ATA Leadership
Executive Committee
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President Dale Alverson, MD Medical Director, Center for Telehealth University of New Mexico Health Sciences  505-272-8633  dalverson@salud.unm.edu Dr. Alverson is a Professor of Pediatrics and University of New Mexico (UNM) Regents’ Professor at the University of New Mexico. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research at UNM. In that role, he has been involved in the planning, implementation, research and evaluation of Telemedicine systems for New Mexico. Dr. Alverson is on the Boards of the American Telemedicine Association and the Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law. The UNM Center for Telehealth was given the ATA President’s Institutional Award 2007 for its efforts in advancing telehealth locally, nationally, and internationally. Read More >> |
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President-Elect Bernard A. Harris, Jr., MD, MBA President and CEO Vesalius Ventures 713-877-9276 bernard@vesaliusventures.com Dr. Harris is President and Chief Executive Officer of Vesalius Ventures, Inc., a venture capital accelerator, that invests in early-stage companies in Medical Informatics and Technology. A veteran astronaut for over fifteen years, he has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space. Dr. Harris was at NASA for ten years, where he conducted research in musculoskeletal physiology and disuse osteoporosis. Later, as Head of the Exercise Countermeasure Project, he conducted clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed in-flight medical devices to extend Astronaut stays in space, which involved the use of telemetry. |
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| Vice President A. Stewart Ferguson, PhD Director of Telehealth Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium 907-729-2262 sferguson@afhcan.org Stewart Ferguson, PhD is Director of the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network (AFHCAN) in Anchorage, Alaska. AFHCAN is Alaska’s largest telehealth project with deployments at 248 remote sites, and has been recognized with the President’s Award from the American Telemedicine Association, a TETHIC Award for "Most Innovative New Technology Device for Diagnostics" for 2004, the National Managed Health Care Congress’ AstraZenca Award and the Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award. Dr. Ferguson has over twenty years of progressive computer and research experience in academic, industrial, biomedical and business environments. He has numerous publications, has served as a reviewer and editor for multiple journals and funding agencies, and has developed partnerships with multiple telehealth systems, agencies and vendors both nationally and internationally. He has also been involved in software development for CT scanners, theoretical solutions for the forward and inverse problems in biomagnetism, imaging techniques for cardiac activity, and was the owner/partner of two consulting firms in Cleveland and American Samoa specializing in system analysis and network design. Read More >> |
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| Secretary-Treasurer Seong Ki Mun, PhD Director, Institute for Advanced Study, Virginia Tech-NCR 202-320-4613 munsk@vt.edu Seong Ki Mun, PhD, Professor of Radiology, is Director of the Imaging Science and Information System (ISIS) Research Center, Georgetown University Medical Center. Established in the 1980s to develop the picture archiving and teleradiology capabilities for the US Army, the ISIS Center has grown to approximately 60 faculty and staff who pursue research and development in imaging, informatics, medical robotics, and global disease surveillance. Dr. Mun’s research deals with the role of imaging and information technology in variety of healthcare settings such as diagnostic imaging, chronic illness management, home monitoring, telemedicine, disease surveillance, surgical instrumentation, and cancer therapy. As the Associate Vice President of Georgetown University Medical Center, he is responsible to developing strategic programs such as the Georgetown Biosecurity Institute, the Joint Center for Drug Development, and special projects of interest to the U.S. Congress. |
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Immediate Past President Karen S. Rheuban, MD Medical Director, Office of Telemedicine Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean for CME and External Affairs University of Virginia 434-982-3635 krheuban@virginia.edu Karen S. Rheuban, MD currently serves as Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Senior Associate Dean for External Affairs and Continuing Medical Education and Medical Director of the Office of Telemedicine at UVA. She is President of the American Telemedicine Association, and a board member of the Center for Telehealth and E-Health Law. She has presented Congressional testimony re telehealth, she has worked with Virginia Medicaid to provide coverage of telehealth services for all eligible Virginia children regardless of geographic location. |
Board Members
| Ed Brown, MD Chief Executive Officer Ontario Telemedicine Network 416-850-9092 ebrown@otn.ca Dr. Brown is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Telemedicine Network. An emergency physician who studied mathematics and engineering before embarking on his medical career, Dr. Brown combined these skills in 1998 when he founded NORTH Network. NORTH Network evolved out of Dr. Brown’s examination of how telemedicine could alleviate the barriers to accessing health care posed by distance and a shortage of health professionals in Northern Ontario into a comprehensive telemedicine program connecting thousands of patients with health care providers. |
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| Mark Carroll, MD Indian Health Service 928-214-3920 mark.carroll@ihs.gov Mark Carroll, MD. is the Indian Health Service (IHS) Telehealth Program director. Dr. Carroll has served Indian health care in multiple clinical, administrative, and program development capacities since 1992. He has helped develop and support diverse Indian health initiatives and activities related to performance improvement/clinical quality, adolescent health, school-based health care, community epidemiology/public health, health promotion/community wellness program development, health information technology, and telehealth care,. Currently, he also serves as the lead for the IHS VistA Imaging project and is the acting director of the Native American Cardiology Program. Read More >> |
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S. Ward Casscells, MD University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, TX ward.casscells@gmail.com The Honorable S.Ward Casscells, MD is the John E. Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health, and Vice President for External Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Senior Scholar at the Texas Heart Institute. From April 2007 through April 2009 he served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) where he was credited with turning around a struggling $45bn health and education system with 137,000 employees, 10 million patients in 900 clinics and hospitals in 100 countries. The system is now #1 in most surveys of patient satisfaction. For this work Dr Casscells received the DoD's highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Surgeon General's Medallion from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Army's Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service, and the Order of Military Medical Merit. Previous awards include the Army's Meritorious Service Medal (for pandemic planning) and the General Maxwell Thurman Award from the American Telemedicine Association, for innovations and advocacy for mHealth. Government Executive magazine said of him, "Many Defense leaders say they pay attention to the troops and don't. Casscells does...he is a leader who walks the walk...making rounds at military hospitals…(continuing his policy) would serve the troops well." Dr Casscells graduated Yale College and Harvard Medical School (magna cum laude). He trained in medicine and cardiology at Beth Israel, Brigham and Women's, and Massachusetts General Hospitals, the Harvard School of Public Health, National Institutes of Health, and Scripps. His publications have been in the areas of prevention of heart attack and stroke, Bayesian decision-making, medical ethics, influenza and emergency preparedness, nanotechnology, and healthcare management. He also speaks publicly about living with cancer. An inventor, he has founded several companies, including Volcano Corporation, and served on numerous civic, corporate, and professional boards. He has been elected to a number of honorary societies. His recent book, "When It Mattered Most", a tribute to medics killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, was termed by Newsweek's Evan Thomas, "a noble work". A colonel in the Army Reserve, Dr Casscells served in Iraq in 2006, earning the Joint Commendation Medal and honorary membership in the Iraqi Medical Regiment. He and his wife and three children are Texans, living in exile in Washington, DC. |
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Molly J. Coye, MD, MPH Chief Innovation Officer UCLA Health System University of California Los Angeles 415-537-6978 mcoye@healthtech.org Molly J. Coye, MD, a long time leader and advocate nationally for healthcare reform, is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Technology Center, a non-profit education and research organization, which she founded in December 2000. She has served as the appointed leader of health for two states as the Director of the California Department of Health Services from 1991 to 1993 and Commissioner of Health of the New Jersey State Department of Health from 1986 to 1989. Her other appointments include Senior Vice President of the West Coast Office of The Lewin Group; Executive Vice President, Strategic Development, of HealthDesk Corporation; Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations, Good Samaritan Health Hospital from 1993 to 1996; Head of the Division of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health; Special Advisor for Health and the Environment, State of New Jersey Office of the Governor from 1985 to 1986; and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Medical Investigative Officer from 1980 to 1985. Dr. Coye is a member of the Institute of Medicine, where she co-authored the reports To Err Is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. She also is a director of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health and serves as an advisor to the Health Evolution Partners Innovation Network, a health-related investment fund. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Aetna Foundation, Inc. |
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Mr. Sunil Hazaray President & CEO Bayer HealthCare 408-439-9001 sunil.hazaray.b@bayer.comSunil Hazaray joined Viterion TeleHealthcare, a business of Bayer Healthcare in Feb. 2007. During his brief stay in the company he has created a strategic plan for Viterion TeleHealthcare and the company has turned profitable under his stewardship. In Feb. 2008 he was additionally appointed as the Leader of the E Health strategy for all of Bayer Healthcare. Sunil is actively involved in the American Telemedicine Association. He was the Chairman of MarketWatch, a group which characterized the E Health market for the first time and quantified the segments. He is the Chair Elect for the Industry Council of the ATA. Sunil has extensive experience in the Healthcare industry in the areas of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and Medical devices. He has held several senior Marketing and General Management positions in J&J, Roche and currently with Bayer. He was responsible for the turn around of two other divisions which he headed at Roche. He is a Physics graduate with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India. |
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| John P. Howe, III, MD President and CEO Project HOPE Dr. John P. Howe, III became President & CEO of Project HOPE on May 1, 2001. Project HOPE is an international health foundation, with offices and programs in 35 countries on 5 continents. Dr. Howe had been the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio chief executive for fifteen years. He provided leadership to the University's Medical School, Dental School, Nursing School, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences and Doctor of Pharmacy program. Dr. Howe is Chair of the Harvard College Board of Overseers Committee to Visit the Medical School and School of Dental Medicine and a member of the Board of Visitors of the Boston University School of Public Health. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Boston University. He is also the founding President of the Texas Society for Biomedical Research, a member and past Chair of the American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, and a past member of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. |
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| Donald Jones, JD Vice President, Business Development Health and Life Sciences QUALCOMM 858-587-1121 donaldj@qualcomm.com
Donald Jones serves as vice president of business development for health and life sciences at QUALCOMM Incorporated. In this role, he is responsible for leading QUALCOMM’s efforts to enable the use of wireless technologies in the health and medical device markets. He is also a founder and board member of the Wireless Life Sciences Alliance, an organization that works with both the wireless and life science industries to enable new business models and business process improvements in all sectors of the life sciences industry including healthcare services, healthcare information technology, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Read More >> |
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James A. L. Mathers, Jr., MD, FCCP Private Practice, Pulmonary Associates of Richmond Immediate Past President, American College of Chest Physicians James A. L. Mathers, Jr, MD, FCCP, is in private practice with Pulmonary Associates of Richmond, in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Mathers received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University and served his internship at Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University. He completed a medical residency at Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine then returned to Columbia University for his Pulmonary Fellowship. Dr. Mathers has 30 years of experience in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. In 2005, in partnership with the Hospital Corporation of America, his practice implemented an ICU telemedicine program in 5 Richmond hospitals. That program has now expanded to include 7 hospitals. He has spoken at national and international meetings on the importance of telemedicine in improving patient safety and clinical outcomes. Dr. Mathers is the Immediate Past President of the American College of Chest Physicians and served the ACCP in numerous leadership roles including: Two terms as Regent-at-Large on the Board of Regents, two terms on the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents, Trustee of the Chest Foundation, Chair of the Government Relations Committee, and Chair of the Critical Care Work Group. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors, Virginia Telehealth Network. From December 2004 to October 2007, he was retained as the Clinical Health Policy Consultant to GRQ, LLC. A Washington, DC based healthcare lobbying firm representing specialty societies, patient advocacy groups and industry. |
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| Ronald C. Merrell, MD, FACS Professor of Surgery Virginia Commonwealth University 804-827-1031 rcmerrel@vcu.edu Dr. Merrell is Professor of Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University where he was Stuart McGuire Professor and Chairman of VCU’s Department of Surgery from 1999 to 2003. Dr. Merrell was also the Clinical Director of VCU Health Systems Telemedicine Program. Previously he was the Lampman Professor and Chairman of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He was Vice Dean at the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston and Professor of Surgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. He obtained B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Alabama, which is his home state and trained in surgery and biological chemistry at Washington University in St Louis. Dr. Merrell has had a long relationship with NASA as advisor in aerospace medicine and researcher in telemedicine. He was awarded the Public Serve medal by NASA on three occasions. He is also a frequent advisor to the Department of Defense regarding telemedicine. Dr Merrell has established successful programs in industry and government in the field of informatics research. His innovative work in telemedicine includes early use of Internet telemedicine, sensor applications, transmission solutions and program design. His efforts in international telemedicine have led to significant programs in ten countries and extensive work in remote and hostile environments including Mt Everest, the Amazon and Africa. As a surgical educator he has been recognized by the universities he has served and their students with many awards including the Kaiser Award at Stanford, the John McGovern award at the University of Texas Houston, and the Edward Storer Award at Yale. He has over 350 publications and serves on the editorial boards of several major surgical journals. Dr Merrell was named to the Best Doctors in America list for the last decade of his practice. He is an editor-in-chief of Telemedicine and E-Health, the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association. |
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| Jay H. Shore, MD, MPH Associate Professor University of Colorado at Denver American Indian and Alaska Native Programs 303-724-1465 jay.shore@ucdenver.edu Jay H. Shore, M.D., MPH is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver Department of Psychiatry’s American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, a Domain Lead with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Veterans Rural Health Resource Center-Western Region, and serves as a subject matter expert for the Department of Defense’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. Dr. Shore is a former Fulbright Fellow who received his medical and public health degrees from Tulane University School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Shore is currently participating in telehealth projects which include ongoing development, implementation, and assessment of telehealth programs in native and rural communities aimed at improving both quality and access to care. He has been involved in telehealth consultation nationally and has worked as a consultant in the area of telehealth for tribal, state and federal agencies. He has authored published manuscripts which have focused on clinical and research topics in telepsychiatry. Dr. Shore has been a member of the American Telemedicine Association since 2000, and is an active member in the TeleMental Health Special Interest Group (SIG) for which he is the vice-chair. |
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Lord Roger Swinfen The Swinfen Charitable Trust +44-0-1227-721024 swinfencharitabletrust@btinternet.com The Lord Swinfen is an elected Hereditary Peer, and as such a member of The House of Lords. Together with his wife, Pat, he founded The Swinfen Charitable Trust, in 1998. The Trust was established to assist poor, sick and disabled people in the developing world by establishing telemedicine links between hospital-based practitioners in the developing world and expert medical and surgical specialists who generously give free advice via the Internet. Since it started, the Trust has provided telemedicine consultations to patients in over 35 countries. Lord Swinfen is also Hon. Research Fellow of the Centre for Online Health at the University of Queensland and co-author of a number of papers on telemedicine. He is a Member of the Steering Committe of the Catastrophes & Conflict Forum of the Royal Society of Medicine, London and UK Patron of World Orthopaedic Concern. Lord Swinfen visited Iraq in 2004 with the 1st MOET (Management of Obstetric Emergency & Trauma) team in April 2004. |
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Reed V. Tuckson, MD Executive Vice President, Chief of Medical Affairs UnitedHealth Group A graduate of Howard University, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s General Internal Medicine Residency and Fellowship Programs, Dr. Tuckson is currently Executive Vice President and Chief of Medical Affairs at UnitedHealth Group where he is responsible for working with all of the Company’s business units to improve the quality and efficiency of health services. Formerly, Dr. Tuckson served as Senior Vice President, Professional Standards, for the American Medical Association (AMA). He is former President of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles; has served as Senior Vice President for Programs of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; and is a former Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia. Dr. Tuckson is an active member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and served as the Chairperson of its Quality Chasm Summit Committee and a member on their Committee on the Consequences of the Uninsured. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society. Additionally, he recently served as a Commissioner, Certification Commission on Health Information Technology (CCHIT); and is currently a member of the Performance Measurement Workgroup, Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance (AQA); and the Quality Workgroup, American Health Information Community (AHIC). Dr. Tuckson has also held other federal appointments, including cabinet level advisory committees on health reform, infant mortality, children’s health, violence, and radiation testing. Recently, Dr. Tuckson participated in United Health’s establishment of a national telehealth network aimed at serving rural, difficult to access and underserved patient populations. |
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Yulun Wang, PhD Chairman & CEO InTouch Health 805-562-8686 ywang@intouchhealth.com Yulun Wang, PhD, is the Chairman and CEO of InTouch Health based in Goleta, CA. In 2002, Dr. Wang founded InTouch Technologies (d.b.a. InTouch Health), a company which pioneers remote presence robot systems that enable healthcare professionals to provide more effective and efficient healthcare by allowing them to “be in two places at once”. In 2008, InTouch Health received Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Award of the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking number 39. Also in 2008, InTouch Health received Inc Magazine's Inc 500 award ranking 289 of the 500 fastest growing companies in America and was also ranked number 18 in the Top 100 Health Companies on the list. In 1989, Dr. Wang founded Computer Motion, the company which pioneered surgical robotics. He was the principal architect and inventor of the voice-controlled robotic arm called AESOP, the first FDA-cleared surgical robot, as well as the ZEUS robotic surgical system, which performed the world’s first transatlantic surgery. Computer Motion went public in 1997 and merged with Intuitive Surgical in 2003 for one third of the resulting company. In September 2000, the National Academy of Engineers selected Dr. Wang as one of the nation’s top young engineers to participate in the Frontiers of Engineering program. Dr. Wang was further honored in June 2005 when Ernst & Young named him Finalist for their Entrepreneur of the Year award and again in 2007 when UCSB awarded him with the Venky Narayanamurti Entrepreneurial Leadership Award. He has more than 40 publications and over 70 patents in the areas of robotics and computers. Dr. Wang is a member of the University of California Santa Barbara’s Electrical & Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board, the Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian Board of Directors, and the American Telemedicine (ATA) Board of Directors. He is frequently invited to speak at noteworthy meetings and events, has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, and various other televised interviews. Dr. Wang has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering specializing in Robotics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. |
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Peter Yellowlees, MD, MBBS Professor of Clinical Psychiatry Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences UC Davis Health System 916-833-1874 peter.yellowlees@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu After completing his medical training in London, Dr. Yellowlees worked in Australia for twenty years before coming to UC Davis to continue his research in telemedicine and eHealth. He has an international reputation in telemedicine and long distance health and education delivery and is an experienced speaker who has given over 100 presentations in 20 countries in the past five years. He has a number of research interests and is presently working on projects involving electronic record implementation, data mining and disease management protocols, Internet email and video consultation services, the use of virtual reality for health education on the Internet, and store and forward telepsychiatry. Dr. Yellowlees has worked in public and private sectors, in academia, and in rural settings. He has published three books and about 150 scientific articles and book chapters and has been regularly involved in media presentations. He has consulted to governments and private sector companies in several countries and has received about $8 million in research grants. His main interests are in improving access to health and education services using information technologies |