and Impact Officer. She is responsible for strategy and planning, research, and efforts to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Prior to joining the Association, Lucy served in multiple roles at AARP. Most recently she served as SVP for Organizational and Management Effectiveness and, prior to that, as SVP for Enterprise Strategy. She also has many years of experience in aging, health and long-term care at AARP, as well as other health and aging non-profit Associations. Lucy received a B.A. in Sociology from George Mason University and an MA in Health Care Administration, Policy and Planning from George Washington University.

Rich Waldron, PT

Rich has over 30 Years of experience delivering musculoskeletal care at the clinical level as a Physical Therapist. Primarily, Rich worked in outpatient orthopedic clinics specializing in care for chronic joint pain such as hip, knee and back pain. He joined the Sweden based Joint Academy 3 years ago to help them launch the hugely digital solution for chronic joint pain in the United States. Joint Academy has successfully treated over 30,000 chronic joint pain suffers.

Wendy Warring, J.D.

Wendy Warring, J.D. became President and CEO of NEHI in January 2020. She is focused on strengthening NEHI’s role in advancing innovative care models and technologies that improve access to effective health care, and strategies that promote health. NEHI relies on facilitating creativity and collaboration among key health care industry stakeholders to stimulate and leverage scalable interdisciplinary approaches that make quality health care available to those who need it.

Warring previously served as Senior Vice President of Network Development and Strategic Partnerships at Boston Children’s Hospital. She was responsible for developing strategies and executing operational initiatives to strengthen relationships between Boston Children’s and primary care physicians, hospital systems, and other providers locally, regionally, and nationally. She has also held positions as Executive Vice President & COO at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and EVP of UMass Memorial Health Care, both positions involving the implementation of strategies to strengthen the organizations’ ability to deliver accessible and affordable care.

Warring has substantial experience in the public sector as well. She was the Massachusetts Commissioner of the Division of Medical Assistance where she directed the state's Medicaid program. She also served as General Counsel to the Massachusetts Housing Finance Administration, a quasi-public agency devoted to addressing low- and moderate-income housing needs. She was also a deputy legal counsel in the Governor’s office, where she worked principally on mental health and human services issues. Early in her career she worked at the National Academy of Sciences and at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Warring is very involved in other non-profit organizations dedicated to improving health and health care for underserved populations. She is a Board member and prior Board Chair of Community Catalyst, a national organization that provides leadership and support to state and local consumer organizations, policymakers, and foundations working to increase access to health care and provide individuals a voice in health care system reform. She is a member of the board of the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, which promotes quality improvement, science and change strategies, engaging partners and stakeholders, to achieve better health outcomes for children.

Warring received her J.D. from Yale University and her Bachelors Degree from Brown University.