Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Joanne Mizell, Chief Operating Officer of the Phoenix based Banner-Aetna Payvider joint venture. Decades as a healthcare executive still did not prepare Joanne to navigate the system when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, his health has improved but care delivery remains complex. When presented with the opportunity to lead a new model of care delivery, Joanne leapt at the chance, leaving retirement behind. Hear Joanne talk about: Banner|Aetna: A joint venture where the payer and health system align with shared goals and interests. Changing from an adversarial approach to collaborative teamwork required significant investment in culture change. Eliminating a pain point – simplified billing: Why is billing so complicated anyway? Reducing the middleman means fewer touchpoints and a better experience for patients. Her career journey to healthcare: Strong role models gave her opportunities by empowering her. You can learn a lot from leaders that you do not want to emulate. Who inspires her today: Those who challenge or expand her thinking when seeing things in a very different way. Closing Advice: Watch and emulate those that you respect and admire, but be genuine. ***************************** BIO Joanne Mizell joined Banner|Aetna as Chief Operating Officer in February 2018, with over 20 years Aetna experience and nearly 30 years in the Employee Benefits industry. In this role, and as a member of the executive leadership team, Mizell will oversee operations of the organization and support the execution of the strategic goals set by Banner|Aetna’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. Mizell is a proven leader who has consistently delivered growth to various organizations and market segments by developing strong teams, crafting creative strategies and fostering deep community and client relationships. As Chief Operating Officer of Banner|Aetna, Mizell leverages her experience and well-established network in Arizona to execute the organization’s mission of helping employers improve the health and well-being of their workforce, while simplifying the coverage-to-care-to-payment of health care for its members. Mizell started her career in Orange County and Los Angeles, California before relocating to Arizona in 1998. Mizell’s previous roles at Aetna Included building sales and service teams for large employers, managing the growth, client satisfaction, and profit & loss for a four state market that included Arizona. Mizell also led the creation and build of a new product portfolio for Aetna’s National Accounts segment, simplifying the selection, purchasing and administration of voluntary products for Aetna’s largest clients. Outside of Aetna, Mizell was a broker/advisor at an international insurance brokerage firm, where she served as lead health care and benefits design strategist for larger, complex clients. Mizell has also worked in both paid and volunteer leadership roles for several humanitarian and animal protection organizations. She continues to be actively involved in formal local and state advocacy aimed at improving lives through proposed legislative and policy changes in Arizona and in the United States. Prior to beginning her career at Aetna, Mizell studied Business Administration at California State University at Fullerton, while working full-time in the employee benefits department of Hughes Aircraft Company. Making lives better by delivering best-in-class employee benefits has been her career journey ever since. Mizell’s role at Banner|Aetna takes that experience and passion to the next level.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Kiernan McCarthy and Natalie Studt, who both came to Montana from New York seeking an outdoor way of life and professionally, a focus on service. Today, they are staff at Wellness in Action (WIA), a non-profit organization providing mental and behavioral health resources for local residents. Big Sky Montana is a beautiful a tourist destination for many, but for full time residents, accessible and affordable resources can be challenging. Also, representing the “younger generation”, Kiernan and Natalie acknowledge that they think about work differently, but please do not misunderstand – their work is very important to them!! Hear Kiernan and Natalie talk about: Wellness in Action (WIA): Big Sky, MT based non-profit that provides mental and behavioral health resources for residents. Scholarships and a sliding fee scale increase access and affordability. COVID changed everything: As a recent college grad, Kiernan found herself needing to move back in with her parents. Grateful, absolutely. Also, um…. stifling. Montana, here I come! Natalie was “an essential worker” which made her rethink her life and focus. Gaining new skills, thinking longer term, and pursuing alternatives became her priority. Gen Z / Millennials think about work differently than their parents. Older generations always misunderstand younger generations’ approach to work. 60-80 hr work weeks….when your life is your work… mental health strain… No thank you! INSTEAD – Wanting to live their WHOLE life now. Which includes being engaged at work. Quiet Quitting (Give me a break!!) Don’t confuse work life balance with NOT being serious about work. Closing Advice: Kiernan: Keep trying new things and take risks. Natalie: Trust your gut ***************************** BIOs Kiernan McCarthy Mental & Behavioral Programs Manager Kiernan moved to Big Sky in November of 2021 to enjoy the slopes of Lone Peak. She holds a BA in Psychology and a minor in Spanish, from Geneseo. During college, she worked at DOROT, a non-profit in New York City that aided socially isolated older adults. As a community services intern, she would help social workers with local outreach events, meet with clients during home visits, and assist them with daily tasks such as grocery shopping or getting to appointments. After working seasonal jobs post-college, she has first-hand experience with the workforce and the needs of that population. She is deeply interested in contributing to the community and building connections to further local access to resources. In her free time, she can be found hiking, camping, or skiing Natalie Studt Operations Manager Natalie Studt is the Operations Manager for WIA. She moved to Big Sky from NYC in May of 2019 and fell in love with Montana. After graduating from The City College of New York with a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Philosophy, she worked in the New York City service industry for a couple of years before moving west. Natalie worked at Big Sky Resort for her first summer in Big Sky, followed by the Hungry Moose Market & Deli. Natalie has a long held passion for community welfare and public service. Her desire to help the people of Big Sky led her to WIA, where she can implement her varied skills and training for a cause she wholeheartedly believes in.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Rachel Snyder Good, who finished her time as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Leadership Office of the 117th United States Congress at the end of 2022. Rachel began her work in Congress, she expected to be there just two to four years. This grew to over nine after receiving multiple opportunities. Rachel began 2023 facing the work of finding a new job which included spending a lot of time networking and learning to take her own advice that she freely gives to others – creating the muscle memory of ASKING. Hear Rachel talk about: Congress taught her many things: The difference between policy and politics. Politics helped her to get things done. How to deal with power and powerful people, even when you are naturally confident. And importantly, governing is Deciding when it’s time to leave: Deciding how much is enough. And the importance of making a clean break. Advice she gives to friends (that she is learning to take herself): It is hard to ask….AND ….you need to ask. What she has learned while networking: People who want to help you will surprise you. Rachel’s closing advice to other women is what she advises to her friends – when looking for a new job – show up as your authentic self. Culture fit is important and, for Rachel, a key criteria for where she intends to be next! ***************************** BIO Rachel Snyder Good most recently served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. Over her nine year tenure with Congressman Hoyer, she was responsible for legislation across many policy areas, including health care. Previously Rachel worked as a Legislative Aide for then Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD). She is a graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and The University of Michigan. She currently lives in Baltimore with her husband, Jordan.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Adimika Arthur, the Founding Executive Director of HealthTech for Medicaid (HT4M). As a social entrepreneur, a relentless and passionate advocate, and an epidemiologist, Adimika is committed to making meaningful and measurable progress. Don’t confuse her “toxic optimism” with her dogged resolve to make this world a better place. HT4M is now into its fifth year with big plans to DISRUPT. This includes determinants, designing with dignity and ensuring that there are dollars behind the needed innovations to support quality, equity and access to all Americans on Medicaid. Hear Adimika talk about: Medicaid Primer: 57 years old and serving the needs of 80 million, or one out of five, Americans. Medicaid is the largest insured population, provided in 56 different ways based on the State Ceiling and Federal Floor funding dynamic. Also, the first radical act of access to care. Proudest accomplishments to date for HT4M: Humanizing Medicaid through storytelling, myth busting and showing the faces of Medicaid. Sea Change of interest due to the pandemic, the racial reckoning in the US and new regulations. Where she finds inspiration: from all kinds of people that she meets anywhere, e.g. in the Starbucks line …. or at the food pantry where she volunteers. But also reading. Recent finds include the polymer composition of cement (you read that correctly!) and the economic levers for ESG programs. Mantras she lives by: Faith, family, and waking up every day knowing that she intends and expects to leave this world a better place. For herself, her family, and for her ancestors who helped build this country. ***************************** BIO Founding Exec Director: HealthTech for Medicaid (HT4M) Healthcare executive with significant leadership commitment to serving vulnerable populations. I am a visionary and strategic business thinker who partners with colleagues, teams and businesses to create and drive value, optimize performance and inspire high-growth companies to serve those most in need. Trained as a clinical epidemiologist, turned successful health care administrator with a proven record of developing innovative strategies to improve the delivery and quality of health services, increase access to care, and stabilize struggling organizations. Dynamic thought leader with progressive experience providing insight in the fields of public health care. Adept at analyzing existing health care operations and implementing necessary strategies and formal business practices to strengthen the safety-net. Board member, advocate for women’s leadership and clearinghouse for connecting people and process. Affectionately known as “Madame Medicaid” for being able to turn any conversation into one about the health program that serves more than 79 Million people nationwide. Specialties include healthcare cost containment, revenue cycle enhancement, budget and leadership development. Particular expertise in outpatient services, patient and employee satisfaction.

Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw is now available on YouTube! Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Carladenise Edwards. Known for her thought leadership stemming from a thirty+ year executive career which has included three tours of duty as a chief strategy officer at various prominent health systems. In 2023, Carladenise kicks off this year with an optimistic outlook. “We need to claim joy” and “use this year to inspire our best selves.” What this means for Carladenise is prolifically writing. As a surviving sibling, she is putting words to page to capture the story of her brother. And as a healthcare professional, she is also writing a manifesto, or rather, a vision for a new system of healthcare that is sustainable, effective and efficient and can serve the needs of all – those with means and with privilege and even those without. Some of her ideas hark back to the first hospital ever formed in the 1400s in Barcelona. Hear Dr. Edwards talk about: Confidence came early (thanks Dad): As the daughter of a US Marine, an Integration Officer whose job moved from place to place and was to be the only African American at differe Be courageous, be fearless, own your space Manifesto Health Equity Career knock downs and recovery Most recent learning BIO Dr. Carladenise Armbrister Edwards has thirty years of professional experience ranging from Assistant Dean at University of Pennsylvania to government official at the state and federal level. She is an accomplished healthcare executive, most recently served as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer for Henry Ford Health, a $6.8B integrated health care delivery system headquartered in Detroit, MI where she was responsible for M&A, innovation, government relations, planning, technology transfer, and system transformation. Prior to that she led strategy for Providence St. Joseph Health, a $24B health care company headquartered in Seattle, Washington where she also served as Chief Contracting Officer and Chief Administrative Officer for Population Health. Dr. Edwards has proven success achieving revenue growth exceeding $3.4B and helping health care companies achieve operational efficiency on the provider and plan sides of the business, not to mention her successful career as a fundraiser. Her academic background, and professional experience in the fields of medical sociology, epidemiology, marketing & business development, health information technology, and healthcare financing make her a highly sought-after advisor, speaker, and director. In 2022, she was recognized by Modern Healthcare and Becker’s as one of the top Women Leaders in Healthcare and she was named one of the 50 Women of Excellence by the Michigan Chronicle and elected President of the cohort by her peers. She most recently joined the board of Clover Health [NASDAQ: CLOV] where she serves on the Compensation and Governance Committees. She is also a strategic advisor to Parsley Health, 4L Data Intelligence, and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Dr. Edwards and her husband, Herman Edwards have started two endowed scholarships, one at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing and the other at Johnson C. Smith University in support of African-American students seeking higher education. She is most proud of her service to the community including serving on Heluna Health’s Board of Directors, where she serves on the Finance Committee and Chaired the Advancement Committee. She also is a board director for the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) serving on the finance committee and a board director for Rand Health, as well as Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Dr. Edwards received her BA and MS.Ed from University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. She is enrolled in Harvard University’s Adaptive Leadership Initiative as a fellow. Dr. Edwards is currently devoting her time to community and corporate board service. When she is not working, you can find her reading and spending time with family.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Alyssa Jaffee, Partner at 7wireVentures. When you listen to this episode, you will hear clearly that Alyssa is passionate about her work, which she finds addicting. Healthcare has become her calling. Every single day she believes she has the opportunity, and responsibility, to change healthcare for the better. And that is a long game. She feels the gravity of this while also being energized. Her commitment to making a difference with her work does not get in the way of being very committed to her family – in her perfectly imbalanced life. Alyssa is a strong advocate for other women leaders. Her best advice….. Remember that you are not alone, your community is here, so reach out and use it. A rising tide lifts us all. Hear Alyssa talk about: Success requirements in Venture: Pickers v Makers: At 7wire, the team is made up of operators. Alyssa spends half her time working with her portfolio companies. This means more than just making introductions – it’s getting on planes, being in the meetings and helping to close deals. 7wire companies often sell to the same organizations, so continuing to build those relationships is key. Vision and conviction: Alyssa believes that the job also requires being a thought leader. She spends considerable time in the industry and sharing her observations externally. Consumer Directed Healthcare: it is the vision and the current 7wire companies focus on the informed connected health consumer. Alyssa also talks about the cycles in venture and areas they are currently revisiting such as cardiac health or personalized medicine. #1 Strength: WOO. Winning Others Over. Insatiable curiosity ….love for learning. That’s Alyssa. She loves convincing others to be as excited about something as she is, which means a lot of WOO! Managing Balance: There is no such thing as balance for women at work, in fact, the act of being unbalanced IS balance!! Alyssa penned THIS article for Fortune,– please stop asking us about balance! We don’t have it!! ***************************** BIO Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures where she focuses on investments in digital healthcare and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to be better stewards of their health in today’s changing healthcare ecosystem. Alyssa sits on the board of Ayogo Health and is a board observer with MedArrive, Brightline, Zerigo Health, NOCD, and Jasper Health. Alyssa’s prior experience in venture capital includes her time as an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital where she led investments in Bright.md and Tovala as well as worked closely with Apervita, Mingle Health, and AiCure. Additionally, she worked at Hyde Park Angels (HPA), one of the Midwest’s largest angel organizations and Healthbox, an early-stage healthcare innovation firm, supporting their accelerator program called the Studio. Alyssa is also a Co-Founder of TransparentCareer, a 2016 NVC winning company focused on helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Prior to business school, Alyssa worked as the Senior Director of Performance Technologies for the Advisory Board Company. There, Alyssa was charged with expanding new business through the sales of technology platforms. With an extensive travel regimen, Alyssa met with hundreds of hospital executive teams to understand their strategic needs and recommend various solutions. She has copious amounts of experience in launching new products and thinking about go-to-market strategies. Alyssa holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business. You can follow Alyssa on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Sara Vaezy, EVP and Chief Strategy and Digital Officer of Providence Health. Sara believes that healthcare is a human right. Her career journey has always been directly in or adjacent to healthcare and her expertise is the digital space is widely recognized. While digital strategies for large scale health systems are both imperative and obvious today, they were less so pre-pandemic. Having been in the Chief Digital Strategy role for several years now, she may have been more prepared than others. However in today’s environment with fast moving macro changes, it is a work in progress! Sara is both excited and skeptical at times of the digital solutions available today. Importantly, she remains focused on how we are generating value with digital – both improving the patient experience and addressing affordability. This means working on solves for disconnected solutions, changing the value/profit distribution and addressing key issues with digital solutions. Today that means less about the technology itself and more focus on people, process and payment issues. Hear Sara talk about: Digital as a transitional phase: We do not currently have a fully digital native population, but someday we will and we should plan for that. Her seat at the table: early on she was asked to “jump in with both feet” at Providence. Her mentor (also sponsor) brought her to the decision tables where risk-based trade offs were made. She knew this was an opportunity and made sure to leverage it. Side hustle: Sara is certainly an accomplished healthcare executive, but still finds that her family craft hot sauce business sustains her “whole being”. Spending times at farmer’s markets, being part of the maker community keeps her fresh and energized in different and important ways. Inspiring Women Listeners Want to Know: Pants or pajamas? (what do you wear when you work at home): Sweatpants, always sweatpants. First promo – did you ask for it? I did ask for it!!! Saw a need, gathered data, made a proposal. Do you still seek new mentors today? Yes, different people for different reasons. And some best advice…never be afraid of being fired. In 3-5 years, if you are not doing what you are doing now, what are you doing? Either an Entrepreneur or Public service ***************************** BIO Sara Vaezy is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Digital Officer for Providence where she is responsible for system strategy and digital innovation for the integrated delivery network (IDN) which includes 52 hospitals and 1,085 clinics and serves over 5 million unique patients. Sara brings deep experience to the organization in both digital and enterprise strategy development and leads system strategy, the ongoing development and evolution of Providence’s integrated strategic and financial plan and cross-collaboration of the Providence councils as Providence continues to advance toward and design the system of the future. Sara is the architect of the Providence digital innovation model upon with the Digital Innovation Group (DIG) was founded, resulting in company partnerships and incubation of technologies that deliver value for Providence as well as other health systems. The model has resulted in the commercialization of three incubated technologies into independent companies from within DIG—all of which are supporting Providence in delivering on its mission and vision of health for a better world. Her framework for building and maintaining deep organizational relationships with stakeholders across the industry has resulted in partnerships with over 150 health system digital and innovation teams, venture capital organizations, industry analysts and influencers, and digital health organizations. Before Providence, she was at The Chartis Group, a health care management consulting firm, where she advised clients on enterprise strategic planning, payer-provider partnership, and the development of population health companies. Earlier in her career she worked at the intersection of health services research and health policy with the Office of Financial Management, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, and the Health Care Authority in Washington State. Sara is active in the broader healthcare industry serving as an NCQA Board Director, as a member of inaugural class of the Frist Cressey Ventures Collective, a Harvard Executive Education Faculty Member, a Health Evolution Forum Fellow, World 50 Digital 50 member, a Forbes Business Council Member, and a board observer for DexCare. She has won numerous awards and has been recognized as a Business Insider 30 under 40 Transforming the Future of Healthcare (2019), Catholic Health Association Tomorrow’s Leader (2019), a Becker’s Rising Star in Health IT (2020), and a Becker’s Women to Watch in Health IT (2020 & 2022). She holds an MHA and an MPH in Health Policy from the University of Washington School of Public Health and BAs in Physics and Philosophy f

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Dr. Geri Landman. She filled her lifelong dream when she became a pediatrician. And then, life changed when Lucy, her third child, was diagnosed with a rare gene disorder. A missing PGAP3 gene. How rare? 50 other children worldwide. With a prognosis of severe disability and seizures and without a cure, therapies, or treatment, Dr. Landman took on new roles. Researcher. Entrepreneur (Moonshots for Unicorns). Fundraiser. Advocate. Mom first. “They teach you in medical school, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras”. Persistent parental questions led to – first – a feeling that she was overreacting as a parent. Fortunately, there was a neuro geneticist on the team. After many tests and exams – it was that call of “let’s talk in an hour” that changed the course of their lives forever. Geri and her husband had never heard of the PGAP3 gene, let alone what it meant to be missing that gene, as is the case with their young daughter Lucy. The prognosis included no cures, no therapies, and a difficult future of severe disability and seizures. The missing PGAP3 gene – a rare gene disorder – affects 50 other children worldwide. They gave themselves a week to absorb, to think. Deciding they couldn’t cry forever, knowing they were in the Bay Area – a valley of science and world class medical centers – Dr. Landman and family began the daunting journey of finding a cure in the promising world of genetic science. Hear Dr. Landman talk about: The promise and reality of genetic science: three scientific approaches for rare gene disorders. 1) the supplement route; 2) drug repurposing and 3) gene therapy – both the most expensive but the most promising Needed: Pharma Business models: Pharma wants to help but needs 1000, maybe just 500 patients, to build a business model worth pursuing. Only 50 children have been diagnosed worldwide with a missing PGAP3 gene. Yet 1% of the worldwide population suffers from a single missing gene – over 10,000 of them. Addressing single gene disorders. With $3-7M of research needed for every missing gene, patient advocacy groups are needed. Which is why Dr. Landman created Moonshots for Unicorns. This patient advocacy nonprofit has been working with Nationwide Children’s in Ohio to begin the gene therapy work. They also have been testing for drug repurposing with potentially promising results. Keeping it all together. Landman describes being tired and energized all at the same time. As this evolves, her happiest days can be her lowest days. Yet they proceed. What listeners should know: As moms, when you know something is off, advocate persistently for your child. And if the diagnosis is the difficult single gene disorder, patient advocacy groups are key today. Access and affordability are important missions of Moonshots for Unicorns. How to get involved: Moonshots for Unicorns. ***************************** BIO Dr. Geri O. Landman is a pediatrician in Berkeley, California and is affiliated with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. She received her medical degree from University of California (San Francisco) School of Medicine and has been in practice between 11-20 years.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Lita Tomas and Jean Marie McNamara, a mother/daughter duo who have just published their memoir: Lita & Jean: Memoirs of Two Generations of Military Women. Hear Lita and Jean talk about: Lita: Breaking new ground: a divorced woman in the 1970s was not allowed to join the military nut Lita found a way to provide stability for her young daughters. Many firsts including becoming a mechanic and being in one of the first gender integrated units. Jean: Service was always a calling: joining the Army National Guard as a medic felt important and the learning about various health conditions was a dream. A devastating injury ended her military career early though. The road to recovery is long and requires advocacy: Jean has been in a long recovery and is still in it. But the care she needed was not readily available. Lita became Jean’s strongest and most vocal advocate. Today on their podcast, PodcastDX, Lita and Jean talk about how to advocate for yourself/a loved one when receiving treatment. Why the Lita and Jean Memoir? finding so many similarities between their service stories first led Lita and Jean down the path to a memoir. But the memories of how hard it was to get the care for Jean and other incidents were very painful and raw for both. They share this to heal but also to advocate loudly for change. Harassment: Lita and Jean close out this conversation with strong advice on harassment. Seeing it, you need to speak up. Experiencing it, you need to speak up (and keep records). Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. Recommending military service: Both Lita and Jean are strong advocates for military service while at the same time being very open regarding its flaws. They strongly believe that service to others is a lifelong journey. Whether that means the military or just finding ways to help others does not matter. But service does. ***************************** Lita Tomas: Lita Tomas is the co-author of Lita & Jean: Memoirs of Two Generations of Military Women. An Army tank mechanic turned global logistics manager, Major Lita Tomas enlisted as an E-1 with the U.S. Army in 1977, the first-year women were integrated into regular units. With a master’s degree in recreational therapy, five years in the Air Force, and a lifetime of fighting injustice, taking on everyone from the Catholic church to Congress, she’s whom you want on your team. When not feeding the ducks, chickens, dogs, and cats on her youngest daughter’s farm or cheering on her grandchildren, you can find her working on her informational patient advocacy podcast: PodcastDX. Lita currently resides in Downers Grove, Illinois, with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease, her two rescue dogs, and her one remaining undonated kidney. Jean Marie McNamara: Jean Marie McNamara is the co-author of Lita & Jean: Memoirs of Two Generations of Military Women. Like her mother, she has a passion to help others and enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard as an E-1. She has worked as a medic, NBCR Officer, and as the Deputy Director of her local ESDA. After an injury, Jean retired as a 1LT and explored the challenges of recovery and endurance, working to claim new pathways of service and meaning. As a co-host for the Award-winning PodcastDX, she loves to research diagnoses to feature. Her wry sense of humor has been bolstered by bureaucracy. Their book: Lita & Jean: Memoirs of Two Generations of Military Women from Masterwings Publishing can be found HERE.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Kim McKay, practicing physician, chief medical officer of PeriGen and clinical vice president of the OB/GYN service line at Avera Health in South Dakota. Dr. McKay’s life work has been focused on improving the health of moms and babies, as a practicing physician in a rural area, a health system leader and now, a leader at an innovative technology solutions company. Maternal health outcomes in the U.S. are extremely poor when compared to other industrialized nations. Dr. McKay speaks to the why – wide ranging issues such as gaps in care and coverage; access to early pre-natal care; biases in medicine (a mother experiencing tachycardia may be told they are “just being anxious” when there can often be an underlying medical condition); disparities in treatment. Solutions for improving outcomes with maternal health that show promise today include reaching into and really understanding the needs at a community level – e.g. providing community health workers, providing wrap around services like transportation and family care but also having those services speak to each other. She also points to technology improvements and finding the levers in the workflows – making it easier for providers to use technology as having great potential. But make no mistake – larger policy issues and payment reforms are needed. Dr. McKay views maternal health as the ultimate population health and she never wants to hear again that maternity care is a lost leader. Hear Dr. McKay talk about: Love of science which began when she won the state science fair in 8th grade (ask her about chickens!!). Winding journey to medicine. Thinking pediatrics would be her calling but kids don’t talk and parents can be…well…intense. She credits an important mentor, Dr. Burnett, who gave her the confidence to change course by pulling her aside and telling her that she had “good hands”. There were not many women in surgical subspecialties then and his words at that point in time made a major impression on her. Physician burn out: COVID was rough and having to fight for PPE was a moral injury. She has put great focus on what gives her energy which includes: helping solve problems for physicians; mentoring other women or physicians moving into leadership positions; and her family. She had to learn to put FOMO (the fear of missing out) aside to ensure she was making time for them. Dr. McKay’s closing advice to younger women is to just say yes. Some of her greatest professional opportunities have come from going to those meetings that she otherwise thought twice about attending. Treating them as opportunities has been important for her career growth and impact. ***************************** Dr. Kimberlee McKay, PeriGen Chief Medical Officer An innovative specialist in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. McKay brings over 20 years of experience to the PeriGen team. In addition to her role at PeriGen, Dr. McKay currently serves as the Clinical Vice President OB/GYN Service Line at Avera Health and has held an adjunct position at the University of South Dakota, where she also earned her degree. Dr. McKay adds to the PeriGen team a hands-on experience that support the initiatives of PeriGen as an organization. Her extensive expertise in patient safety and quality, healthcare equity, rural maternity care, and remote patient monitoring are critical to the continued innovation of PeriGen solutions. She is a long time advocate and user of PeriGen solutions and her position is critical to PeriGen’s continued commitment to remote patient monitoring, physician engagement, and emerging primary care opportunities. You can follow Dr. McKay on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Kathy Ford, chief product and strategy officer at Project Ronin, a company founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison and Dr. David Agus with a moonshot objective to transform cancer care. It has been a “short thirty years” in healthcare and Kathy has been focused on launching healthcare solutions globally. She describes being raised by big companies – first falling into it, then falling in love with it, and today, being absolutely driven to have a large impact on the clinical outcomes in healthcare. While Kathy has spent her career bringing health tech solutions to market, she describes her work at Ronin as perhaps the most impactful. And this excites her. Did you know that 50% of cancers are preventable? I didn’t. As her PSA, Kathy also implores all listeners who may today or someday face a cancer diagnosis – get a second opinion on that pathology report. From her work she states this particular area is still equal parts art and science in medicine – and while AI may change that in the future – today the second opinion could be life altering. Hear Kathy talk about: How she has chosen when to move to a next career opportunity (spoiler alert, the answer comes down to learning and also thinking about opportunity for impact). What has changed over the years with technology. The advancement of the data science toolsets today is phenomenal. The question remains as to how this can shorten innovation adoption cycles. Her optimism in how data tooling and patient focused solutions can actually impact patients – better patient communication, real time communication with physicians. And with the potential to both prevent adverse events today – with promise to move to prevention. You can follow Kathy on LinkedIn. ***************************** Ford is responsible for the ideation, development and commercialization of Ronin, a provider of cutting-edge clinical intelligence software and AI services that helps clinicians understand the context between data points for patients undergoing oncology treatment. Ford has a long history in leading and bringing innovative technology to market at Rhinogram, GE Healthcare, Siemens Medical, McKesson and NantHealth.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Brittany Barreto, PhD, a geneticist who has focused her career on FemTech (that’s not fintech, it’s femtech, which should just be called healthtech, but for now, let’s stay focused..). Her company FemTech Focus aims to raise awareness on this $1.1T industry and to support the community of over 1000 founders in this space.. This is done through her podcast, virtual communities with >2000 members; events to support growth in this field and then very importantly, through ground breaking market research. Brittany’s extroverted and passionate energy come through in this terrific Inspiring Women episode! Hear Brittany talk about: How she found her home not in the science lab but when finding a group of entrepreneurs drinking beer, eating pizza and wearing jeans. How women have been excluded from science, research, value hypotheses for every dimension of health care/device/science and delivery. It is changing now, but slowly. The gap in funding for femtech companies – which is not at Series A but rather at the seed stage. Perhaps due to a lack of caring from people these issues do not impact. Her best advice is actually a grand audience question – when you walk around the world, just ask yourself if sex was considered in making this? More often than not the answer will be NO. But asking the question and seeing the opportunity to create a world where it is normalized is very exciting to Brittany. What will we see in the years ahead for FemTech? Answer: “So many exits…so many new leaders…” and very hopefully, many more men participating in the innovation and launch process. You can follow Brittany on LinkedIn. ***************************** Brittany Cliffnotes: I am a geneticist who launched the world’s first DNA-based dating app (Pheramor). The company ultimately closed but I sure did learn a lot! Then I launched in a career in venture. I was Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory, the most active venture fund in Texas. I was tasked with opening their Houston branch and had a blast doing it. In 2019 I discovered an industry called FemTech and I learned about the grave inequalities in women’s health. In March 2020, during the covid-19 lockdown, I started a FemTech podcast and gained international traction overnight. Now I talk about vulvas full time via my 501c3 non-profit, FemTech Focus! I co-founded a FemTech venture fund, Coyote Ventures, and consult companies on female-centered healthcare. — I got my footing as a CEO while finishing my PhD in genetics, that’s when I co-founded Pheramor, the nation’s first DNA-based dating app and also launched a secondary product called WeHaveChemistry for couples. We successfully raised over $1.3M and won dozens of awards. Although Pheramor and WeHaveChemistry did not become the unicorn I hoped for, I earned my entrepreneurial stripes and pivoted to become a Venture Capitalist. My role at Capital Factory as a Houston-based Senior Venture Associate was to evaluate startups, mentor founders, and assist in deal flow and review for the Fund. As the first associate to be based in Houston, my role was to establish the Houston branch through outreach, growth, and forming partnerships. Under my leadership, our Houston accelerator portfolio has grown by 205%. I am frequently requested to consult startups, as well as deliver keynotes and workshops that highlight my areas of expertise which are: FemTech, going from science to entrepreneurship, and fundraising. Now I’m on a mission to advance the women’s health and wellness community through my latest world-changing venture – FemTech Focus. I am host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has over 150 episodes, 40K downloads, and subscribers in 107 countries. FemTech Focus has assisted hundreds of femtech founders to build, launch, and succeed through their events, resources, and market research reports. Additionally, I am the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, an early-stage femtech investment firm and femtech special advisor to Goddess Gaia Ventures, a growth-stage women’s health fund in the UK.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Elizabeth Kirk, a senior vice president at Strata Decision Technology. Liz has spent her career at the intersection of healthcare process automation and optimization to deliver significant financial returns. Working across teams on complex issues remains a passion. Personal tragedy, a health diagnosis, and major job changes – Liz has had to face several incredible inflection points. These all shaped her outlook on work and have led to strengthened resolve and commitment to making a difference. What you will hear in this episode: The sudden death of Liz’s fiancé was life altering. Throwing herself into work was Liz’s coping mechanism. In a job she loved, Liz had an unexpected meeting with GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt. That gave her critical information as to what she thought might be possible with her division. She learned it was time to make a move. Meeting other incredible life moments. Like being fired for being pregnant. Hard to imagine that this can happen (it’s illegal BTW…) but it happened to Liz. And dealing with her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Healthy today, Liz is thankful for some early time with her daughter. As challenging as this may be, Liz believes this has led to an even deeper connection and commitment to the impact of her work on healthcare organizations. It is very important to Liz to get up every day to a job she loves. And what she loves most? Seeing and then fixing problems and doing this by working cross-functionally. You can follow Liz on LinkedIn. ***************************** Liz Kirk is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Services at Strata Decision Technology. With over 15 years of experience working with healthcare providers, both as a hospital administrator and a consultant, Liz’s role includes leadership of Strata’s Client Services team, as well as work in product and strategy for the company. Liz’s work in developing the Continuous Improvement application at Strata was recognized with the prestigious Chicago Innovation Award in 2014 and has recently been recognized by Becker’s Healthcare as one of the top “Female Health IT Leaders to Know” and one of the top “Female Vendor Financial Management Leaders to Know” in 2018. Prior to joining Strata, Liz was responsible for cost reduction and revenue improvement at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL where she successfully led an enterprise-wide project to reduce $220 million of operating expense while improving clinical performance. Liz was instrumental in developing revenue cycle consulting and technology services at Accretive Health and in starting the Revenue Cycle and Financial Improvement practice at GE Healthcare Performance Solutions. She began her career at Deloitte Consulting working with both payers and providers. Liz is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Master Change Agent. She earned a MBA and MHA at the University of Minnesota and a BS in Finance at Trinity University in Texas.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Julia Chang who lives in Taiwan and is a Senior Sales Director at Skyworks Solutions. Julia became interested in technology at a very early age, encouraged by her father and inspired by science fiction superheroes that could fight aliens and solve problems with science! With a background in engineering, she found that she loved the sales process, which includes a deep technical understanding but also psychology, working with people to find win-win solutions while also closing deals. Julia never felt gender differences in her career pursuits even though she saw that there were fewer women in the areas she studied or where she worked. Involvement in the semi-conductor industry and its global supply chain, being in Taiwan, and recent US legislation with the CHIPS and Science Act all impact Julia’s life. Geo-political tensions have been a constant as long as Julia can remember and that is true now, but the impact she feels is probably less so than the news from abroad may make it appear. Of the various pivotal points in her successful career, Julia gives tremendous credit to her husband. His support of her, encouraging her to pursue her current career at SkyWorks, as well as their support for each other with their family, Julia views him as an invaluable partner. Today, Julia suggests to all women that they do not accept gender limitations but rather, do your best work to reach your human potential. ***************************** Julia Chang Sr. Sales Director at Skyworks Solutions in Taiwan Country Manager/Regional Sales Director 思佳訊思佳訊. In Charge of Taiwan ODM/OBM and WLAN customers

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Ivor Horn, health equity expert and Chief Health Equity Officer at Google. For Dr. Horn, her journey to being impactful in medicine began with her father’s care where she saw what it looked like to not be respected. Early on, having impact led her to academics with an intent to educate physicians on how to deliver culturally competent care. Dr. Horn noted seeing technology integrated into patients’ lives but NOT integrated into the health journey of a patient. Understanding the opportunity for change and impact, this galvanized her into the tech space. In this episode you will hear: Early on, how far did we have to go with health equity? A LONG WAY as Silicon Valley did have an understanding of health disparities across communities and there was low appreciation for any financial value in addressing inequities Fast forward to today, where there has been quite a bit of progress. Use of technology is the norm to support someone’s health journey just as technology is integrated into all of our lives. Discerning hype around health equity from meaningful work comes down to views on the long game versus looking for a PR moment. Health equity work means sustained changes in infrastructure, process and accountability to weather ebbs and flows of support or resource commitment. The importance of the bottom-line impacts of health equity which are key to sustained support beyond health equity focus due to its moral imperative. Cautious optimism about the future for health equity!! Dr. Horn is seeing organizations building more educated teams, that appreciate nuance. We MAY be seeing a next wave of resources in the world of health equity. Also key for the long-time experts to avoid burn out given the magnitude of the work. What is possible five years out? Global companies that have health equity built into their plans in the same way that sustainability is embedded in board conversations today. There is no health without health equity. Dr. Horn also provides some words of advice regarding finding balance in her busy life. Family, friends and exercise!!! She also highly recommends a good therapist to remind you that what you are thinking is real and a coach to help you to then navigate! Dr. Ivor Horn Chief Health Equity Officer Google Dr. Ivor Braden Horn has over 20+ years of experience as an executive in health systems, academic, and venture-backed entrepreneurial environments. She is a sought-after advisor for health technology companies and has served on advisory committees and boards for several academic, philanthropic, government and for-profit organizations. As a strategic leader, Ivor has demonstrated expertise in driving organizational change within technology and product innovation and implementing efforts to drive quality improvement and stakeholder engagement. Ivor has a track record of implementing programs to improve health outcomes, reduce regulatory compliance risk and establish partnerships with community-based organizations to better serve at-risk populations. You can follow Dr. Horn on LinkedIn or her WEBSITE

In this episode you will hear: That point in time when this mother/daughter changed their relationship to mentoring and the focus on professional advice v. just parental advice Why a healthy respect for boundaries for Jolene has been important to her in her support for Kate’s growing career. Kate’s reaction to unsolicited advice (not good) and how Jolene practices restraint in giving it! For Jolene, she began an entrepreneurial career later in life and how she looks to her daughter for both support and advice. Not only is it helpful, for Jolene, this is a source of pride and joy in her daughter. What advice do they have for each other as both mom and daughter forge their career trajectories? Jolene has strong belief that Kate will be a woman of impact but also is supportive and excited about the ride ahead even if it remains unclear. She wants to ensure that if Kate needs something, that she is not afraid to ask for it. Kate can’t help but show tremendous pride in her mom for exploring new challenges and having the courage to build this new business of life coaching. Go for it Mom!!! What will you hear in this episode? Love. Support. Pride. Jolene Atkinson Jolene Atkinson is licensed in Iowa and Illinois as a Clinical Social Worker in private practice at Psychology Health Group in Davenport, Iowa. She is a Certified Life Coach and owner of Lifewell Coaching. As a graduate of the University of Iowa with a master’s degree in social work, Jolene trained as a therapist and an advocate for others. She is a certified life coach, CEO and entrepreneur. Whether through therapy or life coaching, Jolene specializes in supporting individuals to live their best lives. Early in her career, Jolene worked with nonprofit agencies serving children and parents in the foster care system, provided advocacy and therapy to survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence, was a residential counselor in a group home for teen moms, and a therapist in a mental health clinic. With over 20 years’ experience in her private practice, Jolene has helped individuals and families with mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, addiction, grief, and trauma. She has supported couples with marriage, divorce, and custody issues. She has provided individuals with life skills, career exploration, identity awareness and parenting strategies. Jolene has specialized in utilizing play therapy to work with children and teens. Jolene’s coaching practice prioritizes goal setting, personal growth, and emotional wellness. She is passionate about helping people realize their highest potential. Kate Kruse VP, Executive Podcast Solutions and Producer, Inspiring Women Kate is a Class of 2020 graduate from the University of Iowa with a B.A. in Enterprise Leadership. Kate joined Executive Podcast Solutions in October of 2019 and has loved helping several clients develop and produce their shows. Outside of podcasting, she enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, and reading.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Anita Lynch about changing company cultures and having that sense of belonging even when you are one of few, or only, in leadership. Anita’s love for data, technology, and leadership started early. She demonstrated executive presence “on the playground” and learned to code at age ten when her father brought home a TRS-80. Beyond her parents, she had other early role models. The first black person CEO she ever knew was in fact her Aunt Caroline. Over the years while assuming greater and greater leadership responsibilities, she did not ignore the reality that she was one of few, or often times only in these positions as a data/technology executive. She had learned to transcend by finding ways to connect with others as peers. If you are at the table, you are peers, so Anita advises to be aware and not try to fight the differences but to seek opportunities to connect with your peer colleagues. Learning how to drive culture change in large scale organizations also comes through learned experience from launching significant digital and data initiatives at Yahoo, Amazon and Disney. Leading company tectonic shifts of collecting, aggregating and then activating data also afforded her the opportunity to work with and learn from other inspiring executives. Anita advises that inclusive cultures start by making people feel like they belong. This means recognizing and celebrating differences and starts with ensuring employees feel safe and cherished. You cannot feel cherished without feeling safe. Anita describes tactics for how to allow for those differences, whether it is age, gender, race or other. Anita’s closing advice to women is that we are a community and need to be supportive of each other. Significant career decisions can be broken into a series of smaller decisions so that in fact women optimize their careers over time and in fact have it all! Anita Lynch is dedicated to making life better and business more resilient through technology and data. Her expertise includes implementing digital transformation, finding positive solutions that benefit all stakeholders to mitigate risk, and increases shareholder value. A technophile at heart with an intuitive sense of systems and processes, she has an innate ability to bridge technology and business with diverse perspectives. She identifies smart investments that protect and leverage data to maximize profitability, and ultimately adds value to corporations at all stages. Ms. Lynch most recently served as Chief Data Officer at New Relic (NASDAQ: NEWR), a provider of data-driven enterprise software. She is among the first African American women to serve in the c-suite in this role for a public company. Beyond the c-suite, Ms. Lynch plays a leadership role in vital community programs and has served on non-profit boards supporting education initiatives for urban youth with Chicago Youth Centers and Silicon Valley Talent Partnership in the San Francisco Bay area. Ms. Lynch also volunteers with Harvard Business School Admissions, Harvard Business School Alumni Board and Harvard Alumni Association. Anita Lynch has been recognized for trailblazing and leadership. In 2022, she received a Culture Shift Award for Technology, Innovation and Social Impact in Silicon Valley. In 2020, she was named in the San Francisco Business Times ‘Top 100 Most Influential Women in Business’ and a featured keynote speaker in Snowflake’s 2020 Data Cloud Summit. Ms. Lynch has been recognized as an innovator and technology inventor with patents for her work on trading systems at the Chicago Board of Trade in 2004. A native of Chicago, Ms. Lynch now resides in Oakland, CA.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Drs. Paneez Khoury and Parker Ruhl, physicians, researchers, public servants who work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They are also friends and peer mentors which they view as a professional must have given the dearth of women leaders. In this episode, we discussed the “leaky pipeline” issue given that women medical students have eclipsed the 50% mark several years ago. Paneez and Parker are clear – the system is not set up so that women have a fair shot ascend to leadership. While there are things women can do to bridge the gender gap in medicine through self-advocacy, taking leadership training opportunities and cultivating mentorship relationships, until the structures are changed. The fertility window directly overlaps with the time periods needed to secure funding, when you are first becoming scientifically independent. If those who set up these structures had to think about their fertility window – it just wouldn’t be set up this way. Changing the process should NOT mean lowering the requirements, just adjusting not having to do these all at the same time during that important fertility window which creates sometimes impossible choices. Paneez and Parker also discuss how they have partnered aiming to impact culture change, a long slog without a clear path. Finding ways to level the playing field for women in medicine, being heard, having representation on editorial boards, hiring and promotion committees, and looking forward to that day when a woman physician can say she is pregnant and not have to hear…Oh, I’m sorry….. are just some of the things that they are pushing for. They have an action oriented approach and rely on the support of each other to “be the change”. Dr. Paneez Khoury BIO: Paneez Khoury, M.D. is an associate research physician at NIAID. She has been involved in translational research in eosinophilic disorders since joining the Human Eosinophil Section in 2012. She received her M.D. from University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. She completed an internal medicine residency at the Ohio State University followed by a fellowship in allergy and clinical immunology at NIH. She also holds a master’s of health sciences from Duke University. She is board certified in internal medicine and allergy/immunology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). At NIH, she serves as the chair of the Scientific Review Committee of the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. She sits on the graduate medical education (GME) committee, including the policy subcommittee, and is a member of the staff clinician council. Her external committee activities include involvement in the food allergy and eosinophilic disorders committee, the program directors assembly, and the leadership institute of AAAAI . She serves on the board of the International Eosinophil Society (IES) and is the social media chair for the society. Dr. Parker Ruhl BIO: Dr. Parker Ruhl is an Associate Research Physician in the Physiology Unit of the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research (LMVR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with a joint appointment in the Pulmonary Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Dr. Ruhl serves on the NIH Pulmonary Consult Service and routinely sees patients in the NIH Sickle Cell Program. In the Physiology Unit, LMVR, Dr. Ruhl leads clinical research efforts within a translational research group focused on the impact of genetic variants of globin proteins, affecting both alpha and beta globin, on vascular function in human physiology and in disease states such sickle cell disease and malaria. Dr. Ruhl is active in the professional community. She serves as Chair of the NIH Staff Clinician Council and Chair of the Staff Clinician Professional Development Committee, which serve to support physician professional development within the NIH Intramural Research Program. She serves as Vice President and an executive board member of the Metropolitan DC Thoracic Society. Dr. Ruhl joined the Office of Intramural Research (OIR) as a Senior Advisor to Dr. Michael Gottesman, Deputy Director of Intramural Research (DDIR) in 2022 and is currently working on several matters related to the NIH Staff Clinician community. Dr. Ruhl supports Dr. Janice Lee, Deputy Director of Clinical Research (DDICR) in performing the Staff Clinician title designation review process. Dr. Ruhl has worked closely Dr. Carl Hashimoto, Director of Faculty Development, OIR, to broaden access for Staff Clinicians to professional development opportunities across all ICs within the NIH Intramural Research Program. Dr. Ruhl attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed internal medicine training in the Osler Medical Residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She completed a combined fellowship in critical care medicine at the NIH Clinical Center and pulmonary medicine at the Jo

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Carla Smith, a health sector strategist and Founder of Carla Smith Health. Over Carla’s storied career working with countless organizations, health systems, providers, payers, technology companies, and non-profits, she has seen enormous change and opportunity that has come with the adoption of technology in healthcare. For Carla, healthcare matters. Profound change has come now that the majority of the workforce are digital natives. Yet enormous waste and cost are found in the gaps, whether that is the lack of affordable broadband or the concerning brain drain from the exodus of burnt out clinicians and CEOs. She is excited about the potential with AI (it’s real and it’s here) but she wants to see more focus on implicit bias and attention to the diversity of the learning data sets. As it relates to women in healthcare tech, through her own lived experience of many years and countless meetings being “the only” woman in the room, she has relied on her NEVER and ALWAYS principles. She NEVER considered herself anything other than equal and she was ALWAYS prepared. But as it relates to the state of play for women in healthcare, Carla is dismayed. Women are not making the progress that Carla expected (and championed) and in fact, she supplies evidence showing we are in fact going backwards. Carla has hope and important advice for women. She outlines a clear plan for networking. Consciously seek out professional organizations and get involved, volunteer! As you gain experience, be more strategic in choosing where you volunteer and apply your energy but stay active. And then, seek champions. Beyond mentors, those people who can unlock key opportunities and make important connections for you. Carla closes by advising women to never give up, always keep trying. Because it matters. Healthcare matters. Carla Smith is a health sector strategic growth consultant, serving her clients as a thought leader and truth teller. With exceptional knowledge, industry contacts, & passion, Carla Smith Health creates meaningful change in the health sector. The firm’s engagements with C-level executives, boards, and policymakers equip leaders to positively transform the health ecosystem: • Strategic planning and market positioning; • Corporate governance assessment and evolution; • Due diligence on potential acquisitions and market expansion; • Practical & usable analysis of stability, opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities in the face of change; and, • Strategic collaborations and alliances between health organizations that drive mission and business success. Carla Smith is a health sector strategic growth consultant, serving her clients as a thought leader and truth teller. With exceptional knowledge, industry contacts, & passion, Carla Smith Health creates meaningful change in the health sector. The firm’s engagements with C-level executives, boards, and policymakers equip leaders to positively transform the health ecosystem: • Strategic planning and market positioning; • Corporate governance assessment and evolution; • Due diligence on potential acquisitions and market expansion; • Practical & usable analysis of stability, opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities in the face of change; and, • Strategic collaborations and alliances between health organizations that drive mission and business success. You can follow Carla on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, the CEO of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Dr. Harris describes her journey to leadership as one that started with simply saying “yes” to many extra assignments. She learned in time that she did want to be at the top of an organization, and she began to strategize on how to achieve that. This path included taking many lateral moves to develop her skills and her confidence. After time and opportunity, she found that she was a unique person at the table, uniquely different by ethnicity, gender and even age. And at some point, she recognized that she was good enough – that she always had the competence, it was the confidence needed to make the leap. Leadership skills development for Wylecia came through training but she was equally thoughtful about what she wanted to avoid. She appreciates that she has opportunities that were never available to the giants who came before her. However, if we were to go back 20 or 30 years, she expected we would be further along in terms of equity and opportunity for all. And while Wylecia does not have the answers, she is committed to sustained focus, measuring progress, and building sustainable solutions – which means DEI objectives need to be more than a side project assigned to a few people but rather a strategic focus of the full weight of an organization. As she thinks about her CEO peers, she sees a continuum in terms of focus, measurements, and sustainability. Her leadership journey continues today. Wylecia is focused on supporting the next generation of leaders, so that similar success doesn’t need to take as long. She advises – if someone has been helpful to you, say thank you. And if you have had some success, reach back, and allow others to stand on your shoulders. The time is now to pull forward the next generation of leaders! Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE AHIMA CEO Hailed as an innovative leader with a vision for transformative growth, Wylecia Wiggs Harris is the Chief Executive Officer for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the leading voice for health information management. Harris joined AHIMA as CEO in February 2018, developing the organization’s strategic plan and advancing its mission and vision, nationally and internationally, to position AHIMA as a global leader. Prior to AHIMA, Harris was CEO at the League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters Education Fund. She also served as Chief Operating Officer of the American Nurses Association, executive director of the Center for American Nurses, and executive director of the Maryland-based Sister to Sister Foundation. Harris also has served as senior vice president and executive director at the American Heart Association. Harris holds a PhD in organizational development from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN; a master of management degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL; and both a bachelor and honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH. She is an ASAE-certified association executive. Harris was nominated for the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT by Health Data Management in 2018 and 2019. She was named one of 2021’s Top Diversity Leaders by Modern Healthcare, as well as one of the publication’s 10 Diversity Leaders to Watch. In 2022, Modern Healthcare recognized her on its Top Women Leaders list.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Smriti Kirubanandan, a Senior Healthcare Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services where she focuses on strategic planning. Smriti has many passions which for her is a perfect venn diagram that includes technology, healthcare and food equity. The area of food equity is receiving new attention with the Biden administration holding its first nutrition and food insecurity conference. Smriti also segments food insecurity, impacting ~40M Americans, from nutrition insecurity, which impacts greater numbers who can not access nutritious food within a certain budget. Tech such as AI with vertical farms, as well as her work with the World Food Bank shows promise. Scalable solutions start with educating farmers and encouraging service within their own communities. Smriti’s career path has not been a straight line at this juncture but she is pleased to have pursued such a variety of interests, such as being a raw vegan chef; developing a food product line; teaching cooking and nutrition classes; corporate pursuits advising clients in the payer and provider space. She also gets a lot of satisfaction from her volunteering efforts. Did I mention the long distance running and her new podcast HLTH Forward? Her advice for other women is to learn the skill of negotiation early as you will need it!!! She also is convinced that you need to follow your calling and believe in yourself. Driven by Passion. Focused on Impact. Smriti is an experienced healthcare strategist, business development, sales, and marketing executive with 12 years of experience at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and innovation. Expertise in building new businesses and revenue streams focused on market research, analysis, and evaluation of growth strategies. Adept at strategic thinking, networking, sourcing and structuring fruitful partnerships, building and managing cross-functional teams, and delivering top-line growth. Expertise: Business development, strategy development + strategic partnerships, client relationship management, market research and analysis, project management, public health, building community health programs, healthcare thought leadership You can follow Smriti on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Shafia Monroe, a champion of change who has spent her entire professional life focused on creating awareness of the disparities with maternal and infant mortality and creating solutions to solve for them. While she is known today as the queen mother of doulas and midwives, her beginning came from a family of doers. For example, her father created the first community garden back in the ‘60’s. She was raised being taught that if you see a problem, act. This has been her approach ever since seeing the racial disparities of black women and babies dying in the ‘70s. She became enthralled with being a midwife and hasn’t looked back since. At age 24, she started her first non-profit to train more black midwives. And why does it matter? Because trust, understanding, sharing a common history, and listening to black women are key to health. When you can create spaces that are safe and allow women to be themselves, this leads to better outcomes. Today, Shafia is extremely well recognized for her contributions to improving outcomes for black women, children and families based on her work delivering babies and training of thousands of midwives and doulas over decades. Over the years she has worked on policy change and other mainstream approaches (Shafia’s definition of “mainstream” is codename “white”). However she finds it far more effective to educate the black community. She states her work is more than just maternal mortality, it is about empowering the black community to embrace black culture, empower, and help others see their greatness. E.g. What are your rights? Here are the statistics – present them to your physician and ask them how they will ensure you do not become one of them…. Shafia is proud of building the next generation of leaders. As she reflects on the work that she has loved over the decades, she knows the beginning was lonely. Shafia advises other women to look into their hearts, if you love what you do, to claim their power with gratitude, grab the support of others along the way, go the extra mile, and indeed remarkable things can happen. Shafia Monroe Background Shafia M. Monroe is a renowned midwife, doula trainer, motivational speaker, and cultural competency trainer. Shafia has been “Birthing CHANGE” all her life. In 2016, Madame Noir named Monroe “Queen Mother of a Midwife Movement” for her pioneer midwifery work in Boston, Massachusetts, her hometown. It was there she co-founded the Traditional Childbearing Group (TCBG), a non-profit organization, whose mission was to reduce infant mortality through homebirth services, training community midwives, and providing prenatal education. Monroe served as Boston’s primary African American homebirth midwife from 1978-1991. In 1991, seven months pregnant with her sixth child, Monroe drove from Boston with her family to Portland, Oregon. When she arrived, she was unable to find an African American midwife for her homebirth. Experiencing the lack of midwives of color in the region, she responded by forming the non-profit organization International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), to increase the number of midwives and doulas of color to empower families, reduce infant and maternal mortality, and bring Black midwives together. Monroe positioned ICTC as an advocate for disseminating culturally competent midwifery education, achieving recognition for Certified Professional Midwives (CPM’s), and directing funds to improve maternal health and newborn care. Under her leadership, ICTC spread across the nation, increasing the number of midwives of color, giving midwives of color a seat at the decision-making table, promoting the profession, as well as researching and teaching the contributions of African descent midwives in world history. In 2002, Monroe organized the first US-based International Black Midwives and Healers Conference (IBMHC). The conference brought midwives together from around the world for improving maternity care, continuing education, and camaraderie. In 2010, Erykah Badu, a four-time GRAMMY Award winner, singer/songwriter, and holistic healer, was the keynote speaker for the conference. In 2011, Ms. Badu accepted Monroe’s invitation to be the ICTC National Spokesperson. In 2002, Monroe created the ICTC Full Circle Doula Training program to teach the legacy of the 20th century African American midwife, who exemplified compassionate care through traditional birth and postpartum rituals. The training program focused on improving perinatal care, increasing doulas of color, and developing entrepreneurship in doula work. From 2002 to 2016, Monroe trained nearly 2,000 people as ICTC Full Circle Doulas. In 2017, one year after Monroe’s retirement as CEO of ICTC, the ICTC board asked her to acquire the ICTC doula training. Monroe accepted and rebranded the ICTC Full Circle Doula Training to SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training and maintained the original curriculum. This groundbre

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford. Speaking with Dr. Stanford is a lesson in humility. If you don’t have nine degrees to your name, do ~150 lectures per year, actively mentor >50 students, conduct research in both a genetic and epigenetic fashion while simultaneously caring for patients ages 2 – 90 years old in a field you actually helped to create, obesity medicine…. When asked about her drive, Dr. Stanford laughs it off a bit and talks about being driven since she was in a spelling bee at 4 years of age, that’s right, four years old. Some combination of faith, family and fitness (kick boxing is her jam) are her go to’s for inspiration, focus, impact and the strength reserves required to serve her purpose. This includes health equity and ensuring that weight bias and stigma, or just being black are not in fact obstacles to health or access or humanity. Dr. Stanford is less optimistic that change will just come. She appreciates the efforts of education and new *Chief title* everything equity post the murder of George Floyd. She believes requirements versus energy is needed for sustained change so that black women in particular do not need to shoulder the majority of the burden of DEI efforts without the requisite resources and commitment from others who can “turn it off” while she and others cannot. Closing advice for younger women. Listen to yourself. Understand what is unique about you and use that to forge your path. ********* Dr. Stanford is an obesity medicine physician scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/ Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Stanford received her BS and MPH from Emory University as a MLK Scholar, her MD from the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine as a Stoney Scholar, and her MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as a Zuckerman Fellow in the Harvard Center for Public Leadership. She completed her Obesity Medicine & Nutrition Fellowship at MGH/HMS after completing her internal medicine and pediatrics residency at the University of South Carolina. She has served as a health communications fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and as a behavioral sciences intern at the American Cancer Society. Upon completion of her MPH, she received the Gold Congressional Award, the highest honor that Congress bestows upon America’s youth. Dr. Stanford has completed a medicine and media internship at the Discovery Channel. An American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Leadership Award recipient in 2005, an AMA Paul Ambrose Award for national leadership among resident physicians in 2009, she was selected for the AMA Inspirational Physician Award in 2015. The American College of Physicians (ACP) selected her as the 2013 recipient of the Joseph E. Johnson Leadership Award and the Massachusetts ACP selected her for the Young Leadership Award in 2015. She is the 2017 recipient of the Harvard Medical School Amos Diversity Award and Massachusetts Medical Society Award for Women’s Health.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Sonya Sloan, an orthopedic surgeon, supermom, a woman of faith, an athlete, health equity disruptor, author, educator. Her life’s work has been centered on paying it forward. Incredible conversation and you will be inspired hearing about Dr. Sloan’s journey, passions, and pursuit of impact. Can women have it all? Dr. Sloan says Yes! Journey notes from this episode include: From athlete to medicine: a sports injury might have ended her athletic career but it began her interest in medicine. She noticed then that there were no black clinicians anywhere. A physician suggested to her to pursue medicine as she knew so much already about her own injury and treatment, also noting that diversity was needed in the field. This was also the first time Dr. Sloan had heard about diversity. Entrepreneurship: at 23, wait-listed for medical school, she borrowed $50,000 and opened a coffee shop. She learned here that she loved, just loved, being an entrepreneur. Orthopedic surgeon: Being watched, monitored and criticized was a constant as one of the 1.5% of African American orthopedic surgeons. This required great fortitude and she learned how to be a team player, how to stand up for herself, and believes this has made her a better surgeon. Discussing burnout and the increased stresses on physicians which now includes violence, Dr. Sloan remains hopeful for medicine and for the next generation of physicians Health Equity Disruptor: medicine is her here and now and this is “my watch”. As the VP of the Black Women Orthopedic Surgeon’s organization, Dr. Sloan describes working on the response letters to 45’s Executive Order reversing DEI efforts in government facilities which was eventually reversed with the new administration. Mission in life is grounded around the pillars of medicine, spiritual and education. Intent to increase the number of minority students in STEM. Why? Because this will correlate with generational financial sustainability for African American kids. She also is focused on helping other women achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. Living by her Rule 34 which is Pay It Forward has remained a constant in her life. Closing advice for women: Be unapologetic! ABOUT DR.SLOAN Sonya M. Sloan, M.D., aka #OrthoDoc, has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the male-dominated field of Orthopedic Surgery. Licensed to practice medicine in several states, she travels the country to extend the impact of her unique approach to patient care. With a B.S. in Chemistry from Texas Tech University and an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Dr. Sloan completed her residency at Baylor College of Medicine where she made history as both the first African-American female Intern in General Surgery and the first African-American female Orthopedic Surgery resident. She has authored and published research projects in Orthopedic Surgery and a joint venture with NASA, Johnson Space Center.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Alex MacLeod and Jennifer Catella of Intersystems. Intersystems is a global tech company focused on healthcare, data and analytics. After an engaging company leadership training, they along with another female leader colleague, began meeting regularly and thought about how they could engage with other female leaders or up and comers in the workplace. These informal meetings led to larger group discussions and the forming of the Intersystems’ Women’s Network. Alex, Jennifer and their colleague Yoonji Choe began hosting events with speakers on professional development, set up mentoring pairs, created opportunities for focused topic sessions like managing a new family while pursuing career advancement. Employee response was simply fantastic – they had tapped into something much larger. Since then, the company had asked for volunteers wot work on DE&I efforts and quickly saw they had significant engagement – over 200 volunteers in a ~1700 person company. In this episode Alex and Jennifer discuss: How and why they started the Intersystems’ Women’s Network How they gained support from company senior management (it was easy!) Plans for how to expand the network for team members globally How the network connects with the company’s DE&I initiative Their best advice for starting an effort like this at your own company – just get going! Alex MacLeod Director, Healthcare Commercial Initiatives. LinkedIn Jennifer Catella Manager, Quality Development. LinkedIn

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Amanda Gorman, Founder of the Nest Collaborative, an organization that provides telehealth lactation consultation services. As a pediatric nurse practitioner Amanda found new mothers were often asking “can you help me?” when it came to breast feeding. The need for lactation consultants far outstrips the demand according to recommendations from the Surgeon General. This led to Amanda forming the Nest Collaborative to provide these services in a scalable and accessible way via telehealth. When Amanda started, turned to Google for her business training. Her original goals were small but as she developed this solution for families, the demand simply grew. Amanda notes that upwards of 70% of mothers can struggle with breastfeeding and might benefit from Nest services. This led to crowdfunding, learning how to speak with conviction and then taking advantage of women founder incubators like Springboard Enterprises. This proved invaluable and allowed Amanda to make key decisions such as bringing on a CEO to bring order (and spreadsheets!) to provide balance and accelerate Amanda’s vision for Nest which means helping more families and improving outcomes. Amanda Gorman Founder, Nest Collaborative Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Founder of Nest Collaborative, improving maternal child health outcomes with the first preventive lactation telehealth program that is directly payer-reimbursed. We assist employers and health providers in enhancing lactation benefits for women by increasing access to breastfeeding support that impacts maternal-child health outcomes and decreases healthcare costs across the industry. You can follow Amanda on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Eileen Maus, CEO of Renovia, a digital therapeutic and diagnostic company focused on women’s health and specifically, women’s pelvic floor health. As CEO, Eileen spends a good portion of her time on fundraising and reimbursement now that innovations at Renovia have a published clinical trial to their name. Some of her drive and commitment comes from an encounter with an investor who noted that exits in women’s health are not as exciting as other digital health companies which Eileen found quite frustrating. The importance of women’s health issues for Eileen began early as she was a pharma rep working with OBGYN physicians. She found these doctors to be real partners when adopting new technologies. The issues of weakened pelvic floor can be uncomfortable to talk about, and Eileen will ask people to think through the important issues of dignity for people with these conditions. She also describes herself addicted to start ups! Building the right team, allowing people to shine, coupled with energy and leadership as service approach – all of these items are the ingredients of a fulfilling career. Eileen Maus Chief Executive Officer, Renovia Eileen Maus brings 20 years as a healthcare industry sales and marketing executive with strategic planning experience to her role as Chief Executive Officer with Renovia. Ms. Maus entered the women’s healthcare space during her 12 years with CYTYC Corporation, where she was a key contributor to Cytyc’s growth from $8 million to over $700 million, holding leadership roles from sales management to Vice President, Commercial Operations of the Surgical Division. Specifically, Ms. Maus built and managed sales forces for five new product launches, including the ThinPrep® Pap Test, ThinPrep® Imaging System, FirstCyte Breast Test, NovaSure Endometrial Ablation and Mammosite Targeted Radiation Treatment. In addition, Ms. Maus spearheaded the integration and commercialization of Cytyc’s surgical division. Prior to Renovia, Ms. Maus served as Chief Commercial Officer of Constitutional Medical Investors, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. In addition to participating in the diligence of diagnostic companies for potential acquisition, she developed the commercial plan for a disruptive technology in the hematology space that was acquired by Roche Diagnostic. Ms. Maus previously served as Chief Commercial Officer for Keystone Dental, where she created their marketing strategy to align with market needs, rebuilt their sales force and orchestrated the purchase of innovative products in a commoditized industry. Ms. Maus is a graduate of LaSalle University, with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Communications. You can follow Eileen on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Yael Katz, CEO of BrainCheck which is focused on democratizing cognitive health. Yael began her career in academia as a neuroscientist. After the work of grants and publications, she determined that she wanted her output to be more tangible. A detour to management consulting taught her a lot, including that she had no appetite for management consulting! Her attention went to finding a problem worth solving and BrainCheck was born. For Yael, the guts to go after something has never been an issue, but when it comes to narrowing decisions, she finds that hard. As a scientist, you want to look at the world of possibilities, as a CEO you want to be decisive and focused. As this young company evolves, innovation has come with the technology and the product, but an equal amount of innovation working on the business model. Yael has seen that diversity at the top has become more important to some funders yet she notes that her experience with raising $20M, gender never seemed to be a factor. These days Yael is being asked more and more for advice. Thinking about her own experience with mentors has been helpful. Real talk with the balance of not squelching enthusiasm, something she looks to emulate as she speaks to other entrepreneurs. Yael Katz, PhD CEO, BrainCheck Founder, CountVision Neuroscientist, authoring over 20 articles with more than 1600 citations Entrepreneur, raising $20M in venture capital from top firms Business leader, overseeing the development and commercialization of BrainCheck’s cognitive assessment and care platform, cultivating a top-notch team with offices in Houston and Austin Passionate about technology, biotechnology, and building businesses

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Alice Benjamin, aka Nurse Alice. She may have wanted to be an accountant but when her father said she would become a great nurse, she changed course. Her father, a veteran, lost the battle to heart disease and as Alice was helping navigate his care, translating for her mother, she saw first-hand the impact of implicit bias. She set her sights on being the best cardiac nurse in the world and focused on prevention. That led to educating the public. She found she had a knack for this, perhaps because she understood the importance of cultural competence and meeting people where they are. Health equity awareness also became a passion and putting a spotlight on not only the inequities within health care but how they came about. Alice appreciates that there is more attention on the issues of systemic racism and that people are listening now – however, she points out the need to understand the many people left behind along the way and equity requires us to bring everyone to an equal starting point. Alice also provides a message of encouragement for women – even with the issue of our reproductive rights on the line – that women continue to be resilient and hopeful. Alice Benjamin Clinical Nurse Specialist and Medical Correspondent Alice Benjamin is a board-certified Clinical Nurse Specialist and Family Nurse Practitioner with over 23 years nursing experience specializing in cardiovascular and critical care. She has served as an expert clinical practitioner responsible for providing direct patient care, leadership, consultation, education and patient care management expertise for complex cardiac patients including myocardial infarction, interventional cardiac catheterization, advanced congestive heart failure, CVICU patients, ICD/pacemakers, and post heart transplants at places like Cedars Sinai Medical Center and Sharp Memorial Hospital. She also has extensive experience in burn, trauma, and emergency medicine having worked at Level 1 Trauma Centers including Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and UC San Diego Regional Burn Center. Nurse Alice graduated with honors from San Diego State University with a dual major in Nursing and Psychology. She later obtained a Master’s Degree in Nursing Education/Clinical Nurse Specialist and Post-Masters as a Family Nurse Practitioner. You can follow her at asknursealice.com, on Twitter and Facebook at @AskNurseAlice, and on Instagram at @asknursealice.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Cassie Smith, Chief of Staff for Wellvana Health. When Cassie moved to Nashville, she wanted to work at HCA and she did. When she received a call to be employee #3 at a small primary care start up, she surprised even herself when she said YES. Start ups may seem glamorous but as Cassie well knows they are filled with many ups and downs. There have been stressful times with entire leadership changes where she has never worked harder. When she has doubts, she calls that same trusted friend her brought her to Wellvana in the first place. When new leaders, all men, joined the company, she found she needed to cement her place at the leadership table, and she is quite happy that she did. She has high hopes for the company despite all the hard work and fast pace and she wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. Cassie Smith Chief of Staff, Wellvana Health Cassie Smith joined Wellvana in September of 2020 and now serves as the Company’s Chief of Staff, where she oversees strategic business initiatives, drives alignment across executives and their teams, and optimizes efficiency and productivity across the Company. Prior to joining Wellvana, Mrs. Smith was with HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit healthcare system in the world, where she worked on several teams, including Strategy and Innovation, where she supported both corporate and hospital-level strategic initiatives. Prior to HCA, Mrs. Smith was with Ascension Care Management and Boston Healthcare Associates. Cassie Smith brings to Wellvana an impressive background in healthcare, with extensive knowledge in strategic consulting, health policy and value based care. Mrs. Smith holds a degree in economics from Connecticut College and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Vanderbilt University. She currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and mini Aussiedoodle. You can follow Cassie on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Susan Bailey, practicing allergist/immunologist and lifelong advocate for patients through her work in advocacy. As the 175th President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Bailey is completing forty years of leadership service in organized medicine. She claims “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up” when asked what is next and spent some time reflecting on her years of service during this episode of Inspiring Women. Dr. Bailey has always been a joiner, loving clubs and leadership, and as an extrovert, getting energy from being around other people. She views advocacy as a professional obligation and privilege. When she started in medicine, she had a successful practice, participated in organized medicine while raising two boys as a single mom. How did she make it work? It took a village but having flexibility with her schedule and the financial considerations of her practice were key. She believes working parents have to have a Plan A…B…C…. AND D to make it work, certainly then, and also today. When discussing the evolution of women in medicine, Dr. Bailey reflected on her experience. She did not have many female mentors as there were many fewer women in medicine back then. And while she did break various gender barriers, she always thought things would just work out for women in medicine. But not anymore. She points out the disparities – today, over a third of physicians are women which doesn’t correlate to medical school deans where only 12% are women. And the lack of gender pay parity is just wrong. Dr. Bailey suggests that women be intentional and be outspoken. Consensus building is wonderful, but that should not mean NOT negotiating for what is fair. Dr. Bailey asks women to reach their hand out to help other women by being a mentor. She also strongly supports being involved in organized medicine as it is gratifying to feel that sense of achievement with other like-minded colleagues. Thank you for your service and leadership Dr. Bailey!! ********************************************* Susan R. Bailey, MD, an allergist/immunologist from Fort Worth, Texas, was the 175th president of the American Medical Association. Previously, she served as president-elect of the AMA for one year, speaker of the AMA House of Delegates for four years and as vice speaker for four years. Dr. Bailey, who has been active in the AMA since medical school when she served as chair of the AMA Medical Student Section, has held numerous leadership positions with the AMA. These include serving as chair of both the Advisory Panel on Women in Medicine and the AMA Council on Medical Education, as well as representing the AMA on the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, the American Board of Medical Specialties, and COLA. Her long history of service in helping guide organized medicine extends to the local and state levels as well. She has served as board chair and president of the Tarrant County Medical Society, and as vice speaker, speaker and president of the Texas Medical Association. Dr. Bailey is an allergist in private practice and has been with Fort Worth Allergy and Asthma Associates for over 30 years. She completed her residency in general pediatrics and a fellowship in allergy/immunology at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., and is board certified in allergy and immunology, and pediatrics and has been awarded the title of Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. In addition to receiving her medical degree with honors from the Texas A&M University College of Medicine as a member of its charter class, Dr. Bailey was later appointed to the Texas A&M System Board of Regents by then Gov. George W. Bush, and has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A&M University and of Texas A&M University College of Medicine. Dr. Bailey is married to W. Douglas Bailey, has two sons and one grandson, and is an elder and longtime choir member of her church.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Afsaneh Naimollah, Managing Partner of XEN Partners and Silicon Valley-based healthcare technology executive who has advised over 1000 companies in her thirty years in healthtech. Afsaneh continues to be energized about healthcare stating it is a bottomless pit of learning. Having done over 150 M&A transactions, she has sage advice for entrepreneurs which includes being focused; having technical people on the team and raise just enough money to execute to the next stage but do not overshoot. She has also thought a lot about how women can advance in the space of leadership and underscores the importance of the two P’s – Performance and Persistence. At the same time – if you are a woman who has made it, it is imperative that you make the time and help other women. At the end of the day, success comes from who you are and for women in particular – keeping that sense of self with a capital S! Afsaneh Naimollah Managing Partner, XEN Partners Executive in Residence, Plug and Play Tech Center Silicon Valley-based global technology and healthcare tech executive with over 30 years of corporate finance, strategic advisory and investment banking experience. Public company board experience with a successful exit (company sold to Google). Board member and Chair of Audit Committee of publicly-listed CA Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a SPAC formed to acquire healthcare companies. First transaction was the merger with LumiraDx, the world’s largest PoC testing company valued at $3B in December 2021. Subject matter expert in next gen healthcare technologies including the migration of old technologies to new digitally-enabled business models, AI, automation, payer/provider software, data analytics, virtual care, remote patient monitoring, wellness and precision medicine. Publisher of HIT Greatest Hits, a widely read monthly newsletter on healthcare. I have worked collaboratively with many CEOs and board of directors of mid size to large companies on growth and exit strategies. I have executed over 150 M&A transactions in 20 countries and have raised upwards of $12B of capital via IPOs, private placements and bank debt. I am also an angel investor and advisor to a number of healthcare companies which has given me the rare opportunity to participate in building businesses from the ground up. It is a rewarding and fulfilling experience to help CEOs navigate this exciting and dynamic industry. You can follow Afsaneh on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Sanjida Chowdhury, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Fresenius. Sanjida prides herself as an executive on not just towing the company line but partnering with her business leader counterparts to achieve greater company objectives. Empathy is core to her leadership approach. Working harder to ensure that she can achieve the fully available opportunity ahead stems from childhood experience where she would achieve 90+% grades. 95%+ scores in school were never enough for her demanding father who was always asking about that extra 2%. Sanjida defines her career pursuits as always finding that 2%! Sanjida F. Chowdhury Vice President, Government Pricing & Compliance and Chief Compliance Officer, Region North America Past includes 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with demonstrated success in a consulting and industry career that includes client management, proposal development, business development, project management, compliance program development, training program design and implementation, business analysis, and data analytics spanning various aspects of regulatory and compliance issues that affect pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare organizations. Significant experience leading and coordinating Pharmaceutical engagements in regulatory compliance with a focus on Government Pricing and Sales and Marketing issues with responsibility for planning, budgeting, execution, and delivery. Considered a subject matter expert providing guidance pertaining to the areas of Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, Aggregate Spend and State Reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley reviews, Contract Operations, risk mitigation, and strategy/process improvement. Specialties: Medicaid, Medicare, government pricing/reporting, statutory pricing, class of trade, 340B membership, documentation development, contract compliance, SOX(404), litigation services, managed care organizations, aggregate spending, state disclosure “sunshine” laws You can follow Sanjida on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Amy Abernethy. As a leader, physician, researcher, author, public servant, speaker, advocate, and more, Dr. Abernethy’s storied career centers on her WHY. As an oncologist at Duke, Dr. Abernethy’s patients were relatively young adults. These patients more often than not would pass away within a few short years after their diagnosis and would face very tough choices. Her clinic was between research facilities doing groundbreaking work in the area of melanoma, yet, those new therapies or clinical trials would not be available in time to help her patients when they needed it. Speeding up the process of bringing therapies to the patients who needed them to change their outcomes became her driving focus. It was an unexpected leap to move into healthtech when she joined Flatiron Health, however, exploring the problem from a different angle was very instructional. Her move to public service and the FDA meant tackling the regulatory angle. Focus on patient centricity and evidence generation required modernizing the agency’s technology capabilities and demystifying how to work with the FDA. Amy describes public service as both important and awe inspiring and highly recommended. Today at Verily, this is the next chapter of tackling the same issue, now with big tech and big data at her disposal. To unlock this potential, she suggests this requires bringing all professional disciplines to the table with equal voices and respect. Amy’s professional WHY is centered on those early patients. She aims to significantly speed up the process of bringing lifesaving therapies to market, advance the state of medical care, and to change outcomes. In solving those large problems and pursuing her WHY, Amy was also strategic about her professional development, this included implementing a strategic mentor plan. Early on, she conducted a self-assessment SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). From that, she identified six people she felt could help her advance professionally or develop key skills. She also wanted help advancing as a female leader without being characterized in unflattering ways (the “B” word). Valuing people’s time, Amy was thoughtful about what she could bring to these relationships. Over the years, Amy has changed who is part of her strategic mentor plan and credits those key relationships with having great impact on her professional development and pursuits. Dr. Amy Abernethy President, Clinical Research Platforms at Verily Amy Abernethy is the President of Verily’s Clinical Studies Platforms, where she oversees the company’s clinical evidence generation platform product vision and related clinical research portfolio. Dr. Abernethy was most recently Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the agency’s acting Chief Information Officer. Prior to her role at the FDA, Dr. Abernethy was Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Oncology of Flatiron Health. Before joining Flatiron, Dr. Abernethy was Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and directed the Center for Learning Health Care in the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Duke Cancer Care Research Program in the Duke Cancer Institute. Dr. Abernethy is a hematologist/oncologist and palliative medicine physician who has authored more than 500 publications. She holds a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, an MD from Duke University School of Medicine, and a PhD in Evidence Based Medicine and Informatics from Flinders University in Australia. You can follow Dr. Abernethy on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Erica Jain, CEO and CoFounder of Healthie. Erica created Healthie back when she was in business school. She is someone who cares about leaving the world a better place. When she saw her own parents struggle with weight loss, and then to see the devastating impact that comes with mental health issues, and then through her own experience in the healthcare system as a pregnant woman and new mom – she felt there was a lot of opportunity to make a difference. Today at Healthie, she works with many great founders and leaders. What is Erica’s secret power as a leader? She does NOT give up. For Erica, work life balance does not exist, it’s all life. She credits becoming a new mom with reinvigorating her “hustle”. There are more women CEOs and Founders out there but again, Erica believes leadership and company success still comes down to the team. She urges all women out there to not hold back, making the world a better place takes tremendous energy and as leaders, today’s new leaders, it requires empathy, kindness and resilience. Erica Jain CEO and CoFounder, Healthie Healthie serves as the underlying infrastructure for digital health startups, grocery stores, health clinics, Universities, and other innovative health programs that seek to deliver long-term, preventative care to clients. We have a HIPAA and SOC 2 Compliant platform and API that saves organizations time, and allows them to launch and scale services faster. You can follow Erica on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women NING MOSBERGER-TANG and CHIU-KI CHAN in this Mentoring Series episode. Ning and Chiu-Ki have a number of things in common. Both began their careers as developers at Google, in fact, Ning was the first female developer there. Both relocated from the west coast to Boulder, CO. Both self describe as introverts and have passion, interest and feel obligation that they should be making the world better. This means addressing climate change, saving democracy….the major issues of our time. As Chiu-Ki took action to learn how to get involved – she connected with the local political party office. What she learned didn’t make sense to her where politicians need to spend so much of their energy working on being re-elected v putting energy towards solving these major issues. Ning had started a movement – the Blue Wave Postcard Movement specifically. An all women organizations focused on community and taking action in ways that DOES have impact, DOES achieve results. Chiu-Ki joined not because it was all women, but found that certainly helped. She appreciates the respectful environment and not having to interrupt to be heard, a practice that was important to learn in Silicon Valley as a woman developer, but never felt good or right to Chiu-Ki. Ning asks ALL people to consider getting involved, just start doing something, and to literally start today. Ning Mosberger-Tang Activist/Philanthropist First female developer at Google now aiming to change the world through activism and social justice Ning has a background in computer science and has worked for a number of years in the tech industry, including a few years as a technical lead in Google during its early years. Since 2006, she has focused on conservation and environmental education, climate change mitigation, community organizing, and policy advocacy. She does her work through a private foundation, a social welfare non-profit, and as a private investor in cleantech startups. She also serves on multiple environmental boards including the board of League of Conservation Voters. Ning received her B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Arizona. Blue Wave Postcard Movement: https://www.bluewavepostcards.org Chiu-Ki Chan Activist/Android Developer Chiu-Ki is an Android developer with a passion in speaking and teaching. She runs her own mobile development company, producing delightful apps such as “Monkey Write” for learning Chinese writing and ‘Heart Collage’ for snapping photos to stitch into a heart. When she is not writing apps, she can be found travelling the world, sometimes sightseeing, sometimes dispensing Android tips on stage at various tech conferences. You can follow Chiu-Ki HERE.

In this Mentorship Series episode, Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Monique Terrell, a Senior Director at the College of American Pathologists and Brande Martin, a Director at Covetrus. Monique and Brande have both been working in digital marketing before it was cool. Maybe even dating herself, Brande thought she would “try that LinkedIn” and connected with Monique who hired her at CAP. Their working relationship turned into friendship and they continue to learn a lot from each other sharing mutual respect. Monique’s leadership style emphasized coaching, guiding and mentoring all of her team members but how far it goes is largely up to the individual. With Brande, she has celebrated all of her accomplishments, first at CAP and now well beyond, and hopes to see her continue to advance and lead from the front of the room. Brande seeks guidance from Monique because “she has my back”, their relationship being grounded in support and trust. Does Brande always take the advice? Usually (because it is valuable!) but shaping it to fit her unique leadership style. Best and consistent advice from Monique – Hire strong. And make sure you lead by pulling the best from each of your team members as that will help them pull together as a team. Brande has taken that advice and is proud of how this has helped her develop as a leader. Brande reminds us that when you receive, you need to pay it forward, which she does by mentoring others. Monique tells younger women to Be Bold, Be Present and Be You! Monique Terrell | Senior Director Annual Meeting, Events and Engagement, College of American Pathologists Monique is the first senior-most digital executive at the College of American Pathologists, the leading organization in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. At the CAP, she has led teams from 7 to 16 people across the digital, creative design, and now the Annual Meeting and Events team. She has over 15 years of experience as a digital strategy leader who works with organizations to maximize opportunities that effectively leverage technology. Through the comprehensive use of qualitative and predictive analytics, she drives brand experience, improves digital operations, and broadens revenue streams while being a catalyst for company-wide digital transformation. An effective leader and mentor who can train and motivate staff, increase productivity and retain talent. As a digitally centric executive, she specializes in the planning and implementation of digital solutions. Rounding out her expertise includes experience in user experience, technology selection, information architecture, e-commerce, web, search, email, social, video/audio, and mobile. Career Milestones: Created position of first Director of Digital Strategy for the second-largest U.S. medical association; founded one of the first dedicated social media agencies in Oklahoma City; Awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. You can follow Monique on LinkedIn. Brande Martin | Director B2B Marketing, Content and Creative – North America, Covetrus Brande Martin is a digital content strategy, marketing and health care communications professional. Brande also is a certified master coach, specializing in leadership and wellness coaching. She is a leader focused on training and mentoring teams. Throughout her career, she has developed successful content strategy and digital marketing direction to increase sales and provide thought leadership. She is a member of the United Way, Metro Chicago, Women United board. Brande has presented at several conferences and been a guest panelist on various webinars and podcasts. She has published articles in Forbes, Ellevate Network, Medscape, and other outlets about health care, medical topics, diversity and general interest topics. Find out more about Brande by listening to her podcast: Strive, Thrive & Shine. You can follow Brande on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Michaela Griggs, CEO of Southern California Reproductive Center. Over Michaela’s career, she found herself on the leadership track in a global company – this meant international work and complex assignments. But she also found herself slipping into what she calls the “good girl syndrome” – where if you just work hard and do good work, believing that you will be noticed and rewarded. It took being “cheeky” which meant stepping outside of the norm and directly asking for the assignments that Michaela really loved – big thorny problems that perhaps require a different point of view. At first, she did not always get that plum assignment – but she did receive direct and actionable feedback. Such as how to be more specific about what was important to her and how it is relevant and valuable to the corporation. These cheeky actions led to larger assignments and responsibilities and learnings which remain important to Michaela today. As Michaela balances the needs of growth of a high growth center with advances in technology and leading in the area of innovation, she also remains committed to her belief that a willingness to learn, continuously learn, is imperative to business growth. And she also finds that a longer term view on career growth and the journey, to simply be more satisfying. Michaela Griggs CEO , Southern California Reproductive Center Director, Guardion Health Sciences Michaela has over 20 years of experience at leading Pharmaceutical, Health, Wellness, and Beauty organizations, bringing to Guardion her strong marketing acumen and deep experience in consumer-driven and healthcare professional-driven markets. Most recently, she served as CEO for Southern California Reproductive Center, and prior to that was part of Barco Uniforms, Allergan, Bayer Healthcare, 3M Unitek, and Tria Beauty where she was instrumental in developing and improving brand, retail, and distribution strategies. You can follow Michaela on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Helen Figge and Alexis Balingcongan in this Mentoring Series episode. Helen and Alexis are both clinicians working in the healthcare tech industry and are involved in HIMSS, serving on the New York state chapter Board (Helen is the incoming President). Meeting there, they found mutual interest as well as admiration for each other in their different points of their career. Helen found Alexis to be a bright “up and comer” and urged her to become more involved beyond just her current job at the time. This relationship, which began as just casual conversations from seeing each other at events, grew to where Alexis would reach out to Helen for specific advice or coaching on specific career steps Alexis was considering. Both view the mentor/mentee relationship as something positive for each of them and fits within their shared desire to give back to others. Helen Figge Chief Strategy Officer, MedicaSoft President Elect, HIMSS New York Award recognition for building sustainable teams with emotionally intelligent leadership using diverse skill sets; I marshal healthcare technology entities to heightened financial growth and understand the complexities associated with government standards. My professional accomplishments are transparent: leading teams with innovative strategy, product commercialization, business development, and go-to-market success. I easily launch emerging markets (e.g. startups and large publicly traded companies) to best practice and commercial success, understand the healthcare ecosystem in support of unbiased measurable data, and excel in: cloud-based FHIR standard solutions, artificial intelligence, population and behavioral health solution development, predictive analytics, and clinical workflow. I create growth and sustainability models supporting consumer centric applications for health & wellness, patient engagement, compliance, early disease detection, & evolving care model management. You can follow Helen on LinkedIn. Alexis Balingcongan Regional Connectivity Executive, Hillrom Board Member, HIMSS New York Experienced Registered Nurse with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. Skilled in Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Nursing, Critical Care, Hospitals, and Teamwork. Strong healthcare services professional graduated from New York University. You can follow Alexis on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Pam Pure, experienced digital health executive and CEO/CoFounder of Posterity Health. And importantly, for many years she has also been a personal friend and mentor to me. Most successful women find help, advice and guidance from a mentor, someone who cares about you and your success and often removed from the intricacies of current work relationships. Pam Pure has had a storied career as a leader and one of the most powerful women in healthcare. Spanning those years of success, she also had time, or made time, to be a sounding board for career decisions or to help navigate untold number of transitions or complex work relationships. For me, Pam has been one to push my thinking and vision of my career opportunities, often before I realized I was capable – and she wasn’t afraid to coach or point the way. In this Mentoring Series, I wanted to explore several mentor/mentee relationships – how they work, how each person benefits from the interaction. This series is meant to inspire and encourage women of all career stages to ensure they have someone who is there for them. As we kick off this Mentoring Series, I do want to say THANK YOU PAM PURE. For all of the advice, support, guidance and friendship throughout the years. Pam Pure | CEO Posterity Health Pamela Pure is an experienced digital healthcare executive. She focuses on companies in high growth mode or in need of reinvention. Her tenure provides her with a unique ability to craft strategic direction and drive operational execution. She is an inspirational executive coach. Market entry and new product launch planning are key areas of expertise. Pam was actively involved in the rollout of HiTech, the Healthcare IT component of the American Recovery Act, recognized as Atlanta Woman of the Year in Technology and named one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare. You can follow Pam on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker, CEO of Complete Care Management Partners. Dr. Whitaker is used to breaking new ground, focusing on care management before care management was cool; focusing on solving the problems by focusing at the root cause. Understanding data and the financing of healthcare came with an awareness that was just appalling to Dr. Whitaker – health disparities were evident long before the pandemic and she has made it her life’s work to address them. This includes meeting people where they are like the southside of Chicago. Yes, of course, as an African American physician she has had many people who did not believe she was capable or qualified and the subtle shade or disrespectful comments are more numerous than she can count. Guess what? Dr. Whitaker knows what she is talking about, she has done her homework, and feels it is important to do the work to become expert. Her advice for women? Get involved, join your professional societies, and work at being expert in your field. Dr. Cheryl Whitaker is a practicing entrepreneur in search of innovative solutions for underserved communities and economic inclusion for such business. She is currently CEO of Complete Care Management Partners LLC, a delegate care management entity providing care management for the most difficult to reach members. She is a senior medical advisor to MyBexa, an innovative breast screening technology, a member of the board of directors of Equality Health, a consultant to Health2047, Inc., and a member of the Hyde Park Angels. She was Founding Chairman and CEO of NextLevel Health, a medicaid health insurance company dedicated to helping underserved populations access and manage Medicaid services. At the time, they were only 1 of 2 Black owned medicaid companies in the United States. This innovative for-profit company used a rigorous population health data-analytics approach to help coordinate extensive patient services provided through a geographically co-located Culturally Competent Care Management Team model. Her expertise includes executive management, building and leading high performing teams, change management, organizational transformation, leveraging IT to transform practice. From 2011-2013, she served as the inaugural chairman of the Illinois Health Information Exchange Authority, where she guided the State’s effort to create secure data exchange for health information. From 2009 to 2011, she worked as a Senior Program Officer for the Chicago Community Trust, overseeing strategy for all health-related grants—including efforts related to healthcare reform and the health information exchange. She also served as a faculty member at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Whitaker earned a medical degree at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at Stanford University and University of California San Francisco, and a fellowship in health services research at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Fellow of the Institute of Medicine Chicago, The Chicago Network, The Economic Club of Chicago, Women Business Leaders of the US Healthcare System, and Founding Member of Chief. You can follow Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Sara Sweat, Head of Customer Success of Incredible Health, a new type of staffing company focused on nursing. Sara talks about how her background in in high growth health tech companies prepared her for her current role and how her personal work as a mental health advocate and counselor inspires her to address some of the larger macro issues of workforce burnout. Where does her confidence come from? Well. Singing for one. “If you can sing in front of 200 people, you can speak to 5 in a boardroom.” Sara notes that people describe her as “borderline annoying” with her niceness and questions, but she has found curiousity to be her effective way of learning, growing, and becoming the leader that she is today. Sara Sweat, MA | HEAD OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS Sara believes in the power of relationships. Bringing nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare technology to her role at Incredible Health, Sara has spent her career successfully leading sales, performance coaching, and client management teams – across Payer, Provider, and Channel Partner segments. She values authenticity, collaboration, and creativity and has leveraged those skills in her previous roles at companies like Teladoc Health and Change Healthcare. Sara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance and a Masters in Counseling and is an active advocate of mental health in her local community. She believes strongly in the mission of our organization and is honored to be part of Incredible Health. You can follow Sara on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Lucia Huang, CEO and CoFounder of Osmind, a company focused on the future of mental health with an EHR as well as an engagement and outcomes platform. Lucia is committed to rapid growth but not at all costs. Silicon valley may be great for innovation but move fast and break things simply does not apply here when dealing with patients and patient care. Lucia talks about how she and her co-founder came up with the idea for Osmind as well as how they are using data to transform the future of mental health. Lucia is co-founder and CEO of Osmind. Prior to Osmind, she led business and operations at Verge Genomics, invested in innovative healthcare technology companies at Warburg Pincus, and advised life sciences companies in investment banking. Lucia graduated Yale with a B.S. in Chemistry and earned an MBA at Stanford. Lucia is passionate about mental health and has devoted her career to improving healthcare, from life sciences to new technology innovation. She has been named to Forbes 30 under 30 for her innovative work in healthcare. You can follow Lucia on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

IW-LM Jenny Schneider RD1 Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Jennifer Schneider, CEO and CoFounder of Homeward, a company focused on “re-architecting care delivery in markets for people who do not have quality care starting in rural markets”. Jenny talks about her new venture which fits her familiar model of picking a problem that matters, clearly describing and demonstrating economic value, and the importance of building your team. She doesn’t like the term work life balance. For Jenny, it’s all just life and she tells us that you really can have it all, you just can’t have it all at the same time. Taking a break after having led at Livongo was important to Jenny. She knows that for many women, FOMO (fear of missing out) can be an issue, that thought of …if I am not doing it right now, they will forget about me…which she views as a false narrative. Jenny’s best advice for younger women is to “bet on yourself”. Someone is getting that best seat at the table, and she suggests that young women ask for it. Prior to Homeward, Dr. Jennifer Schneider, M.D., M.S., was the Chief Medical Officer and President at Livongo, and oversaw the strategic, technical and clinical direction of the company. During her final year at Livongo, Dr. Schneider was instrumental in leading the company through the largest consumer digital health IPO in history, a secondary offering and a convertible debt offering that raised over $540 million, in addition to the industry’s largest merger ever between Livongo and Teladoc Health, valuing Livongo at $18.5 billion and beginning a new era of consumer centric virtual care. Currently, Dr. Schneider is on the Board of the Health Assurance Acquisition, Board of the Revolution Healthcare Acquisition, Board of Cityblock Health, and CEO/Co-Founder of Welina Care. Dr. Schneider has been honored by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives and Fierce Healthcare as Women of Influence for her work empowering women and modeling diversity and inclusion. You can follow Dr. Jennifer Schneider on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Patrice Wolfe, CEO of AGS Health, a global revenue cycle technology, analytics and services company. Patrice was only a few months in at AGS before the pandemic hit and talks about how she worked with her ~10,000 employee workforce, mostly based in India, while still serving the needs of her clients. Challenges certainly yet she also finds that she has been able to attract many more women to leadership by offering flexibility. Creating opportunities for women to grow into leadership is important to Patrice. This means providing networking opportunities and giving opportunities to manage a P&L, even if it is a just a sliver of the larger project. While Patrice loves the complexity of healthcare, she really enjoys taking the complexity out… “it just shouldn’t be this hard!”. She also spends a lot of time with young female founders and finds the enthusiasm and innovative ideas bring her a lot of energy, recognizing that not all the companies work out, and while she applauds all the successes, she also enjoys helping founders work through the needed company pivots. Patrice provides frank advice for how to deal with leadership challenges which are not always all “unicorns and rainbows” and advises all leaders to remember the importance of the human side of leadership. Treat people with dignity is just some of her sage advice on this Inspiring Women episode. Patrice describes herself as a high-energy, visionary CEO with a focus on transforming companies for maximum success. I am a strategist and operator who combines keen analytical mindset with willingness to roll up my sleeves and get things done without losing sight of long-term business goals. I am known as a passionate mentor and collaborative leader adept at setting high standards, capable of building and unifying great teams committed to excellence. A versatile business executive, I bring 30 years of healthcare industry experience serving payers, providers, employers, federal/state government agencies, and pharmacy/device manufacturers. You can follow Patrice on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Kelli Clifton Ogunsanya, a healthcare leader over a network of community health centers. In addition to her work serving the population needs of underserved individuals and families, Kelli is very focused on supporting women in their own personal development as leaders. Her own leadership journey started with the confidence building that came from programs like 4-H and later public speaking while working as a consultant. Key life moments like becoming a mother were times when Kelli needed to re-assess what was most important to her as a professional but also in finding joy in her own life. Today she is building out workforce pipeline programs for future leaders, while still finding time to teach university courses, and starting her own life coaching business. These pandemic years have taken their toll on all of us but Kelli wants us all to use this year, 2022, to manifest greatness, through growth, life balance, and leadership. Kelli Clifton Ogunsanya currently serves as the COO of STRIDE Community Health Center. With over 18 locations, STRIDE provides community and refugee medical, dental, mental health, substance abuse, pharmacy, and community-based services, including case management, outreach to the homeless, adolescent services, health education, and maternal child health to the more than 57,000 underserved, uninsured and working individuals and families Kelli believes that access to physical, mental, and emotional wellness are foundational for an equitable and productive society. Kelli is committed to using a systems-thinking approach to spark transformational change, foster operational excellence. Prior to her current role, Kelli was a Client Executive for Optum, a division of UnitedHealthcare Group. In this role, Kelli partnered with national primary care and specialty medical group leaders to improve chronic care management through risk adjustment strategies including patient activation, telehealth integration, point of care technology optimization, and medical group governance. Kelli’s leadership initiatives also include EHR interoperability for leading provider groups including the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. While at PwC, Kelli supported the planning and activation of new medical facilities and provided program management for the Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola (STRIVE), a collaborative Phase 3 clinical trial between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Kelli earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a Master of Health Administration degree from The Ohio State University College of Public Health. Internationally, she has studied and worked in South Africa, Costa Rica, Ghana, Liberia, and Ethiopia. With more than 18+ years of experience, Kelli is the Owner and Founder of Kelli Ogunsanya Coaching where she shares her business expertise with high performing women who are looking for life clarity, purpose, and renewed confidence. Get immediate access to Kelli: Gain insights via her podcast “She Needs a Life Coach with Kelli Ogunsanya” https://anchor.fm/sheneedsalifecoach Book your first FREE 30-minute BREAKTHROUGH CALL with Kelli at www.kelliogunsanyacoaching.com Get Kelli’s book “Madame Millennial” at www.barnesandnoble.com You can follow Kelli on LinkedIn Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Lisa Rangel, CEO and Founder of Chameleon Resumes. During this time of great workforce shifts, Lisa has advice for how to be noticed and not forgotten and talks about why it is so important to keep building your network at any stage of your career. She finds that the more senior someone becomes, they often are surprised when they have to advocate for themselves v being pulled into that next higher level position. Terrific advice and wisdom for anyone wishing to advance in their career. Executive resume writing services for game-changing executives. We position you as the candidate to hire for your next 6- or 7-figure role using our 4-stage M.E.T.A. Job Landing System. #joblanding As top executive resume writers, we have direct expertise hiring executive talent and navigating economic cycles successfully. As an accomplished executive, you want to hire a recruiter-endorsed executive resume writing service who reverse-engineers the hiring process to get hired faster! Our team has 110+ LinkedIn recommendations from clients landing jobs since we draw from 80+ years as successful executive recruiters, 12+ resume/HR certifications and senior-level job landing success in 88 countries. Schedule a chat to learn how our M.E.T.A. job landing system can help you ► http://chameleonresumes.com/contact-us Executives get hired faster using visually-compelling executive resumes, keyword-optimized LinkedIn profiles and recruiter-designed job landing plans for today’s economic climate. Companies hire game changers because the game has changed. Executives are getting hired by essential companies, forward-thinking firms and organizations who ethically capitalize on the opportunity this economy has created. Be prepared. Now is the time to bring in the most experienced job landing consulting team for your job search. Check out our LinkedIn Recommendations and testimonials (http://chameleonresumes.com/testimonials/) showing our long success track record to date. We have succeeded in 3 economic cycles and know what executive job seekers need to do to succeed in landing their next role. ■ AUTHOR of The Definitive Guide To Executive Resume Writing. Free copy here: https://chameleonresumes.com/writing-your-executive-resume-this-year/ ■ FORBES TOP 100 CAREER WEBSITE | Forbes Coaches Council ■ HIRED BY LINKEDIN for 8 years as a Moderator Expert ■ RECRUITER-ENDORSED RESUMES that land COO, CFO, CIO, CEO & CMO interviews http://chameleonresumes.com/recruiter-reviews ■ GLOBAL EXECUTIVE RESUME EXPERT – Cited 180x in publications like Fortune, Fast Company, Newsweek, Time Money, CIO, CNBC, Investor’s Business Daily, BBC, Crain’s NY, Chicago Tribune, Good Morning America & more. Executive Resume Writer | LinkedIn Profile Writer | CEO Executive Resume Writer | CFO Executive Resume Writer | COO Executive Resume Writer | CMO Executive Resume Writer | CIO Executive Resume Writer | Supply Chain Resume Writer | Sales & Marketing Resume Writer | Retail Resume Writer | Pharmaceutical Resume Writer | Manufacturing Resume Writer | Finance Resume Writer You can follow Lisa on LinkedIn Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Johanna Fic, a Senior Manager of Engagement Delivery at Salesforce. Johanna is a technology consulting professional with experience helping clients in the consumer products industry, oil & gas industry, and the public sector improve and implement customer-centric technologies and business processes. Her passion is solving problems and improving customer experiences. Johanna knew from an early stage that she wanted to move into leadership and actively pursued opportunities. She also learned some hard lessons early. A large project went awry and yet the team delivered very good results given the circumstances. However, she did not ensure the original evaluation objectives were changed to match the circumstances. Result – less than stellar evaluation. Those hard lessons have made Johanna a better leader of people and more attentive to results and measurements today. You can follow Johanna on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Nicole Christian Brathwaite, who works with under-served children and families in the area of mental health. Dr. Christian Brathwaite is concerned about the mental health of children today in particular those who are experiencing trauma which may come from discrimination, racism, as well as other impacts from this pandemic. Her first most important mentor was her mom, oriented towards social justice and action. There may have been issues of financial instability but that did not prevent actions like forming organizations to help and support others who have rights. These early beginnings give Nicole constant perspective of what it looks like to not have. And she doesn’t take that for granted. Over the course of her career, she has purposefully sought mentors who could provide knowledge or experience she wanted but did not yet have. And to do her best work, she is a huge proponent of self-care. She might not be expert at that yet, but she is working on it. Nicole Christian Brathwaite, MD | Senior Vice President and Medical Director, Scheduled Care and AtHome at Array Behavioral Care I am committed to working with under-served children and families both locally and globally. I am also interested in the interface between technology and medicine. I am Medical Director and SVP of Array Behavioral Care’s AtHome and Scheduled Care Divisions. Array Behavioral Care (formerly InSight + Regroup) is the leading and largest telepsychiatry service provider in the country with a mission to transform access to quality, timely behavioral health care. Array offers telepsychiatry solutions and services across the continuum of care from hospital to home with its OnDemand Care, Scheduled Care and AtHome Care divisions. For more than 20 years, Array has partnered with hundreds of hospitals and health systems, community healthcare organizations and payers of all sizes to expand access to care and improve outcomes for underserved individuals, facilities and communities. As an industry pioneer and established thought leader, Array has helped shape the field, define the standard of care and advocate for improved telepsychiatry-friendly regulations I am the CEO of Well Minds Consulting Company. Well Minds Consulting is a multifaceted organization dedicated to advising schools and educators on how to better understand and support youth with mental illness. We provide psychiatric expert witness support and testimony as well as implicit bias, trauma sensitive, and mental health training for schools and businesses www.wellmindsconsulting.com www.techwavegroup.com You can follow Dr, Nicole Christian Brathwaite on LinkedIn

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Corbin Petro and Jessica Gelman, founders and CEOs of Eleanor Health and Kraft Analytics Group respectively. As a married couple, Corbin and Jess jokingly refer to themselves as Team CJ, yet their drive and passion for growing their companies is anything but a joke. There may be fewer female CEOs in their respective tech focused sectors – healthcare and sports analytics – however, both are used to pushing boundaries. Which requires fortitude and hard work. In the career stages of learning, earning and returning, both Corbin and Jess are determined to not wait until the end for the “returning” phase and recognize their unique position as role models. Working hard and helping others seems to be the Team CJ approach. And when asked about the future for women in their respective fields, they also recognize there is still a long way to go – “how much better do women need to be?” – yet they share optimism that we are on the right path. Corbin Petro is an experienced CEO, industry leader, and entrepreneur with a mission-driven, analytic approach to innovation. She is the CEO and co-founder of Eleanor Health, providing evidence-based, whole person care specializing in addressing the unique complexities of individuals and populations with substance use disorder and mental health needs. Eleanor Health leverages proprietary technology and data-driven insights, compassionate teams, and value-based payment to deliver superior clinical and financial outcomes. Prior to Eleanor Health, Corbin was the founding CEO of Benevera Health, a payer-provider JV and population health company. Corbin has an extensive background in healthcare including as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Massachusetts Department of Medicaid (MassHealth), a $13 billion agency providing health care to 1.4 million Massachusetts residents, advising a US Senator on health reform, and roles at Bain and Company, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte Consulting, and American Management Systems. Corbin is passionate about improving health for vulnerable populations, equity for women and other marginalized groups, and animal rights. She is co-chair of the board of visitors of Fenway Health, and on the boards of Reaching Out and the Eleanor Health Foundation. As a former collegiate distance runner, she enjoys long distance running and biking, and has completed 5 marathons and biked solo, self-supported across the country. She is active in local and regional politics, currently serving as the Chair and Treasurer of a campaign for Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor. She was honored as one of fifteen healthcare executives under 40 named a 2018 Up and Comer by Modern Healthcare. She received a BA from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Jessica Gelman is an experienced CEO, industry leader, and entrepreneur with a data-driven, customer-centric approach and intrinsic ability to define what is next. As a founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference & Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), she has a track record of delivering results by building high performance teams, identifying business challenges through analytics, and defining the path forward through data and technology. She is widely respected for her impact on the sports industry. Expert in building businesses, identifying growth opportunities, defining strategy and driving plans to successful completion. A proven leader who empowers teams. 2014 Forty Under 40: Sports Business Journal 2018 Power Players, Ticketing: Sports Business Journal 2012 Game Changers, Women Leading & Innovating in Sports Business: Sports Business Journal 2015 Power 100 Women: Brand Innovators Corbin and Jess are married, have two sons, and reside in the greater Boston area. You can follow both Corbin and Jess on LinkedIn HERE and HERE.