The Health Crossroad with Dr. Doug Elwood and Dr. Tom Elwood

Dr. Carol Aschenbrener joined the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in April 2004 after nearly 30 years as a medical school faculty member and administrator. She has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, focusing on the implementation of the AAMC’s strategic priorities and alignment of resources to ensure internal coordination of AAMC programs. In 2011 she assumed oversight of Medical Education, which spans the continuum of physician education and includes Interprofessional Education, MedEdPORTAL and a series of initiatives aimed at leveraging integration of a competency-based framework for the continuum of formation of physicians. She has extensive executive experience including nine years in various Dean’s Office positions at The University of Iowa College of Medicine and four years as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is the first woman ever to head the medical center at a public educational institution. In this interview, Dr. Aschenbrener provides insights into several issues at the core of physician education and workforce discussions, as well as on other relevant topics including the aging population and the ACA.

Dr. Steven Steinhubl has a long and impressive array of leadership activities across health. He has held numerous positions as an educator, researcher, and clinician at hospitals including the Cleveland Clinic, in the Air Force, and within Geisinger Healthcare system. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and abstracts, Dr. Steinhubl is currently the Director of Digital Medicine at the Scripps Translational Science Institute and a clinical cardiologist at Scripps Health. Dr. Steinhubl received his undergraduate training in chemical engineering at Purdue University in Indiana, graduate training in physiology at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and his medical degree at St. Louis University in Missouri. In this interview, Dr. Steinhubl discusses the potential of mHealth and digital health working with Dr. Eric Topol, as well as payment reform.

Rebecca LeBuhn is a co-founder and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC), an organization in Washington, DC where she is responsible for research, policy development, and publications. She has a special interest in scope-of-practice issues in the health field. She has coordinated public participation in a wide range of venues, including government regulatory proceedings and technical standards development in such diverse fields as medical devices.

A professional writer, Becky is the author of numerous publications and newsletters on various subjects, such as regulatory issues and health policy. Active in the public interest community, she has been the President of the National Consumers. She served as the public member on the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and is currently the public member of the board of directors of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) and a public member on the American Board of Radiology Foundation. Her degrees are from Wells College and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

In this interview, Becky provides deep insight into many critical issues in health today including those surrounding scope of practice, regulations, and licensing.

Jolie Sutter is a healthcare professional who has an impressive history as both an administrator and a social worker focusing on children and families. She has led two programs managing large staffs to provide care for hundreds of children and adolescents and currently works at the Lawrence Hospital Center helping many different patient populations. After receiving a BA from SUNY Albany, Jolie earned her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University with a concentration on families and children. Jolie has also spent a considerable amount of time in the healthcare system as a patient. At the age of 10, Jolie was diagnosed with Gorham’s Disease, a rare bone disorder that led to her breaking her foot 18 times in 18 years and spending over 2 years on crutches. She was forced to get an amputation of her foot in 2001 and then a below the knee amputation in 2010. In this interview, Jolie provides incredible insights into the system from both perspectives: as a healthcare professional and a patient.

Dr. Julie O’Sullivan Maillet is the Acting Dean of the School of Health Related Professions at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. One of the nation’s leading authorities in the area of nutrition, her many achievements include serving as President of the American Dietetic Association. Along with her accomplishments involving ethical and legal issues in nutrition, hydration, and feeding, she has overseen the Health Science Careers high school program in New Jersey for the past 20 years, which educates about 2,500 students a year. In this interview, Dr. Maillet provides her keen insight on a fundamental component of healthy living, nutrition, as well as several other timely topics germane to today's health discussion.

Dr. Kyra Bobinet is a leader in healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. She has successfully founded several healthcare start-ups, spanning behavior health, population health, and mobile health including her most recent company EngagedIn. In previous roles as the medical director of health and wellness innovation, and mHealth CEO, she has created big data algorithms, billion dollar products, mobile health apps, and evidence-based studies in mind-body and metabolic medicine. She is currently the Senior Instructor in Health Engagement in the Stanford University Behavior Design Lab. Dr. Bobinet received her Masters in Public Health at Harvard University and her medical degree from UCSF School of Medicine. In this interview, Dr. Bobinet provides compelling personal stories and insights regarding her quest to improve healthcare delivery.

Dr. Ralph Manchester is Vice-Provost and Director of the University Health Service and a Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester. He has served as President of the Performing Arts Medicine Association and is currently the editor of Medical Problems of Performing Artists. He also has served as President of the American College Health Association and is on the editorial board of the Journal of American College Health. His research interests focus on the musculoskeletal problems of musicians and applying Self-Determination Theory to change college student drinking behavior. In this interview, Dr. Manchester discusses several important topics including access to care and health problems faced by students and performance artists.

Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of iTriage, Dr. Wayne Guerra has more than 20 years of excellence in clinical and academic emergency medicine. Currently, he oversees the development and quality of medical information and experience on all iTriage platforms, a technology that helps consumers answer the two most common medical questions: "What could be wrong?", "Where can I go for care?" and "Does my insurance cover my treatment?" Guerra is a serial healthcare entrepreneur with a deep commitment to helping consumers make better healthcare decisions. Along with his Co-founder, Dr. Peter Hudson, he was listed as a top innovator reinventing healthcare in CNN Money 2012. Int his interview, Dr. Guerra discusses becoming an entrepreneur and critical elements of health delivery like transparency and using information for empowerment.

Dr. Randall Lambrecht made the transition from being Dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin to serving as Vice President of Research & Academic Relations for Aurora Health Care, Inc., one of the largest integrated non-profit health care systems in the country and the largest private employer in Wisconsin. He currently oversees all of the biomedical and clinical research activities for this multi-billion dollar health care system with its huge number of hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and more than 30,000 caregiver employees. In this interview, among many other topics, Dr. Lambrecht discusses the importance of data and technology in today's rapidly changing environment.

Dr. Emily Freeman is a social/behavioral scientist interested in the knowledge translation of medical evidence from clinical trials to evidence-based communication tools for patients and healthcare providers. She is exploring how medical evidence (i.e. risk, benefit, and health outcomes) is constructed and communicated within a patient-healthcare provider clinical encounter. In addition she is interested in the intersection of medical evidence and patient's values (and preferences) and the impact on shared treatment decisions. Emily ‘s research also has focused on the impact of shared treatment decision making on the quality of care received (and experienced) by patients. Finally, she is interested in bringing a more patient-centered approach to drug development through incorporating patient-reported and defined outcomes early in clinical development of new products.

In her role at Pfizer, Emily is a Health Behavior and Program Evaluation scientist within the Worldwide Safety and Regulatory- Epidemiology group. She is conducting research to assess the effectiveness of the FDA mandated REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies) and EMA RMM's (Risk Minimization Measures) on patient and healthcare provider communication and knowledge and the impact of regulatory science on both groups. Emily received her PhD degree in Health Geography from McMaster University with postdoctoral training in Psychosocial Oncology from the University of Toronto. Emily’s substantive research interests include patient engagement, health literacy, risk communication, shared treatment-decision making, and patient reported outcomes.

In this interview, Dr. Freeman discusses her experiences and how we can improve the system.