About Us

Dr. Alex Ledbetter is a speech-language pathologist with over 20 years of experience. Dr. Ledbetter has worked in various public school settings and as a clinical supervisor at the University of Oregon Speech-Language-Hearing Center while completing his doctorate in communication disorders and sciences (CDS). He also holds a master of science degree in communication disorders from the University of New Mexico.

In addition to professional interests in specialty clinic development, inter-professional collaboration, and problem-based learning, Dr. Ledbetter is especially interested in writing intervention.

Amy Spiczka currently serves as the executive director of the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC). The ASCP BOC has credentialed over 625,000 laboratory professionals worldwide. Spiczka is a patient-centric advocate for the laboratory professional workforce, as the ASCP BOC collaboratively provides examinations and credentials across the entirety of the laboratory-specific healthcare continuum.

Spiczka’s clinical practice, published research, education interests, and awards focus primarily on elevating patients’ experiences with continuous quality improvement; developing and integrating innovative laboratory techniques; and advancing professional development opportunities, visibility, and recognition for laboratory team members.

Dr. Andy Boyd is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Applied Health Sciences. He earned his MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and completed his postdoctoral work in biomedical informatics at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Boyd’s research focuses on data simplification to improve clinical outcomes, engaging administrators, researchers, and patients. His recent research succeeded in simplifying the transition for International Classification of Disease version 9 clinical modification (ICD-9-CM) to version 10 (ICD-10-CM). Over 200 news publications have cited his work, including Crain’s Chicago Business, POLITICO, and Inside Health Policy.

Carrie Bowen is a registered diagnostic medical sonographer and registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer with nearly two decades of experience. She’s currently a sonographer and ultrasound educator at the Perinatal Associates of New Mexico. She also serves as a secretary of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM).

Cheryl DeRosier Martin is the chief knowledge officer at AHIMA where she is responsible for developing AHIMA’s knowledge as an asset to the company and its members. She has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and served as the chief information officer at both Tuomey Healthcare System and Kingman Regional Medical Center before joining AHIMA. She holds a bachelor of applied science in health information and medical records, as well as a master of arts in health information management.

Dr. Christina Gardiner has served since 2018 as a Professor in the Department of Healthcare Services Management at the University of Maryland Global Campus, College of Business & Management. She is the President of Summit Healthcare Advisors and has over two decades of executive healthcare experience. She has taught a variety of subjects including healthcare administration, public health, quantitative and qualitative analysis, finance, and business management.

Dr. Gardiner has advised both private firms and nonprofit organizations on issues related to value-based healthcare, healthcare system competition, market allocation, patient safety, and health policy. She is known for being a trusted consultant, educator, and subject matter expert on complex healthcare systems as well as evidence-based interventions that support public health responses.

Over the past five years, Dr. Gardiner has conducted over 100 speaking engagements on topics related to value-based healthcare, public health preparedness, and neurological disorders. She also engages in public health projects such as large-scale nursing home evacuation preparedness, conducts Alzheimer’s research using artificial neural networks, and performs data analysis for nonprofit organizations and post-secondary institutions.

Dr. Christopher T. Robertson is a professor at Boston University’s School of Law. His interests include bioethics, professional responsibility, conflicts of interests, criminal justice, evidence, the First Amendment, racial disparities, and corruption.

Dr. Robertson has served as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, NYU Law, and the London School of Economics, and as a visiting scholar at the Brown University Policy Lab.

Dr. Deborah Josko has been the director of the medical laboratory science program at Rutgers University, School of Health Related Professions in New Jersey for the last eight years, and has been an associate professor at the university for 24 years.

Dr. Josko earned her master of science in molecular biology from Georgian Court University and her doctorate from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She started out in the field as a medical laboratory technician and then became a clinical microbiologist at Riverview Medical Center in New Jersey before she started her career in education.

Dmitry Beyder is a certified nuclear medicine technologist, who holds a master’s degree in public administration (MPA) from New York University. He has been a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) for 20 years, and during this period worked for major academic facilities such as the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Oregon Health & Science University, and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

In his role at those facilities, he provided direct patient care and was a nuclear medicine leader for more than ten years. He is currently a program manager for outpatient radiology. He has authored many papers and continuing education presentations for SNMMI annual meetings and has been chair of a number of committees for the SNMMI Technologist Section.

Donald A. Balasa serves as the CEO and legal counsel of the American Association of Medical Assistants. His areas of legal specialization include not-for-profit governance, professional credentialing and regulation, and antitrust principles applicable to certifying and accrediting bodies.

Balasa served as chair of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and as vice-chair of the committee to update the Institute for Credential Excellence (ICE) publication ICE 1100:2019—Standard for Assessment-Based Certificate Programs, which is an American National Standard. He was elected to the board of directors of the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) in 2018 and as president of CAAHEP in 2021.

Balasa received both his baccalaureate and law degrees from Northwestern University and his MBA in economics from the University of Chicago. He was awarded the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives. Balasa has taught a course on association management at the DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and teaches constitutional law evening courses at Trinity International University.

Douglas S. Laher is the Chief Operating Officer at the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), where he provides strategic oversight for all functional divisions and service lines. He received his BS in respiratory therapy from the Ohio State University and his MBA from Ashland University.

Prior to his term as COO with AARC, Laher had 16 years of service with Cleveland Clinic, where he worked as a registered respiratory therapist (RRT), a respiratory clinical instructor, and director of respiratory care. Laher has also served on the board of directors of both the Ohio Society for Respiratory Care and AARC.

Gabrielle Francois is an American Society for Clinical Pathology-certified cytotechnologist. She completed her post-baccalaureate certificate in cytotechnology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is currently pursuing a master’s in health informatics from the University of San Diego.

In March of 2020, Francois took advantage of the flexibility working in cytotechnology can offer and took a position as a traveling cytotechnologist. When not working, she spends time exploring the new cities she gets to live in and writes about it on her blog “The Traveling Cytotech.” She routinely posts pictures of the cells she analyzes on both Facebook and Instagram. With her years of experience, here is the advice she has for new cytotechnologists.

Jennifer Murphy has been a volunteer EMT in Brooklyn, New York since 2018. In addition to her EMT work, she maintains a parallel career as an investigator, crisis adviser, and author. Her writing has appeared in Mississippi Review and Wrath-Bearing Tree, Forbes, and the New York Post.

She holds a BA from Syracuse University, an MA from the University of Chicago, and an MFA from New York University.

Joe Hamel is the Strategic Innovation and Emerging Technology Manager for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). He received his BA in molecular biology from Colgate University and his MS in biotechnology from John Hopkins University.

Prior to joining the ASPR, Hamel worked as a biologist for the US Army, where he also served as a team leader and chief of planning and policy. Later, Hamel was a program director for the Department of Homeland Security, and then a program manager at Johns Hopkins University’s applied physics laboratory. You can find him on Twitter (@JoeHamel9).

John Richey is an AHIMA Academic Affairs Subject Matter Expert with a wealth of experience in health information professional practice, academic program development, teaching, and membership association leadership. His 36-year career features leadership and management roles in health information management, coding, revenue cycle and chargemaster, and occupational health services.

Mr. Richey founded two academic programs: an associate degree program in health information technology, leading the program to CAHIIM accreditation, and a master of science in health informatics program.

Mr. Richey serves as the Staff Liaison for the AHIMA Professional Certificate Approval Program (PCAP) and the Council for Excellence in Education’s (CEE) Graduate Resource Alliance. He is a past president and distinguished member of OHIMA (Ohio). He is also a doctoral candidate in the biomedical informatics program at Rutgers University.

Karen Langan is the Clinical Coordinator of the Cardiovascular Technology (CVT) Program at Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences.

Over an 18 year career in endovascular care, she’s provided care at several different cath labs, and brings experience in carotid interventions, high-risk cardiac repair, CTOs, congenital defect repairs, TAVRs, and electrophysiology procedures. Langan earned her diploma in invasive cardiovascular technology from the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences.

Keith Olenik is the Chief Health Information Officer for AHIMA. He has more than 35 years of experience working with healthcare delivery systems as a member of executive leadership and a consultant. He specializes in streamlining business operations, evaluating and implementing information technology solutions, and enhancing productivity through process improvement.

Olenik holds a bachelor’s degree in health information management from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in health services management with an emphasis in computer resources management from Webster University. He has a long history of volunteer leadership at AHIMA, having served on the boards of directors for AHIMA, the AHIMA Foundation, and the Council for Excellence in Education. Olenik also served as chair of the CHPS exam construction committee and the EHR Practice Council.

Kevin Craycraft is the vice president of the Association of Surgical Technologists’ board of directors. The organization represents more than 80,000 surgical technologists and is a public advocate in the push to get more states to introduce requirements.

Craycraft is also the program coordinator and a professor of the surgical technology program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, Kentucky. Notably, he has been a certified surgical technologist for 32 years—14 years as a practitioner and 18 as a program coordinator.

Kimberly Harrington is the CEO of Phlebotomy Express Training Centers LLC in Detroit, MI. Ms. Harrington transitioned to phlebotomy after a 30-year career working for AT&T. She quickly realized this low-barrier-to-entry profession offered higher than average wages and advancement opportunities and wanted to provide that same opportunity to her community and neighbors.

She founded Phlebotomy Express Training Centers directly across from Samuel Mumford High School and now offers a four-week course in phlebotomy and a six-week medical assistant certification program. Students include everyone from high schoolers to retirees. Ms. Harrington is the recipient of the Walker Power 15 Legacy Award Detroit, the 2018 City Spirit of Detroit Award, and is among the Who's Who in Black Detroit 2020.

Dr. Kristi Moore is the president of the ASRT, where she has held positions as vice president and secretary, among many other roles. She also serves as the chair and director of the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, as well as a professor of radiologic sciences. She earned her BSHS, MS in clinical health sciences, and PhD in clinical health sciences—all from UMMC.

Dr. Moore has received a wealth of awards and honors related to radiologic technology, including Technologist of the Year from the Mississippi Society of Radiologic Technologists and the Nelson Order of Exemplary Teaching recognition from UMMC.

Kyle Zebley is senior vice president of public policy at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), working with and on behalf of ATA members and like-minded organizations to eliminate barriers to the expansion of telehealth and ensure patients, providers, and payers can realize the benefits of virtual care.

Previously, Zebley was the chief of staff in the Office of Global Affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He collaborated with senior leadership from HHS, the White House, and other cabinet departments to develop, advise, and promote US global health policy, including in such policy areas as drug pricing, global health security, and non-communicable diseases.

Zebley is frequently quoted in major media coverage on the topic of telehealth, including by the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal. In early 2022, Kyle was named by POLITICO as one of the “four Washington players poised to shape digital health in 2022.”

Lisa Cremeans said she has been keeping tabs on the medical lab worker shortage since she became a clinical assistant professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 2013. She has more than 14 years of experience as a medical technologist, working in physician office laboratories, emergency medical services, organ and tissue donation services, and for clinical research organizations in clinical trials and post-approval pharmaceutical safety. She’s also a task force member for the ASCLS, which is seeking to address the clinical laboratory workforce shortage.

Cremeans holds her BA in clinical laboratory science, as well as a master’s in molecular diagnostic science from UNC at Chapel Hill.

Mark A. Bailey is an associate professor and program director in the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He earned his certificate in histotechnology at MD Anderson in 1988, and then went on to get his MA in education and humanities from Texas A&M.

A board-certified histotechnologist, Bailey is a member of numerous professional societies, including the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS), the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), and the National Society for Histotechnology (NSH), among others. Over the course of his career, he’s co-authored over a dozen academic papers and served on numerous institutional committees.

For more than a decade, Nicole Pahl has been the program director and faculty member for the dental assisting program at Lake Area Technical College. She graduated with her associate’s in dental assisting from Lake Area Technical College and then went on to work for private dental offices. She then pursued a bachelor’s of arts in educational psychology from Mount Marty University.

Ms. Pahl currently leads courses in anatomy and preclinical science, which encompasses sterilization techniques.

Dr. Peter Hotez is an expert on infectious diseases, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, and was previously chair of microbiology at George Washington University.

A decade ago, Dr. Hotez helped create the National School of Tropical Medicine in Texas, where he is the dean. He also is the founding editor-in-chief of the influential scholarly journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

He and his team have worked on a vaccine for Covid-19.

Richelle Rada is a licensed dietician based in Guam. Born and raised in Hawaii, she fosters the spirit of aloha and encourages clients to honor food, family, and culture when it comes to nutrition.

Rada has been a dietitian for the U.S. Renal Care in Dededo, Guam for the last five years. She earned her bachelor of science degree in science and human nutrition from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2012. You can subscribe to her health newsletter here and follow her on Instagram for lifestyle tips.

Robin Foroutan is an award-winning registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in integrative medicine, functional medicine, and holistic healing. She holds a master’s of science in nutrition education from Columbia University and a bachelor’s of science in nutrition and dietetics from New York University.

Her passion is empowering individuals to discover the healing power of food, nutrition, and herbs and teaching people how to take better care of their bodies through gut healing, detoxification, and other natural ways of healing.

Dr. Rodney E. Rohde is a widely published specialist of virology, microbiology, and molecular biology. He serves as the associate dean for research, department chair, and professor in the clinical laboratory science program within the College of Health Professions at Texas State University.

Prior to joining academia, Dr. Rohde spent a decade as a public health microbiologist and molecular epidemiologist at the Texas Department of State Health Services Bureau of Laboratories and Zoonosis Control Division.

Sam Hurley started volunteering as an EMT as a 16-year-old high school student, attracted to the idea of being able to help people in their hour of need. While his time as an EMT made him fall in love with healthcare, he quickly became frustrated with the role.

Hurley started getting paid work in EMS during college, after securing his paramedic certification. At the age of 19, he was one of the youngest paramedics in the state.

Hurley went on to gain a master’s degree in public health from the Emory University in Atlanta and his executive master’s in emergency and disaster management from Georgetown University. In 2017, he became the EMS Division Chief for the D.C. Department of Health, where he stayed for two-and-a-half years, before becoming the state EMS director of Maine in 2019.

Sanaz Eftekhari is the Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Research for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). Over her 13 years with AAFA, she’s served in a wide variety of roles and connected with stakeholders across multiple industries, including patient advocacy organizations, pharmaceutical companies, medical societies, research firms, and government agencies.

Eftekhari has also co-authored several of AAFA’s key research reports, such as “My Life With Asthma” and “Asthma Disparities in America,” which have been shared with researchers, medical experts, and policymakers to emphasize patient needs for treatment options, advocacy, and support.

Dr. Sara Bogner is the director of the physical therapist assistant program at Mendocino College. She has been a physical therapist in Ukiah and other Northern California areas for the past 22 years. Her bachelor’s of science in exercise and movement science is from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s of science in exercise and movement science. She also received a master’s of science in physical therapy from Regis University and completed a doctor of physical therapy degree from AT Stills University.

She has worked in various patient care settings over the years and began teaching anatomy at Mendocino College in 2016, where she was instrumental in developing the physical therapist assistant program.

Dr. Sean Khozin is a physician-executive, board-certified oncologist, and data scientist with over 15 years of experience in therapeutic development, drug regulation, and artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in biomedical research.

As the founder of Phyusion, Dr. Khozin is currently working on advancing ventures at the intersection of biology, technology, and artificial intelligence. Previously, he was a founding member of the US FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence and Executive Director of Information Exchange and Data Transformation (INFORMED), the FDA’s first data science and technology incubator that he established under special federal authorities.

Dr. Khozin currently serves on the boards of the Society for Translational Oncology, the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, the Digital Medicine Society, and the Life Sciences Council of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer.