Heather Dimeris serves as the Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a Commander (CDR) in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). 

The Office promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes. 

Throughout her career, CDR Dimeris has been committed to expanding health care access to advance the public’s health, particularly in the area of telehealth. Her work included the creation of multiple telehealth grant programs including the Substance Abuse Telehealth Network Grant Program, the Tele-Behavioral Health Network Grant Program, the Telehealth Broadband Pilot Program, the Telehealth Center of Excellence Grant Program, and the Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program. 

In response to the unprecedented Public Health Emergency, CDR Dimeris led the rapid creation of the HHS Telehealth Website in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Immediate Office of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response. The HHS Telehealth Website, receiving over one million page views in its first year, serves as a resource for patients and providers to obtain or deliver health care services via telehealth. 

CDR Dimeris also created and leads the HRSA Telehealth Workgroup that serves as a resource for rural and underserved communities and provides telehealth-related recommendations to federal and state governments. CDR Dimeris led the HRSA Telehealth Strategic Plan that allowed HRSA to be an agency-wide leader in the field of telehealth, resulting in over 1,300 HRSA grants that include telehealth. In 2021, CDR Dimeris received the HHS Award for Distinguished Service for exemplary leadership and innovation in expanding telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to her role in OAT, CDR Dimeris served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), for five years. In that role, she managed a broad range of rural health issues with an emphasis on telehealth policy and programs as well as rural health policy and research. CDR Dimeris joined HRSA in 2003 as a HRSA Scholar. In her early years at HRSA, CDR Dimeris served as a project officer and policy analyst for FORHP and in 2007, she became the Associate Director and Senior Advisor for FORHP to manage the office operations and assist with overall management of FORHP. 

CDR Dimeris was dietitian for Malden Hospital in Massachusetts prior to working at HRSA. She holds a Master of Science degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Carole Johnson is the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Johnson joined HRSA from the White House COVID-19 Response Team. She previously served as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services, leading the state’s largest agency and providing health care and social services to one-in-five New Jerseyans. During her tenure as Commissioner, the Department expanded Medicaid coverage of mental health and substance use disorder services, created new Medicaid benefits to improve maternal health outcomes, and integrated Medicaid into the newly launched state-based Affordable Care Act marketplace. Under Johnson’s leadership, the Department also substantially increased child care rates for the first time in a decade, expanded food assistance benefits, and created an Office of New Americans to support the state’s diverse communities.

Johnson served for more than five years as the Domestic Policy Council public health lead in the Obama White House, working on the Ebola and Zika responses, implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and combatting the opioid epidemic. In addition, she served on Capitol Hill as health staff for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and for members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson previously managed health care workforce policy issues for HRSA. She also was policy director for the Alliance of Community Health Plans, program officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts health program, and senior government relations manager with the American Heart Association.

She holds a master’s degree in government from the University of Virginia.

Andrea Palm is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As Deputy Secretary, she is the Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Department. 

Palm most recently served as Secretary-designee of the Department of Health Services (DHS), overseeing one of the largest state agencies in Wisconsin as a member of Governor Tony Evers' cabinet. In this role, she had responsibility for the state's Medicaid program, its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and behavioral health programs, among others. DHS is also Wisconsin's public health agency, and as such, Palm led the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Previously, Palm held a number of policy and operational roles in the Obama-Biden Administration at HHS, including Acting Assistant Secretary for Legislation, Counselor, Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to the Secretary. During her eight-year tenure, she worked on a variety of Administration priorities, including the Affordable Care Act, as well as providing leadership for the Department's work to combat the opioid epidemic. 

Palm was born and raised in rural, upstate New York. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Master's degree from Washington University in St. Louis. 

Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She is an influential scholar whose pioneering research has helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS. Dr. Walensky is also a well-respected expert on the value of testing and treatment of deadly viruses. 

Dr. Walensky served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2017-2020 and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 2012-2020. She served on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted research on vaccine delivery and strategies to reach underserved communities. 

Dr. Walensky is recognized internationally for her work to improve HIV screening and care in South Africa and nationally recognized for motivating health policy and informing clinical trial design and evaluation in a variety of settings. 

She is a past Chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, Chair-elect of the HIV Medical Association, and previously served as an advisor to both the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. 

Originally from Maryland, Dr. Walensky received her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, her Doctor of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and her Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD is an accomplished, strategic leader with a deep understanding of health economics and a heart-felt commitment to outstanding patient care. Her diverse background as a health care executive, health economist, physician and health policy expert has given her a unique perspective on how health policy impacts the real lives of patients. She most recently served as Vice President of Clinical Care Transformation at MedStar Health, where she conceptualized, designed, and implemented population health and value-based care initiatives and served on the senior leadership of the 10 hospital, 300+ outpatient care site health system. The care models and service lines under her leadership, including community health, geriatrics, and palliative care, have been nationally recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and others. She also cared for patients as an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Seshamani also brings decades of policy experience to her role, including recently serving on the leadership of the Biden-Harris Transition HHS Agency Review Team. Prior to MedStar Health, she was Director of the Office of Health Reform at the US Department of Health and Human Services, where she drove strategy and led implementation of the Affordable Care Act across the Department, including coverage policy, delivery system reform, and public health policy. She received her B.A. with Honors in Business Economics from Brown University, her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and her Ph.D. in Health Economics from the University of Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She completed her residency training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and practiced as a head and neck surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. 

Dr. Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon is currently Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She previously served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and served in this role for six years. Prior positions held at DMHAS include Deputy Commissioner, Senior Policy Advisor and Director of the department’s Office of Multicultural Healthcare Equity. In her role as Commissioner, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon was committed to promoting recovery oriented, integrated, and culturally responsive services and systems that foster dignity, respect, and meaningful community inclusion.

Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University where she served on faculty for the past 20 years. While at Yale Dr. Delphin-Rittmon served as the Director of Cultural Competence and Research Consultation with the Yale University Program for Recovery and Community Health.

In May 2014, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon completed a two-year White House appointment working as a Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While at SAMHSA, she worked on a range of policy initiatives addressing behavioral health equity, workforce development, and healthcare reform.

Through her 20 year career in the behavioral health field Dr. Delphin-Rittmon has extensive experience in the design, evaluation, and administration of mental health, substance use and prevention services and systems and has received several awards for advancing policy in these areas. Most recently, she received the 2019 State Service Award from the National Association of State Drug and Alcohol Directors and the 2016 Mental Health Award for Excellence from the United Nations Committee on Mental Health.

She received her B.A. in Social Science from Hofstra University in 1989, her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University 1992 and 2001, respectively, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical community psychology at Yale University in 2002.

Kathy is Director of the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center (MATRC).  TRC’s are federally funded to assist with telehealth program development and sustainability in order to increase access to quality care for rural and other underserved populations.  Kathy is also Director of Research for the Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine and faculty member at the Healthy Appalachia Institute.  For over a decade, Kathy also served as adjunct faculty in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where she taught Research Methods.  Kathy’s public service career reflects over 30 years of experience in public health, public policy, program development, program evaluation and strategic planning.   Kathy is an Appointed Member and Chair of the Rural Health Committee for the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) Board and is Vice President of the Virginia Telehealth Network Board.  In her not so copious free time, Kathy enjoys playing competitive volleyball, recreational softball and trying her hand at wildlife photography. 

Dr. Catherine Burke is an Assistant Professor in the Law & Psychiatry Division at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Burke’s expertise is in forensic assessment conducting evaluations for the legal system, including competency to stand trial, mitigation, risk assessment, and immigration, among others. A second area of Dr. Burke's expertise is the treatment of addiction in criminal justice populations. She provides clinical care for adults in the criminal justice system who present with addiction and associated co-morbidities at the Forensic Drug Diversion Clinic and also works with the Living Free SAMHSA grant providing treatment for individuals navigating reentry into the community after incarceration. Dr. Burke’s research interests are focused on the intersection of addiction and criminal justice. 

Chris Fore, Ph.D. is currently the Director of the Indian Health Service (IHS) TeleBehavioral Health Center of Excellence (TBHCE). He is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He received his doctorate in child clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University. In 2009, he established the IHS TeleBehavioral Health Center of Excellence. The mandate of the Center is to explore the feasibility of telebehavioral health within IHS (regionally and nationally), improve access to care, develop models of care, and to address sustainability. 

Sarah Hagin, PhD, is a pediatric psychologist in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s Hospitals, specializing in pediatric gastrointestinal and feeding disorders.  She is the Director of the Pediatric Feeding Program in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Liver Disease at Hasbro Children's Hospital. Sarah is also the program manager for the Pediatric Psychiatry Resource Network (PediPRN) at Bradley Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.  

Margaret Howard, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Medicine, Clinician Educator, at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.  Dr. Howard is Division Director for Women’s Behavioral Health and she and her team established the nation’s first Mother-Baby Perinatal Psychiatric Partial Hospital at Women & Infants Hospital (WIH) in Providence RI.  For over 2 decades, she has focused exclusively on the treatment of perinatal women. including the implementation of psychiatric ambulatory specialty programs and teleconsultation initiatives focusing on women’s mental health.  She has published, taught, and lectured nationally and internationally on the topic of perinatal psychiatric disorders and is the recipient of awards recognizing her unique contribution to the field of perinatal and women’s mental health.  

Dr. Law has a compelling clinical and administrative background in telemedicine and its utilization for rural psychiatric needs. She is the current director of the Telepsychiatry Program for the West Virginia University Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, as well as the Vice Chair for Clinical Operations. She has been the Principal Investigator for three HRSA telehealth grants from 2012 through 2021. Each of these grants focused on the implementation of and/or expansion of evidence-based services for telepsychiatry in rural West Virginia. She is currently a co-PI for HRSA grant focusing on provision of telepsychiatry consultation services in rural emergency departments. Prior to joining WVU in 2011, she was employed with the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (Duke Endowment Grant) providing emergency telepsychiatry consultations to rural South Carolina emergency rooms. She is a native of West Virginia and a graduate of West Virginia University (B.S., Biology; M.D.) as well as residency and fellowship training in Psychiatry, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Medical University of South Carolina) and Forensic Psychiatry (University of South Carolina).

Eboni Winford, Ph.D., MPH, is the Director of Research and Health Equity and a licensed psychologist at Cherokee Health Systems in Knoxville, TN. She provides direct clinical care to patients, contributes to workforce development in community health centers, and oversees research initiatives including those funded by the HRSA, the TN Department of Health, and NIH. She is the Clinical Director for CHS’s National Consultation and Training Program, which provides individualized on-site training to other health organizations as they seek to integrate their practices. She is on the board of directors for the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, holds an appointed position on the APA’s Ad Hoc Health Equity Committee, is secretary of APHA’s Community Health Planning and Policy Development section, and serves as the 2nd Vice Chair of NACHC Committee on Service Integration for Behavioral Health and HIV. Dr. Winford holds adjunct faculty positions in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College and in the Department of Psychology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellow and a Health Equity Scholar in Cambridge Health Alliance’s Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy. Dr. Winford earned her doctorate in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a proud life member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. 

William England is senior advisor for Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) at HRSA.  Previously, he directed OAT as a division of the Office of Rural Health Policy prior to OAT becoming an independent HRSA office last year.  Bill began work in health care financing as an assistant professor of Industrial Engineering and of Preventive Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then came to CMS where he ran the first Medicare telemedicine demonstration.  Subsequently he was Director and Vice President of the FCC/Universal Service Rural Health Care Program, before coming to HRSA.  He is a Fellow of the American Telemedicine Association and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthcare Financing Fellow.  He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.  His law degree is from the University of Maryland.   

Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., M.P.H. is a Professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mehrotra’s research focuses on delivery innovations and their impact on access, quality, and spending. These include innovations such as telemedicine, retail clinics, and e-visits. He is also interested in the role of consumerism and whether price transparency and public reporting of quality can impact patient decision making. Dr. Mehrotra received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Boston. His clinical work has been both as a primary care physician and as an adult and pediatric hospitalist.  

Dr. Kevin Galpin is the Executive Director of VHA Telehealth Services aligned under the Office of Connected Care. He is responsible for overseeing the implementation and coordination of telehealth throughout VA. 

Dr. Galpin is a physician, board certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics. He has worked in the Veterans Health Administration since 2003, serving in several positions at the Atlanta VA Medical Center and in the Southeast Network, including Primary Care Clinic Lead Physician, Assistant Chief of Medicine for Education, and VISN Chief of Health Informatics. 

Lisa Robin is Chief Advocacy Officer at the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).  She joined the FSMB in 1994 and currently leads the FSMB Washington, DC office. Ms. Robin earned her bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Christian University. During her tenure with the FSMB, Ms. Robin has been active in policy development and promulgation on issues including telehealth and license portability, pain management and addiction treatment, medical marijuana, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and issues related to ethics and professionalism. In addition to policy development, Ms. Robin, as an executive member of the C-Suite, is involved with the overall administration of the FSMB and is directly responsible for FSMB’s state and federal government affairs and policy, continuing education, communications/public affairs and the FSMB Research and Education Foundation. 

Janet Orwig, MBA, CAE in her position with the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) serves as the Associate Executive Officer, Member Services and PSYPACT Executive Director. She is responsible for monitoring state regulatory and legislative actions and overseeing member services including the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT). Her 26-year career in association management includes experience in customer service, public relations, advocacy, strategic planning, leadership development, grant management and project and program management. Janet earned her Paralegal Certificate and Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Huntingdon College and her MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is also a Certified Association Executive.

Dan Logsdon is the Director of the National Center for Interstate Compacts at The Council of State Governments.cPreviously, Logsdon was Vice Chair of Kentucky's Public Service Commission. He served as Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s deputy chief of staff and as Assistant Kentucky State Treasurer. He has experience in the telecommunications industry having served as vice president for external affairs at Alltel Communications and Windstream Communications.  

Dr. Jack Resneck Jr., a nationally recognized leader in dermatology and health policy from the San Francisco Bay Area, is president-elect of the American Medical Association.

A passionate advocate for patients and physicians, Dr. Resneck’s is dedicated to improving both access to care and care delivery, as well as quality improvement and advancements to telemedicine and public health.

 
Dr. Resneck has a long and decorated record of service in organized medicine, including as an AMA Trustee since 2014 and serving as AMA Board chair in 2018-2019. He is also a past president of the California Society for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, and he is a longtime and influential member of the California Medical Association.

 
In addition to his leadership with the AMA, Dr. Resneck serves on the board of directors of the American Academy of Dermatology, and previously chaired its Council of Government Affairs, Health Policy and Practice. He has been awarded numerous presidential citations, as well as its prestigious Clarence S. Livingood Award and Lectureship. He also is vice chair and professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and holds a joint appointment at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

While running a busy clinical practice in San Francisco, the Louisiana native has also helped modernize medical education and teaching by chairing the committee that oversees UCSF’s innovative medical school curriculum and directing the university’s dermatology residency program. 

Jonathan Neufeld, PhD, is Program Director of the Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center (gpTRAC), a federally funded technical assistance program housed at the University of Minnesota.  The Center provides telehealth training and consultation to healthcare providers and programs interested in implementing, evaluating, and enhancing all types of telehealth services in the Great Plains region. 

Dr. Neufeld has consulted on a wide range of projects related to rural health and telehealth over the past 15 years.  He has presented at regional and national conferences and published peer-reviewed articles in the fields of telemedicine, clinical decision support tools, mental health services evaluation, and clinical outcomes. 

Dr. Neufeld was formerly the Vice President of Information Technology and Integrated Care at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Goshen, Indiana.  In this role, he oversaw the IT programs and services at Oaklawn as well as leading a team of clinicians providing mental and behavioral health services in primary care settings across Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties.  Oaklawn has been using telehealth technology since 2011. 

Dr. Neufeld received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Ohio University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Integrated Primary Care in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. 

Before moving to Indiana, Dr. Neufeld was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Medical Center, and Senior Research Associate at the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research. There he collaborated on a wide range of clinical and research projects in the fields of mental health, primary care, telemedicine, and health care technology. 

Marcia M. Ward, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy and Director of the Center for Health Policy and Research in the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Her years of research experience focus on telehealth research, health services research, and rural healthcare delivery. She co-chaired the National Quality Forum (NQF) Committee on the Framework for Telehealth Measures and the NQF Committee on the Rural Telehealth and Healthcare System Readiness Measurement Framework. Dr. Ward directs the Rural Telehealth Research Center (RTRC) which is a consortium of researchers at the University of Iowa, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, and University of Southern Maine. RTRC is the HRSA-funded Telehealth-Focused Rural Health Research Center focused on building the evidence base for telehealth.  

Ryan Jelinek DO is a practicing Internal Medicine physician and board certified Clinical Informatician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, MN. He completed his medical school at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and Internal Medicine Residency at Hennepin Healthcare. He then completed a Fellowship in Clinical Informatics at Hennepin Healthcare. He currently practices as a Hospitalist and serves as the Medical Director for Telehealth and Access at Hennepin Healthcare. He is the current Associate Program Director for the Clinical Informatics Fellowship. He sits on the board of directors and chairs the membership committee for Minnesota Doctors for Health Equity (MDHEQ). He also sits on the advisory council for Great Plains Telehealth Resource Center (GPTRAC). His passions include the study and design of equitable virtual care systems and better understanding the impact of virtual care on vulnerable populations. 

Emily H. Warr, MSN, RN, is the Administrator for the Medical University of South Carolina Center for Telehealth, a HRSA designated Center of Excellence. Emily began her career at MUSC as a critical care nurse in 2002 and has extensive experience in pediatric and adult ICUs, including managing MUSC’s Extracorporeal Life Support Center.  

When she joined the MUSC Center for Telehealth as one of the foundational team members, she built an innovative, outreach Tele-ICU program to extend expert intensive care to community hospitals across the state. This Tele-ICU consortium has grown under her leadership to ten hospitals of varying size and rurality. Emily also managed a novel, synergistic critical care quality improvement and consulting program called ICU Innovations. For six years she served as the ICU nursing expert for curriculum development, quality improvement, and change management collaboration with partner sites.  

In 2018, Emily assumed the Director of Operations role in the Center for Telehealth. In addition to comprehensive oversight of clinical operations, she created and implemented five telehealth quality domains and associated metrics for evaluation of service quality. In this role, she directed continuous quality assessment and improvement efforts across the spectrum of telehealth clinical services offered at MUSC.  

In 2020, Emily became the Administrator for the MUSC Center for Telehealth. In this role, she oversees the strategic growth and direction of South Carolina’s telehealth initiatives, as well as the quality of service delivery for MUSC and statewide telehealth activities ranging from acute hospital support to direct to consumer modalities. 

Dr. Rios is the President & CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association and President of the National Hispanic Health Foundation. Dr. Rios currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield, Better Medicare Alliance, and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. She also serves on the Centene Health Policy Advisory Committee, Cancer Treatment Centers for America Hispanic Advisory Council, Office of Research on Women’s Health Advisory Committee, NIH, US Department of Health and Human Services, and the VA National Academic Affiliations Council. Dr. Rios has lectured, published articles, and has received several leadership awards, including awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses, American Public Health Association Latino Caucus.

Dr. Rios previously served as the Advisor for Regional and Minority Women’s Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health from November 1994 to October 1998. In 1998-2004, Dr. Rios served as Executive Director, Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as Coordinator of Outreach Groups for the White House. From 1992-94, Dr. Rios worked for the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as a policy researcher.

Dr. Rios earned her BA in Human Biology/Public Administration at Stanford University in 1977. She earned her MSPH at the UCLA School of Public Health in 1980 and her MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987. Dr. Rios completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and the White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles in 1990 and her NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine in 1992.

Mei Wa Kwong, JD has over two decades of experience in state and federal policy work.  She is the Executive Director for the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP), the federally designated National Telehealth Policy Resource Center.  She has written numerous policy briefs, crafted state legislation and led several coalition efforts on a variety of issues and assisted states in their telehealth efforts, particularly in Medicaid and public health.   

Ms. Kwong is recognized as a national expert on telehealth policy.  She helped create the model statute language that became the basis of the 2011 California state legislation that updated California telehealth law, published several articles on telehealth and telehealth policy in various peer reviewed journals and is the co-author of CCHP’s 50 State Medicaid Telehealth Reimbursement Survey.  She has been consulted by state and federal lawmakers on telehealth legislation and policy and is sought out by the media to provide insight on telehealth issues.  Ms. Kwong is a sought-after speaker who has spoken to a variety of audiences including health industry executives, physicians, journalists, attorneys and various national organizations.   

Prior to joining CCHP, Ms. Kwong was the Policy Analyst for Children’s Home Society of California where she worked on education and early childhood issues.  She was recognized for her work by the Child Development Policy Institute. 

Ms. Kwong is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and has a BA in International Affairs. 

Garret Spargo is Aleut/Unangan, originally from the island community of Sand Point in the Aleutian Region of Alaska. He is the Director of Enterprise Architecture at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), where he evaluates and plans for the deployment of new technologies at the Alaska Native Medical Center and its tribal health partners.  Garret is the Principal Investigator for ANTHC’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded National Telehealth Technology Assessment Resource Center (TTAC) as well as the HRSA-funded broadband assessment project that is measuring broadband performance and accessibility in 25 counties across four states.  He has filled numerous roles in telehealth at ANTHC since 2000, during which time he also received his BA from Seattle Pacific University (2005) and his MA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago (2013).

Dr. Doyle is a board certified Family Practice and Geriatrics physician.  He completed his undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Wisconsin – Madison before pursuing a Family Medicine residency at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill program in Greensboro and a Geriatrics Fellowship at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  After moving to the Washington DC area in 2001, he was in private practice in Northern Virginia for several years before moving to the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in 2003.  He directed the outpatient clinics and assisted living facility at Hebrew Home until 2008 when he assumed the role of Medical Director of the Hebrew Home campus.  In 2011 he became Medical Director of Evercare MidAtlantic (now Optum Health) overseeing care of enrollees in over 65 facilities in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia in addition to a large and growing community based program.  In September of 2015 he moved to Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC to help implement and oversee the new Medicare Advantage MD program.  As of October 2020, Dr. Doyle moved to SignifyHealth as VP of Medical Affairs to help oversee an extensive Provider Network and the largest in-home evaluation model in the US. He continues to see geriatrics patients at the Landow House Assisted Living Facility of Hebrew Home.

Dr. Doyle has been involved in numerous advanced care protocols and has served on the regional boards of the American Geriatrics Society and the American Medical Directors Association. He has been involved in numerous state-wide initiatives including the Governor’s task force on Health Information Exchange, the Maryland Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments and the Transitions in Care Initiative.  He was a clinical professor of Geriatrics at both Georgetown University and the George Washington School of Medicine and actively involved in the training of Geriatrics professionals. His main areas of interest include Geriatric Psychiatry issues, quality of life measures and improvement in transitions of care outcomes.    

Dr. Karen Schulder Rheuban serves as Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education and External Affairs and Director of the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth, which she co-founded in 1995. The Center serves as the hub of a large telemedicine network in the Commonwealth of Virginia, funded in part, by federal and state grants and contracts, and has supported ambulatory and specialty patient visits, e-consults, remote patient monitoring services and thousands of hours of health professional and patient education.    UVA is the home of the HRSA funded Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center.  Dr. Rheuban is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Telemedicine Association.  She recently concluded two terms of service as chair of the Virginia Board of Medical Assistance Services (Medicaid).    She chaired the 2020 Virginia Department of Health/Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association’s COVID-19 Response Telehealth Working Group.  She led the Institute of Medicine Workshop on Telehealth, co-chairs the American Medical Association’s Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group, and serves on the AAMC Telehealth Advisory Committee.  Dr. Rheuban has previously testified before the US Senate, the US House of Representatives and the Virginia General Assembly regarding telehealth.   With Dr. Elizabeth Krupinski, she co-edited the text “Understanding Telehealth” and she is the executive editor of the Journal of Telemedicine and e-Health. 

Jack Rollins joined NAMD in April 2014. He is responsible for the association’s policy work, including analysis of legislation and regulations impacting the Medicaid program, convening Medicaid Directors and their staff to identify and build consensus around policy objectives, and articulating members’ consensus positions via comment letters and other communications to federal policymakers and Medicaid stakeholders. In his time at NAMD, Jack has focused specifically on the areas of Medicaid prescription drug coverage, managed care, and long-term services and supports. 

Prior to joining NAMD, Jack interned at a safety net hospital association, a small lobbying firm specializing in healthcare issues, and performed policy work for a nonprofit organization of women state legislators. 

Jack received an Masters of Public Health focused on health policy from the George Washington University and a B.A. in philosophy and government from the College of William and Mary. 

Sascha Meinrath is the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State and director of X-Lab, an innovative think tank focusing on the intersection of vanguard technologies and public policy. Professor Meinrath is a renowned technology policy expert and is internationally recognized for his work over the past two decades as a community internet pioneer, social entrepreneur, and angel investor. 

Prior to founding X-Lab, Meinrath was vice president of the New America Foundation, where he founded the Open Technology Institute in 2008 and built it into one of the largest public interest tech policy organizations in Washington, D.C. He also founded the Commotion Wireless Project, which works around the globe to strengthen communities by providing tools to build their own local communications infrastructures, and co-founded Measurement Lab, a global online platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools that empower the public and key decision-makers with useful information about broadband connectivity. 

Professor Meinrath was elected as an Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012, and has been named to the Time Magazine “Tech 40” as one of the most influential figures in technology, to the “Top 100” in Newsweek’s Digital Power Index, and is a recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy. He is widely published in both academic and media outlets, including Critical Studies in Media Communications, International Journal of Communications, Journal of Communications Law and Policy, Journal of Internet Law, Journal for Community Informatics, IEEE Internet Computing Magazine, IEEE Spectrum, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Time Magazine, Politico, Slate, The Guardian and many others. 

Mr. Meinrath has been a vocal public intellectual and a leading voice calling for accountability over the governmental spying programs, and is at the forefront of D.C. policy debates over how Congress and the White House should rein in the cybersecurity-industrial complex. He serves as a board member for the American Indian Policy Institute; Brave New Software Foundation; Defending Rights and Dissent Foundation; Acorn Active Media Foundation; and Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the advisory councils for the Calyx Institute and Whistleblower Aid; and the co-founder and coordinator of the Civil Liberties Coalition, whose member organizations span the political spectrum and represent some 12-15 million Americans. 

Meinrath’s research focuses on broadband connectivity, distributed communications, Digital Feudalism, Digital Craftsmanship, telecommunications and spectrum policy, cybersecurity and privacy, and the impacts of disruptive technology, and is a testament to his lifelong commitment to promoting social and economic justice. The son of an immigrant from Brazil, Meinrath has four vivacious daughters and he and his partner, Stephanie, split their time between State College, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. 

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken is a Senior Researcher and Research Team Lead with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, working on broadband policy and infrastructure issues around the country. ILSR works with a diverse group of allies, partners, and local communities on policies to improve local Internet access. It also extensively tracks and writes about what communities are doing to improve access to high-quality networks. Ry holds a PhD in the history of science, technology, and medicine from Oklahoma State University. 

Cameron Hilt, MPH, is the Program Director for the Upper Midwest Telehealth Resource Center and the Crossroads Partnership for Telehealth at the Indiana Rural Health Association. These programs encompass grant programs funded by the Human Resources and Services Administration and all have a rural focus. Cameron specializes in providing technical assistance for telehealth related issues, working with rural healthcare providers to implement and evaluate tele-behavioral health and tele-stroke services, and providing trainings on a variety of telehealth and virtual care topics in the states of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. 

Meg is passionate about driving change by collaborating with physicians, technology leaders and solution innovators to improve health care. She has served in product development and business development leadership roles at the AMA and most recently is responsible for driving the roadmap of initiatives that support the AMA’s digital health and medicine strategy. In addition, she has led partnerships and innovation related initiatives, such as the inaugural AMA Healthier Nation Innovation Challenge, the establishment of the AMA Interaction Studio at MATTER, the AMA Physician Innovation Network that enables entrepreneurs and physicians to collaborate on the development of new solutions, the AMA Digital Health & Telehealth Implementation Playbook series, AMA Digital Health research, The Telehealth Initiative and The AMA Telehealth Immersion Program with collaborators. She participates on the Advisory Board for MATTER, MassChallenge HealthTech, HealthTech Arkansas, Together.Health and as a TEDMed Research Scholar. She also participates on the Editorial Review Board of The Telehealth and Medicine Today Journal. 

Meg has spoken at national conferences such as Health 2.0, Connected Health, HLTH, American Telemedicine Association National Conference, HIMSS and contributes as speaking faculty for Columbia Business School’s Digital Health program curriculum. She has articles published in Health Affairs, Harvard Business Review and Nature Digital Medicine. 

Prior to AMA, Meg worked in the Consumer Product & Retail vertical at Capgemini and at SmithBucklin Corporation for various business and health care clients. She has experience creating a company through support at Built in Chicago and 1871 in Chicago; her company received acknowledgement by Crain’s Chicago, Chicago Ideas Week and was listed as one of the 24 Coolest New Businesses in Chicago by Business Insider. When not focused on improving healthcare, she can usually be found home remodeling, at a concert or spending time with family. She is also an Auxiliary Board Member of Rebuilding Exchange Chicago – a non-profit focused on eliminating waste from landfills, repurposing salvaged materials, and providing education and training programs for job creation. 

Dr. Findley is an assistant professor with the WVU Department of Emergency Medicine.  He utilizes a hub and spoke model to split his time between the larger WVU academic centers and outlying rural emergency departments, spending most of his clinical time in single coverage facilities.  After recognizing the challenges inherent in rural emergency medicine (EM), he designed and developed the WVU Rural Emergency Medicine Institute (REMI).  REMI employs a three-pronged approach to address challenges in clinical care, education and research while serving as an advocate for practitioners in rural EM.  Although this program is in its infancy, early success has been achieved in multiple areas.  Through REMI, Dr. Findley secured a federal telemedicine grant to expand telemedicine services in WV critical access hospitals, an institutional HOPE grant to assess per-birth needs in rural emergency departments, assisted with a rural specific response to COVID – 19, secured a position as medical director and advisor for Adventure WV, successfully launched a multisite rural EM rotation for residents, facilitated rural rotations for medical students, and oversaw the integration of rural EM lectures and simulated cases into the resident curriculum.  In addition to remaining academically connected, Dr. Findley works closely with the WVU Emergency Department Divisions of ultrasound, EMS and Education to bring resources into the community sites and rural areas.  Dr. Findley also sits on the national American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Rural Emergency Medicine’s Task Force.  He has taken an active role in research with local and national presentations as well as publishing in academic journals. Although these opportunities have been rewarding, Dr. Findley believe nothing teaches you more, maintains drive and sharpens focus better than pulling shifts and seeing patients and he plans to continue working the majority of his clinical hours in smaller departments.

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology. Prior to my appointment, I completed a Neurology Residency and Vascular Neurology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.  A large portion of my research has been focused on the field of Vascular Neurology, as well as the growing realm of telemedicine, in an effort to improve the long-term health outcomes of acute ischemic stroke survivors throughout the rural state of West Virginia. I am especially interested in how we can leverage telemedicine effectively in rural areas. Our Appalachian region is challenged by many of the same issues facing rural America everywhere; a dwindling emergency medicine and neurology workforce, limited transport and prehospital infrastructure, complicated telehealth reimbursement policies and unreliable broadband coverage. Telemedicine networks hold the potential to address many gaps in care and access to improved health outcomes but these solutions must be evidence-based and focus on quality care. As director of our telestroke/teleneurology program, I have strived to build a sustainable, robust, and quality-driven program. Since 2015, we have grown from one partner hospital to a diverse network of 30 spokes spanning critical access hospitals to primary stroke centers in 4 states. As such, I have significant experience in understanding the various needs and challenges in staffing models, credentialing, performance improvement/quality improvement activities, program evaluation and development. My expertise has facilitated the coordination and administration of a state legislative-sponsored telestroke grant for all hospitals throughout our state as well as successfully passing a legislative rule mandating the use of an application (app) tailored to the needs specific to our rural state for all suspected strokes in the field.  Beyond providing direct benefits eg access to care, these initiatives represent critical opportunities to study their implementation and improve systems of care. Therefore, I successfully lobbied to devote some of the legislative resources to research and standardization of care with a statewide database. For these same reasons, we have built our own program to include an internal database and contractual data reporting requirements from our spokes. I also have experience in quality and performance measures as related to our most recent Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) award which is a multi-tiered project incorporating tele-stroke, tele-psychiatry, tele-case management and tele- EMS in critical access emergency rooms over the next 2 years. 

As a practicing clinician, I see how telemedicine makes a difference in the quality of care my patients receive. As a community member, I see how telemedicine directly contributes to the economic and social health of rural communities.  The current proposed participation as a content expert for this rural working group continues to build upon my prior work and extensive collaborations with EMS, rural hospital systems, emergency medicine and psychiatry leaders with a long-term goal of contributing to the development of novel, pragmatic, and sustainable approaches to reducing the burden of disease associated with stroke and ultimately, improving my patients’ quality of lives among rural stroke survivors.  

Mr. Protetch is an accomplished operations manager having led stroke service line initiatives and complex telehealth operations involving clinical, technical, business, reimbursement and regulatory activities at Allegheny Health Network (AHN). He currently serves as Project Director for a HRSA telehealth grant benefiting two AHN rural community hospitals.  Mr. Protetch was instrumental in AHN’s deployment and rapid expansion of telehealth capabilities at the COVID-19 PHE outset and supports its ongoing optimization initiatives. 

Donna Baldwin, D.O. is the Chief Quality & Innovation Officer for a nationwide Primary Care telehealth company, CirrusMD. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Medical Acupuncture and has over 20 years experience in traditional family medicine and telemedicine. In her role, Dr. Baldwin ensures the development and utilization of quality standards to provide updated, evidence-based primary care telehealth to employer groups, health plans, and underserved patients. 

Dr. Baldwin is passionate about providing high quality, compassionate care to her patients, and believes that equitable care for patients of all ages can be delivered through telemedicine. She graduated from the Kansas City University - College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2000 and completed residency at the University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency Program in 2003. 

Commissioner Brendan Carr is the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, and he served previously as the agency’s General Counsel. 

Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G. 

Commissioner Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. And he is recognizing America’s talented and hardworking tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations. 

Commissioner Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans. 

Commissioner Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from the community members, local leaders, and small business owners that are impacted by the FCC’s policies at town halls and events across the country. 

Commissioner Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the agency as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Commissioner Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. And after attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Commissioner Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review. 

Commissioner Carr was nominated to the FCC by President Trump and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate. 

Commissioner Carr lives in Virginia with his wife and three kids. 

Wakina Scott is the Deputy Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health and Human Services’ telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes.   

As the Deputy Director, Wakina is leading OAT’s efforts in building a Policy and Research team to provide Agency leadership on telehealth policy and strategies and further the evidence-base for telehealth research.  Prior to this role, Wakina held several positions within HRSA and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with a focus on policy and research.  

Wakina has over 20 years of experience in health policy and public health working in the private and public sectors, and obtained a Ph.D. in Family Science from the University of Maryland School of Public Health at College Park, and a Master of Public Health from George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services.

Adam Copeland is an Associate Bureau Chief in the Wireline Competition Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission where he focuses on matters relating to broadband deployment, infrastructure, and universal service.  He joined the FCC in 2012 as an attorney in the Media Bureau’s Policy Division before moving to the Competition Policy Division of the Wireline Competition Bureau where he became a Deputy Division Chief.  Prior to joining the FCC, Adam was in private practice representing media clients in front of the FCC and U.S. Copyright Office on a wide range of regulatory matters.  He also previously served as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Law School.  Adam earned his J.D. from GW Law and his B.A. in Political Science from The George Washington University.    

As Director of Interagency Coordination for the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG), Karen Hanson  leads interagency efforts to promote alignment and advance federal policies and programs that support broadband deployment, digital equity and inclusion. Ms. Hanson is responsible for ensuring implementation of ACCESS BROADBAND Act obligations, including the reporting of federal efforts to related to broadband deployment and digital inclusion. Ms. Hanson’s background includes work in the non-profit, philanthropic and private sectors promoting broadband deployment and digital equity. Prior to joining NTIA, Ms. Hanson worked in the software industry, as a management consultant, and policy analyst with a Latino civil rights organization. Ms. Hanson received a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in Public Policy Studies and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Shawn Arner is a graduate of Virginia Tech, having received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1991. He has been with Telecommunications Program of the Rural Utilities Service for 29 years and has served in his current capacity as the Deputy Assistant Administrator since 2014.

Shawn has held various positions within the agency, including Director of the Southern Division, Deputy Director of the Northern Division, Chief of the Northern Division Engineering Branch, as well as Senior Engineer in the Outside Plant Branch of the Telecommunications Standards Division.

Chad Parker has worked with USDA Rural Development for 30 years and is currently serving as the Deputy Administrator, Community Facilities.  He is responsible for Community Facilities Direct Loans, Guaranteed Loans, and Grants, Emergency Rural Health Care Grants, Tribal College Grants, Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Grants and the Rural Community Development Initiative.   Chad has previously served as Deputy Administrator in USDA Rural Development’s Telecommunication Programs; Cooperative Programs; Business Programs; and Single-Family Housing Programs.  Chad holds a M.B.A. and a B.S. from the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech.  

Heather Dimeris serves as the Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a Commander (CDR) in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). 

The Office promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes. 

Throughout her career, CDR Dimeris has been committed to expanding health care access to advance the public’s health, particularly in the area of telehealth. Her work included the creation of multiple telehealth grant programs including the Substance Abuse Telehealth Network Grant Program, the Tele-Behavioral Health Network Grant Program, the Telehealth Broadband Pilot Program, the Telehealth Center of Excellence Grant Program, and the Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program. 

In response to the unprecedented Public Health Emergency, CDR Dimeris led the rapid creation of the HHS Telehealth Website in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Immediate Office of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response. The HHS Telehealth Website, receiving over one million page views in its first year, serves as a resource for patients and providers to obtain or deliver health care services via telehealth. 

CDR Dimeris also created and leads the HRSA Telehealth Workgroup that serves as a resource for rural and underserved communities and provides telehealth-related recommendations to federal and state governments. CDR Dimeris led the HRSA Telehealth Strategic Plan that allowed HRSA to be an agency-wide leader in the field of telehealth, resulting in over 1,300 HRSA grants that include telehealth. In 2021, CDR Dimeris received the HHS Award for Distinguished Service for exemplary leadership and innovation in expanding telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to her role in OAT, CDR Dimeris served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), for five years. In that role, she managed a broad range of rural health issues with an emphasis on telehealth policy and programs as well as rural health policy and research. CDR Dimeris joined HRSA in 2003 as a HRSA Scholar. In her early years at HRSA, CDR Dimeris served as a project officer and policy analyst for FORHP and in 2007, she became the Associate Director and Senior Advisor for FORHP to manage the office operations and assist with overall management of FORHP. 

CDR Dimeris was dietitian for Malden Hospital in Massachusetts prior to working at HRSA. She holds a Master of Science degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Heather Dimeris serves as the Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a Commander (CDR) in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). 

The Office promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes. 

Throughout her career, CDR Dimeris has been committed to expanding health care access to advance the public’s health, particularly in the area of telehealth. Her work included the creation of multiple telehealth grant programs including the Substance Abuse Telehealth Network Grant Program, the Tele-Behavioral Health Network Grant Program, the Telehealth Broadband Pilot Program, the Telehealth Center of Excellence Grant Program, and the Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program. 

In response to the unprecedented Public Health Emergency, CDR Dimeris led the rapid creation of the HHS Telehealth Website in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Immediate Office of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response. The HHS Telehealth Website, receiving over one million page views in its first year, serves as a resource for patients and providers to obtain or deliver health care services via telehealth. 

CDR Dimeris also created and leads the HRSA Telehealth Workgroup that serves as a resource for rural and underserved communities and provides telehealth-related recommendations to federal and state governments. CDR Dimeris led the HRSA Telehealth Strategic Plan that allowed HRSA to be an agency-wide leader in the field of telehealth, resulting in over 1,300 HRSA grants that include telehealth. In 2021, CDR Dimeris received the HHS Award for Distinguished Service for exemplary leadership and innovation in expanding telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to her role in OAT, CDR Dimeris served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), for five years. In that role, she managed a broad range of rural health issues with an emphasis on telehealth policy and programs as well as rural health policy and research. CDR Dimeris joined HRSA in 2003 as a HRSA Scholar. In her early years at HRSA, CDR Dimeris served as a project officer and policy analyst for FORHP and in 2007, she became the Associate Director and Senior Advisor for FORHP to manage the office operations and assist with overall management of FORHP. 

CDR Dimeris was dietitian for Malden Hospital in Massachusetts prior to working at HRSA. She holds a Master of Science degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Robert Stiles a health administrator with a strong focus on the health workforce and access to care for underserved populations. He has extensive experience in health workforce issues, including serving as the Director of the Kansas Primary Care Office where he focused on health workforce needs access to care in underserved areas. He has worked at the local level in executive positions with Federally Qualified Health Centers. developing and managing primary care and community and school-based health.  In his work at University of Kansas Medical Center, he is program director in the Department of Behavioral Pediatrics working with three Office for the Advancement of Telehealth programs.  

Dr. Wari Allison is Vice President of Health Policy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and Director of their Center for Health Policy. She attended Imperial College School of Medicine, London, completed internal medicine residency at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and infectious disease fellowship at NYU. She holds a PhD in Public Health and Community Medicine from the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia. She is elected to fellowship of both the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Allison is passionate about the health and well-being of underserved populations. She has been successfully in securing continuous federal funding for her work which includes establishing and directing the national Rural Telementoring Training Center.  

Dr. Kerry Palakanis is the AVP of Community Health for Intermountain Healthcare in Nevada and Southern Utah.  She is a family nurse practitioner who has worked in a variety of clinical and administrative roles over her 35 years in healthcare focusing on community health, rural health and telemedicine.  Dr. Palakanis has served as a national featured speaker for programs on issues related to rural health care delivery and telemedicine, has provided testimony to state and federal legislature on telemedicine bills, has received state and federal grants for telemedicine programs, conducted remote patient monitoring grant programs, and has developed innovative programs to provide connectivity and telehealth solutions to underserved populations. 

Dr. Donald Hilty is a scholar in psychiatric and medical education, health services, and telemedicine. He works as a Professor of Psychiatry at the UC Davis School of Medicine, with United Health Services and Heritage Oaks Hospital to develop virtual care and has assisted the Veterans Health Administration to implement technology. He speaks internationally and researches models of care, health services design, health economic outcomes and implementation of video, mobile health, sensors and other technologies. He has obtained 20 grants and 7 contracts from the NIH, AHRQ, California Endowment, and OSHPD, with randomized trials of the treatment of depression in primary care via disease management and an AHRQ comparison of synchronous and asynchronous telepsychiatry. His current research is in implementation and evaluation of video, social media, mobile health and asynchronous competencies for psychiatry, behavioral health and medicine.

Dr. Hilty is active with pedagogy, faculty development and publishing. Dr. Hilty serves as Editor of both the Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science and Psychology and Cognitive Science, and is Editor of the Innovation in Technology Column for Academic Psychiatry. He has led or co-led 8 special editions related to technology, clinical care and professional development, including Psychiatric Clinics of North America, “Professional Development in Psychiatry and Medicine” and for Frontiers in Psychiatry, “Digital Interventions for Mental Health.” He has written 180+ journal articles, 100 chapters and many other publications, including for the APA-IOM and APA-ATA Guideline Writing Groups. His first book is entitled Key Issues in e-Mental Health and a current one in press is Rural Telebehavioral Health: Underserved and Diverse Settings by Springer Nature Publishing.

Aria Javidan is a Program Associate at the Center for Connected Health Policy. He assists with project coordination to ensure timely execution of internal project deliverables and work products. Specifically, Aria handles administrative and program management duties for the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers. He holds an MPH concentrating in Community-Oriented Primary Care from The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. 

Derrick Ramsey is currently finishing his PhD. in Higher Education Administration at Texas Tech University, and is the Senior Director for the Innovative Healthcare Technology division within the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.  He manages the TexLa Telehealth Resource Center which provides information, technical assistance, and education to Texas and Louisiana regarding telehealth and telemedicine best practices and approaches.  He is also the Director for the Frontiers in Telemedicine Laboratory (FIT Lab), which provides hands on telemedicine training and courses for providers and students, as well as educational opportunities for groups such as EMTs, Nurses, Doctors, and Community Health Workers.  Derrick's background spans careers in both K-12 Education Administration / Higher Education, Engineering, Marketing, and programing designed to create access, equity, and inclusion. 

Jonathan Neufeld, PhD, is Program Director of the Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center (gpTRAC), a federally funded technical assistance program housed at the University of Minnesota.  The Center provides telehealth training and consultation to healthcare providers and programs interested in implementing, evaluating, and enhancing all types of telehealth services in the Great Plains region. 

Dr. Neufeld has consulted on a wide range of projects related to rural health and telehealth over the past 15 years.  He has presented at regional and national conferences and published peer-reviewed articles in the fields of telemedicine, clinical decision support tools, mental health services evaluation, and clinical outcomes. 

Dr. Neufeld was formerly the Vice President of Information Technology and Integrated Care at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Goshen, Indiana.  In this role, he oversaw the IT programs and services at Oaklawn as well as leading a team of clinicians providing mental and behavioral health services in primary care settings across Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties.  Oaklawn has been using telehealth technology since 2011. 

Dr. Neufeld received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Ohio University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Integrated Primary Care in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. 

Before moving to Indiana, Dr. Neufeld was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Medical Center, and Senior Research Associate at the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research. There he collaborated on a wide range of clinical and research projects in the fields of mental health, primary care, telemedicine, and health care technology. 

Joe Schaffner is the Assistant Director of Outreach for the South Central Telehealth Resource Center (SCTRC) with the Institute for Digital Health and Innovation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.  Joe has two Bachelor of Art degrees and a Master in Public Administration degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to working at the SCTRC, Joe worked for over 17 years in the public health sector at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock Wastewater, and the Arkansas Department of Human Services. 

DANIELLE LOUDER is Program Director for the federally funded (HRSA/OAT) Northeast Telehealth Resource Center (NETRC), a member of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers, where she leads efforts focused on implementation and growth of telehealth programs throughout the NETRC region, (New England and NY), as well as collaborating with colleagues from the National Consortium on nation-wide efforts to advance the reach and impact of telehealth. Regional activities are carried out in partnership with the University of Vermont’s Telemedicine Program, and through collaboration with many additional stakeholders throughout the region. Key efforts include working with stakeholders to advance access and improve health outcomes for rural and underserved populations through innovative models, (e.g. Project ECHO®), and assisting health systems and providers to leverage telehealth to address today’s crucial health issues, (e.g. the opioid crisis).  

Ms. Louder also serves as Co-Director of MCD Public Health, the U.S. based division of the global non-profit organization, Medical Care Development. In this role she is responsible for growth of the U.S. based portfolio, facilitating collaborations with organizations regionally and nationally, and serving in a number of leadership positions, including representation of telehealth and rural health on state, regional and national advisory and planning workgroups, and was appointed by Governor Janet Mills to the Board of Directors for the Maine Connectivity Authority in July 2021. 

Dr. Anderson is healthcare innovator who has devoted his career to improving primary care for vulnerable, medically underserved patients. He currently serves as VP/Chief Quality Officer for Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI) and President of ConferMED, CHCI’s eConsult telehealth subsidiary. Dr. Anderson served as Director of the Weitzman Institute from 2013 through 2021 where he helped grow the organization into a nationally known center of excellence in research, education, and policy, dedicated to improving healthcare in the medical safety net.  

Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on critical issues in primary care including specialty care access, telehealth, chronic pain management, and chronic disease management. His research on eConsults, published in multiple journals including Health Affairs, has been widely cited and provided the foundation for the development of Weitzman’s subsidiary telehealth company, ConferMED, which now provides access to high quality eConsults to over 1.5 million patients in safety net practices across the US. 

Dr. Anderson obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his MD from Columbia University. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital and is a board certified general internist.  

Undergraduate at University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN and the medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pennsylvania.  Completed residency in Internal Medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center in 2007 and stayed as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. Completed Pulmonary and Critical Care training at University of Alabama-Birmingham in 2011 and rejoined UMMC as faculty in Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine where I have been since then. Won multiple teaching and consulting awards, 2 terms as member of Board of Trustees of the CHEST Foundation in American College of Chest Physicians, Co-chair of Institutional Quality Board for 5 years, Director of Medical ICU for 7 years and Critical Care COVID response leader for the institution. I am board certified in pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. I see general pulmonary clinic patients,  ICU recovery clinic, and round in the medical intensive care unit. I serve now as the Division Chief for Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine at UMMC.  

Wakina Scott is the Deputy Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health and Human Services’ telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes. 

As the Deputy Director, Wakina is leading OAT’s efforts in building a Policy and Research team to provide Agency leadership on telehealth policy and strategies and further the evidence-base for telehealth research.  Prior to this role, Wakina held several positions within HRSA and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with a focus on policy and research.

Wakina has over 20 years of experience in health policy and public health working in the private and public sectors, and obtained a Ph.D. in Family Science from the University of Maryland School of Public Health at College Park, and a Master of Public Health from George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. 

Leah Dawson is a research program manager for the Rural Telehealth Evaluation Center under the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Institute for Digital Health & Innovation. Dr.  Dawson is a graduate of the UAMS College of Public Health with a doctorate in health prevention and promotion research.  She has worked on both industry and investigator trials in a variety of capacities. Dr. Dawson is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP), and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).  Dr. Dawson’s research interests include health disparities, trust in medical researchers, and access to care. 

Hari Eswaran received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from the University of Delhi, India, a Master of Science from the University of Mississippi and doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is currently a professor and director of research with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the past 18 years, Dr. Eswaran’s area of research focuses on biomedical instrumentation with special emphasis on fetal and maternal monitoring during pregnancy. Over the years, he has undertaken several non-invasive fetal monitoring studies and has published over 100 papers in these areas. He has served on several NIH review panels and, at present, is a standing member of the NIH Biocomputing and Health Informatics panel. He is also the international telemedicine coordinator at the Institute for Digital Health & Innovation at UAMS. Dr. Eswaran has organized various workshops in schools of technology, medicine, and nursing including joint Indo-U.S. telemedicine collaborations, some of which the former President of India, Dr. APJ Kalam, launched. He has been part of several scientific committees and advisory boards related to global and rural health programs including the national Society for Education and Advancement in Research in Connected Health (SEARCH). He is currently an interdisciplinary research fellow at a national leadership program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to equip teams of researchers and on-the-ground change agents with advanced leadership skills and a clear focus on health and equity, allowing them to apply health research and policy to meet the pressing needs of communities. Currently, Dr. Eswaran leads the South Central Telehealth Resource Center, one of just 14 federally-designated Telehealth Resource Centers located across the nation. 

Derrick Wyatt, Commander, USPHS (Retired) is a Nurse Informaticist and serves as the Research Grants Manager in the Division of Digital Healthcare Research (DHR) in the Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement (CEPI) at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Mr. Wyatt is board-certified in Nursing Informatics, certified as a Managed Care Nurse and is a Certified Professional in Health Information and Management Systems. His areas of focus include population health management, data analytics, digital healthcare utilization, telehealth, mHealth and the use of digital healthcare in the underserved, long-term and post-acute care settings. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio), a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Management from Troy University (Atlanta).

Dr. Krupinski is Professor and Vice-Chair of Research at Emory University in the Departments of Radiology, Psychology and Bioinformatics. She received her BA from Cornell, MA from Montclair State and PhD from Temple, all in Experimental Psychology. Her interests are in medical image perception, observer performance, decision making, and human factors. She is Associate Director of Evaluation for the Arizona Telemedicine Program and Director of the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center. She is Past President of ATA, Past Chair of Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine, Past Chair of SPIE Medical Imaging, Vice President of the Society for Education and the Advancement of Connected Health and President of the Medical Image Perception Society. She is Editor of Telemedicine Reports.

Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, MACP is the Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), a coalition of 48 specialty societies representing more than 800,000 physicians. As the national organization of specialty societies, CMSS provides a forum to address emerging issues across specialties that influence the future of healthcare and the patients we serve. Representing every specialty, from primary care to surgery, CMSS catalyzes improvement across specialties through convening, collaborating, and collective action.

Dr. Burstin formerly served as Chief Scientific Officer of The National Quality Forum (NQF). Prior to joining NQF, she was the Director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Prior to joining AHRQ, Dr. Burstin was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and served as Director of Quality Measurement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is the author of more than 100 articles and book chapters on quality, safety, equity, and measurement. Dr. Burstin currently serves on the boards of AcademyHealth and the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. A graduate of the State University of New York at Upstate College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Burstin completed her residency training in primary care internal medicine at Boston City Hospital and fellowship in General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Ann Mond Johnson joined the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) as CEO in 2018. Her experience includes building, launching and leading client driven companies that have been innovators in healthcare technology and data to support consumers using healthcare.

Prior to joining the ATA, Ann served as CEO of Zest Health, a technology-enabled service; as Board Chair and Advisor to ConnectedHealth, a leading provider of private insurance exchanges; and as co-founder and CEO of Subimo, a pioneer in healthcare cost and quality decision support tools for consumers. Ann began her career in healthcare data and information as Senior Vice President at Sachs Group (now part of IBM Watson/Truven Health). She also worked at a multi-hospital system in Minneapolis which is now part of Allina.  

Ann’s ability to inspire and lead diverse teams has helped build both profitable organizations and innovation in the industry. Widely acknowledged as a thought leader, she presents at a range of professional meetings and conferences. She also maintains an active professional network and affiliations, including membership in the Healthcare Executive Leadership Network and Women Business Leaders of US Healthcare. Ann served on the Healthcare Advisory Council for UMB Bank and as an advisor to several start-ups. She was inducted in the Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2016.  

Ann’s involvement also extends to non-profit service organizations, including serving on the board of Round Earth Media, a non-profit organization focused on journalism (now part of the International Women’s Media Foundation).  She is a member of the Ambassadors Council for N Street Village in Washington, DC and currently serves on the board of Pathfinder International, a non-profit organization committed to country-led solutions to achieve universal sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

Recognized as among the top 100 most influential people in healthcare by Modern Healthcare Magazine, Alan Morgan serves as Chief Executive Officer for the National Rural Health Association. He has more than 31 years experience in health policy at the state and federal level, and is one of the nation’s leading experts on rural health policy.

Mr. Morgan served as a contributing author for the publications, “Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care,” “The Handbook of Rural Aging” and for the publication, “Rural Populations and Health.” In addition, his health policy articles have been published in: The American Journal of Clinical Medicine, The Journal of Rural Health, The Journal of Cardiovascular Management, The Journal of Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology Review, and in Laboratory Medicine.

Mr. Morgan served as staff for former US Congressman Dick Nichols and former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden. Additionally, his past experience includes tenures as a health care lobbyist for the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, the Heart Rhythm Society, and for VHA Inc.

He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from University of Kansas, and a master's degree in public administration from George Mason University.

René Quashie is the first-ever Vice President of Policy & Regulatory Affairs of Digital Health. Quashie provides guidance on key technical and regulatory issues relating to consumer digital health and wellness technology products, services, software and apps. Quashie also works on behalf of CTA’s Health and Fitness Technology Division, which supports the consumer health technology industry through advocacy, education, research, standards work, policy initiatives and more. The division’s industry-consensus accomplishments include the creation of CTA’s Guiding Principles on the Privacy and Security of Personal Wellness Data, addressing how companies should treat consumers’ personal wellness data.

CTA works closely with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of the National Coordinator and other related government agencies.

Quashie previously was in private law practice at several national firms and earned his law degree from George Washington University.

Julia Skapik is the Medical Director for Informatics at NACHC and a board-certified Internist and Clinical Informaticist. She came to NACHC after a stint as the Chief Health Information Officer for Cognitive Medical Systems after 5 years as a Senior Medical Informatics Officer at ONC. Dr. Skapik is also an ongoing leader in HIT interoperability, governance and clinical content as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Logica Health and in standards development as a member of the HL7 Board of Directors. In her role at NACHC, Dr. Skapik is focused on broad HIT stakeholder coordination and engagement, common data definitions and measure harmonization, and HIT-enabled clinical quality improvement, care coordination, and patient engagement. 

Heather Dimeris serves as the Director for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a Commander (CDR) in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). 

The Office promotes telehealth as a way to deliver health care, and supports the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) telehealth efforts to expand access and improve health outcomes. 

Throughout her career, CDR Dimeris has been committed to expanding health care access to advance the public’s health, particularly in the area of telehealth. Her work included the creation of multiple telehealth grant programs including the Substance Abuse Telehealth Network Grant Program, the Tele-Behavioral Health Network Grant Program, the Telehealth Broadband Pilot Program, the Telehealth Center of Excellence Grant Program, and the Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program. 

In response to the unprecedented Public Health Emergency, CDR Dimeris led the rapid creation of the HHS Telehealth Website in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Immediate Office of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response. The HHS Telehealth Website, receiving over one million page views in its first year, serves as a resource for patients and providers to obtain or deliver health care services via telehealth. 

CDR Dimeris also created and leads the HRSA Telehealth Workgroup that serves as a resource for rural and underserved communities and provides telehealth-related recommendations to federal and state governments. CDR Dimeris led the HRSA Telehealth Strategic Plan that allowed HRSA to be an agency-wide leader in the field of telehealth, resulting in over 1,300 HRSA grants that include telehealth. In 2021, CDR Dimeris received the HHS Award for Distinguished Service for exemplary leadership and innovation in expanding telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to her role in OAT, CDR Dimeris served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), for five years. In that role, she managed a broad range of rural health issues with an emphasis on telehealth policy and programs as well as rural health policy and research. CDR Dimeris joined HRSA in 2003 as a HRSA Scholar. In her early years at HRSA, CDR Dimeris served as a project officer and policy analyst for FORHP and in 2007, she became the Associate Director and Senior Advisor for FORHP to manage the office operations and assist with overall management of FORHP. 

CDR Dimeris was dietitian for Malden Hospital in Massachusetts prior to working at HRSA. She holds a Master of Science degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.