Rick Evans is the Senior Vice-President and Chief Experience Officer for the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Health System, where he leads the organization’s comprehensive effort to improve the patient and family experience. 

Previously, he served as Chief Experience Officer at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA where he implemented programs that helped MGH achieve some of the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any academic medical center in the country.  He also helped to build the organization’s new Referral Management Office, and oversaw the MGH Physician Leadership and Visitor Education Programs.

Over the last 17 years, Rick has held senior leadership positions in healthcare including serving as the Vice-President of Support Services and Patient Centered Care for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the Vice-President of Mission Services for the Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership for Care in Hudson County, New Jersey and also as Director of the St. Francis Hospital Foundation in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Rick is a recognized national expert on patient experience and engagement and is a sought after speaker at events focusing on this important aspect of healthcare.

Rick holds a Masters Degree in Theology from Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, NY and a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Wadhams Hall Seminary College in Ogdensburg, NY. 

With a focus on providing exceptional customer service and delivering the highest quality care, Mr. Gierlinger is responsible for building an engaging, innovative and collaborative culture that drives organizational growth and customer loyalty through the customer experience.
He came to Northwell Health from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit where he served as vice president, hospitality and service culture, responsible for creating a superior and consistent service experience for patients, visitors and employees.  Mr. Gierlinger worked closely with leadership to drive culture change around improving the customer experience in every encounter across the system.  Prior to that, he was administrator, hospitality services, for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, responsible for all aspects of non-clinical operations, the Wellness & Integrative Health Center, retail shops and café, and the customer experience.
Mr. Gierlinger began his career in the luxury hotel business, holding a series of leadership positions with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.  He played a key role in the openings of several Ritz-Carlton hotels in Germany, Japan, Indonesia and the US, responsible for executing and implementing Ritz-Carlton service standards, training staff, and leading teams of trainers.
Mr. Gierlinger is a member of the Association of Patient Experience, The Leader’s Board for Service Excellence, and The Beryl Institute.
He received a bachelor’s degree in hospitality business administration from the Bavaria Hotel Management Academy, Altoetting, Germany.

Mariane is the Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer for Nemours Children’s Health System with hospitals in Orlando, Florida and Wilmington, Delaware.  Mariane has been with Nemours for 24 years, serving in various hospital, practice and enterprise leadership roles.  Her career in healthcare began nearly 40 years ago as a pediatric nurse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Upon completing her Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1980, Mariane transitioned from nursing into hospital operations.  In her current role, Mariane is responsible for driving all service excellence initiatives throughout the organizations’ multiple operating sites as well as the implementation of strategic improvement methodologies and practices to support Nemours’ continuous improvement philosophy and management system.

Mariane was a former Board Executive for the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware and currently serves on the Board of the Kennett, Pennsylvania YMCA.  She is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a member of the Association of Patient Experience and the Beryl Institute.

She lives in Chadds Ford, PA, with her husband, Dr. John Stefano. They have two grown children—Brian and Megan—and 2 dogs.  She maintains a healthy work-life balance by heading to the beach, boating, and gardening.

Rebecca Zuccarelli is the Chief Patient Experience Officer at Tampa General Hospital, a new role that was recently created as the result of the Board and Senior Leadership’s desire to become a top performing hospital in the patient experience.
Rebecca was formerly the Senior Director for Service Excellence for the Johns Hopkins Health System a 6 hospital system headquartered in Baltimore, MD.  In this role, which she has held since 2006, Rebecca was responsible for measuring and improving patient satisfaction and leading the effort to create a more patient and family centered environment throughout the Johns Hopkins Health System.  During her tenure at Hopkins, inpatient satisfaction at The Johns Hopkins Hospital has improved from the bottom to the top quartile.
Before joining Hopkins, Rebecca served in various positions at OhioHealth an 8 hospital system in  Columbus Ohio including, System Vice President of Customer Service and Vice President of Post Acute Services.  Rebecca began her administrative career over 25 years ago at Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio in a role in quality management and medical staff services.
Rebecca received her Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy and her Master of Public Health in Health Administration from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has authored several publications regarding customer service and patient relations and has spoken at numerous conferences regarding improving patient satisfaction in hospitals.

As the Chief Experience and Engagement Officer for the University of Chicago Medicine,  Alison Tothy, MD is responsible for leading efforts to optimize patient experience and engagement across the enterprise.  She provides leadership oversight in development, implementation, and execution of the vision and strategy of the Patient Experience and Engagement Program.  Dr. Tothy provides content expertise regarding the patient experience to clinical and administrative leaders as well as help to identify and implement national best practice service level standards, patient-centered care strategies and innovative approaches to enhance the patient experience.  Prior to her current role, Dr. Tothy served as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Patient Experience at University of Chicago Medicine, as well as the Medical Director and Section Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago. 

Dr. Tothy is a Certified Patient Experience Professional and has extensive leadership training including certificates in Lean Healthcare, Team STEPPS, the Chicago Management Insititute at the Booth School of Business, and Patient Experience Leadership from the Beryl Institute. She is a recognized national physician leader in both Pediatric Emergency Medicine and patient experience.  Recent speaking engagements have included: The Leapfrog Group, Brand Health for Google, Press Ganey, Beryl Institute, the World Congress, and UHC.   Additionally, as a Media Spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Dr. Tothy has spoken in various media settings on many pediatric topics. 

Dr. Tothy received her B.A. from Brandeis University and obtained her M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.  She completed a residency in Pedatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Memorial Hospital through the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.  She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago and is a physician in the Pediatric Emergency at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.

Lara has been a healthcare professional for twenty years. She works with all levels of hospital leadership implementing processes and systems to create a great experience for patients, physicians, and employees. Lara is currently the Chief Patient Experience Officer at JPS Health Network in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Lara spent 10 years working for a large healthcare consulting firm focused on service and operational excellence. As a consultant, Lara worked with thousands of hospital leaders and physicians at over 150 health care organizations. Her concentration on employee engagement, patient experience, and creating a culture of service has led to organizations achieving their highest outcomes in service, quality, finance, human resources, and growth.  Lara has experience with large for-profit and not-for-profit health care systems, academic medical centers, and small rural hospitals.

Lara has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Public Relations and is currently enrolled in the MHA program at the University of Cincinnati. She is also the author of a book titled, Believe in the Journey of Your Dreams.

Amber Gilroy serves as Senior Vice President of Operations at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) at Western Regional Medical Center (Western). Prior to joining the executive team at Western, Ms. Gilroy served as Vice President of Oncology Patient Services at our Newnan, Georgia, hospital.
Ms. Gilroy joined CTCA® in 2011 as Director of Revenue Cycle Management for Corporate Finance in Schaumburg, Illinois. In this position, Ms. Gilroy was responsible for the completion of CDM Standardization, as well as the identification and implementation of a denial improvement process.
Ms. Gilroy has also been involved in revenue cycle improvements at the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center and the RFP and selection of a practice management/EHR solution.
Prior to her role in Schaumburg, Ms. Gilroy worked for Accretive Health managing the revenue cycle processes at numerous hospitals across the country. She also worked for Accenture in a project management and leadership capacity for consulting engagements.
Ms. Gilroy received her Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston and her undergraduate degrees in Finance and Spanish from the University of Idaho. She and her husband, Andy, have two sons, Travis and Colston.

Chrissy Daniels, is the director of Strategic Initiatives for University of Utah Health Care.  In this role, Chrissy leads the organization’s Patient Experience, Value Improvement and Leadership Development Initiatives.  Under her leadership, University of Utah has been nationally recognized for improvement and innovation in the fields of patient experience, particularly in the area of physician practice.

Amy Searls has over twenty years of leadership experience. She currently is Executive Director, Service Excellence at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Originally from the Chicago area, she has held positions as Cancer Center Liaison and Director of Guest Services, and Director of Service Excellence with Banner Health and Providence Hospitals, Columbia, South Carolina. She has helped develop and implement many educational and training programs and resources designed to positively impact the patient and family experience. She has extensive background in many aspects of clinical and non-clinical operations in hospital and ambulatory settings. She’s been recognized for delivering exceptional performance related to the patient experience. She has helped develop and successfully achieve service strategies and operational objectives through innovative planning, service, department networking, effective problem solving, vision and leadership. Her philosophy, which emphasizes mission and purpose in what we do in health care, has helped her successfully impact the patient, guest and team experience.

Chad Brough joined Nebraska Medicine in May 2016 as the Chief Experience Officer.  He has worked in healthcare for nearly 25 years.  Working together with Nebraska Medicine’s deeply committed team, Chad is responsible for designing health care experiences that people desire and deserve.  He creates meaningful and memorable experiences for and with physicians, staff, patients and families.  Chad uses innovative design principles, lenses and techniques to guide, inspire and equip healthcare teams to imagine new possibilities and reconnect to the core purposes of caring for human beings during the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

Chad graduated from Hanover College with a degree in Business Administration.  In 1999, he completed an MBA at Indiana University.  He spent nearly 18 years at Jewish Hospital Healthcare Services in Louisville, KY and the past six years at Cone Health in Greensboro, NC.
From 2005-2006, Brough served on the Malcolm Baldrige Board of Examiners.  The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. 
  Brough is a native of Salem, IN.  He currently resides in Omaha with his wife, Jamie, and two children, Conner and Lilly. 

Christine’s entire career has been dedicated to women’s and children’s health. She is currently the Director of the Office of Patient Experience at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, where role is to develop and implement strategies that ensure patients and their families have an extraordinary experience.  Since starting at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford four years ago, she has grown the department from a staff of 1 to staff of 25. 

Christine is ultimately responsible for the implementation and sustainability of service standards, gathering patient feedback, patient navigation, corporate partnerships, and many other experience improvement initiatives.  She has been an advocate and the voice of our patients and families during the planning and execution of a 500,000 square foot hospital expansion set to complete in 2017.

Prior to Packard, Christine spent 25 years in the medical device field. She has served as a Vice President of Marketing and Sales and has also worked in strategy and business development. Christine is on various leadership committees and also served two terms as President of the non-profit Professional Women’s Healthcare Alliance (PWHA).

Christine holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees.

Dr. Greco is a Clinical Psychologist and Physician Consultant with Nemours Children's Health System and an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Mayo College of Medicine who specializes in direct observation and coaching of physician providers, as well as evaluation of clinic processes and flow. She utilizes an empirically-based approach, focusing on improving communication and teamwork behaviors that are empirically linked to health care outcomes.

Pam has worked in healthcare for 36 years, as a registered dietitian, psychotherapist and Organization Consulting & EAP manager before assuming her Patient Experience leadership role. Her inspiration for her work stems from the loss of her mother, Anita, who died as a result of a preventable medical error. This experience serves as the catalyst for her firm commitment to quality improvement. A Mayo Quality Fellow, CIH faculty member, consultant, national and international speaker, and leader, Pam earned her MS in Mental Health Counseling and BS in Dietetics from UW Stout. She’s married to Mark, with 3 children, 6 grandchildren.

Virgie Mosley is a Manager in the Office of the Patient Experience Department for UCLA Health, which includes 4 hospitals with 850 beds, 200 primary and specialty care centers.  As a healthcare professional, she has worked in the healthcare industry for many years and has had oversight in patient satisfaction including patient grievances, physician communication, health system operations, volunteer programs, report  methodology and service recovery.  She attended the University of Southern California.

Maureen Fagan DNP is the Executive Director for the Center for Patients and Families and Associate Chief Nurse for OB/GYN at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Massachusetts.
Initially she focused her attention on creating and supporting patient and family advisory councils in large service lines, department or unit based care improvement councils and hospital-wide nursing meetings including the BWH Nursing Educational Literacy Council.  Dr. Fagan then introduced 14 patient and family advisors to the Brigham Research Institute in 2012 to create strategic partnerships among scientific and clinical researchers to advance the caring science of patient and family centered care.  Currently there are 85 patient and family members and 16 councils at BWH.
She is a strong proponent of patient and family-centered care and believes that harnessing the expertise of families to reveal and represent their loved one in the hospital or in an ambulatory setting enables all hospital caregivers to tailor their care plans and care experience to each patient specifically.
Dr. Fagan is a Family and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner from Albany Medical College in 1982, and earned a Masters in Healthcare Management at Simmons College in 1995.  She received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Simmons College May 2012 with a strong focus on patient and family-centered care.

Patrick Kneeland, MD, is the Medical Director for Patient and Provider Experience at University of Colorado Hospital and clinics. In this role, Patrick develops and promotes organizational strategies and improvement efforts that enhance patient and provider experience and engagement. Patrick has led UCH’s partnership with a national network of the leaders of top-performing U.S. healthcare systems to discover and exchange best practices around patient experience. Patrick also serves as Director of Quality, Patient Safety, and Patient Experience for the Hospital Medicine Group at UCH and is a founding faculty member of the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Efficiency (IHQSE). He routinely teaches on topics related to patient experience and healthcare improvement and regularly presents locally, regionally, and nationally on these topics.
After completing residency in internal medicine at the University of California - San Francisco, Patrick completed a fellowship in Academic Hospital Medicine where he focused on transformation of clinical delivery systems and the role of culture in improving patient safety. He subsequently completed a health systems leadership fellowship through the Institute for Physician Leadership at the Center for the Health Professions in San Francisco, CA. He is a certified Patient Safety Officer. Before returning to his home state – Colorado – in 2013, he worked as a hospitalist and led patient safety initiatives within the Providence health system near Seattle, WA.

Dale Shaller has devoted over three decades to the design, implementation, and evaluation of health care quality measurement and improvement programs, with a special focus on listening to the voice of the patient and promoting methods for engaging consumers in managing their health and health care. He has served as a member of the Harvard and Yale CAHPS research teams for 15 years, and has directed the national CAHPS Database since its inception in 1998. Mr. Shaller led the technical assistance team on patient experience for the recently concluded 7-year Aligning Forces for Quality program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a co-author of The CAHPS Improvement Guide and numerous other publications related to strategies for measuring and improving the patient experience. He has served on many national health care advisory panels and is a frequent writer and presenter on health care quality and patient engagement strategies.  He received his B.A. from Kalamazoo College and holds a Master's degree in public affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Brian T. Smith is currently the Executive Director of Rush University Medical Group and Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Rush University Medical Center. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Systems Management at Rush University where he is highly recognized as an outstanding teacher and mentor. Prior to joining Rush in August 2005, Mr. Smith spent 12 years in Tampa at the University of South Florida as Executive Director of the USF Physicians Group and was Director of Clinical Planning for the USF Health Sciences Center. Prior to moving to Tampa, he spent five years in consulting in New York-based firms.
 
Mr. Smith has been active in physician faculty practice issues nationally and is the past President of the Academic Practice Plan Directors and past chair of the University HealthSystem Consortium Group Practice Council.  Mr. Smith previously served a four-year term on the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Faculty Practice. Mr. Smith is currently on the Rush Health Finance Committee and on the University HealthSystem Consortium Performance Improvement and Comparative Data Operations Committee. Mr. Smith is the Lay Delegate on the American Orthopaedic Association Executive Committee.
 
Mr. Smith earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan College School of Engineering in New York and received his Master’s degree in health administration from the University of South Florida College of Public Health in Tampa.

Phil Shaw, MEM, is Director of Patient Experience at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Phil has experience in many facets of healthcare delivery including clinical performance, operational efficiency, accreditation, regulatory compliance, national quality measures and patient satisfaction. Phil also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Rush University and has developed and co-directs a graduate level course for 2nd year Health Systems Management students based on Lean and Six Sigma performance improvement methodology. Prior to coming to Rush in 2009, he was Plant Manager at Littelfuse Inc., a high volume electronics component manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. While at Littelfuse, Phil held various roles in Quality, Operations and Engineering management. Phil received his Bachelor of Science degree in Materials   Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 1991. Phil has a Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering (2003). Phil also has extensive experience in process improvement and is an ASQ certified Six Sigma Black Belt (2003).

While Lynn is new to Northside Hospital and HCA West Florida, she has 39 years of healthcare experience with 25 years in patient experience improvement at Yale New Haven Health in New Haven, CT and then later at Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, CT.  She possesses a successful track record and holds a regional and national reputation for formulating strategies to achieve improvement in service excellence and patient satisfaction.  Lynn has strong leadership, goal setting and coaching skills.  She supports that measurement is the key to driving results and it is critical to transforming organizational culture.  Lynn has been selected by The Beryl Institute to be an “item writer” for the Patient Experience Certification exam to be released in December.

Lynn has a passion for people development and a strong desire to continue to impact the patient experience – it is a journey that does not end.  She believes that focusing on staff, physicians and team development, the patient experience will change.    Lynn is proud of the results she has experienced using this focused approach and welcomes the opportunity to share it.

Dr. Arshiya Seth trained in primary care internal medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), Harvard University. After completing her internal medicine residency, Dr. Seth joined the faculty at Cambridge Health Alliance, Somerville Hospital Primary Care. As an Innovations Fellow with Center for Primary Care, Dr. Seth lead Patient Experience of Care and Staff Experience of Care project at her site, conducting workshops for staff focused on "AIDET (Acknowledge—Introduce—Duration—Explanation—Thank you), "keywords at key times," techniques for reducing patient anxiety and implementing Service Recovery.
 
Dr. Seth is currently a Leadership Fellow with Linde Family Leadership Program at Beth Israel Medical Center and her project seeks to scale up and introduce the workshops at other sites within CHA, creating a sustainable and replicable model of improving Patient Experience of Care and Staff Experience of Care thus creating customer loyalty, patient retention, satisfied employees and improvement in financial stability of the institution.
 
She has had several institutional leadership roles at CHA including Principal Investigator for Academic Innovations Collaborative HMS Grant, Physician Lead Practice Improvement Team, Tobacco Cessation group; Diabetes shared medical appointments, and organizing Weight Watchers for hospital staff.

Alpa is the Vice President for Patient Experience at Stanford Health Care.  She is responsible for developing and driving core patient and family centered programs, services and patient satisfaction reporting/analytics to support the goals of the organization.   In addition, Alpa has led the Design Thinking efforts and developing new services to advance leading edge and coordinated care.  Alpa also previously served as the Administrative Director for Performance Excellence at Stanford Health Care.
Prior to joining Stanford, Alpa was a healthcare strategy and operations consultant with Deloitte Consulting for over eight years.  Alpa has had the opportunity to work with academic medical centers, physician group practices, and multi-hospital health systems across the country.  Her experience includes assisting provider organizations in mergers and acquisitions, financial turnarounds, performance improvement initiatives, regulatory reviews, strategic planning as well as large-scale electronic medical record implementations.
Alpa has a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from the University of South Carolina and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Cassandra Willis-Abner is the Associate Hospital Director of Operations & Corporate Director of Service Excellence at the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS). UMHS is ranked #1 in Michigan and among the nation’s best hospitals according to U.S. News & World Report. UMHS is one of the largest healthcare systems in Michigan and a premier academic medical center made up of 3 hospitals, over 40 health centers with over 120 Clinics and home care operation with 2.1 million visits and more than 46,000 hospital stays in over 1,000 beds. UMHS is also comprised of the highly ranked UM Medical School and its Faculty Group Practice as well as clinical activities of the UM School of Nursing. UMHS’ $466M research budget is one of the largest in the nation. UMHS is a community of over 30,000 faculty, staff, students, trainees & volunteers with a total operating budget of more than $3.3 billion.

Cassandra is responsible for designing, implementing and directing transformational strategies to achieve ideal experiences for patient, family and employee stakeholder groups. Cassandra is a Corporate Officer at UMHS where she leads Service Excellence (a department of performance consultants and skilled trainers), Retail Contract Services, UMHS Security/Public Safety Services, Entrance Services, Valet, Parking & Transportation Services, Gifts of Art, Comprehensive Music Therapy Program, Hospital Communications and Information Services and lead for the House Officers Association, the bargaining unit for over 1,200 medical residents.

In her previous role as Administrative Director of Managed Care Operations, Cassandra was responsible for the operational and administrative activities associated with U of M’s Hospitals and Health Center’s managed care contractual agreements, related to professional and facility charges.  Cassandra led a department of four divisions: Enrollment Services, Provider Network Development, Referrals and Authorization Services and Training and Education. 

Prior to joining UMHS, Cassandra led the claims processing, enrollment process, claims inquiry and coordination of benefits departments in a 120,000 member health plan.  She has also been the senior leader for Medical Practices for an urban hospital system and has experience in Strategic Planning.

Cassandra is maize and blue through and through. She earned her Bachelors Degree (in Organization Psychology) from the University of Michigan and also her Masters Degree in Health Services Administration from UM’s School of Public Health.

She is on the board of several community based organizations in the metro Detroit area to include a Federally Qualified Community Health Center-- The Wellness Plan Health Centers and New Center Community Mental Health Services. 

She is married to Lawrence Abner and is the mother of Jay and Kelsey.

RJ Salus is the Director of Patient Experience at El Camino Hospital. He is responsible for strategy and daily operations of several programs including spiritual care, healing arts, auxiliary, patient experience (patient relations), and translation services. RJ joined El Camino Hospital in 2014 after nine years of serving in various patient experience and quality management positions at Scripps Health. Prior to Scripps Health, he worked for several healthcare facilities in San Diego, California. RJ earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and his master’s degrees in public health and social work from San Diego State University. RJ is a board member of Pathways Home Health and Hospice.

Rachel Biblow is the Senior Director of Patient and Family Services at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In this role, she has direct oversight for the administrative, operational and financial activities for Social Work services, Family Relations, Language Services, Spiritual Care, and Family Centered Care Programming, including Patient and Family Experience/Satisfaction, as well as the hospital resource centers. Rachel serves on a variety of hospital committees; including the Ethics and Quality Improvement Committees. She is passionate about improving quality, safety and the overall care experience in healthcare. Rachel is an international speaker on Family Centered Care and Social Work leadership and has presented at multiple health systems and conferences.
Rachel is leading the overall design and implementation of an organization-wide patient and family experience strategy, to improve overall patient and family engagement and satisfaction at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Through collaborative efforts, she is establishing the necessary infrastructure, improved systems and processes to drive alignment with CHOP’s leadership principles and the hospital’s core value of Family-Centered Care to improve the overall care experience at CHOP.
Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters in Social Work from the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her work at CHOP, Rachel serves on the Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Philadelphia and Susquehanna Valley, where she also contributes as a volunteer wish-granter. She volunteers through CHOP with Manna and the Ronald McDonald Camp for children and their siblings impacted by cancer. She served on the Children’s Hospital Association executive Steering Committee for Service Excellence and currently joining efforts to launch the Pediatric Forum within the Beryl Institute. She is a member of the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care, National Association of Social Workers and the Association for Patient Experience.

Connie Feiler is the Senior Manager, Patient Education, and manages the patient education program at Pittsburgh-based UPMC, a world-renowned health care provider and insurer and the largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania with more than 20 hospitals.  Prior to supporting patient education, Connie was the Director of Education at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC. While at Magee, Connie had the opportunity to travel abroad to support women’s health education with UPMC partnerships in Moscow, Kiev, Almaty and Minsk. Connie has spoken at national conferences about using education strategies to engage patients and impact their outcomes. 

Connie is a nurse and has her undergraduate degree from Carlow University in Pittsburgh and her Master’s in Nursing Education from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bonnie B. Anton MN RN has over 35 years of experience in acute care nursing.  This experience included working as a clinical nurse, a unit manager and a Cardiology Clinical Nurse Specialist. Presently she is an informatics nurse conducting electronic health record implementation and electronic health record educational training sessions for health care providers.  In addition to her role as an informatics nurse, she also is assisting with the implementation of a system-wide patient education initiative   as well as implementing a health literacy educational session for newly hired hospital employees.
She has presented nationally and internationally on informatics, nurses’ use of social media; patient education and health literacy.

Sheila Delaney Moroney, MPH, is the Patient Experience Officer and Senior Director of Patient Experience Services at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.  Her responsibilities include:  oversight of organizational strategies for improving the patient and family experience; the integration of experience-based design methodologies into program development, process improvement, and space design;  and, operational responsibilities including Patient Relations, Welcome and Valet Services, Patient/Family Partners, and the Inspire Arts Program.
Sheila’s healthcare career includes extensive health policy work as a consultant and as program director at the National Institute of Health Policy.  She is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and spent 10 years working in public relations, fundraising, program development, and health education at Boston Children’s Hospital and a community health clinic in Boston’s inner city. Sheila’s graduate school and policy work focused on the role of the consumer in defining and accessing the ideal healthcare experience using shared decision-making and collaborative system design. 

Dr. Cineas began her nursing career as a staff nurse in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, then worked as a Quality Management Specialist for the Cardiothoracic Department and became Patient Care Director of Neurosurgery and the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit at Columbia University Medical Center New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York, NY. Currently, Dr. Cineas is the Senior Director of Nursing at Mount Sinai St. Luke's.

She has a Doctorate in Nursing Practice degree from The George Washington University, a Masters of Science in Management and a Bachelors of Science from New York University, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology from Stony Brook University.

Dr. Cineas is adjunct faculty at Columbia University School of Nursing where she teaches doctoral students Practice Leadership and Quality. She is also adjunct faculty at The College of New Rochelle where she teaches Nursing Research.
She is a Vice Chair of Internal affair at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Harlem, NY and a fellow of the Leadership Institute of Black Nurses at New York University (LIBN).
As a LIBN fellow, Dr. Cineas developed a documentary demonstrating the need for cardiovascular education and health access for black women.

Dr. Cineas is a member of the American Nurses Association, American Organization of Nurse Executives, New York Organization of Nurse Executives, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau International (Phi Epsilon chapter) and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated

In 2015, Dr. Cineas was the recipient of the Top 40 over Forty award from Stony Brook University.

In 2016, Dr. Cineas presented at The New York Organization of Nurse Executives conference, The Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Conference and The American Association of Critical Care Nurse’s National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition for the exemplary work she has facilitated in the nursing profession.
Her passion is improving patient satisfaction, leading organizations to reduce hospital-acquired infections through evidence-based practice and improving care received within African American communities.

Mark Mendelow is the Director for Patient and Family Relations at Seattle Children’s. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University at Albany, New York and his Masters in Social Work from the University of California at Berkeley where he focused on Direct Practice with Children & Families. Mark has worked in pediatric acute care settings for over 30 years. Prior to joining Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2001, Mark was the Social Work Manager at Children’s Hospital Oakland and the Director for Patient and Family Services at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. 

Mark has received post masters training in Family Centered Care, Service Excellence and Bioethics. Mark speaks frequently about challenging conversations with families, family centered care, and professional boundaries.  He is the immediate past-president of the Puget Sound Patient Relations Network and was honored by the Seattle Children’s community in 2012 as the recipient of the Ken Feldman OBCC Diversity Award. 

Brian obtained a dual master’s degree from Xavier University. After finishing a fellowship in Hospital Administration at University of Illinois at Chicago Medical center Brian joined Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation as Practice Manager for Women’s Health. After four years he was recruited to be COO of Olean Medical Group, a 33 provider multispecialty group practice in Olean, NY and served as COO for four years and then CEO for a year and a half. In 2007 Brian came to Vanderbilt University Medical Center first as Administrator for the Vanderbilt Eye Institute and currently as Director of Patient Access and Experience. In his current system level role he oversees both strategy and operations for improving the Patient Experience with particular emphasis in ensuring efficient access to meet our client’s needs.

David Janka, MD is a lecturer, innovation consultant, and medical device entrepreneur interested in the intersection of design with healthcare. David graduated from Stanford Medical School and was a fellow at the Stanford Institute of Design ('the d.school'). Over his five years as a member of the d.school teaching faculty, he has taught classes on design process and its application to emerging markets, healthcare, public policy and creative organizations. David currently works with Stanford Health Care to bring design thinking mindsets and approaches into the organization’s operations, innovation work and culture. Additionally, he has collaborated with the Harvard Center for Primary Care on a novel healthcare innovation fellowship and with faculty at Stanford Medical School and Jefferson Medical School to bring design thinking into medical education.

Martie Carnie, a 28 year, four-time survivor of breast and melanoma cancers, is a founding member and past co-chair of Dana-Farber’s Adult Patient and Family Advisory Council. Currently, she is co-chair of Brigham & Women’s Patient Family Advisory Council, which encompasses 16 councils and 85 patient and family advisors. As a patient advocate and the Senior Patient advisor she is actively involved in promoting the voices of patients and families as partners of the health care team in clinical inpatient and outpatient settings, patient education, and Hospital wide committees and projects. In research, she brings her voice to the Brigham Research Institute, she serves as a clinical investigator and the patient experience perspective for PCORI  Research . She is a frequent spokesperson at conferences and seminars about patient-centered care, patient experience, patient safety, and the Voice of the Patient in healthcare and Design.
Martie is a strong proponent of Patient Family Centered Care principles which guides the process for partnership with senior leadership and staff to work together to improve healthcare delivery, patient engagement and the patient experience at BWH.

Natalie Miovski Hagerty AIA, LEED AP, EDAC, SSGBC is the Director of Facilities Planning for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  Prior to this role, she was the National Director of Healthcare for EwingCole and led large scale healthcare projects for Geisinger Health System, Penn Medicine and Tenet Healthcare.  She believes that the advancement in healthcare design can only be achieved when the environment is supportive of a desired clinical operation and patient/family experience. Using process improvement techniques and evidenced based design research, she collaborates with a multi-disciplinary team including clinicians and administrators to increase safety, outcomes and improve the patient and family experience.  

Leanne Cimato RN, BSN serves as the Family Services manager at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has over 25 years of experience working with children, youth and families as a nurse leader in the organization. She currently collaborates with an array of departments in the organization to assess family needs during a child’s hospitalization and collaborates with resources in the community to help coordinate supportive systems to address these needs.  

Melody is a Design and Innovation Leader II in the Product Services & Integration Team at Stanford Health Care.  She most recently has been designing and prototyping to understand the care delivery needs for our aging adult population and is redesigning the hospital attire experience with patients and families. Melody has a Masters of Public Health from UCLA, and her Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine.

Sara Toomey is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Managing Director of the Center of Excellence for Pediatric Quality Measurement and is the physician lead for all patient experience efforts at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is an academic general pediatrician and health services researcher. She conducts research that aims to measure the quality of pediatric care, demonstrate the association between quality measures and healthcare outcomes, and develop interventions to improve outcomes. Among her accomplishments, she is one of the lead developers of the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems Survey, known as Child HCAHPS. She received her BA from Holy Cross, MPhil in Social Anthropology and MSc in Comparative Social Policy from Oxford University, MD and MPH from Harvard, and was a fellow in the Harvard-wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship.

Kathy Denton has been a facilitator and leader of change and performance improvement for over 25 years in both the private and public sectors.  The last 18 years she has been at MD Anderson Cancer Center, with the last four years focusing on improving the patient experience.  She has been instrumental in the development of the Patient Experience Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  She has a Six Sigma Black Belt; is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence and is a Certified Professional for Healthcare Quality.  She also serves on the Texas A&M University - College of Education and Human Development - Advisory Board.

Helen Waters is a Design & Innovation Leader at Stanford Health Care. She is interested in the interplay of humanism, creative agency and machine learning in healthcare, and has a passion for the visual display of quantitative information. Helen led a Project Partnership with a hospital team at the Stanford Institute of Design (‘the d.school’) on redesigning the oncology inpatient experience, which has translated into a hospital-within-a-hospital renovation underway. She is currently working with teams to design a Patient Plan and to redesign the arrival experience for patients and caregivers. Helen has an MBA in Statistics & Operations Research from NYU-Stern and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Bethany Liebentritt is the Senior Director of Patient Experience Strategy and Culture at Banner Health. Bethany has made a career of realigning organizational strategies around the consumer to win the minds, hearts and wallet of their customers.  After graduating with a degree in Economics from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, Bethany joined the first-ever customer market research team at Centex Homes to bring a consumer-mindset when identifying opportunities, strategies and growth projections.  She then spearheaded the development of a customer analytics & research department at Petco International Pet Supplies focused on leveraging customer insights to drive operational and experiential strategic decisions.  Her experience to date has deepened her passion to build a strong culture, innovate operational models, break down barriers, and actively engage employees as champions in the change to improve the customer experience.

In the role of senior director, Ms. Cangiano leads patient experience measurement operations, reporting and performance improvement across the Northwell Health enterprise.  Under her direction, the patient experience analytics and performance improvement team is utilizing patient feedback to understand what defines and drives customer experiences.  In addition, Ms. Cangiano is responsible for identifying, developing and implementing technology solutions and supporting processes that enhance patient and customer experience. 

Previously, Ms. Cangiano led the development of Northwell’s workforce engagement measurement methodology and strategy.   As a Talent leader, she worked on large scale transformation efforts including leader development and performance management.

Additional roles at Northwell include director of Health System Operations and program manager for System Orthopedic Services.  Prior to her time at Northwell, Ms. Cangiano worked for 10 years in behavioral health settings in clinical, research and administrative capacities.

Ms. Cangiano received her BA in psychology from Georgetown University, her MS in psychology from Saint Louis University, and her MPH with a concentration in health services management through the executive program at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Healthcare professional with over 15 years experience in health care consulting and academic medical centers, guiding organization-wide strategic, operational and patient experience improvement initiatives. Significant knowledge in process improvement efforts as a LEAN transformational facilitator and six sigma, PDCA process improvement initiatives, change management, as well as experience in dashboard development, and patient experience and engagement mapping sessions.  Sunitha completed her Bachelor of Arts at The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her Masters in Public Health, dual concentration in Health Care Administration and Biostatistics/Epidemiology, at Boston University.

Renee Jones is the Director of Patient Experience for The James Cancer Hospital and Richard Solove Research Institute at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where she leads efforts to exceed patient expectations and provide the best patient experience.  In her role, Renee is responsible for providing patient feedback and coaching to physicians and staff; tracking and trending feedback for improvement, partnering with Quality on process improvement initiatives and managing the staff recognition program. She is also responsible for overseeing a team of patient experience professionals and 500+ adult and student volunteers whose interpersonal skills have a positive impact on the patient experience. Renee has over 25 years’ experience in Customer Service and is a DDI Certified trainer.  In her spare time, Renee enjoys spending time with family and cheering for the OSU BUCKEYES!

Dr. Peter Costantino is the Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the New York Head and Neck Institute and the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Service Line of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, the Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for Lenox Hill Hospital-Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and the North Shore-LIJ-Hofstra School of Medicine, and the Director of the New York Head & Neck Institute's Center for Cranial Base Surgery. In these roles, Dr. Costantino leads clinical, academic and programmatic direction for Otolaryngology services across the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Within the clinical arena, he is one of the few surgeons in the United States experienced in virtually all aspects of cranial base surgery and capable of removing tumors by either an "open" approach involving an external incision on the scalp or face, or by minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. Dr. Costantino specializes in reconstruction of the face, facial nerve for facial paralysis and skull.
Dr. Costantino is an innovator and leader in his field of cranial based surgery and craniofacial reconstruction. He is the first surgeon in the United States to have obtained New York State Department of Health approval for a facial tissue allograft transfer (face transplant). Dr. Costantino was also the first surgeon to re-grow a missing segment of jawbone, utilizing distraction osteogenesis and to remove skull base tumors through the nose without external incisions. He is one of the few surgeons in the United States routinely performing such endoscopic nasopharyngeal resections, which result in significantly less deformity and loss of function compared to standard "open" methods of removing recurrent naso-pharyngeal cancers. As a recognized researcher in biomaterials and tissue engineering for over two decades, Dr. Costantino has been responsible for the development of several commercially successful reconstructive implants. He is the co-developer of hydroxyapatite cement, which has been used to reconstruct craniofacial skeleton in thousands of patients. Additionally he participated in defining and expanding the application of a cellular dermis for facial reconstruction.

Dr. Boker has recently signed on as Oneview Healthcare’s Chief Medical Officer. He was UCSF’s Associate Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO), leading the University’s Benioff Children’s Hospital and Betty Irene Moore Women's Hospital. Dr. Bokser will continue to devote 20% of his time to clinical practice as a pediatrician at UCSF, where Oneview’s patient engagement system has been in use for two years.

Gautam is a LoyaltyStrategist and Entrepreneur with businesses in the United States, Gibraltar andSouth East Asia. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Customer FeedbackSystems LP (CFS North America), a global provider of technology-driven customerexperience Programs for healthcare, financial institutions, retailers, andother service-focused industries. Gautam’sdrive for helping others to build a deeper relationship with customers has ledhim to become a Net Promoter Certified Associate. His passion lies in integrating real world loyalty principlesand philosophies into organization’s sales and service cultures. In partnership with Jagdish M.Chanrai, Director of the Kewalram Chanrai Group, Gautam established CFS Asia in Singaporein 2002. In addition,Gautam serves on the Board of Directors of Customer Feedback Systems(Singapore_ Pte Ltd, Customer Feedback Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, CustomerFeedback Systems (Texas) LP, and Kemchans (Gibraltar) Ltd.

Shawn Lemerise brings over 12 years of experience in healthcare consulting, project management, change management, and operational redesign. Shawn helps oversee CipherHealth’s business development efforts, specifically around strategic relationships and channel partnerships. Prior to joining CipherHealth, Shawn led an integrated team of consultants at a large academic medical center in New York City for VHA, where he focused on clinical utilization and contracting to increase operational efficiency while driving down costs for the system. In addition, Shawn was responsible for executive buy-in throughout the system along with the adoption and integration of various operational and financial analytic tools.  Shawn’s experience also includes working at Huron Consulting Group, where he helped healthcare clients achieve their savings goals through strategic sourcing, operational improvements, and customized supply chain strategies. He led engagements at various hospitals across the United States, with a special focus on large multi-campus academic centers.

A lifelong activist for creating exceptional experiences for patients, families and the entire healthcare team, Wendy Leebov is internationally respected as a thought leader, healthcare executive, culture change strategist, coach, and author who has helped hospitals, health systems, and medical practices to achieve breakthroughs in the patient and family experience. Founder and partner of Language of Caring®, Wendy has written 14 books on healthcare and has developed the acclaimed communication skill-building programs, Language of Caring for Staff and Language of Caring for Physicians (with Carla Rotering, MD). Wendy serves on the Executive Board of The Beryl Institute. She received her doctoral and master’s degrees from Harvard University and her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.

David is a Principal in Deloitte Consulting’s Life Sciences and Health Care practice.  He leads Deloitte Consulting’s Customer Transformation initiatives for the healthcare provider sector where his work focuses on assisting clients to create a more patient-centric, consumer-oriented healthcare delivery system. David has served in a leadership role on a number of large, complex transformational engagements with large integrated delivery systems, Academic Medical Centers, retailers, technology companies and national and regional health systems.

David is the co-author of The Patient Experience: Strategies & Approaches for Providers to Achieve and Maintain a Competitive Advantage and Are You Ready to Be Ready (for Reform)?. He has also been published on the Center for Health Solutions Blog on the topic of Patient Experience improvement.  In addition to these publications, David is also a contributing writer to:

•    The Quest for Value in Healthcare: A Place for Consumers
•    Going Vertical: Post-Acute Care as an Opportunity for Growth
•    Shared Services for Hospitals: It’s Your Turn. 

In addition to providing consulting services to large integrated healthcare delivery systems, academic medical centers, community and surgical hospitals, David leads Deloitte Consulting’s thought leadership and eminence development initiatives for the health care provider sector and is a noted speaker having presented at Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) Annual National Institute, HIMSS2010 (on Patient Experience), Premier, Inc.’s Supply Chain Collaborative Breakthrough Series and numerous regional HFMA Conferences across the country.

David is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh Inc.’s Leadership Development Initiative and holds a B.A. from the University of California, a Master's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business in Strategy, Finance and Quantitative Analysis. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Keystone Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and is on the Board of Directors for The Children’s Home in Pittsburgh.

Dorothy Sisneros brings over 25 years of experience as an executive coach, organization development consultant and a speaker for several private and public sector organizations. A Partner at Language of Caring®, Dorothy currently leads the Client Services and Implementation Team – training and supporting the coaches who support clients of both the Language of Caring for Staff and Language of Caring for Physicians programs. Dorothy is adept at moving people and ideas to excellence, focusing teams to meet their goals and transforming complex ideas and processes into positive outcomes. She knows the power of effective teams in the workplace and she is astute at guiding leaders to engage the wisdom of employees and foster accountability. Dorothy received her M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, a M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix and B.S. in Education from the University of Arizona.

A Partner at Language of Caring®, Jill Golde brings over 25 years of experience as a mission-driven consultant and trainer for a broad range of private and public sector organizations. Expert in organizational change and the patient experience, Jill is known for her genuine connection and compassion, her sense of humor, her astute observation skills and her remarkable ability to share her perceptions in a constructive fashion. An engaging presenter, she weaves firsthand experience and mind-opening stories into her sessions. Jill has consulted to many hospitals, health systems and medical practices, and trained thousands of healthcare staff in the skills that make the patient and family experience anxiety-reducing, heartwarming, and healing. Jill holds a master’s degree in Organization Development from American University and a bachelor’s degree in Education from Washington University.

Robert J. Dudzinski. Pharm. D., Dr. Dudzinski received his doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and has extensive experience in pharmacy benefit management, mail order pharmacy, home care, management information systems and related industries spanning a 20-year period. Dr. Dudzinski started a Prescription Benefit Management company along with a Mail Order Pharmacy and sold both entities to a publicly traded company. Dr. Dudzinski has consulted for many organizations at various levels of management. Job responsibilities included President and CEO of two companies (GeminiPartners & RJD Enterprises), as well as consulting on various other projects. In 2000, Dr. Dudzinski was part of the executive management team and principal in Ancillary Care Management (ACM). In 2006, Dr. Dudzinski became the CEO of Specialty Pharmacy Network, which eventually became an acquisition of the West Corporation. In addition Dr. Dudzinski has been involved in application development on the Internet, all areas of marketing, sales and sales management, new business development and communications. Today, Dr Dudzinski leads the Healthcare practice at West Corporation.

Joan believes your most important brand representatives are the people who touch your customer – in person, on the phone, electronically, or behind the scenes – it is in those interactions that the customer experience lives and your brand promise is tested.
With a background in operations, sales, and marketing, she began consulting with Fortune 500 businesses in 1998 leading to the founding of Ethnopraxis in 2007. A big picture thinker with extraordinary attention to detail and effective execution, Joan has worked on projects focused on the patient experience, guest experience, the fan experience, the shopper experience, the customer experience, the guest experience, the internal customer experience, the employee experience, and many more. It is the human experience in the context of performance that is the hallmark of Joan’s work.
After her first career in sales and marketing, Joan dove into what makes people tick because she understood that is what ultimately controls how they perform on the job and is the key to inspiring and driving the measurable performance of her clients. It has been a fascinating journey. Beyond her BA, she holds an MS in Adult Learning and Instructional Technology, and a Certificate in Game Design and Development. Joan is a voracious learner, an avid reader, and a leader who inspires and ignites the Ethnopraxis team.

Jean Marie is an organizational learning and development writer, facilitator and strategist who has worked with the Fortune 500 and small businesses for over 20 years. With a background in People Development, Communications and Marketing, she has supported organizations in industries including: Health Care, Financial Services, Consumer Goods, Relocation, and Hospitality.
Jean Marie excels in understanding the nuances of both people and processes and partners with clients to optimize both. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MS in Counseling/Human Resource Development. Jean Marie joined our team in 2010.

Jeanne has been in the medical education and communications industry for over 20 years. She began her career in medical communications in 1994, gaining experience in a variety of areas, including program management, client services, and scientific strategy. Jeanne worked in a number of therapeutic areas but focused primarily in virology (HIV, HBV, HSV).
In 2001, Jeanne began managing the account team so she could focus on client relationships—a passion of hers—and successfully built a robust book of business by exceeding client expectations. Jeanne remained in a client-service role for 10 years, serving for the last 7 of those years as Managing Director.  She managed day-to-day operations, supervised and participated in new business development and brand planning, and provided support and guidance to existing clients as well as to her team. Jeanne continued her work in virology while broadening her depth of expertise to include many other therapeutic areas.
Jeanne started ClinicalMind® as President and Partner in 2012. Since its inception, she has continued to work very closely with clients, maintaining a strong focus on strategic recommendations, managing the development of a technology platform to enhance and improve interactions with healthcare providers, and nurturing relationships with key opinion leaders. Technology has always been an area of interest, and Jeanne has led the development of many technology projects for clients. At ClinicalMind, she finally had the opportunity to build a unique platform called enGauge™, designed to streamline processes and foster collaboration between healthcare professionals and the life sciences industry. The idea for this proprietary offering emerged from her years of  working with clients, developing strategy, and looking for better ways to improve communication with healthcare providers.

Ashley is an innovative marketer with 17 years’ experience supporting life sciences, publishing, and technology markets. She has successfully launched innovative SAAS technology, client websites, protocol tools, online educational courses, speaker portals, interactive multimedia kiosks, and MOA videos.  Her broad experience also includes managing client accounts as well as investigator meetings, advisory boards, speaker training programs, international congress activities, and dinner meeting programs.
 As the Marketing Director at PC Magazine, she helped determine client strategies, created “big idea” proposals, executed integrated marketing programs, managed custom publishing, and oversaw live events and tradeshows. This diverse experience supports her in adding strategic value to clients.  She brings equal parts experience and enthusiasm to her accounts and has the proven expertise and know-how to successfully manage all aspects of a project from start to finish.

Prior to joining White Rhino – the Boston-based healthcare brand experience consultancy – Tara spent 15 years at Massachusetts General Hospital, most recently as the Director of Marketing Operations and Digital Marketing. She now brings
her experience driving consumer preference across the patient experience to clients across the nation - including Ochsner Health System (New Orleans, LA), Brigham & Women's Hospital (Boston, MA), and Overlake Hospital (Seattle, WA).

Katie Owens, Vice President of HealthStream Engagement Institute, has made patient-centered excellence a priority since she embarked on a career in healthcare. With two decades of experience helping organizations achieve service and operational excellence, Katie has proactively worked to gather the skillset and knowledge base to effect positive change in the healthcare industry. As a member of the HealthStream Leadership team, she oversees our coaching practice and the growth of our patient experience solution.

Katie is passionate about helping organizations create an environment that is fully focused on the patient. As leader of HealthStream’s coaching practice, she is tasked with managing an expert group of experienced coaches who are dedicated to improving the quality of the patient experience. Katie is also an innovator in her field, constantly studying new ways to deliver patient-centered care.

Katie previously served on the leadership team of Baptist Health Care (BHC) in Pensacola, Florida, where she supported the system’s sustained journey to excellence. She was instrumental in growing Baptist Leadership Group into one of the most respected healthcare coaching practices in the country—Baptist Leadership Group was acquired by HealthStream in 2013, now known as HealthStream Engagement Institute.

Prior to her tenure at BHC, Katie served as the Director of Market Research for the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system, where she successfully led HCAHPS implementation for five acute care hospitals. Her well-rounded experience includes tenure at a leading children’s healthcare system, a for-profit hospital, and a children’s hospital. She is the lead author of The HCAHPS Imperative for Creating Patient-Centered Excellence and is currently working on her second book about the importance of speaking the patient’s language. She is frequently quoted and has been published in HFM Magazine and Hospitals and Health Networks. Ms. Owens is an internationally-recognized speaker and presents regularly at conferences for leading organizations, including the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.