Fellows: Class of 2022

Vice President, Operations
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Jennifer Blaha has been a part of the Cedars-Sinai team for over 14 years. In her current role as Vice President of Operations, she works in close partnership with the Chairpersons and Institute Leaders overseeing the clinical and academic missions of the Departments of Surgery, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Psychiatry, OBGYN, Pediatrics, Comprehensive Transplant, Pain, and our Respiratory and Pulmonary Services. Her responsibilities encompass directing and supporting the quality, financial, performance improvement and service activities in all areas of these departments as well as across the Medical Center. During her tenure at Cedars-Sinai, Jennifer has served in positions in Surgery, Orthopedics, Performance Improvement, Research and Interventional Services. She has developed and maintained an impressive track record for improving clinical quality, patient satisfaction and operational efficiency throughout the hospital. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Jennifer was a Senior Consultant and Six Sigma Master Black Belt for General Electric and consulted in hospitals across the country.

(Foundation Sponsored Fellow)
Director, Office of Managed Care
San Francisco Department of Public Health

Stella Cao is a healthcare administrator with over 20 years of experience in serving the underserved including Medicaid, uninsured, and other vulnerable populations. Her expertise focuses on payor negotiation and contracting, program management and leading teams to improve the patient experience, and operations and financial sustainability of public programs. Her passion to serve the underserved was rooted in her upbringing and experience as an immigrant.

Associate Chief Nursing Officer/Executive Director – Adult Inpatient Hospitals
University of Chicago Medicine

Alesia Coe has over thirty years of professional nursing experience. She is currently the Associate Chief Nursing Officer & Executive Director for Adult Inpatient Hospitals at The University of Chicago Medicine in Illinois. She also serves as an adjunct nursing professor at Saint Xavier University. She received her bachelor’s and master’s of science in nursing from Saint Xavier University and her doctorate of nursing practice from The University of Alabama. She holds a Nurse Executive Advanced certification and is a member of the following professional organizations: American College of Healthcare Executives, Chicago Health Executive Forum, Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Incorporated: Alpha Eta Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International: Alpha Lambda Chapter, Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders and American Organization of Nurse Leaders.

Associate Clinical Professor
City of Hope

Stacy W. Gray, M.D., is an associate clinical professor with a primary appointment in the Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics within the Department of Population Sciences and a secondary appointment in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research. She completed her internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at University of Chicago Hospitals. During her clinical training, she was awarded an Irving B. Harris Fellowship. Subsequently, she completed a research fellowship at the National Cancer Institute-funded Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. She continued her research training through a second postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, simultaneously joining Dana-Farber as a medical oncologist and cancer outcomes researcher in the Division of Population Sciences and the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology. Through her research, Dr. Gray is working to understand the factors that drive the use of novel and established cancer genomic tests and therapies, identify gaps in lung cancer prevention, research and care, and design interventions to improve the delivery of precision cancer medicine. Dr. Gray serves on the ASCO Cancer Research Committee, holds multiple leadership roles in an National Institutes of Health research consortium, and has presented her research both nationally and internationally.

Assistant Professor
University of Oklahoma

Dr. Juell Homco is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Informatics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine (OUSCM). Dr.Homco leads the OUSCM’s community analytics efforts. This team is responsible for providing advanced data analytics, performance dashboards, and quality improvement support to the OU Physicians-Tulsa clinics, the Oklahoma Primary Healthcare Improvement Cooperative (OPHIC), the Sooner Health Access Network, and numerous multidisciplinary researchers across Oklahoma. As Associate Director of OPHIC, she helps lead a consortium of researchers and practitioners transforming health care delivery through statewide dissemination and implementation projects. Her research interests involve using epidemiologic and applied informatics methods to understand the impact of advanced health information technology on healthcare utilization, clinician behavior, and population health. Dr. Homco completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma and received her MPH from Saint Louis University with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Vice Chair, Clinical Operations and Quality, Department of Medicine
Tufts Medical Center

Dr. Sucharita Kher is the Vice-Chair for Clinical Operations and Quality in the Department of Medicine and a Pulmonologist and Critical Care Physician at Tufts Medical Center. She is a highly regarded clinician in the intensive care unit and the ambulatory practice, with clinical interests in asthma, COPD, and tobacco dependence. Before embarking on the Vice-Chair role in April 2021, as the Director of Inpatient Services, Dr. Kher led several initiatives to improve inpatient clinical operations, including expanding physician coverage for the COVID surge and enhancing patient and physician satisfaction and length of stay. As the Medical Director for the Pulmonary Clinic, she developed the first Asian Lung Clinic providing culturally sensitive, efficient and accessible care for language minorities. She is an avid advocate for lung health. Dr. Kher earned her medical degree at University of Mumbai (India), residency at Cook County Hospital (Internal Medicine), and fellowship at Tufts Medical Center (Pulmonary & Critical Care). She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.

(Foundation Sponsored Fellow)
Principal
Health Management Associates

Caprice Knapp is a principal at Health Management Associates. From 2019 to 2022, she was the North Dakota Medicaid Director. She has more than 20 years’ experience working on Medicaid and CHIP in the private sector, state and federal policymaking, and academics. In the private sector she was the federal policy director for Molina Healthcare, Inc. In academics, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida (UF) conducting external quality review activities for Texas and Florida Medicaid and CHIP programs and maternal and child health research. In the policymaking arena, she worked in the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting in Colorado as well as the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. Knapp’s career has been focused on vulnerable populations, delivery system reform, and global health. At the University of Florida, Knapp earned a PhD in economics and completed postdoctoral training in health services research. She has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, 60 government reports, and two books.

Vice President, Strategy & Market Advancement
Geisinger

Rachel Manotti, MHA is Vice President, Strategy & Market Advancement at Geisinger Health System where she leads strategic planning, strategic insights, and business development. Manotti joined Geisinger in 2007 as an Administrative Fellow in hospital operations. Since that time, she has worked in public relations and marketing, and progressive roles within strategy, planning and business development. She was appointed to her current role in 2020. Her professional interests center around strategic problem solving, complex planning activities and the application of data and analytics to drive meaningful insights and decision making in an integrated healthcare delivery and financing environment. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, and her Master of Healthcare Administration degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Vice President Continuous Improvement, Duke University Hospital
Duke University Health System

Heather Marstiller is the Vice President of Continuous Improvement for Duke University Hospital (DUH) in Durham, North Carolina. She is responsible for leading the development and implementation of a lean management and improvement system within Duke Hospital and across the Duke Health enterprise. Prior to starting her role at DUH in 2019, she served the Duke Primary and Urgent Care network for 14 years fulfilling various roles including operational and improvement leadership positions. While with Duke Primary Care she led the development of the continuous improvement system which facilitated team engagement in achieving improvements in quality, safety and experience outcomes for the organization. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters of Business in Operational Excellence from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Interim Dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine / CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Marissa McKeever, Esq. is the Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Interim Dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine / CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Previously she was the Director of Government and Community Affairs for Sibley Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine. She joined the organization in May 2015 and is responsible for representing local legislative and regulatory interests and driving community health improvement priorities for Johns Hopkins Medicine in DC, with a particular focus on underserved neighborhoods. She is passionate about advancing health equity and creating strategic partnerships that address the social determinants of health, build community capacity, and utilize place-based solutions. McKeever previously served as a senior legislative assistant for the Council of the District of Columbia, engaging in policy and legislative research and analysis. She also practiced health law, advising on federal and state statutory and regulatory matters. She earned her JD from Harvard Law School and bachelor’s degree in Communication from Messiah College. She is a member of the bar in Maryland and DC.

Chief Human Resources Officer
Marshfield Clinic Health System

Terri Newmier is the chief human resources officer for Marshfield Clinic Health System. She leads the Health System’s human resources team responsible for talent acquisition, benefits, and compensation. Her work critically supports the Health System’s mission and values by driving strategic initiatives that position the organization as a top employer in the state. She joined Marshfield Clinic Health System in 2001 and served in roles of progressive responsibility since. She holds certifications through the Society for Human Resource Management and HR Certification Institute, and received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resources from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

VP Patient Care Services and CNO
Henry Ford Health System

As Vice President of patient care services and Chief Nursing Officer, Stefanie Roberts Newman led Henry Ford West Bloomfield’s Nursing Department through the Covid pandemic on her arrival in 2020. She continues those efforts and is leading the journey to Magnet designation for Henry Ford West Bloomfield. She previously served as VP and CNO at Bethesda North Hospital from 2010 until 2019. She successfully led Bethesda North’s Magnet designation and redesignation efforts, which have only been achieved by 8 percent of hospitals in the nation. From 2007 to 2010, Roberts Newman was the Assistant VP for patient Care services at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she led the Critical Care Division through a successful Magnet designation.

Vice President, Care Continuum Services
Yale New Haven Health

After serving as the Executive Director for Safety and Quality for YNHHS since 2012, Katie O’Leary began work on the YNHHS Post-Acute Care Services strategy in October 2018 to develop home based services including home hospital, home infusion nursing, hospice and other post-acute services. She received an undergraduate Nursing degree from Sacred Heart University and Masters in Public Health from Southern Connecticut State University, respectively. O’Leary maintains certifications in Health Education and Healthcare Quality. She is an adjunct professor at Southern in the school of Public Health teaching wellness and population health change management. She is also an annual guest Lecturer on quality measurement and process improvement in Public Health at Yale School of Medicine. Her interest and publications are in the areas of patient safety culture and healthcare improvement for populations.

Chief Medical Information Officer
John Muir Health

Dr. Priti Patel is the Chief Medical Information Officer at John Muir Health, a not-for-profit health care organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been practicing family medicine since 2002 and began her career in clinical informatics in 2012 during the implementation of John Muir Health’s first enterprise-wide, electronic health record. In the years following, she obtained board certification in Clinical Informatics and served as the Associate Chief Medical Information Officer. She advocates for the needs of clinicians and is passionate about developing and implementing innovative digital tools to deliver safe, high-quality, and efficient patient care. Clinically, she enjoys teaching family medicine residents while volunteering with the John Muir Mobile Health Clinic, a community service program committed to providing culturally sensitive quality care to vulnerable patients. Dr. Patel earned her B.S. in Bioengineering at Columbia University, and her M.D. from Albany Medical College, and completed her residency at the University of New Mexico.

Chief Division of General Obstetrics & Gynecology
Penn Medicine

Dr. Florencia Greer Polite is a Professor of Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology who serves as Chief of the Division of General OBGYN at Penn Medicine and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations. She is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU and Bellevue hospitals and joined the faculty at NYU upon graduation. In 2010, Dr. Polite joined the faculty at LSU in New Orleans, her husband’s hometown, where she served as the Residency Director, Division Chief for General OBGYN and the Director of Faculty Development during her tenure. In September 2018, Dr. Polite was recruited back to PENN Medicine to serve as the Chief of the Division of General Obstetrics and Gynecology, the largest division in the department of OBGYN.

Chief Operating Officer / Chief Nursing Officer
Rush University Medical Center

Dr. Angelique Richard is the Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer – RUMC, Chief Nursing Executive – Rush University Medical Center and Health System; and the Associate Dean for Practice Rush University College of Nursing. She provides administrative oversight & have accountability for hospital operations and professional nursing practice. Dr. Richard has extensive executive level experience in the field of nursing, leadership & hospital operations. Her focus and many contributions have been on improving quality and patient safety, advancing nursing practice, education and research and improving equity and access of healthcare to the underserved and underrepresented. These efforts have lead her organizations to achieving top rankings nationally in quality, safety, patient care and nursing. Dr. Richard started her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Lake Forest College, completing her BSN and MSN at Rush University. She also received a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Illinois.

(Foundation Sponsored Fellow)
Chief Medical Officer
Burrell Behavioral Health

Dr. Garima Singh is a Chief Medical Officer at Burrell Behavioral Health and is triple board certified in American board of Child and adolescent psychiatry, General psychiatry and Addiction medicine. She also serves as an adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri and participates as an expert panel for ECHO Child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Singh has been actively involved in teaching, multiple committees and research projects related to mental illness and Autism. In her current role she also focuses on novel methods of healthcare delivery including telehealth, integrated and collaborative care models especially for rural and underserved areas. She has several publications and has presented in state, national and international level. She specializes in child psychiatry and especially cares of those with special needs, Autism, developmental delays. She is passionate about bullying prevention and expansion of mental health services.

Vice President of Data Analytics
Dartmouth Health

Elizabeth Stedina joined Dartmouth Health in 2002 as a financial analyst and later assumed the role of the Director of financial planning overseeing the budgeting, analysis, cost accounting and decision support areas. In 2015, she moved out of finance into analytics and is currently the Vice President of Data Analytics at DH overseeing the Analytics Institute (AI), a centralized reporting and analytics team that provides support for the clinical, research and education missions of the organization. This division includes data warehousing, cost analysis and quality measurement and reporting. Stedina received an MBA from the University of Vermont and a Masters in Science in Health Services Research at The Dartmouth Institute.

Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer
National Council on Aging

Dr. Brenda Sulick is the chief advocacy and engagement officer at the National Council on Aging. Prior to NCOA, Dr. Sulick was the vice president of public, government, and community affairs at SCAN Group/Health Plan and responsible for developing and executing government relations strategies at the state and federal levels. She has held positions in Washington, D.C. as Health and Long-Term Services and Supports Policy Integration Director at AARP; senior policy advisor at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; vice president of Congressional Affairs at the National PACE Association; and director of Federal Health Policy at the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2006-2007, Dr. Sulick was the national recipient of the John Heinz Senate Fellowship in Aging, and worked for U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and Special Committee on Aging.

VP Business Excellence & Diversity Strategy
SCAN Health Plan

Timshel Tarbet, MBA started at SCAN in 2020 as the VP of Business Excellence and Diversity Strategy. Tarbet is focused leading initiatives expanding inclusivity both as an from a human resources standpoint but also as a means for SCAN to differentiate itself by serving new and existing populations in ways that are linguistically and culturally competent. Prior to SCAN Timshel worked at Portland based Cambia Health Solutions, which is part of the BCBS association of plans. During her tenure at Cambia, Timshel led the Ethics department where she succeeded in transforming the program into a nationally recognized, award willing program. She also spent time at Cambia leading the Enterprise Risk Management and Corporate Accountability area’s and in Human Resources as a Human Resources Business Partner, Manager Compensation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and HRIS.

(Foundation Sponsored Fellow)
Chair, Neurology
Cook County Health

Dr. Lakshmi Warrior is the Chair of Neurology and the Medical Director of the Stroke Program at Cook County Health. Her passion is providing equitable, high quality health care for patients regardless of their ability to pay and has led several efforts to improve workflow and quality of care across the organization. In addition to her clinical and administrative responsibilities, she serves as co-chair of the Racial and Health Equity Initiative at Cook County Health with the mission of integrating antiracism and health equity values into all areas of the organization.

Associate Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic

Dr. Rahma Warsame is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Oncology. She is a hematologist who specializes in treatment of blood cancers specifically Multiple myeloma and Amyloidosis. She is the Associate chair of Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity for the Department of Medicine with a role to develop the strategy to improve patient equity within the Department of Medicine. Dr. Warsame is also an Associate Program Director for the Internal medicine residency at Mayo Clinic. Her research focuses on patient reported outcomes such as quality of life, as well as financial toxicities in cancer. In addition, she studies and publishes on issues with respect to equity, diversity, and inclusion in healthcare. Dr. Rahma Warsame completed her residency and hematology/oncology fellowship, and advanced dysproteinemia fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester and joined faculty at Mayo Clinic in 2017.