Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Ellen DaSilva, CEO and Founder of Summer Health which aims to increase the supply of pediatric care to care for the 75M children in the United States who need healthcare. Laurie and Ellen spoke at the HLTH 2024 conference.

Ellen lives, eats and breathes Summer Health ever since she, someone with access and means – was UNABLE to get the care she needed for her child. Ellen quickly understood the magnitude of the problem – a decreasing supply of pediatricians to support the 75M kids in this country. A third of children who live in places without any access to a pediatrician. Nearly 40% of children who have chronic conditions. And then there’s the wait….days, weeks, months to get care for your child to a pediatrician.

It may be a classic supply and demand conundrum, but Ellen was clear – there must be a better way. And so…Summer Health. On demand, asynchronous, text first, and always on, always open.

Ellen is rapidly growing the company with many lessons learned from her work at other large enterprises. And, it may be hard to build a company, but Ellen is no stranger to this hard work. What’s new with this time around of Summer Health? The market is moving fast, perhaps faster than ever. She is also impressed with the caliber of talent she is able to bring to Summer Health – based on their mission and innovative approach to the problem.

Ellen closes this conversation with advice for other women entrepreneurs and CEOs which is doubling down on your conviction that the hard problems are worth solving. And while it may not feel like it today – the hard journey of innovation, leadership, and vision…. well, it is indeed worth it.

About Ellen:

Ellen is the Founder and CEO of Summer Health, a company with a mission to raise the healthiest generation of children. Summer Health offers message-based pediatric services within 15 minutes. Learn more at www.summerhealth.com.

Previously, Ellen served as the Head of Business Development at hims&hers, where she focused on strategic partnerships and business growth. She's also an active angel investor, serving as a Sequoia Scout for Seed and Series A consumer tech companies.

Ellen earned her MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. While at HBS, she was a Partner at Rough Draft Ventures, General Catalyst’s pre-seed fund. Before business school, she managed a unit of the Business Operations team at Twitter, and prior to that, she worked at Barclays Capital.

Ellen co-authored "Pitching & Closing: Everything You Need To Know About Business Development, Partnerships, and Making Deals that Matter"—a guidebook for business development and revenue-generating partnerships at tech startups.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Jenny Schneider and her Home[ward] Grown mentee, Nathalie Gouailhardou, co-founder of Neurode — a wearable headband that can track and treat ADHD symptoms.

This episode rounds out a full year of the Home[ward] Grown Mentorship series where every quarter, Dr. Jenny Schneider selects a CEO/Founder into this mentorship program. Now if you are in healthcare, and as long as you haven’t been living under a rock, then you know Jenny – mom, physician, athlete, and accomplished serial entrepreneur and leader. And busy!!! So very busy. AND STILL, Jenny created Home[ward] Grown to support women CEOs, mentoring someone new every quarter. Because that job is hard. And Jenny knows a thing or two. So she makes the time. Its just that important.

Key Takeaways:

2025 Home[ward] Grown Applications:

About Nathalie:

Learn more at neurodelabs.com

About Dr. Jenny Schneider:

Previously, I served 5 years as the Chief Medical Officer and President of Livongo. At Livongo, I was responsible for product, data science, engineering, marketing, clinical operations, and our growth strategy. In my final year at Livongo, we led the company through the largest consumer digital health Initial Public Offering in history, a secondary offering, a convertible debt offering that raised over $540 million, and the industry’s largest merger ever between Livongo and Teladoc Health, valuing Livongo at $18.5 billion and beginning a new era of consumer centric virtual care. I was honored by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives and by Fierce Healthcare as Woman of Influence for our work empowering women and modeling diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

In October of 2020, I joined the Board of the Health Assurance Acquisition Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) with Hemant Taneja, Glen Tullman, Dr. Stephen Klasko, Quentin Clark, and Anita V. Pramoda. Our mission is to partner with leading health and care businesses leveraging technology. We aim to support their efforts to become iconic category winners that accelerate the digital transformation of existing healthcare into a new system of health assurance.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Leslie Snavely, CEO of CHG Healthcare, the largest physician and clinician staffing organization in the U.S. Leslie shares her journey of rising through the ranks over 14 years at CHG, transitioning from roles in marketing and sales to leadership and eventually CEO. She credits her success to continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to take risks when opportunities arose, such as stepping into a leadership role in technology despite it being outside her comfort zone.

Key Insights:

1. Career Growth: Leslie emphasizes the importance of finding the right company, working hard, staying curious, and being willing to take leaps into new challenges. She highlights how the pandemic served as a pivotal moment, building her confidence and purpose for assuming the CEO role.

2. Leadership Philosophy: Leslie encourages women to reflect on their “why” to move from uncertainty to a confident “heck yes” when pursuing leadership opportunities. She advocates for authenticity and surrounding oneself with mentors and colleagues who enable you to be your true self.

3. CHG Healthcare's Mission: Leslie provides an overview of CHG’s work, particularly its focus on placing locum tenens (temporary) physicians in areas of need. The organization plays a vital role in addressing the national clinician shortage and ensuring access to quality care, especially in rural and underserved communities.

4. Challenges in Healthcare Staffing: Leslie discusses the burnout crisis among healthcare workers and the challenges of recruiting in a constrained talent pipeline. CHG’s approach involves supporting physicians with career planning, credentialing, and licensure to let them focus on patient care.

5. Building a Strong Workplace Culture: Under Leslie’s leadership, CHG has implemented inclusive policies like gender pay equity, flexible work arrangements, and expanded parental leave. These initiatives have driven business success, including higher retention rates for postpartum employees, saving millions in recruitment and training costs.

Leslie closes by advising young professionals to focus on finding environments where they can be their authentic selves and invest their energy into the work, rather than projecting an image that doesn’t align with who they are.

About Leslie:

CHG Healthcare has announced the promotion of Leslie Snavely to president, taking on more responsibility in the leadership of CHG, the nation’s largest physician staffing company. Snavely currently serves as chief sales officer, a role that will now be filled by Bill Heller. They will assume their new roles effective July 1.

“Since joining CHG, Leslie has continued to bring a deeper significance to each position she has held,” said Scott Beck, CEO. “I have every confidence that her extensive sales and marketing knowledge and commitment to our people and our culture will further strengthen our company as she takes on the role of president.”

Snavely joined CHG in 2010 as vice president of marketing and communications. She has held a wide range of positions within the company, including senior vice president of marketing and business development and chief strategy and digital officer. As a member of CHG’s executive leadership team, Snavely led the development of CHG’s strategic plan and the acquisition of two tech companies,  Modio Health  and  Locumsmart. Prior to being named president, she served as chief sales officer.

Snavely is also an executive sponsor of CHG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts.   “Putting people first is a huge part of who we are at CHG Healthcare. I’m so appreciative of the role this company has played in my life and the role our people have played in the healthcare community,” Snavely said. “I look forward to continuing to drive our business, grow our people, and strengthen our culture as president of CHG Healthcare.”

Snavely made Utah Business Magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2014 and was named CXO of the Year in 2021. She is passionate about elevating the status of women’s leadership and previously served as the vice chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute of Utah. She has also volunteered with the Park City Community Foundation. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Miami University with a

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Deborah Di Sanzo, President of Best Buy Health.

Deborah grew up in technology. Decades of technology, healthcare, business, executive leadership. She understood the potential of technology when she watched her systems at work in the surgery theater. She is a professor who teaches AI at Harvard. She knows how complicated all of the connected systems can be. What excites Deborah? Taking all of the complex and making it easy and simple. Bringing technology to the home, connected to other systems, bringing the human back to care. Deborah describes the great progress at Best Buy Health which is only the beginning.

In this Inspiring Women episode, we talk about the future of care delivery at home – except that future is today. And then we delve into aging. Deborah has so many ideas for how AI – which never gets tired and is empathetic – can be that helpful bot for the aging.

As she looks to the future, Deborah sees great promise. What is required? Spoiler alert: Being Bold. Being very, very bold.

About Deborah Di Sanzo:

Deborah Di Sanzo is president of Best Buy Health for Best Buy Co. Inc. She is responsible for the company’s health technology business.

Best Buy Health enables care at home for everyone across the continuum of care based on Best Buy’s core competencies. Integrated technology, personalized caring centers and technical services, logistics, supply chain, and omnichannel experiences create the plumbing which enable consumers to develop meaningful connections with their caregivers, insurers, and clinicians. Her business includes Lively!, the brand of connected health and personal emergency response services to the aging population, which Best Buy acquired in 2018 as well as Current Health, a leading care at home technology platform which Best Buy acquired in 2021.

Deborah is an innovative leader with more than 30 years' experience at the intersection of health care and technology. Prior to Best Buy, Deborah was the General Manager of IBM Watson Health, ad prior to IBM, she was the CEO of Philips Healthcare.

She teaches AI in Health and Managing Information in Health Care at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Deborah holds a bachelor of science degree from Merrimack College and an MBA from Babson College. She is a Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow and serves on the board of AstraZeneca.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Abbey Vandersall, VP of Quality and Clinical Services at AMSURG. The path to medicine and quality began in …. the hospitality business. The “how did I get here” story for Dr. Vandersall is not your typical path. An early degree in nutrition is what turned her onto medicine. Seeing the graph of outcomes and the ties to nutrition was a light bulb moment. Management consulting at Bain was something she absolutely loved – using data, optimizing, business implications, and actually impacting outcomes. But her love for healthcare and innovation drew her back to medicine. Abbey describes the road to becoming a physician as The Yellow Brick Road – you know the path to get there. But her interests in operations and outcomes – were steps off that road. And while the path is not clear, the journey has been amazing! At AMSURG the largest network of ambulatory surgery centers, Abbey talks about the hard problems she faces every day. Improving clinical metrics and quality metrics across a multitude of factors is the focus every single day. She shines light on innovation and Patient Experience as critical to what she is driving in her work at AMSURG. What is Abbey’s True North? Being a supportive daughter, friend, family member. What does the future look like? The focus is innovation……and perhaps a few more detours off of the Yellow Brick Road. This Inspiring Women episode was recorded at the 2024 Nashville Sessions at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

About Dr. Vandersall:

Abbey Vandersall, M.D., M.S., is the Vice President, Quality and Clinical Services for AMSURG, one of the nation’s largest ambulatory surgery center operations in the delivery of essential, high-quality care to patients. Dr. Vandersall joined AMSURG from the Envision Medical Group team of Envision Healthcare, where she served as Chief of Staff to the President and Chief Medical Officer before being appointed as Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Head of Envision’s Clinician Value Institute. In her role as VP, Clinical Strategy, Dr. Vandersall defined the organization’s near and long-term clinical strategies, translating them into tactical annual priorities, including designing and scaling innovative value-based care pilots, while simultaneously supporting ~25,000 clinicians in her role as Head of Clinician Value. Prior to her time at Envision, Dr. Vandersall worked at Bain & Company as a consultant where she supported business strategy for companies across multiple industries including healthcare, software and aerospace. Dr. Vandersall earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Biology and a Master of Science in Nutritional Biochemistry from Columbia University as well as a Doctor of Medicine from The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with the Inspiring Women pioneers of public radio Breeze Richardson and Marty Durlin. These special interviews were aired on KGNU’s It’s the Economy and highlight the importance of public radio. Both Marty and Breeze provide their reasons for coming into public radio – the true town square, the opportunity for storytelling and creative expression and the ability for anyone and any walk of life to tell their stories that are relevant and speak to the concerns and triumphs of people in the community.

The world of social media, podcasting, and digital media has long changed the game of where and how people get their information. And yet, people still listen and tune into community radio. Marty and Breeze know why and share how providing authentic and relevant voices and great story telling stands the test of time.

About Marty: 

A pioneer in community radio, Marty Durlin came to KZYX after serving as manager of KZMU in Moab UT. Her longest tenure was at KGNU in Boulder CO, where she helmed the station for more than 20 years, cofounded the Grassroots Radio Conference and served as chair of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the Pacifica National Board, and the Rocky Mountain Community Radio Coalition. Also a print and radio journalist and a musical playwright, Durlin has spent her career in community media and community theatre.

About Breeze: 

Breeze joined the Aspen Public Radio team in June 2021. Highly-respected in public media for her strategic planning and communications background, she has a passion for telling stories and producing community-focused programming. Since arriving in the Roaring Fork Valley, Breeze has been on stage exploring disability and inclusion with 1A’s Jenn White, discussing the importance of local journalism for Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, and in conversation with  Tockukwu Okafor , Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, and 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize winner Jamil Jan Kochai for Aspen Words. In February 2023, she took the stage at the Wheeler Opera House with NPR's Ailsa Chang to lead a conversation about making big career changes, representation in media, and the impact of investigative journalism.

Breeze currently serves as President of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio coalition, and is an elected member of the Western States Public Radio Board of Directors. In 2024, she completed the Public Media Diversity Leaders Initiative (PMDLI) hosted by the Riley Institute at Furman University, and is a proud alumni of the Aspen Institute Hurst Leaders Forum.

Before returning to public radio, Breeze worked as director of marketing and communications at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and from 2013-2017 she worked for the Kansas Board of Regents, gaining extensive experience in state government communications and higher education while serving as the agency’s public information officer.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman US Congresswoman and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark. Whip Clark is one of the 28% of women to hold office in the United States Congress, she is the second woman to ever hold the position of Whip (second only to Nancy Pelosi), she is a key member of the leadership of the House and she wants you to know: Women on are on the ballot. And your voice matters. Reproductive freedom is at stake, more so than ever. Women’s rights are at stake, Healthcare is at stake. And your voice has never been more important. Thank you for your leadership Congresswoman Clark.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Geeta Nayyar, nationally recognized chief medical officer and author of Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare’s Misinformation Illness. We are dropping this episode at HLTH2024 where Dr. Nayyar provides both the diagnosis and the treatment for misinformation illness and how this can impact the entire system and ultimately the patients being served.

About Dr. Nayyar:

Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, is a globally recognized chief medical officer, technologist, and bestselling author who helps leaders leverage a human approach to innovation, including rapid advances in AI, to achieve better health and business outcomes. A widely sought- after speaker and author of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller “Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare’s Misinformation Illness,” Dr. G has appeared on CNBC, CNN, FOX, CBS, and other prominent media outlets. She has served as chief medical officer for Salesforce and AT&T, among other executive roles. She currently serves on the board of the American Telemedicine\ Association and as an advisor to the American Medical Association.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Rebecca Darr, CEO of Wings, the largest organization in Illinois focused on breaking the cycle of domestic violence. Wings provides housing, integrated services, education and advocacy to end domestic violence with tremendous success when people seek help.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. The definition of domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. And you may be surprised to know how prevalent it is.

Every minute 24 people are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States. That’s over 12 million people every year. In Chicago alone, the police receive 500 calls per day regarding domestic violence. Further, over 1 in 3 women (35.6%) and 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Domestic violence does not discriminate and begins with a power imbalance. Rebecca discusses the stark reality of what it means to get out of an abusive situation and then how Wings can help. Rebecca has been doing this work for decades and became CEO of Wings in 2014. When people come to Wings for help – they receive it. Housing, counseling, and more.

This Inspiring Woman discussion with Rebecca is filled with hard to hear statistics, very real human stories and an inspiring message of hope. Breaking the domestic violence cycle is the objective and after all of these years, Rebecca remains committed to expanding the programs and impact at Wings.

About Rebecca:

Rebecca Darr is a tireless advocate for families confronting domestic violence. Darr was named CEO of WINGS in 2014, after serving as the agency’s executive director for 15 years. Under Darr’s leadership, WINGS has dramatically increased its ability to serve the needs of families in crisis because of domestic violence. The agency has tripled in size and secured new funding sources, including three resale stores that generate revenue to support WINGS’ programs. Darr led the WINGS team in building the first domestic violence shelter in Chicago’s northwest suburbs in 2005. This shelter has since helped thousands of women and children move from abuse to freedom. She also played a key role in the 2016 opening of the WINGS Metro shelter on Chicago’s southwest side. Darr is closely involved with numerous organizations and task forces committed to leading the fight to enact stronger legislation and to secure increased resources to combat domestic violence. These include the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues, the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the Northwest Suburban Alliance on Domestic Violence. Darr is a sought-after speaker and expert on domestic violence issues and on programs that can break the cycle in families. To inquire about speaking engagements for Rebecca Darr, please call 847-519-7820.