Executive Committee

Founding Members

James N. Weinstein, DO, MS
Dartmouth-Hitchcock

Dr. Weinstein is currently CEO of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system. Previously, he served as their President and was also Director of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI). He is a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and serves on the standing Committee of Medical Experts to Assist Social Security on Disability Issues and the IOM’s Roundtable on the Value and Science Driven Health Care Learning Collaborative. Dr. Weinstein is a leader in advancing “informed choice” to ensure patients receive evidence based, safe, effective, efficient and appropriate care. He is an internationally renowned spine surgeon and founded the Spine Center at Dartmouth. Recently he completed his tenure on the National Institutes of Health’s NIAMS Council.

Thomas D. MacKenzie, MD, MSPH
Denver Health

Dr. MacKenzie, internal medicine physician, is currently the Chief Quality Officer for Denver Health and also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He provides oversight to quality improvement efforts across the integrated delivery system. Previously, as Director of Internal Medicine at Denver Health, he managed 5 ambulatory clinics with approximately 100,000 visits per year. His research interests include a) development of patient care registries, b) interactive computer education, c) evidence-based guideline development and implementation, d) appropriate antibiotic use, and d) risk communication and medical decision making. He is a Panelist on both the NHLBI guideline for hypertension (JNC 8) and the implementation work group.

Brent C. James, MD, MStat
Intermountain

Dr. James is the Chief Quality Office at Intermountain and is the Executive Director of their Institute for Health Care Delivery Research. He is known internationally for his work in clinical quality improvement, patient safety, and the infrastructure that underlies successful improvement efforts, such as culture change, data systems, payment methods, and management roles.

He is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine. He holds faculty appointments at the University of Utah School of Medicine (Family Medicine and Biomedical Informatics), Harvard School of Public Health (Health Policy and Management), and the University of Sydney, Australia, School of Public Health.

Robert E. Nesse, MD
Mayo Clinic Health System

Dr. Nesse is the Chief Executive Officer of Mayo Clinic Health System and is a member of the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Board of the American Medical Group Association in 2006 and joined the AMGA Executive Committee in 2009. From 2004 until 2010 he was President and CEO of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, Mayo Clinic Health System. Dr. Nesse received his MD from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, completed his residency training at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan and was Board-certified in Family Medicine. He joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 1980.

Collaborative Members

David Joseph Ballard, MD, MSPH, PhD, FACP, CMM
Baylor Health Care System

Dr. Ballard joined the Baylor Health Care System (BHCS) in 1999 as Senior Vice President and its first Chief Quality Officer, responsible for leading quality improvement initiatives for an integrated health care delivery system with 15 hospitals; 80 ambulatory care centers; 500 employed; 4,000 affiliated physicians; 25,000 employees and an annual operating budget exceeding $5B. He also serves on the Board of Managers of The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano and the BHCS-Kessler rehabilitation and long term care joint venture. David is also Executive Director of the BHCS Institute for Health Care Research and Improvement and serves on several editorial boards, including Health Services Research; Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research and (as Health Policy Section Editor) on the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Kenneth E. Sands, MD, MPH
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Dr. Sands is the Senior Vice President of Health Care Quality and Director of the Silverman Institute for Health Care Quality and Safety at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He received his MD degree from Dartmouth Medical School in 1987 and a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard in 1993. He joined the Infectious Disease division at Beth Israel Hospital in 1993 and was the Hospital Epidemiologist there until 1999 when he assumed his current role. He has research interests in patient safety and complications of hospitalization, with particular interest in surveillance methodologies for nosocomial infections, the detection and prevention of noninfectious healthcare-related adverse events, healthcare systems improvement, and performance improvement education of physician trainees.

Richard W. Freeman, MD, MPH, ScD, FACP
EMHS

Dr. Freeman, a general internist, was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer in July, 2011. He is responsible for guiding the transformation of EMHS from volume-based reimbursement and care delivery models to value-based models. Prior to joining EMHS, Dr. Freeman served concurrently as chief medical officer for two subsidiary multi-specialty group practices of Spectrum Health System in west Michigan. Dr. Freeman holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University, graduate degrees in public health and epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Doctor of Medicine from University of Maryland School of Medicine. His early career included service as Vice President for Medical Affairs, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; as President and COO of CareAdvantage, Inc., a medical management firm serving BlueCross BlueShield plans; and as a Director in the Healthcare Division of Navigant Consulting, Inc.

Melinda J. Ashton, MD, FAAP
Hawaii Pacific Health

Dr. Ashton is the Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality Services at Hawaii Pacific Health. In this role she oversees all of the activities of the Patient Safety and Quality Services Departments at each of the HPH hospitals and is also responsible for system wide quality improvement initiatives. Dr. Ashton graduated from the John A. Burns School of Medicine and completed a pediatrics residency at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. Board certified in pediatrics, she is also a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, and still practices pediatrics on a part time basis.

Robert E. McArtor, MD, MPH
MaineHealth

Dr. McArtor is currently serving as the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for MaineHealth. He moved from the CMO position that he held from 1998 to 2008 to serve as an internal clinical adviser from 208 to 2014 when he returned as CMO. He was formerly the Chief of Family Practice and Associate Vice President for Performance Improvement at Maine Medical Center. He practiced family medicin in a small town in Ohio from 1970 to 1980 and then served as a Family Medicine residency program director and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Northeastern Ohio College of Medicine from 1980 to 1992 when he came to Maine Medical Center. Dr. McArtor earned his MD degree at the Duke University School of Medicine and the Master of Public Health degree at the University of Michigan. He is a graduated of the Advanced Training Program in Healthcare Improvement at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah which he attended in 1996-97.

Martin E. Doerfler, MD
North Shore LIJ Health System

Dr. Doerfler is Vice President, Evidence Based Clinical Practice and is responsible for guiding the adoption of Evidence Based Practice across all clinical domains and helping to define and facilitate clinical integration of best practices across the North Shore-LIJ health system. He also serves as lead for the Quality and Effectiveness curriculum team for the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine and Co-Chairs the System Sepsis Coordinating Committee.

Dr. Doerfler is a board-certified internist with additional certifications in Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine. He is a nationally recognized leader in Critical Care Medicine as well as in the use of information technology tools to improve clinical practice and improve outcomes. He has authored peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Critical Care Medicine.

Craig Enge
Providence Health & Services

Mr. Enge is Director of Strategic Engagement, Accountable Care Services, at Providence Health & Services. This group works to help regions accelerate their path toward accountable care, provide expert-to-expert knowledge sharing around systems of care as well as solutions to help manage population risk. Craig is helping to develop innovative, effective strategies that focus on “accountable care”. His work includes helping to inform and engage health care leaders in the developing areas of accountable care, assessing markets for opportunity, sharing best practices and identifying tools to support the organization’s strategic goals. A primary focus is working to develop collaborative tools that Providence providers can use in assessing and delivering value-based health care.

J. James Rohack, MD
Scott & White Healthcare

J. James Rohack MD is a board-certified senior staff cardiologist at Scott & White Healthcare, where he holds the William R. Courtney Centennial Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities, serves as the director of the Center for Healthcare Policy and as medical director for system improvement of the Scott & White Health Plan. He is a full professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Humanities at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Dr Rohack served as the 164th president of the American Medical Association in 2009-2010. He currently serves on the Multipayer Claims Database Governing Board.

Karen Teitelbaum
Sinai Health System

Ms. Teitelbaum is President and Chief Executive Officer for Sinai Health System. She has been a part of Sinai executive leadership since 2007 with a span of accountability for operations in Mount Sinai Hospital, Sinai Children’s Hospital and Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital. Ms. Teitelbaum earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York and a Master of Management degree from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. She is a board of directors member for the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School and serves on the American Hospital Association Maternal and Child Health Council.

John T. Rosenthal, MD
UCLA Health System

Dr. Rosenthal is Chief Medical Officer for all hospitals within UCLA Health System. He has responsibility for managing clinical quality and patient safety; strengthening UCLA Health System relationships with and among physicians; ensuring prompt access to and coordination of care. He is also Associate Vice Chancellor, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA with responsibility for affiliate relations and clinical research. Dr. Rosenthal’s positions at UCLA date back to 1986 when he was Director of Renal Transplantation at UCLA School of Medicine. He has also been Executive Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Vice Chairman of the Medical Faculty Board and Director of the UCLA Medical Group.

Angela Scioscia, MD
UC San Diego Health System

Dr. Scioscia joined the UC San Diego faculty in 1989, and has been chief medical officer (CMO) of UC San Diego Health System since 2004. As CMO, she works to ensure that the highest safety and quality standards are being met, and that the entire staff works together to provide patient-centered care through a multidisciplinary and integrated approach. Dr. Scioscia, a professor in reproductive medicine, is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine and medical genetics. She is actively involved in the training of medical students and residents. Prior to assuming the role of chief medical officer, she was the director of the UC San Diego Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center for 15 years. Dr. Scioscia completed her internship, residency and two fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and her Bachelor’s of Arts at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Jean E. Robillard, MD
University of Iowa

Dr. Robillard is Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Iowa. He leads integrating planning and operations for UI Health Care, which comprises University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics; the Carver College of Medicine; and University of Iowa Physicians, the state’s largest multi-specialty physician group practice. Dr. Robillard is a pediatric nephrologist whose work focuses on the developmental physiology of the kidney. He has published more than 220 scientific papers during his career. A native of Montreal, Dr. Robillard earned Bachelor’s and Medical degrees from the University of Montreal.

Andrew Jacobs, MD
Virginia Mason Medical Center

Dr. Jacobs is Chief Medical Officer at Virginia Mason Medical Center. He has a particular interest in the use of Kaizen and the Toyota Production system as they apply to Healthcare. Dr Jacobs is a Hematologist-Oncologist who specializes in Breast Cancer. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Jacobs received his medical degree from University College London in London, England in 1977.