Previous Speakers

Ann Aerts is Head of the Novartis Foundation, an organization committed to transform the health of low-income populations, by leveraging the power of data, digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to reimagine health and care around the world. 

Ann holds a Degree in Medicine, a Masters in Public Health from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and a Degree in Tropical Medicine from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. 

Passionate about improving population health through data, digital and AI, Ann applies her relentless commitment to overcoming health inequities to pioneer solutions that can advance health and care globally. Ann chairs the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development Working Group on Digital and AI in Health and is a member the International Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health. In 2018 Ann served as a member of the US National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Committee on Improving the Quality of Health Care Globally and sits on the US National Academies of Medicine Commission on Healthy Longevity. Ann has authored numerous publications on digital health and innovative approaches and multisector partnerships to address global health challenges.

David Battinelli, MD, is responsible for the overall professional management of clinical, education, research and operational issues related to medical and clinical affairs.

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, all continuing medical education, and academic affairs and institutional relationships.

Dr. Battinelli is vice dean and the Betsey Cushing Whitney Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine.

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, 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, among others. In addition, he has lectured extensively on clinical education, faculty development of teaching skills and internal medicine, and is a noted workshop leader and author on these subjects.

Dr. Battinelli earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark, NJ, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton.

Nancy Brown is Chief Executive Officer of the American Heart Association (AHA), a 97-year-old organization guided by an unwavering mission: To be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.

Under Nancy’s leadership as CEO since 2008, the AHA has become a global authority on cardiovascular and brain health as well as overall health and well-being. Forging powerful partnerships – together with 40 million volunteers, supporters and staff – Nancy champions equitable health for all and is committed to innovation at the intersection of science, technology and public health on behalf of patients everywhere.

As medical director for Health Solutions, the Care Management Organization for Northwell Health, Dr. Brown oversees, designs, implements, and manages the value-based clinical portfolio.  In this role she has establishing and innovated multiple clinical and episodic care models.  Dr. Brown works apply these models and clinical transformation in the development of Northwell’s value-based clinical strategy. Dr. Brown has powered the programs of the CMO through technological integrations and collaboration with site, clinical, financial, and national leaders in the population health continuum. 

She received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed a family medicine residency and chief residency at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Brown spent more than a decade in Florida, where she helped implement Department of Health community-based services, received a master’s degree in public health from the University of South Florida and served as associate medical director at Tidewell Hospice and Palliative Care. Board-certified in Family Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Care, Dr.Brown also maintains a clinical practice within Northwell’s House Calls program.

Dr. Brown has lectured nationally about payment reform and practice transformation.

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 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.

Megan Callahan joined Lyft in 2018 to lead its growing healthcare business as VP of Healthcare. Every year, over 5.8 million people can’t get the care they need due to lack of transportation and Megan is passionate about tackling this national access to care issue.

Prior to her time at Lyft, she served as Chief Strategy Officer and member of the executive leadership team at Change Healthcare, a market leader in healthcare technology and services. She was one of the primary architects of the merger that created Change Healthcare, crafted during her tenure as senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development for McKesson Technology Solutions. During her 13 year tenure at McKesson Technology Solutions, Megan oversaw strategy, corporate and business development for the $3B HCIT segment.

Megan also served on the board of directors for the Commonwell Health Alliance, a non profit dedicated to defining the future of nationwide interoperability. She is an advisor to FORESIGHT, an initiative of the Rippel Foundation and created in partnership with Blue Shield of California Foundation, which is a multi-year effort focused on designing a future for health. She has a Masters in Public Health from UCLA.

Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., FARVO, was appointed Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health and Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2012. Dr. Clayton has strengthened NIH support for research on diseases, disorders, and conditions that affect women. She is the architect of the NIH policy requiring scientists to consider sex as a biological variable across the research spectrum, a part of NIH’s initiative to enhance reproducibility, rigor, and transparency. As co-chair of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers with NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Clayton also leads NIH’s efforts to advance women in science careers. In 2021, Dr. Clayton was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr. Clayton was previously the Deputy Clinical Director of the National Eye Institute (NEI). A board-certified ophthalmologist, Dr. Clayton’s research interests include autoimmune ocular diseases and the role of sex and gender in health and disease. Dr. Clayton has a particular interest in ocular surface disease and discovered a novel form of disease associated with premature ovarian insufficiency that affects young women, setting the stage for her commitment to rigorous, thoughtful exploration of the role of sex and gender in health and disease. She is the author of more than 120 scientific publications, journal articles, and book chapters. Her clinical research has ranged from randomized controlled trials of novel therapies for immune-mediated ocular diseases to studies on the development of digital imaging techniques for the anterior segment.

Dr. Clayton, a native Washingtonian, received her undergraduate degree with honors from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Clayton completed fellowship training in cornea and external disease at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital and in uveitis and ocular immunology at NEI.

Dr. Clayton has received several awards and has been recognized as a leader by her peers. She received the Senior Achievement Award from the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2008, was selected as a 2010 Silver Fellow by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and won the European Uveitis Patient Interest Association Clinical Uveitis Research Award in 2010. In 2015, she was awarded the American Medical Women’s Association Lila A. Wallis Women’s Health Award and the Wenger Award for Excellence in Public Service. Dr. Clayton was granted the Bernadine Healy Award for Visionary Leadership in Women’s Health in 2016. She was also selected as an honoree for the Woman’s Day Red Dress Awards and the American Medical Association’s Dr. Nathan Davis Awards for Outstanding Government Service in 2017. 

Michael J. Dowling is president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health, which delivers world-class clinical care throughout the New York metropolitan area, pioneering research at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and a visionary approach to medical education highlighted by the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies.

Northwell Health is the largest integrated health care system in New York State with a total workforce of more than 66,000 employees — the state’s largest private employer. With 23 hospitals, 6,675 hospital and long-term care beds, more than 665 outpatient physician practices and a full complement of long-term care services, Northwell is one of the nation’s largest health systems, with $11 billion in annual revenue.

Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2002, Mr. Dowling was the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. Before joining Northwell Health 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, including seven years as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services.

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.

Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards over the years. They include: his selection as the Grand Marshal of the 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City; induction into the Irish America Hall of Fame; the 2012 B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2011 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, the 2011 CEO Information Technology Award from Modern Healthcare magazine and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of New York State, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Alfred E. Smith Award from the American Society for Public Administration, and the Gold Medal from the American Irish Historical Society. For 11 consecutive years, Modern Healthcare has ranked Mr. Dowling on its annual list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” In March 2016, Mr. Dowling was also listed No. 1 on Long Island Press’ 2015 “Power List” recognizing the 50 most-influential Long Islanders.

Mr. Dowling is chair of the Healthcare Institute and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland. He also serves as a board member of the Long Island Association. He is past chair and a current board member of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the League of Voluntary Hospitals of New York. Mr. Dowling was an instructor at the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Mr. Dowling grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and his master’s degree from Fordham University. He also has honorary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Hofstra University, Dowling College and Fordham University

Currently the leader of Deloitte’s national health care consulting practice, Kulleni Gebreyes is a physician executive with over 20 years of experience in the health care industry across the commercial and public sector. She drives care delivery transformation for health care organizations pursuing financially sustainable strategies for consumer centric care models that are data driven and digitally enabled. She has also developed strategies for population health management and value-based care that address payment reform, physician alignment and patient activation. Kulleni is an active advocate for vulnerable and underserved communities and also serves as the inaugural director of Deloitte’s Health Equity Institute. 

Trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital System, Dr. Gebreyes is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and a Six Sigma Green Belt. She holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, a BA in Biology from Princeton University and an MBA from Carey Business School of Johns Hopkins. She has served as a faculty member engaged in medical education and residency training at Georgetown University Medical Center and George Washington University Hospital. She is a recognized speaker at regional and national conferences and author of numerous publications focused on the Future of Health and health equity.

Whitney Austin Gray, PhD, WELL AP, LEED AP, is the Senior Vice President at Delos. At Delos, she leads industry and applied research through Delos Insights focused on supporting adoption of healthy building practices globally. She brings over a decade of expertise as an international leader in the intersection of health and built environment. She led the development of the WELL AP exam, the WELL Faculty program, and developed the first published case studies in the world on the impact of the WELL Building Standard on human health and well-being. Dr. Gray has launched over 100 educational and training sessions related to WELL in over 20 countries, reaching over 15,000 design and health professionals. Prior to joining Delos, Dr. Gray served as the Health Research and Innovation Director for Cannon Design and led building science research with the MedStar Institute for Innovation. She holds dual appointments as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

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

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

• Surveillance and epidemiology to move data into action.
• Policy and environmental improvements to support health and healthy behaviors.
• Health care system collaboration to strengthen delivery of preventive services.
• Links between community and clinical services to improve self-management of chronic conditions and enhance quality of life.

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

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

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

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

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

Jennifer Mieres, MD, is one of the leading experts and patient advocates in the fields of cardiovascular disease in women. In her role as leader of Northwell Health’s Center for Equity of Care, Dr. Mieres has oversight of the Katz Institute for Women’s Health, all of Northwell’s health, wellness, community health education and healthcare access programs. She is also the health system’s chief diversity and inclusion officer and is a member of the health system’s leadership team.

A graduate of Bennington College and Boston University School of Medicine, she is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and in 2009 she served as the first female president of the ASNC. Dr. Mieres is board certified in cardiovascular diseases and nuclear cardiology and is actively involved in clinical cardiovascular research. She chaired the AHA’s 2005 and 2014 writing group on imaging in women and is the lead author of the AHA’s 2014 scientific publication on diagnostic testing for women.

She recently presented work on new models for the delivery of healthcare at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 2013 in London and 2014 in Paris, as well as at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit, 2013 in San Diego, California. In addition she has authored and coauthored more than 60 scientific publications and has presented her research, as distinguished invited faculty at over 100 national and International conferences, including scientific sessions of the ACC, AHA, ASNC and the International Conference of Nuclear Cardiology.

Dr. Mieres is a national spokesperson for the AHA’s Go Red For Women movement and has served as chair of several national AHA committees including the Professional Education Committee; the Cardiac Imaging Committee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology (2006-2008) and was a member of the AHA’s National Board of Directors (2004-2006), as well as serving as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for WomenHeart; the national coalition for women living with heart disease. Dr. Mieres is a recipient of numerous awards, including the 2014 AHA Chairman’s Award.

She received the 2014 Women in Cardiology mentoring award from the national ACC, in acknowledgement of her dedication and commitment to mentoring women in cardiology. In appreciation for her work as a cardiologist, researcher, patient and community advocate, she was the recipient of the 2011 national AHA Louis B. Russell, Jr., Memorial Award, presented annually to an AHA volunteer for outstanding service in addressing healthcare disparities and/or service to minority and underserved communities, as well as a 2008 Woman’s Day Red Dress Award for her contributions to Women’s Heart Health. In 2005, she received the Long Island AHA Award for Outstanding Service as President and was the recipient of the AHA’s William Groom Award for Volunteer of the Year. She was also awarded the WomenHeart Wenger Award for Healthcare in April 2004 and a 2002 New York State Governor’s award for excellence.

Dr. Mieres is routinely called upon by the media to comment on heart health, appearing in national and local media outlets on such programs as “20/20,” the “Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Today in New York,” “CBS Early Show,” CNN, “NBC Nightly News” and many others. As a producer of the PBS documentary “A Woman’s Heart,” (2003) she was nominated for an Emmy for best documentary in the Health Science category at the 46th Annual New York Emmy Awards. She was featured on the cover of the May 2008 issue of Black Enterprise magazine as one of America’s leading doctors and in 2009 and 2010, Dr Mieres was listed as one of the best doctors in New York magazine and in January 2011 was featured in Essence magazine as an expert on women’s health. Dr. Mieres’ co-authored her first book, Heart Smart for Black Women and Latinas: A Five Week Program for Living a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle, which was published by St Martin’s Press in 2008.

Jacqueline Moline, MD, works with Northwell Health leadership to develop initiatives aimed at promoting and engaging health and wellness for Northwell’s workforce as well as the community at large. She is also developing a population health and epidemiology research program.

Before joining Northwell, Dr. Moline was vice chair and associate professor in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as well as associate professor of internal medicine. She served as the director of Mount Sinai’s Clinical Center of Excellence within the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which has diagnosed and treated thousands of World Trade Center responders in the New York metropolitan area and across the United States.

Board certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine, Dr. Moline serves on the editorial boards of several journals on industrial, occupational and environmental medicine. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Moline’s professional affiliations also include membership in the American Medical Women’s Association and the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Moline received her medical degree from the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine and a Master of Science degree in community medicine from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital, and an occupational and environmental medicine residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Marcus Osborne serves as Senior Vice President, Walmart Health, where he is focused on furthering Walmart’s goal of providing quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible.  Walmart Health is a first of its kind health center that provides integrated care of key health services like primacy care, dental, counseling and diagnostics all under one roof with affordable and transparent pricing.  Prior to joining Walmart, Marcus was a Senior Management Consultant with Alliance Consulting Group in Boston, Massachusetts.  He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Marcus attended the Harvard Business School and received his Master’s in Business Administration, graduating with honors.

Shez Partovi is Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer of Royal Philips, a position he has held since July 2021.

Shez is an experienced clinical professor, neuroradiologist, global executive and entrepreneur with a track record of leading large health systems, cloud transformation and artificial intelligence and machine learning in the healthcare, life sciences and genomics industry. He brings deep healthcare and informatics experience to Philips, which will be highly relevant as Philips accelerates the transition to becoming a solutions leader, leveraging deep clinical insights and big data analytics.

Shez leads the company’s global Innovation & Strategy organization, including the Chief Technology Office, Research, HealthSuite Platforms, the Chief Medical Office, Product Engineering, Experience Design, and Strategy. Innovation & Strategy, in collaboration with the operating businesses and the markets, is responsible for directing the company strategy to delight our customers and advance our growth and profitability ambitions. Under Shez’s leadership, Innovation & Strategy will innovate based on the voice of the customer and move ideas to market while actively participating in Open Innovation through relationships with academic, clinical, industrial partners and start-ups, as well as via public-private partnerships.

Creating a pipeline of innovative customer-centric propositions, Shez will leverage high-impact technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensing technologies and the Internet of Things to reinforce the company’s health propositions aimed at supporting consumers, care professionals and health systems with personalized connected health solutions. Every proposition he and his teams across the globe develop is with the goal to deliver on the Quadruple Aim: better health outcomes, improved patient experience, improved staff experience and lower cost of care.

Shez joined Philips from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he served as Worldwide Head of Business Development for Healthcare, Life Sciences and Medical Devices. In that role, he was responsible for the global AWS go-to-market strategy, charting the path for customer cloud transformation, and the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Prior to joining AWS in 2018, Shez spent 20 years at Dignity Health, the fifth largest health system in the U.S. He started his career in 1998 as a neuroradiologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute and was in clinical practice until 2013. In addition to his medical training at McGill University in Montreal, he has post-graduate qualifications in computer science. Shez has a passion for learning and teaching. He helped launch the Biomedical Informatics Department at Arizona State University and taught there as a clinical professor for three years.

Dr. Stacey Ellyn Rosen is Senior Vice President, Women’s Health, Katz Institute for Women s Health at Northwell Health and a practicing cardiologist and echocardiographer. She was formerly the Associate Chairman of the Department of Cardiology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She is Associate Professor of Medicine at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, served as Director of the Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Disease for the past decade and currently serves as co-Director of the Homeostasis Course.

Dr. Rosen was Associate Director of Echocardiography at Mount Sinai Medical Center prior to becoming Director of Echocardiography at North Shore University Hospital in 1994. After serving in that role until 1999, she was appointed as Chief of Cardiology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. In July 2008, she was appointed Associate Chairman of the Department of Cardiology. Dr. Rosen is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Echocardiography.

She is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, and the American Society of Echocardiography. Dr. Rosen served two terms as an American College of Cardiology councilor, serving Nassau and Suffolk counties. She has received numerous teaching awards including the Ann Gottlieb Award for Excellence in teaching from North Shore-LIJ, awards for volunteer service from the American Heart Association and was twice voted one of Long Island s Top 50 Most Influential Women. She received the Cardiovascular Science Award from the American Heart Association at the 48th annual American Heart Ball for the Long Island region.

Dr. Rosen recently completed her term as President of the Board of Directors of the Long Island region of the American Heart Association and continues as a board member. She devotes considerable time to raising community awareness of heart disease in women.

Dr. Rosen, a native Long Islander, is a graduate of the six-year medical program at Boston University School of Medicine (cum laude). Dr. Rosen completed training in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, including an additional year as Chief Resident. She completed a fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at The New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, which included advanced training in echocardiography.

As senior vice president of community and population health, Debbie Salas-Lopez, MD, MPH, oversees Northwell Health’s community and public health strategy, including community health investment, community relations, strategic community partnerships, the Center for Equity of Care, as well as the smoking cessation, human trafficking and Food as Health programs.

Dr. Salas-Lopez’s leadership was critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her team have partnered with various community and faith-based leaders to identify their most-pressing needs, which became the catalyst for Northwell’s faith-based testing initiative — a program where Northwell partners with community and faith-based centers to offer free diagnostic and serology (antibody) testing. Dr. Salas-Lopez is also leading the Long Island Regional Health Equity Task Force, which has been tasked with providing equitable and safe COVID-19 vaccine distribution and education to lower-income communities.

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 as 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 for Lehigh Valley Health Network. 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.

She has collaborated with many community-based organizations on issues related to prevention, screening, and healthcare access and has partnered with other healthcare institutions to address community needs.  She has led initiatives to improve quality of care and the health of the community, reduce costs, and provide better care coordination.  

Dr. Salas-Lopez is a nationally recognized speaker and educator in women leaders in medicine, healthcare disparities and equity in care, cultural awareness and 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.” She also received the 2021 Tribute to Excellence in Health Care award from the United Hospital Fund.

Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital (a multi-stage venture capital firm with $4B under management), where she invests in transformative technologies improving lives and livelihoods. She is particularly interested in contrarian and underdog founders building ambitious companies in digital health and sits on the boards of companies including Maven, H1, Adyn, AllStripes, Alife Health, SteadyMD, and Shiru. The daughter of Iraqi immigrants, Deena had a very non-linear journey into venture capital, always orienting around tech and entrepreneurship for impact. Prior to joining Lux, she was a Partner at Google Ventures, led partnerships for moonshot products at Google and directed social impact investments at Google.org. She was also a Presidential Management Fellow in the Obama administration, where she worked in Secretary Clinton’s office and at USAID on programs supporting global entrepreneurship. The first-generation daughter of Iraqi immigrants, Deena self-funded her way through college at Harvard (where she delivered the commencement address!) and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. A passionate advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity, Deena is also on the boards of several nonprofits, a Forbes contributor, Kauffman Fellow, and Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. She lives with her husband and two young children in the SF Bay Area.

Corey is an advocate for the environment and children’s’ rights. He represents individuals who have been catastrophically injured, with an emphasis on children that have suffered brain damage from lead poisoning or individuals that have suffered from sexual abuse. Corey has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients in verdicts and settlements and has garnered a national reputation for his work on lead poisoning and sexual abuse cases.

Corey regularly serves as “first chair”/lead trial attorney in complex personal injury trials.

In addition to his trial work, Corey has written, argued, and won important legal rulings throughout the United States while prosecuting his cases.

Corey is an innovator in national lead poisoning cases. He is currently representing more than 2500 children (on an individual, case-by-case basis) who were lead poisoned in Flint, Michigan, from the consumption of water from the Flint River.

On November 15, 2016, Corey was appointed “Lead Counsel” for all plaintiffs maintaining claims in the Circuit Court of Genesee County for personal injuries and property damage sustained as a result of the Flint Water Crisis. Eight months later, on July 27, 2017, Corey was appointed “Liaison Counsel” in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, for all individual personal injury and property damage cases pending before the Court arising out of the crisis.

On August 12, 2020, Corey signed a settlement agreement with the State of Michigan for 600 million dollars. As an architect of the the settlement, Corey successfully advocated for children, insisting that the majority of the money paid by the State be paid to the most vulnerable, specifically kids age six and younger. Corey also successfully fought for the kids being treated individually, and NOT as part of a class action. The settlement marked the largest paid by the State in its history, and represented a watershed moment for the under-served community, particularly for its children.

On September 30, 2017, Corey filed a Class Action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against New York City, the New York City Housing Authority, its Chairperson Shola Olatoye, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for their collective failures regarding inspections of 178,000 public housing apartments for lead-based paint over the course of at least five years. At least 400,000 people, including children, that live in New York City public housing may have been exposed to lead-based paint hazards, as have up to 200,000 people, including children, that receive financial assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1978, also known as Section 8.

On February 14, 2019, Corey filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York representing sexual assault victims of Dr. Reginald Archibald during his employment at Rockefeller University Hospital. The lawsuit alleges that during his four decades as a pediatric endocrinologist at Rockefeller, Archibald had more than 9,000 patients, many of whom were boys who were unable to grow normally. Corey also presently represents dozens of Archibald’s sexual abuse victims, on an individual, case-by-case basis.

Prior to joining LK, Corey practiced extensively in the areas of complex negligence, including sexual abuse, civil rights and product liability cases throughout Georgia and the Southeastern United States, with a strong emphasis on cases involving children.

Corey routinely speaks around the United States at seminars and conferences on topics related to his work. Corey has testified before New York’s City Council on the subject of lead poisoning and the City’s public housing crisis.

Corey has spent half his life in New York and half his life in Georgia, having grown up in Mount Sinai, New York, and then attending the University of Georgia for his undergraduate degree in history and his juris doctorate. Corey practiced law in Atlanta for twelve years before coming “home” to New York in 2014, where he continues to fight for individuals, including children, who don’t have an adequate voice.

Despite his New York roots and his deep love for New York City, Corey will always be a Georgia Bulldog, and strives daily to be and remain a Damn Good Dawg!

Corey traveled the world for one year after graduating from high school, including visits to concentration camps in Poland, where he was moved by the stories of children that perished during the Holocaust. Since then, Corey has tried to live his life in a way that honors those who died, which permeates his law practice today.