Staff
Jon Broyles
Chief Executive Officer
Jon oversees day-to-day operations and sets strategy for C-TAC. Early in his career he met Reverend Diane Smalley, a powerful advocate living with advanced illness, who told him to keep it simple: focus on opening doors. In acting on Diane's legacy Jon has the benefit of drawing on hundreds of innovators’ experience and talent in the Coalition. His role is channeling these resources into practical approaches to improve care for those living with advanced illness.
Alishia Parkhill
Chief Strategy Officer
Alishia Parkhill is a nonprofit executive with more than 17 years of experience in marketing, communications, membership and operations management. From leading multimillion-dollar cause marketing campaigns to driving change that creates new paths to reach organizational goals, her work has yielded increased awareness, efficiency and revenue for nonprofit brands. Her passion for improving serious illness and end-of-life care has inspired her to shift her career to focus on these issues and pursue her M.S. in Health and Social Innovation. In her spare time, she serves as a volunteer at a local hospice organization where she provides support to patients and families.
Policy & Advocacy
Jennifer A. Blemur, Esq.
Director of Policy & Advocacy
Jennifer's goal in working in policy is to ensure that elected officials not only know what's happening in their communities but are equipped with forward-thinking legislative solutions. Collaborating with elected officials to create transformative change is core to Jennifer's belief that government can effectively meet the needs of its people.
Jennifer previously served as the State Caucus Director for the Millennial Action Project (MAP). MAP works with young leaders to transform American politics. She previously served as the Director of the Women Legislators’ Lobby (WiLL), a program of Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND). WiLL is a national nonpartisan network of women state legislators who work together to influence federal policy and budget priorities. Prior to WiLL, she served as a Legislative Counsel at the Council of the District of Columbia, where she drafted legislation, met with stakeholders, and helped community members. Her work in state policy began with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators where she worked as Policy Associate and Legal Counsel writing policy articles and toolkits for legislators. She also organized policy symposia and worked with legislators on national policy priorities.
A licensed attorney living in the District of Columbia, Jennifer is a graduate of the David A. Clarke School of Law, a native New Yorker, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., and a first-generation Haitian-American.
Torrie Fields, MPH
Strategic Advisor
Torrie Fields serves as Chief Executive Officer of Votive Health, a company expanding access to care for people with serious illness by facilitating value-based arrangements between payers and preferred providers. Prior to Votive Health, Fields oversaw serious illness strategy and value-based care at Blue Shield of California and Cambia Health Solutions. Fields’ experience has encompassed work as an economist and population health researcher in a variety of settings, including health plans, health delivery systems, and local and federal health departments. She has deep expertise in policy development and implementation, translating evidence-based research into legislative concepts and regulatory change. Torrie holds a Master of Public Health from Oregon Health & Science University.
Marian Grant, DNP, ACNP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, RN
Senior Regulatory Advisor
Marian Grant is the Senior Regulatory Advisor for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), and a consultant for the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and the University of Washington’s MessageLab Serious Illness Messaging project. Dr. Grant maintains a clinical practice as a palliative care nurse practitioner at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She is adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins Schools of Nursing. In 2014, Dr. Grant was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow working on Capitol Hill and at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Dr. Grant has served on the board of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, The Carolinas Center, been faculty for ELNEC, the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium, and speaks nationally and internationally on palliative care. Before becoming a nurse, Dr. Grant had a career in marketing at the Procter & Gamble Company and worked on the Max Factor and Cover Girl cosmetics brands there.
Brian Lindberg
Senior Policy Advisor
Brian W. Lindberg is the Executive Director of the Consumer Coalition for Quality Health Care. Prior to his current position, Mr. Lindberg worked in Congress for 10 years - most recently as the staff director of the House Select Committee on Aging's Subcommittee on Housing and Consumer Interests, and prior to that on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Mr. Lindberg holds a Master's in the Management of Human Services from the Florence Heller Graduate School at Brandeis University, a Bachelor of Social Work from Temple University, and studied health and human services at the University of Stockholm's International Graduate School.
Andrew MacPherson
Senior Policy Advisor
As Senior Policy Advisor to C-TAC and Principal at Healthsperien, Andrew provides comprehensive strategic guidance, in-depth policy analysis and effective messaging development on wide-range of federal health policy and political issues, including those related to the implementation of Affordable Care Act (ACA), quality and value-based purchasing, Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drug coverage and pharmaceutical cost containment, long-term care supports and services, chronic care management, and public and private insurance coverage expansions. Through his work with dozens of public and private stakeholders at the local, state, regional and federal level, Andrew has a special emphasis on policy and political issues related to advanced care and serious illness.
Prior to his work at Healthsperien, Andrew was Founder and Principal of MacPherson Strategic, Inc., a health care policy, legislative strategy, and communications consulting firm. MacPherson Strategic served a diverse set of health care stakeholder clients, including consumer groups, broad-based coalitions, innovative health care start-ups, and the largest health care purchasers.
Prior to founding MacPherson Strategic, Andrew served as Director of Government Affairs at Jennings Policy Strategies, Inc. (JPS), a nationally recognized health policy consulting firm led by Chris Jennings, the former Senior Health Care Advisor to President Bill Clinton and now Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. From 2005-2013, Mr. MacPherson staffed a wide variety of client and pro bono initiatives in the policy, political, and communications arenas with JPS, Inc., such as the Bipartisan Policy Center health reform project with former Majority Leaders Baker, Daschle, Dole and Mitchell, presidential campaigns including Obama for America and Hillary Clinton for President, and the Clinton Global Initiative. While at JPS, Andrew researched and co-authored numerous articles and speeches on a range of health policy issues.
From 2005 to 2007, Andrew served in the Government Relations Department with the American Psychiatric Association. At APA, Andrew developed national policy positions, conducted in-depth research on physician access and reimbursement, and engaged on all aspects of targeted lobbying activities including those related to implementation of the Medicare Part D drug benefit, physician reimbursement under Medicare and mental health “parity” legislation.
From 2001 to 2004, Mr. MacPherson worked for a range of policy and political organizations and elected officials, including Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Democratic Governors’ Association, Vermont Democratic Party, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Inc., a market research and strategic communications consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
Originally from Vermont, Andrew received a B.A. in Political Science from The George Washington University in May 2005.
Marisette Hasan, RN, BSN
Senior Policy Advisor
Marisette Hasan began her role as CEO and president of The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care in 2018, following a career in health care and hospice. Ms. Hasan graduated from the University of South Carolina and began her career as oncology nurse in 1981. She soon discovered a love for caring for her patients in a holistic manner and throughout the continuum of their illness. Hospice was a perfect fit. Since 1985, Ms. Hasan has served in various roles, from hospice nurse to administrator with hospital programs and independent community programs. In her role with The Carolinas Center, she works with community stakeholders engaged in the delivery of end of life care in diverse settings, in addition to working with hospice and palliative care providers. Ms. Hasan believes that when we build bridges through common agendas and collaborative partnerships, we can do amazing work and improve the care of all South Carolinians living with advanced illness.
Hope Glassberg
Senior Policy Advisor
Hope Glassberg is the president of Decipher Health Strategies, a consulting firm that provides expertise at the intersection of health policy, strategy, and operations, with a specific focus on value-based payment, complex care coordination programs, and Medicaid and Medicare programs design. Previously Hope served as the chief strategy officer for New York’s largest federally qualified health center, where she organized the enterprise-wide response to COVID-19 and supported a large merger with another health center. Hope was also the Director of Public Policy at Montefiore Health System where she helped launch a multi-million dollar Medicaid reform initiative and provided strategic guidance on its value-based payment portfolio, including the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization program.
Hope also served in federal government as the special assistant to the federal Medicaid Director and as a member of the inaugural staff of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation. Prior to entering the healthcare field, Hope was a journalist for Dow Jones Newswires, covering venture-capital backed software companies, and contributed articles to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. She holds a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University and an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.
Clinical Models
David Longnecker, MD
Chief Clinical Innovations Officer (Emeritus)
David E. Longnecker, M.D. is the Chief Clinical Innovations Officer (Emeritus) of C-TAC (the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, (http://www.theCTAC.org), an organization dedicated to the ideal that all Americans with advanced illness, especially the sickest and most vulnerable, receive comprehensive, high-quality, person- and family-centered care that is consistent with their goals and values and honors their dignity. His career spans a spectrum of commitment to healthcare improvement as a physician-scientist, clinician and educator at the University of Missouri, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Robert D. Dripps Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Vice Dean for Professional Services, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He also served as a Director at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), where he founded the Chief Medical Officers Group and co-founded its Integrating Quality initiative to enhance quality, safety and cost-effective care delivery in academic medical centers. He is the author of over 110 scientific articles and chapters and the editor of nine medical textbooks, including the 1800-page Longnecker’s Anesthesiology and its associated website, Access Anesthesiology (http://www.accessanesthesiology.com). Dr. Longnecker is a fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (UK) and member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. His other passions include space medicine, manifested by prior service on the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Committee and the NASA Space Life and Physical Sciences Research Advisory Committee.
Ravi Parikh, MD, MPP
Senior Clinical Advisor
Ravi is a resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Ever since serving as a hospice bereavement counselor in high school, Ravi has striven to improve seriously ill individuals’ quality of life, ensuring that people are not only dying better, but living better as well. He has worked to implement novel delivery models of care in advanced illness at the local, state, and national level. He has served on leadership boards of the American College of Physicians, American Geriatrics Society, and Massachusetts Medical Society, and has advised for-profit and non-profit organizations including AARP Services, Inc. and the Healthy Living Center for Excellence. Ravi worked on accountable care organization implementation as a Rappaport Fellow in the Massachusetts State House in 2010; his legislative recommendations earned commendation from the Massachusetts Speaker of the House and were incorporated into landmark payment reform legislation passed in 2012. Ravi’s research interests include delivery reform in advanced illness, cancer survivorship, and integrated palliative care. His work has been published in national venues including The Washington Post, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Atlantic, and Readers’ Digest Magazine, and he is a staff contributor at the Now@NEJM Blog. He has received the AMA Foundation Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award and the American Geriatrics Society Edward Henderson Award. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Harvard College, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Ravi enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, tennis, and watching basketball.
Mark Sterling
Strategic Advisor
Mark is C-TAC’s Strategic Advisor and serves as the inaugural Senior Fellow in Advanced Care and Health Policy for the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.
For over 35 years, Mark has been an advisor to mission-driven healthcare organizations. His experience includes serving as partner in a leading global law firm, as general counsel and chief strategy officer of a leading health care services organization providing end-of-life care, and as a member of nonprofit Boards of Directors serving frail elderly and terminally ill individuals. He recently was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Mark has been a partner in the Washington DC and Miami offices of Hogan Lovells (formerly Hogan & Hartson), where he was a founding member of both its Health group and its Miami office.
Over three decades, Mark has worked to structure, develop and expand innovative programs serving the elderly and terminally ill, including PACE, home care, and hospice programs. He served on HHS’s first Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, which reached a consensus recommendation on the hospice wage index that was adopted by the Medicare program. He also has worked on public-private partnerships to establish new medical research institutes, including Scripps Florida on behalf of The Scripps Research Institute and JAX Genomic Medicine on behalf of The Jackson Laboratory.
Mark holds Juris Doctor and Master of Public Policy degrees from The University of Michigan, and served as Managing Editor of the Michigan Law Review. He has served as President (Board Chair) of Hospice Care of the District of Columbia, and as a Board member of Comprehensive Care Management Corporation (now CenterLight Health System), which operates PACE programs in New York City.
Brad Stuart, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Brad Stuart, MD, has more than 35 years of experience practicing internal medicine, palliative care and hospice. As a healthcare innovator with a national reputation, he has a career-long commitment to improving clinical and economic outcomes by promoting dignity, choice and responsibility. He was instrumental in creating the first Advanced Illness Management (AIM) program in the US with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 1999, shepherded its growth over a decade at Sutter Health, and spearheaded the proposal that earned AIM a $13 million award in 2010 from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. Brad drove AIM’s growth and development toward a national model now adopted by the American Hospital Association and many US health systems and championed by the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), where he is a founding Board member. For over 10 years Brad has focused on delivery system redesign, specializing in outcome and financial metrics and analytics, physician and staff training, and value-driven cost reduction in advanced illness. A graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine, he was named to the 2013 HealthLeaders’ Media list of Top 20 national difference-makers and was profiled in Atlantic Monthly. He has been named Physician of the Year by the California Association of Health Services at Home. Brad speaks internationally on clinical, economic and spiritual issues in advanced illness.
Partnerships
Sandra Arias
Partnership Associate
Sandra Arias is the Partnership Associate for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). She supports the Partnership team in its continued efforts to build and expand C-TAC membership and strategic partners.
Prior to joining C-TAC, Sandra worked as a paralegal at My Sisters’ Place, a non-profit organization in Westchester, NY serving survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking in their legal cases. Sandra’s experience working with communities of diverse backgrounds has driven her to continue advocating for vulnerable populations, while addressing racial and socioeconomic barriers.
A first-generation college student, Sandra received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from The George Washington University, with minors in Spanish and Psychology in May 2018. Sandra currently resides in New York and continues to be involved with mentorship and volunteer opportunities within the Latinx community.
Cheryl Matheis
Strategic Advisor
Senior Fellow in Advanced Care and Health Policy with the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
Cheryl Matheis is C-TAC’s Strategic Advisor. She is a recognized expert in healthcare, aging and consumer law and policy, having served in various high-level positions with AARP for over 25 years. Some of her many highlights include: serving as AARP’s Senior Principal and Counsel for External Affairs; serving as Senior Vice President for Policy, Strategy & International Affairs; providing expert counsel to AARP’s Board of Directors and executives; and directing successful campaigns on Health Reform and Medicare Part D Implementation. As State Affairs Director, Cheryl oversaw work combating predatory lending, and excessive utilities fees, and securing increased access to Medicaid services. She was AARP’s lead representative with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, drafting and securing adoption of consumer protection provisions in model laws. For more than a decade, Cheryl led AARP’s federal regulatory advocacy, brokering agreements with industry and government that resulted in important regulations. She helped write federal standards for Medicare Supplement and Long Term Care Insurance. Throughout her career, Cheryl has worked closely with State Attorneys General, pursuing joint initiatives with the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School.
Cheryl received numerous awards during her AARP career, including the organization’s Outstanding Association Achievement award. She has appeared on major news outlets, including CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Cheryl is a graduate of Manhattanville College and Catholic University Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review. She is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia federal and local courts and the United States Supreme Court.
Elder Angela Overton, M.Div.
Senior Advisor to the Interfaith Workgroup
Elder Angela Overton, MDiv., an effective communicator of what it means to receive and share Divine Holy Love. Angela is widely known for her practical and dynamic teaching style which helps people apply the timeless truths of sacred text to their everyday lives. She has been preaching, teaching and providing pastoral care for 25 years. Angela resides in Louisville, Kentucky where she has served as an associate minister at Green Castle Baptist Church for 9 years and at Burnett Avenue Baptist Church for 3 years. She is a former Contract Chaplain for Norton Healthcare filling in for Staff Chaplains; where she provided spiritual guidance, emotional support and direct care to patients, family members and staff.
She is the Senior Advisor at the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) in Washington, DC of the Interfaith Workgroup. Angela oversees faith and diversity leaders across the United States where they are functioning to improve advanced illness care in our health systems, the quality of care and determinants of goals of care for the person with advanced illness, and their caregivers by creating, providing and implementing best practices and tangible resources for distribution to faith leaders to be shared with their community.
Angela is a cancer survivor, which she believes has been one of her greatest accomplishments and best experiences outside of being a mother that she has had. It is her belief that this experience provided the lens of the patient and fueled her desire, drive and devotion to intersect spiritual and clinical care for those facing illness.
She has volunteered for, and worked with numerous faith-based and not for profit organizations since her cancer experience in 1996. She currently sits on the board of Hosparus Health Care Guide Partners.
Angela earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a concentration in Social Sciences from the University of Louisville.
Angela earned a Master’s degree in Divinity and a Black Church Studies Certificate from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
She is married to Minister David Overton, Sr. and they are the proud parents of David Jr., Brandon, Kristen and Byron.
Her favorite reference of scripture is found in Hebrews 10:23; “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Sarah Park
Partnership Manager
Sarah Park serves as the Partnership Manager at The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). In her role, she supports efforts in building and maintaining partnerships as well as growing C-TAC’s reach across the advanced illness care spectrum.
Prior to joining C-TAC, Sarah worked at the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism for the South Korean government to foster awareness for Korean arts and culture. There, she developed social media campaigns, conducted community events, and oversaw New York City engagement for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Sarah’s time at the Ministry grew her dedication for creative and genuine storytelling. She continues to pursue this passion at C-TAC by hoping to share the stories of those living with advanced illness.
Originally from New Jersey, Sarah received a B.A. degree in International Affairs and Global Public Health from The George Washington University in May 2018.
Rev. Tyrone Pitts
Senior Faith Advisor
An internationally published writer on racism, the Rev. Dr. Tyrone Pitts is the general secretary emeritus for the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. In addition for his work with the New Baptist Covenant, Dr. Pitts has also worked for racial justice under the auspices of the National Council of Churches, and currently serves as the chair of the Morehouse School of Religion Board of Directors.
Dr. Pitts is an ordained minister in the Progressive National Baptist Convention, having earned his doctoral ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Ohio.
Luke Scuitto
Associate Director of Partnerships
Luke holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the George Washington University in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs with a minor in History. Luke was previously on the Board of Directors at the DC Center for the LGBT Community and served as the Chief Development Officer in charge of fundraising efforts.
In August 2020, Luke moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to participate in the Tulsa Remote program, connecting remote workers from across the country and building capacity and opportunities in the Tulsa region.
Patient & Caregiver Voice
Tim Bauerschmidt & Ramie Liddle
Caregiver Fellows
Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle are professional nomads who retired by age fifty to travel full-time in an Airstream travel trailer with Ringo, their Standard Poodle. They have explored every state but Alaska and consider Mexico's Baja California Peninsula the closest thing to home.
Communications
Jim McGuire
Associate Director of Marketing and Communications
Jim is the Associate Director of Marketing and Communications for C-TAC. He supports the mission by providing communications strategies around coalition initiatives and highlighting the hope-filled stories of C-TAC members that we are all so passionate about sharing.
Before joining C-TAC, Jim worked as a consultant for various campaigns, nonprofits, advocacy groups, and corporations to elevate their capabilities and ensure that they had the outreach infrastructure to meet their goals. In both New York and Georgia, he has worked for federal, state, and local elected officials to secure campaign victories as their advance person, fundraiser, and strategic advisor. He has led lobbying efforts in state and local governments to bring positive change to the communities they serve. He specializes in full-service, in-house consulting that brings the ability to develop creative products to support the pillars of the client strategies. Jim is the recipient of a Pollie Award for Political Direct Mail marketing.
Jim is a graduate of Georgia Southern University where he was an award-winning National Model United Nations delegate. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Jim is a life-long musician. When he isn't making music, he can usually be found on the water, in a kayak, with a fishing rod in hand. His personal best largemouth bass is 6.7lbs.
Operations
Jennifer Driscoll
Senior Project Manager
Kristina Minior
Operations Coordinator
Kristina Minior has worked with the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) as the Operations Coordinator since 2016. While working behind the scenes, mostly on the financial side, she has learned a lot about advanced care and serious illness.
Kristina’s prior experience includes working at the Global Social Enterprise Initiative at the McDonough School of Business, the Management Office of the U.S. Embassy in Guyana, South America, and the History of Science Department at Harvard University. She has also taught elementary school science and worked and volunteered at environmental non-profit organizations. She has a B.A. from Tufts University and an Ed.M. from Harvard University.
The daughter of two international school teachers, she was born in the Dominican Republic, attended preschool in Iran, elementary school in Indonesia (New Guinea and Sumatra), middle school in New Jersey, and high school in Malaysia. Traveling is still one of her favorite things to do, especially now that she can share the experience with her husband and daughter.
CB Wismar
National Summit Producer
CB Wismar is a writer and Creative Director who has written for film and television as well as both print and electronic media. He created events and experiences for Fortune 500 companies for over 30 years including TIME’s 75th Anniversary, the Xerox “drupa” Pavillion, 8 ASTA World Travel Congresses and nine Life@50+ events for AARP. He has created and scripted major events for United Way Worldwide, America’s Promise, MCI, ExxonMobil and Conoco-Phillips. Twice a finalist for the Academy Award in the short subjects category, his scripts have been nominated three times for EMMY Awards.
Interns
Matt Reasor
Partnerships and Programs Intern
Matt Reasor is a recent Colby College graduate from Clarksville, Tennessee. At Colby, Matt pursued an education in Psychology and Anthropology, focusing his academics on the biological basis for neurodegenerative diseases and how these diseases and other advanced illness are perceived and treated cross-culturally. On campus, he worked with several student health organizations and administration to spread awareness on public health related topics and create programs that supported the physical, mental, and emotional needs of students. Matt’s passion for supporting individuals with advanced illnesses largely stems from his personal experiences. Having been a caretaker an advocate for his late grandmother, Matt understands the importance of compassion, innovation, and patient autonomy in palliative care and strives to promote these values through his work with the C-TAC. His interests include kayaking, psychology podcasts, hiking, board games, and volunteering
Hamid Torabzadeh
Partnerships and Programs Intern
Hamid Torabzadeh (he/him) is currently a senior at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA. He is passionate about advancing innovation, access, and quality in healthcare by leveraging technology, research, and policy to help people live happier, healthier lives. On his high school campus, he is Co-Captain of Poly’s robotics team, Poly Rabbotics, President of Poly Red Cross Club, Co-President of Poly Model United Nations, Co-Captain of Poly Boys’ Tennis, and Vice President of Poly Speech & Debate. On the healthcare front, he is currently an Intern for digital health start-up, SmartTab, where he is developing wireless ingestible drug delivery solutions that best serve patients and provide a personalized experience for those suffering from chronic diseases including Crohn’s Disease and IBD. He is also a Fellow at the The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation and a former Summer Intern at Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation. He plans on pursuing a pre-med track in his undergraduate education. Outside of his work, Hamid enjoys playing tennis, writing, reading, and traveling.
Joanna George
Policy Intern
Joanna is a graduate student in the MBA in Healthcare Delivery Sciences program at The University of Tulsa. She currently serves as an Albert Schweitzer fellow, a research and development intern with LUNA Counseling & Community Care and part of the Champions of Aging cohort for 2021. Her graduate focus includes researching the infrastructure and resources surrounding aging-in-place models within her community- an initiative shaped by her own experience in advocating for family members with chronic illness. This, combined with her role as a patient advocate for uninsured and native populations during the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, has influenced her deep appreciation for holistic care and osteopathic medicine. She hopes to continue her journey of advocacy and continual learning by working with underserved populations as a physician. She enjoys writing, checking out too many books from her local library and finding water-related activities in her beloved landlocked home state- including swimming and splashing in the rain.