Mary Havens is a Senior Communication Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Melissa Mock is a Project Senior Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Beth Williams is employed by Dayton Children’s Hospital.
Chris Keck is a Senior Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Julie Massie is a Senior Quality Improvement Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Kate Harrow is a Project Manager at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Mary Bauer is a Quality Improvement Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Sydney Bogardus is a Project Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Kim Shelly is employed by Riley Hospital for Children.
Melanie Miner is a Senior Data Analyst at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Lauren McClain is a Project Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Rachel Staley is a Project Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Cassandra Fetters is a Senior Clinical Research Coordinator at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
John Hennessey is a Program Management Coordinator at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Catlynn Brock is a Project Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Howard Baron, MD is a pediatric gastroenterologist in private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he has lived since 1993. Dr. Baron completed his undergraduate medical school, pediatric residency and chief residency at the University of Minnesota, and fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at UCLA. Dr. Baron holds a faculty appointment as associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Nevada, School of Medicine and adjunct clinical faculty at Touro University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Henderson, Nevada. He has held many positions on the medical executive committee at Sunrise Hospital and Sunrise Children’s Hospital, including currently member-at-large, and is past-president of the Clark County Medical Society. In addition to being the practice manager for his three-physician group, Dr. Baron has extensive fundraising experience for non-profit organizations. He is author or co-author of over 30 published manuscripts and textbook chapters, and has been a Principal Investigator in several clinical trials.
John A. Barnard, MD, is chief of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, president of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s and holds the Ann I. Wolfe Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research Leadership. He is chair of the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, where he is a professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. He is also a practicing gastroenterologist in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's. An accomplished physician-scientist, he has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, reviews and book chapters and garnered NIH support for more than 2 decades.
As president of The Research Institute, Dr. Barnard is responsible for strategic direction, administration, recruiting, resource allocation and infrastructure design in support of all research activities at Nationwide Children's. The Research Institute is one of the fastest growing pediatric research institutions in the United States and has consistently ranked among the top ten free- standing children’s hospitals based on National Institutes of Health funding. In 2015, The Research Institute received more than $90 million in external awards.
As chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Ohio State, he offers counsel, mentorship and oversight for clinical and academic activities of the more than 500 full-time faculty members. He also oversees the education of more than 300 medical students, pediatric residents and fellows training at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Barnard received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi and was an intern and resident at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he also completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. He was a faculty member at Vanderbilt for 11 years, including 5 years as Director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology. He has been named among the Best Doctors in America for the past decade and has served as a past president of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN). He is currently a member of Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission, chair of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association Research Collaborative Task Force, past-resident of the NASPGHAN Foundation, and chair of the American Board of Pediatrics Subboard on Pediatric Gastroenterology.
After graduating from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Cohen completed pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and then spent 3 years in the Public Health Service before going to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as a fellow in Gastroenterology in 1983. He joined the faculty there in 1986 and subsequently served as Fellowship Director, Division Director in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Vice Chair of Pediatrics for Clinical Affairs. In 2014, he was appointed Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Physician in Chief of Children’s of Alabama. He has held a number of professional leadership positions, including President of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) and chair of the Section of Growth, Development and Nutrition of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Section on Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and of the Executive Committee of the Alabama Chapter of the AAP. He chairs the US News and World Report Working Group on GI and GI Surgery and is on the Education and New Chairs Committees of the Association of Medical School Department Chairs (AMSPDC). His research focused on E. coli diarrhea and vaccines for diarrheal disease and he led the first NIH Digestive Disease Research Center awarded to study pediatric digestive diseases. He also led an NIH supported T32 Fellowship Training Program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and has mentored over 47 individuals who are now established faculty members throughout the United States and abroad. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Pediatric Society and he received the 2013 Shwachman Award from NASPGHAN. Mitch is married to Morissa Ladinsky, MD, and has three adult children and two step children.
Missy Ketchum is a parent of a son diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 16. Missy has more than 20 years of experience in development and marketing for non-profit organizations. She is the Director of Institutional Advancement for Episcopal School of Jacksonville (FL) and manages a team dedicated to fund-raising, alumni relations, special events, data, communications and marketing. She has presented at regional and national conferences on fund-raising and technology. As a freelance writer, she has published articles in local, regional, and national media. Missy has served on the boards of several local charitable organizations. She has B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Vanderbilt University and the University of North Florida.
Catalina is a Robertson Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who will be graduated in May of 2019 with a BA in Political Science and minors in Chemistry and Medicine, Literature and Culture. She has had Crohn’s Disease since the age of 10, is a former Co-Chair of the Patient Advisory Council of ImproveCareNow, and has served on the Research Committee as well as on other study teams within the network. She is interested in the patient-physician relationship as well as culturally-driven care and health policy. Catalina hopes to attend medical school beginning in August of 2020, and combine her background in politics with experiences as a physician and a patient to champion for more well-rounded care and health care reform for pediatric populations.
Sabina Ali, MD is the medical director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland. Dr. Ali is also an Associate clinical professor at University of California San Francisco. After earning her medical degree from Jinnah Sindh Medical University in Pakistan, Ali completed a residency in pediatrics at University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital. She completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Ali’s research interest is in quality improvement in IBD care. She is actively involved both locally and nationally with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. She is the physician lead for ImproveCareNow for UCSF. She has served as chair for Northern California Crohn's and Colitis Medical Advisory committee.
Dr. Ali has been active in the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) with the inflammatory bowel disease committee and telehealth special interest group. She also serves as the NASPGHAN to Council of Pediatric Subspecialties (CoPS).
In her free time, she loves to travel, especially to explore new places.
John Grunow, MD, is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. He served at Oklahoma University Health Science Center for 40 years before retiring in July 2020. During his time there he served as hospital Chief of Staff, Interim Pediatric Department Chairman and Section Chief of Pediatric GI. He led his section into ImproveCareNow (ICN) at its inception in 2006 and served as site leader until his retirement in 2020. He has participated with ICN in multiple capacities, including Chair of the Research Committee, Co-Chair of the Community Council and member of the Physician Leadership Group. Since retirement, he has continued on as a mentor for the Pre-visit Planning Learning Lab, member of the Advancement Committee and historical advisor to the Community Council.
John lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with his wife, Peggy. They have 4 children and 9 grandchildren, who command much of his time now. He is involved with many activities at his local church, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. He spends one day a week leading special learning sessions with the Pediatric GI fellows and staffing their continuity clinic.
Jim retired in 2021 from his position as Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Medica, a Minnesota-based non-profit health insurance company that operates in several states throughout the Midwest. Jim served as General Counsel for 18 years and in this role had responsibility for Medica's legal affairs, compliance, government relations and public policy. Before joining Medica, Jim served for two years as Civil Deputy for Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, overseeing civil litigation, and advising the County Board on a wide variety of public policy and legal issues.
From 1987 to 2000, Jim worked in the Minnesota Attorney General's Office. He held the positions of Manager of the Health Licensing Division, where he represented the Board of Medical Practice and other licensing boards, and Manager of the Commerce Division, which regulates the insurance, banking, and real estate industries. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Jim clerked for a federal district judge in Cleveland, Ohio.
Jim earned his JD from the University of Michigan Law School and his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University.
Jim has served on several non-profit boards based in Minnesota, including current positions on the Board of the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and Global Rights for Women. He also serves as a guest lecturer for health law classes at the University of Minnesota and has been active in Minnesota politics, having volunteered for several campaigns and candidates.
Jim’s interest in ImproveCareNow grows out of his personal experience with Crohn’s disease. Jim was diagnosed at the age of 10 and is well aware of the impact the disease can have on both the affected individuals and their families. Jim is fortunate to have been in remission since the age of 15 following surgery.
Inbal Kavaler is a parent of a son diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at age 8. Believing in community support and education, Inbal joined Stanford Children’s IBD Family Advisory Council in 2017, and shortly after took on the role of a parent lead. She became an active member of ImproveCareNow, presenting in multiple Community Conferences and virtual events, joined the Digital Asset Workgroup, and Parent Working Group. Her 25+ years of experience include building organization’s culture, leading operations, program management, engineering, and driving change. Inbal is a Technical Assistant and Chief of Staff to IFS VP Operations at Intel. She has degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technion and an MBA from IDC Herzliya. She has served on the boards of local non-profit organizations, bringing her critical thinking, creativity, and leadership skills. Inbal is married to Adi Kavaler, has two children in their 20’s and a high-schooler.
Sandra Kim, MD is the Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center and Associate Fellowship Director in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kim is also Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Inteflex (Integrated Pre-medical/Medical) Program. She completed clinical training in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology at the Baylor College of Medicine. She was a recipient of the Outstanding Clinical Fellow Award during her GI fellowship and was on the NIH/NIDDK-funded T32 grant. She pursued additional training as a CCFA funded post-doctoral research fellow at the NIH-funded Center for GI Biology and Disease, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Kim’s clinical and research interests focus on pediatric inflammatory bowel diseases, including adolescent transitioning and quality improvement in pediatric IBD and the impact of the gastrointestinal microbiota in IBD. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. She has authored numerous papers and textbook chapters on pediatric and adolescent inflammatory bowel diseases. Dr. Kim has been a past chair of Pediatric Affairs and immediate past chair of Government Affairs/Advocacy for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation National Scientific Advisory Committee. In addition, she co-chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee and serves on the Physician Leadership committee and Community Council for Improve Care Now. She has been active in the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) in programs focusing on mentoring.
Dr. Kim also is involved as a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the CCYAN and Flying Horse Farms. She serves as the President for the Board of Directors for the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation chapter. As a reflection of her dedication to patient education and advocacy, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation has awarded Dr. Kim the 2011 and 2018 Rosenthal Award and a 2020 Uniting to Care and Cure award.
Dr. Karen Murray is Chair of the Pediatric Institute, Physician-in-Chief of the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, and President of the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation, at Cleveland Clinic, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. She is also Past President of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.
Dr. Murray is board certified in general pediatrics, pediatric gastroenterology, and pediatric transplant hepatology. In addition to providing clinical care in gastroenterology, hepatology and transplantation, she has an active clinical research program focused on childhood liver disease, especially the treatment of hepatitis B and C viral infections, and cholestatic liver diseases in childhood.
Dr. Murray attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she was also Chief Pediatric Resident. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology in the combined program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Murray was on faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital from 1998-2019 where she was Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and for the year prior to moving to Cleveland, served as Interim-Chair for the Department of Pediatrics, and Pediatrician-in-Chief for Seattle Children’s Hospital. She relocated to Cleveland Clinic in 2019.
Dr. Fleurence serves as a Senior Advisor in the Immediate office of the Director at the NIH and as the Special Assistant to the NIH Director for COVID-19 Diagnostics. Dr. Fleurence is currently serving as Senior Advisor to Dr. Francis Collins, the President’s Science Advisor at the White House. As part of the federal response to COVID-19, Dr. Fleurence co-led the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics RADx-ATP program, a multimillion dollar program launched to scale-up of point-of-care COVID-19 diagnostics and high-throughput laboratories between May and October 2020. Dr. Fleurence led the novel “Say Yes Covid Test” program, a national initiative in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and state and local public health departments. This program was the first in its kind in March 2021 to provide free rapid antigen tests through free online delivery to communities to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and served as a model for the launch the national federal program from the White House in January 2022. Dr Fleurence serves on the White House Pandemic Testing Board policy group, and the White House Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) Pandemic Innovation Task Force. In 2021, Dr. Fleurence was a recipient of the NIH Director’s Award for exceptional dedication and innovation in advancing COVID-19 testing and diagnostics efforts. In 2022, Dr. Fleurence was a recipient of the Secretary’s award for Distinguished Service as part a member of the Rapid Acceleration of COVID-19 Diagnostics team.
Prior to her role at the NIH, Dr. Fleurence served as the inaugural Executive Director of the National Evaluation System for health Technology (NESTcc) Coordinating Center in the United-States, a public private partnership between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the medical device industry to improve evidence generation for medical devices. Previously, Dr. Fleurence served as the Program Director for PCORnet at the U.S. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She also served as the inaugural director for the PCORI Methods Program. Dr. Fleurence chaired the PCORnet Executive Committee from 2015-2017, and served as the vice-chair of the PCORnet Council. Dr. Fleurence has served on a number of Boards and Steering Committees, including most recently the Duke-Margolis’ National Medical Device Evaluation System Planning (NEST) Planning Board, the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) Board and the SMART IRB Steering Committee. Dr. Fleurence currently serves as the federal liaison to the ImproveCareNow Board of Directors. Dr. Fleurence received a BA from Cambridge University (United-Kingdom), a MA in business management from ESSEC-Paris (France), and a MSc in health economics and PhD in health sciences, both from the University of York (United-Kingdom).
Melissa Mock is a Senior Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
New Hampshire Hospital for Children
Levine Children's Hospital
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)
Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters
Levine Children’s Hospital
Julie Massie is a Senior Quality Improvement Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Children's Hospital of Atlanta
Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center
University of Michigan - C.S. Mott Children's Hospital
Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
Lauren McClain is a Project Specialist at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, St. Louis University
Nanhua Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Division of Biostatistics & Epidemilogy at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Peter Margolis, MD, PhD is the Co-Director of the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Margolis’ work encompasses the application and study of quality improvement methods in a broad range of areas including primary and sub-specialty care, communities and public health settings to improve the health outcomes of children, families and communities. In 2006, he joined Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to create a new center focused on Health Care Quality. Peter has worked extensively with the certifying Boards and Specialty Societies to assist them in designing programs that will enable physicians to meet new Maintenance of Certification requirements focused on systems thinking and performance in practice. He is principle investigator of an NIH Roadmap transformative research grant on redesigning systems for chronic illness care, as well as grants from the Agency For Healthcare Research and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute aimed at developing learning health systems and transforming the infrastructure for research in the US. He currently serves as the Chair of the PCORNet Steering Committee.
Shehzad Saeed, MD, FAAP, AGAF completed his medical school education at Dow Medical College in Pakistan. He then completed his pediatric residency at the University of Chicago and his fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at The Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts University, Boston. He has served in various leadership roles like fellowship director, division and clinical director previously. He currently serves as Associate Chief Medical Officer of Dayton Children’s, the Chief Medical Officer of their Clinically Integrated Network, and as the Physician Lead for Patient and Family Experience. Dr. Saeed’s focus is improving the care and quality of life of children with IBD, ensuring that they grow up to reach their full potential. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. Shehzad also enjoys traveling, reading, and volunteering with fellow medical school alumni, professional organizations, and community partners.
Before taking the Executive Director position, Kristin Howe, CD, MHA was a Program Director at the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center where she was dedicated to advancing the quality and experience of healthcare through optimization of innovative care models. Dr. Howe believes that strong relationships between patients, providers and executive and clinical leadership will drive meaningful change in healthcare.
Prior to joining Cincinnati Children’s, she helped to launch China Primary Care Ltd. (CPC) in Shanghai, China. During her time with CPC, she led the build out of company operations and established relationships with major medical centers across the US in support of their international medical travel business. While in China, Kristin was also appointed as a special advisor for international affairs at Jiao Tong University where she helped to develop international collegiate collaborations and joint course programming.
Kristin began her career in rehabilitative medicine where she practiced as Chiropractor and an acupuncturist. Kristin holds a Doctorate in Chiropractic from New York Chiropractic College and a master’s in Healthcare Administration from the University of Southern California. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children, Hazel and Atticus.
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