Speakers

Staci Alexander, MPA, is vice president of Thought Leadership at AARP working to amplify AARP’s voice in key conversations surrounding longevity, aging and equity. In her role, Staci leads a dynamic team of issue experts working across sectors to elevate new ideas, solutions and relationships. She has a long history of cultivating partnerships, forming alliances and leading national initiatives to engage key stakeholders in tackling aging issues through a variety of approaches including policy development, philanthropy and communication.

Prior to joining AARP, Staci was assistant director with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and senior associate of the Community Strategies Group for the Aspen Institute. She also has worked as a staffer in the United States Senate, a lobbyist for urban and rural affordable housing development and as a grantmaker.

Staci is passionate about advancing equity and access for adults and children with developmental disabilities. She serves on the board of the Institute for Exceptional Care, an organization committed to improving healthcare outcomes for people with development disabilities. She also serves as a volunteer commissioner for the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Staci has an MPA from City University of New York, Baruch School of Public Affairs, and a BA in political science from Vassar College. Staci is also a graduate of the Leadership Fairfax (Virginia) Class of 2020.

Richard Barakat, MD, is an internationally recognized surgeon and clinical investigator. He leads all of cancer services and research at Northwell Health, including the Cancer Institute, which treats more than 19,000 new patients each year.

Dr. Barakat previously was chief of the Gynecology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering from 2001-2013 and he held the Ronald O. Perelman Chair in Gynecologic Surgery. He was the lead investigator on several influential research projects at MSK, including a study to compare the benefits of laparoscopic versus standard surgery for patients with endometrial cancer, a study evaluating symptomatic lower-extremity lymphedema in women treated for uterine corpus cancer and a study testing the efficacy of the Gynecologic Cancer Lymphedema Questionnaire in detecting lower-extremity lymphedema symptoms.

Dr. Barakat is the Edward and Carole Miller Distinguished Chair in Cancer and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, and has authored or co-authored more than 340 peer-reviewed articles and numerous textbook chapters. He is also an editor of a surgical atlas on gynecologic cancer and of the latest edition of Principles and Practice of Gynecologic Oncology, one of the leading texts in the field.

In addition, he served as a member and examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and for five years was vice chair of the Cancer Prevention Committee of the Gynecologic Oncology Group. He was president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology from 2013-2014 and past president of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society from 2014-2016. From 2013-2017, he served as director of the MSK regional network.

Dr. Barakat received his BA from Queens College, City University of New York and his MD from SUNY Downstate. He also earned an MBA from the Columbia University School of Business.

David Battinelli, MD, is Northwell Health’s physician-in-chief on all clinical, research and education issues. This role follows a transition from his position as Northwell’s senior vice president and chief medical officer (CMO), in which he was responsible for the overall professional management of clinical, education, research and operational issues related to medical and clinical affairs.

Dr. Battinelli is also the Deborah and Lawrence Smith Dean at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. A founding member of the Zucker School of Medicine, he previously served as the vice dean and earlier as the dean for medical education and chaired the committee charged with developing the new medical school’s curriculum.

While CMO, he also served as the chief operating officer for the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research where he oversaw all operational and budgetary issues for Northwell’s research enterprise growing extramural funding and endowments while improving overall efficiency and research productivity.

Previously, he served as the health system’s chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs, in charge of all undergraduate and graduate educational programs, continuing medical education, and academic affairs and institutional relationships.

A board-certified internist, Dr. Battinelli came to Northwell Health from Boston Medical Center (BMC), where he served as vice chair for education, program director for the internal medicine residency program, and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. He was also an active staff physician at BMC and the Boston Veterans Administration.

Dr. Battinelli is a past president of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine. He has worked closely with and served on numerous committees for a variety of national medical organizations including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians and the Accreditation Committee on Graduate Medical Education. In addition, he has lectured extensively on clinical education, faculty development of teaching skills and internal medicine, and is a noted speaker and author on these subjects.

Dr. Battinelli earned his medical degree from the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton. He completed his residency and chief residency at Boston City Hospital.

Paurvi is a healthcare executive, trusted strategist, and global thought leader with a reputation for marshaling funds, achieving focused outcomes, and leading innovative partnership strategies that bring health, care and bereavement solutions closer to home for aging populations, their families, and caregivers. As President and Chief Impact Officer of The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, and as Founder and CEO of ThirdEyeFocus, Paurvi leverages her executive experiences at Abbott, Levi Strauss, Medtronic, CARE and USAID, USGAO, in influencing, advising, and collaborating with founders, C-suite leaders and Boards to modernize legacies, reframe referral and value pathways and build organizational cultures that meet the social issues of our time.
Working across public, nonprofit, and commercial sectors of healthcare, Paurvi has a consistent record of impact working across industries and functions by aligning and distributing capital with partners that increase workforce support and expand access to home and community-based health and social services and workforce support for the elderly and immigrants worldwide. Highly skilled in strategic philanthropic and capital investments, corporate responsibility/ESG, public affairs, and human resources benefits and employee engagement for purpose driven Fortune 500 companies, private start-ups, nonprofits, foundations, and government. Board Executive leadership as Board Chair, Vice Chair, and Treasurer of global healthcare, caregiving, women’s leadership, and immigrant focused private companies and nonprofit organizations.

Exceptional performance against global, multi-million-dollar strategies that deliver above target and durable social outcomes and business efficiency results by connecting business acumen, stakeholder engagement and advocacy with innovative strategies that optimize investments in health systems. Respected for scaling outcomes by elevating inclusion, belonging, and organization culture as central components of team engagement and strategic partnerships that deliver social change.

Authentic, second-generation Indian American, Asian woman leader, recognized for thought leadership across
HIV/AIDS, women’s health, and social impact. Dedicated mentor focusing on developing leadership and talent to deliver outcome focused strategies across various functions and sectors.

Dr. Biese serves as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine as well as a Vice-Chair of the Board of the UNC Health Alliance and UNC Senior Alliance, the clinically integrated network across UNC Health care’s delivery system. He also serves as a consultant with West Health, a San Diego-based philanthropic organization dedicated to improving care for older adults. With the support of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the West Health Foundation, he is the co-leader alongside Dr. Ula Hwang of the national Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative, serving as PI of the implementation arm. He is grateful to chair the first Board of Governors for the ACEP Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program, which has now improved the quality of care in over 475 emergency departments in 40 states and 4 countries.   

Adam has nearly 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and innovation in the private sector and in the U.S. Government. As the child of a primary care physician and a speech pathologist, Adam’s parents instilled in him the importance of caring, family, and community, and he saw how magic the time is between providers and their patients and the change that this can make in someone’s life. Adam founded three successful healthcare companies including Landmark Health, a company delivering around-the-clock medical care to chronically ill patients. From there, Adam took on major roles in the U.S. Government, including Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), where he worked on value-based care for the United States. Adam was also a founding member of Operation Warp Speed, unanimously confirmed by the Senate as the first CEO of the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and a negotiator in the historic Abraham Accords.

After his government tenure, Adam started Rubicon because he wanted to build healthcare companies to transform how care is delivered in America, as he saw the power of bringing the private and public sector together to solve our nation’s greatest healthcare challenges.

Adam lives in Nashville with his wife, Shira, and their four children.

Having been appointed by the Board of Bishops of the A.M.E. Zion Church as Zion’s second Chief of Protocol in 50 years, Rev. Dr. Malcolm J. Byrd is responsible for establishing order and custom for all national services and ceremonies of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
Dr. Byrd is a Long Island, New York native, yet he spent his formative years living in Detroit, Michigan and Gastonia, North Carolina where he completed his Secondary Education. He entered the ministry in 1998 at age 14 and was licensed as an exhorter by Presiding Elder H.L. Hall at the Trinity A.M.E. Zion Church in Gastonia, NC.

Dr. Byrd is an alumnus of Livingstone College, a historically black college in North Carolina where he served as a Presidential Scholar, President of the Student Government Association, President, NAACP, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and member of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Byrd received an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York, at Purchase. He is also a graduate of the Pacific School of Religion of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA with a graduate degree in theological studies. He is a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ with a concentration in Homiletical Theology. He was an undergraduate fellow of the Fund for Theological Education. In October of 2019 Dr. Byrd was the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology Degree from the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Byrd has served in various capacities in local and national leadership. From 1998 to 2002 he was the National Chaplain for the Varick International Christian Youth Council. He is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Woodson University. He served as Vice-Chair of the board for the Brockton Church and Community after School Program, Trustee of the Robert Perry Corporation, Barber Scotia College Foundation, and currently President of the Leon W. Watts II Memorial Scholarship Fund. Dr. Byrd is a member of the Board of Directors of the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, New York, a National Park. Rev. Byrd was recently tapped by the National Council of Churches to serve as the Director of Logistics for the “ACT Now to End Racism Rally” that drew thousands on April 4, 2018 in Washington, DC.

As an ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Dr. Byrd enjoyed successful pastorates in Brockton, Massachusetts, North Attleboro, Massachusetts and Greenport, New York. He also served as the Senior Pastor of the historic Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, (Founded 1818) the oldest continuous black church in Brooklyn, New York as well as the Senior Pastor of the First A.M.E. Zion Church-San Francisco, California, one of oldest African American institutions west of the Mississippi, organized in 1852, where through his leadership the mortgage on the parsonage was liquidated 19 years ahead of schedule, a pipe organ installed and the church fully renovated. He is the founder of the First Church Community Outreach, a 501c3 organization that seeks to build and encourage beloved community. During his years in San Francisco, he was engaged in social and ecumenical ventures that have once again made First Church a hotbed of social justice activity in San Francisco.

Dr. Byrd has organized and led many efforts and public demonstrations to draw attention to the plight of marginalized and disinherited people. He led the fight to save the Upward Bound program at the University of San Francisco. Byrd is a founding member of the 100 Coalition. Dr. Byrd was the Pastor of the historic (Organized in 1820) Jackson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Hempstead, New York for 5 years and in June of 2019 he was appointed the pastor of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion in Harlem, New York, the oldest Black institution in New York State and the Mother Church of Zion Methodism.

Dr. Byrd has been described as a master orator with a keen focus upon English prose and lore of yesteryear. He speaks to over 100 audiences around the nation each year (with professional representation). He has been featured as a headliner at various national conferences, colleges and universities, religious congregations and civic observances. He has lectured and preached at Harvard University on numerous occasions at the invitation of its university ministry, and its late minister The Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes at The Memorial Church in the center of Harvard yard. One such lecture was titled, “The Life and Faith of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Wheeler, D.D.”, an A.M.E. Zion clergyman of the 19th century. He participated in a widely publicized discussion at the Schomburg Center for African American Research in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY. He has shared panels and pulpits with internationally renowned luminaries as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Gerasimos II, Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Amos C. Brown, Rev. Cecil Williams, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and others. His areas of speaking interest are vast covering a territory that spans from Christian formation, African American Religious History, Social Justice, to Youth and Young Adult Development. Recently, he was honored to be the preacher for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington service held in San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral. At the 2004 Fall Convocation at Livingstone College, as the President of the Student Government Association, Dr. Byrd approached the lectern and delivered his opening address to the trustees, faculty and students entirely in Classical Latin (Much like Harvard, Brown, and other institutions). This moment has been called one of the most memorable events in the recent history of the 130 year old institution.

Dr. Byrd is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 100 Black Men Inc, American Academy of Religion, NAACP, a 32nd degree Prince Hall Mason (Boyer Lodge #1), 100 Coalition, and the University Club of San Francisco. He is a member of the Trustee Board of Wayland Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the Board of Visitors of Howard University School of Divinity.

Currently at age 37, Dr. Byrd has spent a considerable amount of his life fighting for causes aimed at assisting the plight of downtrodden and marginalized people. He is fondly regarded as the “Picketing Preacher.” He shares the sentiment of the great civil rights clergyman, The Reverend Vernon Johns, “When you see a good fight, get in it!” Dr. Byrd hopes that though his various talks, lectures, addresses, and sermons that dormant levels of consciousness will be awakened as a rose reveling its unfurled glory for the first time before the heavens.

Dr. Byrd lives in the Village of Harlem, New York.

An internist, geriatrician, palliative care physician and public health leader, Maria Carney, MD, brings extensive expertise to Northwell Health.

As medical director, Dr. Carney aligns the health system’s Department of Medicine and Post-Acute Services, which includes inpatient palliative care, sub-acute rehabilitation, outpatient geriatric medicine, home care and hospice.

Dr. Carney is a physician and founding member of the Nassau County Medical Reserve Corps, a community-based, civilian and volunteer program committed to strengthening local public health initiatives. From 2008-2011, she was commissioner of health for Nassau County. She also worked in several clinical and academic leadership positions at Winthrop-University Hospital and Glengariff Health Care Center before joining Northwell in 2012.

Dr. Carney has published articles, chapters and edited medical books in the area of dementia, advance directives, palliative medicine and emergency response for vulnerable populations. She has several professional affiliations and honors, including a 2017 selection as governor of the New York Long Island Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Holding a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, Dr. Carney received her medical degree at New York Medical College. She completed her internship in internal medicine at the Georgetown University Medical Center, and her internal medicine residency training at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical College and fellowship in geriatric medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez as Commissioner to the Department for the Aging in March 2022. As Commissioner, Cortés-Vázquez has worked to create equity and increase diversity around the older adult centers across the city. She also implemented the first of its kind Aging Cabinet for Older New Yorkers to unify city agencies to work together and tackle the problems affecting older adults. She continues to work to advance the NYC Aging mission to eliminate ageism, ensure the dignity and quality of life of older adults and support caregivers as she did with the previous administration under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Before being appointed to Commissioner, Lorraine served as Senior Advisor to de Blasio in the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.  

Prior to serving in the Mayor’s Office, Cortés-Vázquez was Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations and Government Affairs at EmblemHealth, where she was responsible for EmblemHealth’s relationships with key government, community, and industry stakeholders, better positioning EmblemHealth for new growth opportunities. Cortés-Vázquez was also the Executive Vice President for Multicultural Markets and Engagement at the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) where she developed a comprehensive 5-year strategic plan. At AARP, she ensured that the interests of multicultural age 50-plus audiences were integrated into everything AARP does, with the goal of increasing multicultural presence among AARP membership and increasing AARP’s involvement in those communities.  

Before joining AARP, Cortés-Vázquez was New York State’s 65th Secretary of State and the first Hispanic appointee to serve in that role. She also served as Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Cablevision Systems Corporation, a leading media, entertainment, and telecommunications company. She brought to this position a distinguished career in the nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors that extends more than 30 years. Her work in the nonprofit sector has gained her national recognition and numerous awards.  

From 1998 to 2004, Cortés-Vázquez served as President of the Hispanic Federation, a nonprofit network of Latino health and human service agencies with a footprint throughout the East Coast. She has extensive experience creating community partnerships to leverage civic participation and increasing the visibility of educational initiatives. In the early 1990s, she served as Executive Director of ASPIRA of New York, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit Latino youth leadership development and education advocacy agency.  

Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez obtained her undergraduate degree from Hunter College and earned a master’s degree from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She is a Toll Fellow and has earned certificates from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Columbia University’s School Professional Studies.  

She is dedicated to her family, particularly her nieces, nephews, and grandsons. 

Eric De Jonge, M.D. serves as Director of Geriatrics and the Medical House Call Program at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. His main goal is to create skilled and compassionate teams that help underserved elders and their families live with dignity at home.   

In 2003, he was named National House Call Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Home Care Medicine (AAHCM). In 2010 he helped develop a Medicare reform act called Independence at Home (IAH), to improve quality and reduce Medicare costs in the care of complex elders with the use of home-based primary care. He served as President of American Academy of Home Care Medicine in 2017-19 and Chair of the AAHCM Public Policy committee in 2016-18.   

He grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated with honors from both Stanford University and the Yale School of Medicine. He completed residency in primary care internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview and did fellowships in Health Policy at Georgetown and in Geriatrics at Johns Hopkins. He is an Associate Professor at the Georgetown School of Medicine (full-time) and Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine (part-time).   

Michael Dowling is one of the health care industry’s most highly respected voices, achieving the No. 1 ranking in Modern Healthcare magazine’s 2022 list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” As a health care executive over the past three decades, he has been a no-excuses advocate for reforms that have helped the industry become more patient-focused and committed to quality and safety. His willingness to take a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration has earned widespread praise and recognition from peers and the news media. During his years in academia and government, Mr. Dowling has distinguished himself as a compassionate voice for those in need, developing and promoting innovative health and human services policies. 

As president and CEO of Northwell Health for 22 years, he has demonstrated invaluable leadership in overseeing a rapidly expanding clinical, research and academic enterprise with annual revenue of $18 billion. With a workforce of more than 85,000, Northwell is the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State, caring for more than two million people annually through a vast network of 21 hospitals, more than 900 outpatient facilities—including 220 primary care practices and 50-plus urgent care centers—along with home care, rehabilitation and end-of-life services. 

Hailing from Ireland, Mr. Dowling bridges borders and brings a global perspective to health care. In 2020, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, which recognized his contributions to Ireland and to Irish communities abroad, presented by the President of Ireland. He also received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and is a board member of the Foreign Policy Association. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College in Dublin, Ireland. He also earned his bachelor’s degree from University College Cork, and went on to receive honorary doctorates from Queens University Belfast and University College Dublin. Mr. Dowling was the Grand Marshal of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2017, when he was also inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame. 

Mr. Dowling has invested heavily in Northwell’s research arm, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, home to 50 research labs, 3,000 clinical research trials, and 5,000 scientists and staff who are transforming the treatment of conditions like lupus, arthritis, sepsis, cancer, psychiatric illness and Alzheimer’s disease. Feinstein has gained stature as the global headquarters of bioelectronic medicine research, where physician scientists are tapping neural pathways that signal the body to heal itself, reducing reliance on prescription drugs. 

Under Mr. Dowling’s leadership, Northwell has also pursued a visionary approach to medical education, developing innovative curricula at its Zucker School of Medicine and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Northwell’s graduate medical education programs have become one of the nation’s largest, training more than 1,900 medical residents and fellows annually. Further underscoring his commitment to education, Mr. Dowling’s first act when becoming Northwell’s CEO in 2002 was creating a corporate university, the Center for Learning & Innovation, which has helped instill a culture of lifelong learning among employees at all levels of the organization. 

Mr. Dowling’s highly visible leadership style enabled the health system to successfully navigate the intense challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably in 2020 when the New York metropolitan area was at the epicenter of the epidemic’s first wave. Mr. Dowling detailed his and Northwell’s experiences in a book titled Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis. 

Northwell clinicians treated more than 350,000 COVID patients and the health system used its innovative culture to significantly expand bed capacity and leverage its resources to ensure adequate supplies of lifesaving drugs, ventilators, personal protective equipment and other essential provisions to protect patients and caregivers, including administering the nation’s first COVID vaccines in December 2020. 

In addition to his 2020 book about Northwell’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Dowling is the co-author of a 2020 memoir titled After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant’s Journey from Ireland to America, which chronicles his poverty-stricken childhood in Ireland, his years as a social policy expert in academia and in New York State government, and his ascent to becoming one of the health care industry’s preeminent leaders. He is also the co-author of the 2018 book, Health Care Reboot: Megatrends Energizing American Medicine, about the trends that are driving the nation’s health care system toward greater quality, safety, access and affordability. 

Prior to becoming CEO, Mr. Dowling was the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, playing a key role in initiating mergers and acquisitions that enabled Northwell to become New York’s largest integrated health system. Before joining Northwell in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Mr. Dowling served in New York State government for 12 years during the 1980s and early 1990s, including seven years as deputy secretary of human services to former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, state director of health, education and human services, and later, commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. He initiated numerous innovative programs aimed at expanding primary care access to the medically underserved and uninsured, and helping the state to combat the crack cocaine epidemic at that time. 

Before his public service career, Mr. Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County. He was also a former instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Continuing Professional Education. 

Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards and recognitions throughout his career, including: The Conference Board’s 2023 Committee for Economic Development Distinguished Leadership Award, the 2021 Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, the Columbia University School of Business’ 2020 Deming Cup for Operational Excellence, the 2012 B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award, the National Center for Healthcare Leadership’s 2011 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems’ 2011 CEO IT Achievement Award, the Ellis Island Honors Society’s 2007 Medal of Honor, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations Award, the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the Mental Health Association of New York State’s Outstanding Public Service Award, and the American Society for Public Administration’s Alfred E. Smith Award. 

Mr. Dowling is a member of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), the League of Voluntary Hospitals of New York, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The Healthcare Institute and the Long Island Association and many other professional organizations. 

Thomas E. Edes, MD, MS, is Senior Medical Advisor for Geriatrics and Extended Care for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  His prior role as VA Executive Director of Geriatrics and Extended Care with national responsibility for all VA geriatrics, extended care and palliative care positioned him well for his current roles as Senior Medical Advisor and as Council Chair for Electronic Health Record Modernization.  He was instrumental in expanding Home Based Primary Care to every VA Medical Center, establishing palliative care teams in every hospital, taking Medical Foster Home from a pilot to a national program, developing the Medicare demonstration of home based primary care called Independence at Home, and initiating a collaboration with the Office of Emergency Medicine that is transforming emergency care for older Veterans.  He has been involved in the Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery and the Geriatric Surgery Verification program, in VA expanding the health care workforce of all disciplines with geriatric expertise, and in VA becoming the largest integrated Age Friendly Health System.  

Dr. Edes received his MD degree and MS degree in Nutrition from the University of Illinois.  In 2018, Dr. Edes received the prestigious Nascher/Manning Award for lifelong pioneering achievements in clinical geriatrics from the American Geriatrics Society, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Home Care Medicine. In 2020, Academy Health honored Dr. Edes with the Roger C. Lipitz Leadership Award in recognition of his contributions to health services research and translation of evidence into policy. 

Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, is President of The John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, a foundation dedicated to improving the care of older adults. She serves as the chief strategist for the Foundation and her vision for better care of older adults is catalyzing the Age-Friendly Health Systems social movement. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and served on the independent Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. She previously served as Distinguished Professor and Dean of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and Founding Dean of the New York University College of Nursing. Dr. Fulmer is nationally and internationally recognized as a leading expert in geriatrics and is also known for conceptualization and development of the national NICHE program and research on the topic of elder abuse and neglect. She is the first nurse to have served on the board of the American Geriatrics Society. She is also the first nurse to have served as President of the Gerontological Society of America, which awarded her the 2019 Donald P. Kent Award for exemplifying the highest standards for professional leadership in the field of aging. 

Jennie Chin Hansen is the immediate past CEO of the American Geriatrics Society, the largest professional membership organization of gero-clinicians committed to the care of older adults living with care complexity. president of the 38 million member AARP during the negotiations and development of the Affordable Care Act. She currently contributes in content areas of dementia, workforce, chronic complex care and health equity. 

Her primary career includes nearly 25 years in San Francisco providing integrated, globally financed and comprehensive medical and community- based service, including home to care sites, for nursing home eligible older persons. Its groundbreaking fully capitated, integrated and coordinated service delivery system became the prototype for the 1997 federal law that incorporated the Program of All Inclusive Care to the Elderly (PACE) into the Medicare and Medicaid programs. PACE now operates extensively in California, 31 other states and the District of Columbia. 

She has served as a federal commissioner on Medicare and currently serves on several boards related health and health care, including the not for profit Medicare Advantage SCAN Health Plan. In 2019 she was appointed as one of the Stakeholders who crafted the first ever California MasterPlan for Aging, now in implementation. She also currently serves in advisory roles with several startup companies. For over five years she’s been a consultant to establish accredited Geriatric Emergency Departments in San Francisco. 

Recent year awards include the American Society on Aging’s (ASA) Hall of Fame award, one of the national 50 Influencers in Aging by PBS’ Next Avenue, the 2019 Audacious Alumni award by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and the UCSF Medal in 2022. 

In addition to being a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, she has received several alumni awards from the University of California, San Francisco and Boston College (BC), including honorary doctorates at from BC and recently from Harvard University (2024). 

Dr. Kalman received her bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Pennsylvania and medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She performed all her clinical training (internal medicine residency, chief medical residency, clinical cardiology, advanced heart failure) at Mount Sinai, New York. She has also completed a physician leadership course at the Health Management Academy and a health care delivery executive program at the Harvard University School of Business. Dr. Kalman began her professional career as an academic cardiologist, directing clinical and research heart failure programs at Beth Israel Medical Center, Tisch Hospital at New York University, and Mount Sinai Medical Center. In addition to her outstanding clinical skills and dedication to patients, Dr. Kalman was tremendously effective in organizing and galvanizing clinical, research, and administration to build programs focused on the needs of complex patients with advanced heart failure.  

She came to Northwell Health in 2014 as associate medical director of Long Island Jewish Medical Center and the North Shore LIJ Health System. She then moved to Lenox Hill Hospital as medical director (2015-2018) and was also health system’s medical director of patient experience (2016-2021). In 2018, Dr. Kalman became executive director of Lenox Hill Hospital and showed exemplary leadership during the pandemic.  

In 2021, she was appointed chief medical officer and deputy physician-in-chief at Northwell Health. Dr. Kalman is truly a visionary leader, a problem-solver, a connector, and a strategic mind. She is a professor of cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.  

She is a well-recognized, highly respected national health care trailblazer and has helped put Northwell on the national map in many areas, including patient experience, crisis management, and effective change. 

Ian Kremer is the Executive Director for the LEAD Coalition and a nationally recognized public policy expert in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Kremer joined the coalition in 2012 as its first Executive Director and has since doubled the membership. The LEAD Coalition has elevated the national discussion by contributing to development of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, securing historic increases in funding for dementia research at the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with other stakeholders, and working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to improve detection and diagnosis of cognitive impairment.

Kremer participates on several national steering committees, including the “National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers.” He is co-chair of the AD Patient and Caregiver Engagement initiative’s governance working group, and a member of the Executive Committee for Dementia Friendly America. Before his work at the LEAD Coalition, Kremer led state and local policy for 15 years at the Alzheimer’s Association, National Capital Area chapter.

Kremer earned his undergraduate degree with honors from Washington University in St. Louis and his law degree from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar Association.

Dr. Lee is Chief Medical Officer for Press Ganey Associates, Inc. He is an internist and cardiologist, practices primary care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he was promoted to Professor in 2004. Prior to assuming his role at Press Ganey, he was Network President for Partners Healthcare System, the integrated delivery system founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Cornell University Medical College, and Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Lee is a member of the Boards of Directors of Geisinger Health System, Geisinger Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, and Health Leads. He is a member of the Panel of Health Advisors of the Congressional Budget Office and the Editorial Board of The New England Journal of Medicine. He is the Editor in Chief of NEJM Catalyst.

He is the author of eight books including Chaos and Organization in Health Care (2009), Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine (2013), An Epidemic of Empathy in Healthcare (2016), The Good Doctor (2020), Healthcare’s Path Forward (2023), and the forthcoming Social Capital in Healthcare (2025). He has published more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed publications and leading periodicals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Kedar Mate, MD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and a member of the faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Mate’s scholarly work focuses health care quality, health equity, and approaches to achieving large-scale change. Previously Dr. Mate worked at Partners In Health, the World Health Organization, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is widely published, serves on multiple health system and company Boards, and has received numerous honors including a Soros, Fulbright and Aspen Fellowship, and was recently named to Modern Healthcare’s Top 100 Most Influential healthcare executives in the US. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in American History and from Harvard Medical School with a medical degree.   

You can follow him on X at @KedarMate. 

As senior vice president of community wellness and population health, Debbie Salas-Lopez, MD, MPH, oversees Northwell Health’s community and population health strategy, including community relations, health management, risk-based arrangements, community health partnerships, corporate social responsibility, and the community health needs assessment across all of our markets.

Dr. Salas-Lopez’s leadership was critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her team partnered with many community-and faith-based leaders to identify their most pressing needs. This became the catalyst for the creation of Northwell’s Health Equity Taskforce composed of community, faith, and tribal nation leaders who continue to work on health equity and social issues that impact health.

Dr. Salas-Lopez joined Northwell in 2019 as senior vice president for transformation, responsible for system value-based initiatives that improve health and care delivery. She assumed her leadership role after serving as the chief transformation officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network, where she led strategy and oversaw a unique and broad portfolio, including community-based and population health initiatives, telehealth, connected care and innovation, strategic partnerships, and operational redesigning of the clinical delivery system.

At Lehigh Valley, Dr. Salas-Lopez held various academic and clinical leadership positions. In 2009, she was appointed the Leonard Parker Pool Chair of Medicine, a role she served in until 2015 when she became an associate chief medical officer. In 2017, she was appointed chief transformation officer. Academically, she was a professor of medicine at the University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine and the College of Public Health. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Salas-Lopez has collaborated with many community- and faith-based organizations on issues related to social needs, prevention, health disparities and health care access. She has led initiatives to improve quality of care and the health of the community, reduce costs and provide better care coordination. She is also a nationally recognized speaker and educator on women leaders, health care disparities and equity in care, cultural awareness, language-appropriate services, and the impact of social and economic factors on health.

In 2021, Modern Healthcare named her to its annual Top 25 Women Leaders as a “Woman to Watch,” and she received the Tribute to Excellence in Health Care Award from the United Hospital Fund. Other honors include the Hospital Association of New York State’s Community Health Improvement Award, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award, the Long Island Coalition for Homeless Key of Excellence Award and Empire Whole Health Heroes Award.

Dr. Tinetti is the Gladys Philips Crofoot Professor of Medicine and a professor at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies. Her current research and clinical focus is on clinical decision-making for older adults in the face of multiple health conditions, measuring the net benefit and harms of commonly used medications, and the importance of cross-disease universal health outcomes. She is leading a national effort,(Patient Priorities Care) to develop and test an approach to health care that aligns clinical care and decision-making with the specific health priorities of older adults with multiple conditions. This initiative involves: 1) helping older adults identify the health goals they most desire in the face of tradeoffs and the health care they are willing and able to receive (their healthcare preferences)to achieve these goals; and 2) guiding clinicians to translate these goals and preferences into care decisions. She is evaluating the feasibility of this approach in clinical practice and its effect on patient-reported outcomes and healthcare utilization. She also chairs a group of advisors helping health systems be Age-Friendly. Dr. Tinetti’s work is funded by the NIH and several foundations. She has published over 250 original peer-reviewed articles. She has served on several national advisory committees including the FDA, NCQA, NQF. Dr. Tinetti has received numerous awards and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship.

Kevin J. Tracey, is President and CEO and the Karches Family Distinguished Chair in Medical Research at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research; Professor of Neurosurgery and Molecular Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell; and Executive Vice President, Research, at Northwell Health, in New York. A leader in the scientific fields of inflammation and bioelectronic medicine, his contributions include discovery and molecular mapping neural circuits controlling immunity and identifying the therapeutic action of monoclonal anti-TNF antibodies.

Professor Tracey received his B.S. (Chemistry, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Boston College in 1979, and his M.D. from Boston University in 1983.  He trained in neurosurgery from 1983 to 1992 at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center and was a guest investigator at the Rockefeller University before moving in 1992 to The Feinstein Institutes.

An inventor with more than 75 United States patents, author of more than 400 scientific publications, he cofounded the Global Sepsis Alliance, a non-profit organization supporting the efforts of >1 million sepsis caregivers in more than 70 countries. His honors and awards include a Doctorates honoris causa from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Hofstra University, New York; the Boston University Distinguished Alumni Award; Fellow of the AIMBE Class (2020), the Harvey Society lecture, New York; and lectureships from Harvard, Yale, Rockefeller University, the NIH, and elsewhere. His memberships include the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2001), the American Association of Physicians (2009), the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame (2012), Alpha Omega Alpha (2014), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2020). Professor Tracey is author of Fatal Sequence (Dana Press), and delivers lectures nationally and internationally on inflammation, sepsis, the neuroscience of immunity, and bioelectronic medicine.