Rise

Jenny Babcock Senior Vice President for Medicaid Policy

Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP)

Priya Bathija Founder + CEO

Nyoo Health

Priya Bathija, Founder and CEO, Nyoo Health, is a nationally recognized healthcare leader, attorney, and policy expert. With 20 years of experience working for, in, and with hospitals, she has led the design, implementation and growth of initiatives that make the health system work better for everyone.  Previously, she was at the American Hospital Association where she led policy efforts and strategic initiatives on value, health equity and maternal health. She started her career as a health care attorney and served as in-house counsel and a member of the leadership teams at ProMedica and MedStar Health. Priya is also a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. In addition, she serves as a public board member for the American Board of Medical Specialties, the largest physician-led specialist certification organization in the United States.    

Danielle Cameron Director, Program Management

CalOptima Health

Danielle Cameron, MPH, is Director of Program Development for CalOptima Health where she manages a portfolio of significant community investments related to California’s Medi-Cal transformation efforts to make health care more encompassing of the whole person. For the past two years she has led a team of professionals with expertise in the social determinants of health and community-based organizations well-positioned to impact people’s health outcomes through partnerships between the social service and healthcare sectors. Prior to this position, Ms. Cameron was Chief Strategy Officer for National Health Foundation (NHF) where she was responsible for developing and executing strategies to achieve NHF’s mission, communicate with its stakeholders and maintain funding streams to support its efforts. Ms. Cameron was with NHF for 14 years and prior to assuming that position, held positions in the child care and senior services fields focused on both program management and fund development. During these positions, she managed multi-million dollar grant portfolios, led numerous community-based programs, and provided consultative work in strategic planning, fund development and operations/infrastructure design. Ms. Cameron received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.  She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. 

Kelly Cronin Deputy Administrator, Innovation and Partnership

HHS Administration for Community Living (ACL)

As Deputy Administrator of the Center for Innovation and Partnership (CIP), Kelly Cronin leads the administration of programs and initiatives that serve both older adults and people with disabilities, including consumer access and protection programs.  This includes overseeing the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, grants to improve Medicare beneficiaries’ access to low income subsidies, and the State No Wrong Door System program for access to long-term services and supports.  She also directs efforts to develop and integrate networks of state and community-based organizations to address social determinants of health and to advance the integration of medical and social care to improve health outcomes of older adults and people with disabilities. 

Ms. Cronin also has served in a variety of other roles at HHS, including with the FDA, CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), where she coordinated health IT programs and policies associated with health care payment and delivery system reform.

Before joining HHS in 2001, Ms. Cronin was a health services researcher and coordinated clinical trials in pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. She holds a master of public health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics and a master of science in health policy from the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University.

Kristen Daugherty CEO

Emergence Health Network

Kristen Daugherty, CEO for Emergence Health Network (EHN), has over thirty years of experience in the behavioral health arena.  As CEO of Emergence Health Network, El Paso County’s Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities Authority, Ms. Daugherty is responsible for oversight of services funded through local, state and federal contracts.  Emergence Health Network is the largest provider of behavioral health, substance addiction treatment and developmental disability services in El Paso County. 

Ms. Daugherty has led efforts to form critical community collaborations that have resulted in expanding access points to behavioral health services.  Her work has also focused on increasing services to address gaps in care. 

Under Ms. Daugherty’s leadership, EHN has also developed and implemented a multi-year, comprehensive strategic plan for the agency that has resulted in significant growth both fiscally and operationally and set a clear strategic direction for the organization.

In 2022 Ms. Daugherty received the El Paso Inc. Woman of Impact Award for her outstanding contributions to and tireless commitment to the El Paso community.

Ms. Daugherty is a Licensed Clinical Social Work Supervisor in Texas and New Mexico.  She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from New Mexico State University and Executive MBA Program from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Saeeda Dunston Chief Executive Officer  

Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities Inc.

Ashley Gray Executive Director

Aligning for Health

Karen Hacker Director National Center of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

CDC

CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) 

Dr. Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, is the Director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a position she assumed in August 2019. NCCDPHP has an annual budget of more than $1.3 billion and more than 1,000 staff members dedicated to preventing chronic diseases and promoting health across the life span. 

Dr. Hacker leads an executive team that sets the strategic direction for the center’s portfolio, which focuses on: 

• Surveillance and epidemiology to move data into action. 

• Policy and environmental improvements to support health and healthy behaviors. 

• Health care system collaboration to strengthen delivery of preventive services. 

• Links between community and clinical services to improve self-management of chronic conditions and enhance quality of life. 

From 2013 to 2019, Dr. Hacker served as Director of the Allegheny County Health Department in Pennsylvania, where she was responsible for 1.2 million residents in 130 municipalities, including Pittsburgh. Under her leadership, the Department achieved national public health accreditation in 2017. Dr. Hacker also launched the Live Well Allegheny initiative, aimed at reducing cigarette smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. 

Previously, Dr. Hacker was the Senior Medical Director for Public and Community Health at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts. Between 2002 and 2013, she held a variety of leadership roles at the Cambridge Public Health Department and the Institute for Community Health (both part of the Cambridge Health Alliance). 

Dr. Hacker served as Interim Chief Public Health Officer (2006 to 2007) and Medical Director for the Cambridge Public Health Department (2004 to 2013) and as Executive Director of the Institute for Community Health (2002 to 2013). She also spent several years working for the Boston Public Health Commission, with a focus on adolescent health, serving as Division Director for Child and Adolescent Health (1999 to 2002), Director of Adolescent and School Services (1992 to 1999), and Director of Adolescent Services (1989 to 1992). 

As an expert in community-based participatory research (CBPR), Dr. Hacker served as the Director of the CBPR program of the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Award Initiative (Harvard Catalyst). She wrote Community-Based Participatory Action Research, a widely used academic text, and taught a course on the topic at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As the Executive Director of the Institute for Community Health, she designed, led, and published on numerous community participatory health projects. She has published 67 peer-reviewed articles on a wide variety of topics, including adolescent health and school-based health centers, obesity, substance use, and health policy. 

Dr. Hacker received her BA from Yale University, her MD from Northwestern University School of Medicine, and her MPH with Honors from Boston University School of Public Health. She completed her internship and residency training in primary care internal medicine at Boston City Hospital, followed by an adolescent medicine fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. She is board-certified in internal medicine and has served as an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School (2010 to 2015) and at Harvard School of Public Health (2012 to 2015), and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Public Health and Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Emory School of Medicine. 

Blair Harrison UnitedHealthcare Community & State

Policy Director, Community & Social

Caitlin Holcomb Founder + CEO

Dwellness Communities

Rene Hurtado Chief of Staff

Emergence Health Network

Rene Hurtado was born and raised in El Paso and has over 25 years of experience in healthcare operations and public policy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Mr. Hurtado has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors of healthcare delivery systems along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has designed communication initiatives in different areas of public health to include trauma & crisis communications, children’s outreach and poison control centers. He has also led marketing and public affairs initiatives for one of the largest hospital systems in El Paso, where he designed multi-media communications initiatives for various healthcare product lines including pediatrics, kidney transplant and oncology. In the area of public policy and government relations, he served as Director of Public Affairs for Spectrum Communications where he advocated for effective telecommunications legislation.

He currently serves as Chief of Staff for Emergence Health Network, the designated mental health authority for El Paso County responsible for designing and maintaining the public mental health/developmental disability service delivery system for the region to include crisis services and suicide prevention. He oversees community affairs, human resources, training & education, and government relations.

Mr. Hurtado also works and has held leadership positions with various community agencies. He has served as chair of the public relations committee for the Paso Del Norte Health Foundation and chair of the government relations division for the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce. He also volunteered with Leadership El Paso, Creative Kids and various community agencies. Mr. Hurtado is a graduate of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund Leadership Program, Leadership El Paso and the El Paso Creative Cities Leadership Group.

Recently Mr. Hurtado was appointed to One Fund El Paso, which provided guidance and resources for victims of the El Paso August 3rd 2019 Walmart Shooting and has advocated for increased access to mental health services as a result of this tragic mass shooting.

Doug Jacobs, MD, MPH Chief Transformation Officer, Center for Medicare

CMS

Lenel James Interoperability Solutions Lead

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Suyanna Linhales Barker, DrPH Chief Program Officer

La Clinica Del Pueblo

Prior to serving as La Clínica’s Chief Program Officer, Dr. Linhales Barker served as La Clínica’s Senior Director of Health Equity and Community Action. Dr. Linhales Barker has always believed that healthcare is a fundamental human right and has focused her career on ending health disparities related to poverty and discrimination. As the Chief of Programs and Community Services, she is responsible for overseeing the design, implementation and evaluation of programs that are culturally and linguistically grounded. In 2015, Dr. Linhales Barker was awarded the Distinguished Community Advocate Award by the District of Columbia Primary Care Association. She holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology from the State University in Rio de Janeiro. 

Dr. Martin Mendoza Chief Health Equity Officer and Director Office of Minority Health

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Martin Mendoza, PhD, serves as the Chief Health Equity Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Director of the CMS Office of Minority Health (OMH). In this role, Dr. Mendoza leads OMH in its mission towards the advancement and integration of health equity in the development, evaluation, and implementation of CMS’s policies, programs, and partnerships.

Prior to CMS, Dr. Mendoza served as the first Director of Health Equity for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) All of Us Research Program where he provided leadership and high-level expertise to improve inclusion and equity in precision medicine.

Before joining All of Us, Dr. Mendoza led extramural research for minority health in the Office of the Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He is a recognized expert in clinical trial diversity and has testified on it before Congress. He is also the primary author of the pivotal FDA guidance recommending that clinical trial sponsors submit a diversity action plan to FDA. Dr. Mendoza’s original idea and recommendation became federal public law in December 2022.

Dr. Mendoza has also served as director of the Division of Policy and Data in the Office of Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Secretary, as well as in multiple NIH Institutes including the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Human Genome Research Institute where he assisted in the genetic mapping of the Human Genome Project.

Dr. Mendoza is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and received his Ph.D. in cancer biology from Johns Hopkins University.

Ernest Moy Executive Director

Veterans Health Administration

Ruth Ann Norton President & CEO

Green & Healthy Homes Initiative

Ruth Ann Norton, President & CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, joined the organization in 1993 and has led its development into one of the nation’s most effective and foremost authorities on healthy housing and its impact on the social determinants of health and racial equity. An expert on lead poisoning prevention, healthy homes and the intersection of climate, energy and health, Ruth Ann directs GHHI’s national strategy, policy framework and services to integrate climate, healthcare and healthy housing as a platform for improved health, economic, educational and social outcomes for low-income communities. 

She broadened the organization’s mission by designing the GHHI comprehensive model in 2009 in partnership with HUD and CDC that is built on a framework of cross-sector collaboration. GHHI works in over 75 partner jurisdictions to implement its model that effectively integrates resources to comprehensively deliver lead hazard reduction, healthy homes, energy efficiency and housing rehabilitation interventions. She has been at the forefront in building the business case for healthcare investments in housing to address the social determinants of health and racial equity. 

Ms. Norton serves as a member of: the EPA Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health, the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ National Advisory Group, the Ohio Asthma Council, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center For Population Health Information Technology Advisory Board. She is Chair of the Maryland Lead Poisoning Prevention Commission and is also a federally appointed Liaison Member to the CDC’s Lead Exposure and Prevention Advisory Committee. 

Kim Prendergast Vice President, Policy

Community Care Cooperative

Kim Prendergast is Vice President for Policy for Community Care Cooperative (C3). a Federally Qualified Health Center-led Accountable Care Organization (ACO). In this role, she leads the ACO’s strategic and policy initiatives to support FQHCs across six states and the District of Columbia to leverage value-based payments and address social drivers of health to improve health equity and health outcomes.  Kim joined the organization in 2019 and has been the architect of C3’s work to identify and address health-related social needs through partnerships across the healthcare and social services sectors. She designed and implemented C3’s $25M Medicaid-funded Flexible Services program in Massachusetts which improves health outcomes and reduces health care costs. Kim is passionate about sharing these successful approaches to value-based care, partnerships and social health programs to expand primary care to advance health equity.  

Prior to joining C3, Kim spent two decades addressing food insecurity and health with Feeding America through roles in public policy, nutrition programs, and healthcare partnership consulting. Kim is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a BS in Dietetics from Purdue University and has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago.  She lives in the Boston area.  

Jack Rollins Director of Federal Policy

The National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD)

Jessica Schubel "Special Assistant to the President for Health Care at the Domestic Policy Council - Executive Office of the President"

White House Domestic Policy Counsel

Jason Sizemore Co-Executive Director

The Mindful Child Initiative

Jason is the Co-Executive Director of the Mindful Child Initiative (MCI). Jason’s 21 years of service to K-8th grade public school students in Harrisburg, PA, the five boroughs of NYC and Allentown, PA, as a teacher & administrator, led him to MCI, a 501c3 non-profit which provides weekly mindfulness education to 7800+ low-income, school-aged children who might not otherwise receive mindfulness instruction, due to limited resources at home and/or school. 

The program is implemented in an urban, public school district in a historically underserved community in Allentown, PA. MCI also supports over 1,200 teachers and staff within the district. Jason’s passion for the welfare of all beings who are within the walls of our schools and beyond has driven him to support MCI by working directly with students, school staff and community organizations to provide self-care and mindfulness training and experiences while also serving as an advocate for mental health promotion and prevention strategies, through trauma informed mindfulness education.

The Mindful Child Initiative believes all children deserve equal access to programs that fully support their overall health. www.themci.org

Rick Whitted President & CEO

U.S. Hunger

Rick Whitted is the President & Chief Executive Officer at U.S. Hunger, a global nonprofit whose mission is feeding families today and uniting them to a healthier tomorrow. In total, U.S. Hunger (USH) has provided over 150 million meals to families in need. Before his appointment as CEO in March 2020, Rick served on USH’s board of directors. Rick has overseen the launch of several of the organization’s initiatives: expanding home delivery of fresh produce into its supply chain; aligning its Full Cart® program with the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services’ (CMS) health equity framework; and, developing a cloud based SaaS solution that uses A.I. and Machine Learning to identify root causes of food insecurity in the U.S. and provide real-time actionable intelligence on social determinants of health (SDOH). Rick is a graduate of Stetson University and Nova Southern University where he received a BA in Political Sciences/American Studies, and an MBA, Business Administration and Management, respectively. Prior to joining USH, he spent 27 multi-faceted years in banking; focusing on small business, government and non-profit banking. He is also an accomplished author and speaker with expertise in leadership, workplace culture and individual and team development. 

Brandon Wilson Managing Director

Veteran Services of the Carolinas

Brandon Wilson is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer with the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM). His duties include the oversight of seven ministries that provide emergency assistance needs for families in crisis, providing transitional and permanent supportive housing of the homeless through three transitional housing facilities, increasing access to health care for half the uninsured and medically underserved, coordinating education activities at the jail; as well as work readiness, mentoring and job placement services. Coming into this role, Mr. Wilson worked to scale ABCCM’s Veterans programs 300%, increasing staff from 12 to over 95 and growing this portfolio from $750k to over $10 million annually with Veterans Services of the Carolinas. Mr. Wilson’s early involvement and implementation of NCServes, the nation’s first statewide coordinated care network for Veterans and their families, led to the adoption and creation of the nation’s first statewide coordinated care network, NCCARE360, an integral part of North Carolina’s transformation and expansion of Medicaid and the launch of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot. Prior to this role, Mr. Wilson has served as a consultant for Vaya Health, a North Carolina Managed Care Organization, and has also held numerous positions with the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Whereas Deputy Director was instrumental in the establishment of the new cabinet level agency, the North Carolina Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. During this time, he spearheaded a 42% increase in Fully-Developed Veterans’ Claims, leading to the growth of North Carolina’s Veteran portfolio by over $1.2 Billion, the fastest growth rate of VA claims in the United States in 2015. Brandon, a combat Marine who served in the infantry during Operation Iraqi Freedom, is a strong advocate for social health reform, speaking at conferences across the nation, and is considered a national thought leader piloting many innovative strategies. He serves as an advisor to several local, state, and national committees and task forces to include; serving as the Chair of the NC State Consumer and Family Advisory Committee for NDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley and was appointed as Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Homeless Veterans by VA Secretary Denis McDonough.