New Details on Search for Medical Director

ImproveCareNow Clinical Director Shehzad Saeed, MD, FAAP, AGAF, NASPGHAN-F has announced that he will step down from his role as in Fall 2026. ImproveCareNow (ICN) is implementing an extensive search for a Medical Director (formally known as Clinical Director). The ICN Board of Directors examined the leadership roles in the network and, in anticipation of hiring a physician leader to replace Dr. Shehzad Saeed, voted to change the title of Clinical Director to Medical Director. The Board made the change to a term more widely used by healthcare organizations to describe similar roles.

We had been accepting applications through June 1, 2026, and are now in the next stage of this process and scheduling interviews with promising applicants.

Below are the individuals who comprise the ImproveCareNow Leadership Search Committee:

• John Grunow, MD – Retired Physician, Oklahoma University Medical Center; Member ICN Board of Directors, Founding ICN Physician
• Ashish Patel, MD – Physician Lead, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Member ICN Board of Directors and Physician Leadership Group, Founding ICN Physician
• Esther Israel, MD – Physician Lead, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Lead of the COMBINE Implementation project; Member Physician Leadership Group
• Roger Odom, MSIT, MBA – Improvement Coordinator, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Lead of Coordinator Workgroup, and Population Management/Pre-Visit Planning Learning Lab; Member of Data Operations Committee and Community Conference Content Committee
• Leah Wimberly, LCSW – Social Worker, Nemours Children's Hospital - Orlando, Lead of Social Workers & Psychologist Committee (SWAP); Member Community Conference Content Committee
• Martha Stone, MBA – Parent, Oklahoma University Medical Center, Lead of Parent / Family Advisor Council Communications Subcommittee
• Becky Woolf, MPH – Patient, Member ICN Board of Directors, former Patient Advisory Council Co-Chair
• Becky Johnson Rescola, MSW – ImproveCareNow Executive Director
• Kate Harrow, MS, PMP – ImproveCareNow Project Manager
  

We expect interviews to run through June and July with a decision in August. A formal announcement will be shared at the Fall 2026 Community Conference in Detroit, Michigan. If you have any questions about this process, please contact us.

--

About ImproveCareNow

ImproveCareNow is a Learning Health Network dedicated to transforming care, health and costs for all children and youth with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD) by building a sustainable collaborative chronic care network. We are enabling patients, families, clinicians and researchers to work together in a learning health care system to accelerate innovation, discovery and the application of new knowledge. We invite everyone interested in getting kids with IBD better right now to join us and support our work.