CMSHealthDisparities

TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL

CMS is equally excited about the Technical Expert Panel (TEP), a panel of distinguished experts with recognized backgrounds in health disparities and minority health. The TEP members assist CMS in their endeavor to improve the quality of health for underserved populations by:

• Informing policymakers on health disparity issues, such as,

  • Providing culturally and linguistically appropriate strategies to educate Medicare beneficiaries on best practices that will improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities.

• Assisting CMS in exploring new and innovative ways to combat disparities and expand health programs by:

  • Collaborating to communicate culturally and linguistically relevant messages through publications and media outreach in pertinent languages, and
  • Identifying additional partners in communities to increase outreach efforts.

Click here to meet TEP members

TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL

profiles

Warren A. Jones, M.D., FAAFP

Warren A. Jones, M.D., a family physician and retired Captain in the U.S. Navy, is the founding Executive Director of the Mississippi Institute for the Improvement of Geographical Minority Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is a Professor of Family Medicine, a Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and a Senior Health Policy Advisor. Dr. Jones is also an assistant clinical professor of Family Medicine at Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Jones was most recently Executive Director of the Division of Medicaid in the Office of the Governor of Mississippi, the State’s health program for more than 768,000 indigent Mississippians. He serves on and chairs the Advisory Council to the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), serves on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and serves on the Board of Trustees for his Alma Mater, Dillard University in New Orleans, LA. He is a member of the Key Stakeholders Advisory Board to the Evidence Based Research Center for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and on the Governor’s Task Force to develop a Statewide Health Information Technology solution for Mississippi. He is also Chair of the Maternal Child Council.

Elena V. Rios, M.D., M.S.P.H.

President & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association

President, National Hispanic Health Foundation

Dr. Rios serves as President & CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), and representing Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics. Dr. Rios also serves as President of NHMA’s National Hispanic Health Foundation affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, to direct educational and research activities.

Dr. Rios also serves on the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, Campaign Against Obesity, the Partnerships for Prevention Boards of Directors, the American Medical Association Commission to End Health Disparities, the PacifiCare-United Healthcare California Investment Committee and is Chair of the National Coalition on Hispanic Health. Dr. Rios has lectured and published articles and has received several leadership awards, including awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Congressional Black, the Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses, the American Public Health Association Latino Caucus, the Association of Hispanic Health Executives, Minority Health Month, Inc., Hispanic Magazine, Verizon’s First Pollin Community Service Award, and Amerimed. Dr. Rios was appointed to the Minority Alumni Hall of Fame of Stanford University in October, 2006. She was awarded the 2008 Latino Mental Health Advocacy and Policy Award in New York in October 2008.

Prior to her current positions, Dr. Rios served as the Advisor for Regional and Minority Women’s Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health from November 1994 to October 1998. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as Coordinator of Outreach Groups for the White House. In 1992, Dr. Rios worked for the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as a policy researcher. Dr. Rios has also served as President of the Chicano/Latino Medical Association of California, Advisor to the National Network of Latin American Medical Students, member of the California Department of Health Services Cultural Competency Task Force, Stanford Alumni Association and Women’s Policy Inc. Boards of Directors, and the AMA’s Minority Affairs Consortium Steering Committee.

Dr. John Ruffin

Director, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Dr. John Ruffin is the Director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He is a well-respected leader and visionary in the field of health disparities. He has devoted his professional life to improving the health status of minority populations in the United States and to developing and supporting educational programs for minority researchers and health care practitioners. His success has been due in large part to his ability to motivate others and gain the support of key individuals and organizations, as well as to his expertise in strategic planning, administration, and the development of numerous collaborative partnerships. For over 15 years, he has led the transformation of the NIH minority health and health disparities research agenda from a programmatic concept to an institutional reality. He has served as the Associate Director for Minority Programs, Office of Minority Programs; and the Associate Director for Research on Minority Health, Office of Research on Minority Health. As the NIH federal official for minority health disparities research, through multi-faceted collaborations, he has planned and brought to fruition the largest biomedical research program in the nation to promote minority health and other health disparities research and training. He has spearheaded the development of the first comprehensive Health Disparities Strategic Plan at NIH. His efforts have impacted local, regional, national and even international communities and have resulted in a growing portfolio of:

• Research, training, and capacity building programs
• Health professionals and scientists of racial/ethnic minority populations
• Centers of Excellence conducting cutting-edge health disparities research
• Endowment awards to academic institutions, and
• Community-based participatory research initiatives

Dr. Ruffin has been committed to conceptualizing, developing and implementing innovative programs that create new learning opportunities and exposure for minority and health disparity students and faculty, as well as minority-serving institutions. In his quest to eliminate health disparities, the hallmark of his approach is to foster and expand strategic partnerships in alliance with the NIH Institute and Center directors, various Federal and state agencies, community organizations, academic institutions, private sector leaders, and international governments and non-governmental organizations.

His life-long commitment to academic excellence, improving minority health and promoting training and health disparities research, has earned him distinguished national awards. In January 2007, he received the Martin Luther King Legacy Award. Dr. Ruffin has received an honorary doctor of science degree from Spelman College, Tuskegee University, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He has been recognized by: the National Medical Association, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science; the Association of American Indian Physicians, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities; the Society of Black Academic Surgeons; and the National Science Foundation. The John Ruffin Scholarship Program is an honor symbolic of his legacy for academic excellence bestowed by the Duke University Talent Identification Program. He has also received the Samuel L. Kountz Award for his significant contribution to increasing minority access to organ and tissue transplantation; the NIH Director’s Award; the National Hispanic Leadership Award; the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society Award; the Department of Health and Human Services’ Special Recognition Award; and the U.S. Presidential Merit Award.

Dr. Parker

Professor of Medicine, Emory University

Dr. Parker attended Davidson College and received her medical training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She completed her residency and chief residency at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and her fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds Board Certification in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.

Dr. Parker is currently a Professor of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. She is also Associate Director of the Faculty Development program in the Division of General Medicine, and holds a secondary appointment at the Emory University School of Public Health in the Division of Epidemiology. Dr. Parker’s primary research interests and activities have been in the area of medical education and health services of underserved populations. She has been actively involved in medical education and faculty development since joining the medical school faculty. Over the last 15 years, Dr. Parker has focused extensively on healthcare issues of underserved populations, particularly health literacy. She was a principal investigator in the Robert Wood Johnson Literacy in Health Study and helped create a widely used measurement tool to quantify patients’ ability to read and understand health information (TOFHLA, the test of functional health literacy in adults). She has authored numerous papers on health literacy, and co-edited the complete bibliography of medicine on health literacy for the National Library of Medicine. She co-authored the most widely used definition of health literacy, which was used in Healthy People 2010 and is currently used by the IOM and by the NIH. Dr. Parker currently serves as consultant and advisor to numerous federal agencies, professional societies, and members of industry on their initiatives related to health literacy.

Dr. Parker has received national recognition for her work. In 2001, she received the Silver Achievement Award for Women in Medicine, which honors women and men who have contributed substantially to women in academic medicine. In 2004, she received the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal award from the American College of Physicians. In 2005, she received the Walter C. Alvarez award from the American Medical Writers Association “…in recognition of someone known for his/her excellence in communication of health care developments and concepts to the public.”

Dennis P. Andrulis, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor, University of Texas Austin

Senior Research Scientist

Dr. Andrulis currently the Associate Professor at the University of Texas Austin’s School of Public Health and Senior Research Scientist for the Texas Health Institute. Before working at the University of Texas, he was the Directorship of the Center for Health Equality at Drexel's School of Public Health. Dennis P. Andrulis was a research professor at Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, where he oversaw projects, prepared major reports and published on issues affecting urban communities, the uninsured, and other vulnerable populations. He is co-author of Managed Care in the Inner City, and created a cultural competence self-assessment tool for health care organizations, as well as a National Cultural Competence Conference Series. He has also developed The Social and Health Landscape of Urban and Suburban America an abstract and analysis of national data sources on the USA’s 100 largest cities and their surrounding areas.

Dr. Andrulis’ research interests include: Racial /ethnic disparities in health and health care; cultural competence for practitioners/health care settings; inner-city health care; urban and suburban social/health trends; vulnerable populations and safety net providers; community-based participatory research; chronic care and racial/ethnic disparities.

Rose Marie Martinez, Sc.D.

Dr. Martinez is the Director of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. The Board examines and develops strategies for health promotion and disease prevention across the lifespan, taking into account the multiple factors affecting health. The Board addresses the science base for public health interventions and examines the capacity of the health system, particularly the public health infrastructure, to support disease prevention and health promotion activities, including the education and supply of health professionals necessary for carrying them out.

Prior to joining the IOM, Dr. Martinez was a Senior Health Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research where she conducted research on the impact of health system change on the public health infrastructure, access to care for vulnerable populations, managed care, and the health care workforce. Dr. Martinez is a former Assistant Director for Health Financing and Policy with the U.S. General Accounting Office where she directed evaluations and policy analysis in the area of national and public health issues. Her experience also includes seven years directing research studies for the Regional Institute for Studies on Health and Social Welfare for the Regional Health Ministry of Madrid Spain.

Dr. Martinez received the degree of Doctor of Science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Carl H. Rush, MRP

Principal of Community Resources LLC

Mr. Rush has over 30 years of experience in community services and community development, including seven years as a senior professional in philanthropy. He has worked with and for Community Health Workers since 1996, and served as a principal author of HRSA's National Workforce Study on CHWs, as well as directing a community college program for CHWs from 2001 to 2004. He served as Director of the New Jersey Community Health Worker Institute from 2004 to 2006. Carl was recently named:

• by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to a National Technical Expert Panel on Disparities,
• by the American Public Health Association to its Education Board, and
• to the advisory board for the National Patient Navigator Education and Training Program by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute Patient Navigator Research Program.

Mr. Rush has also been elected to the APHA Governing Council (effective November 2009)

Gary A. Puckrein, PhD

President and CEO, National Minority Health Month Foundation, Inc.

Dr. Gary A. Puckrein is the President and CEO of the National Minority Health Month Foundation, Inc. (NMHMF), a not-for-profit organization that he founded in 1998. NMHMF addresses the health needs of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and other minorities. The goal of the NMHMF is to strengthen the capacity of local communities to eliminate the disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable illness in minority populations through prevention, early detection and control of disease complications.

Dr. Puckrein also serves as the Executive Director of the Alliance of Minority Medical Associations, (AMMA), a collaborative effort of the Asian and Pacific Physicians' Association, the Association of American Indian Physicians, the InterAmerican College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the National Medical Association. AMMA was formed on the basis of evidence-based data that highlight significant disparities in health care treatment plans and outcomes among many underserved populations within the United States. In April 2001, NMHMF launched National Minority Health Month (NMHM) in response to Healthy People 2010, the national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.

NMHMF has received support from a wide variety of organizations, including federal agencies, pharmaceutical companies, payors, and trade associations. With support from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NMHMF undertook the Zip Code Analysis Project (ZCAP). ZCAP is a comprehensive database that links vital statistics, demographic, environmental, claims, prescription drug, clinical laboratory values, health care access points (e.g., hospitals or physicians’ offices) and other data elements into one centralized data warehouse, organized around zip codes. ZCAP enabled the NMHMF to develop the Health Assessment Tool (HAT), which measures and forecasts health status in small geographic areas, evaluates the impact of specific interventions, monitors changes in health outcomes, and undertakes risk assessments (health care utilization and its financial implications). NMHMF uses HAT to stratify communities by common set of geographic and health status referents. NMHMF uses HAT to provide the health disparities movement with a common set of indicators - geographic and health status referents - to measure and report out progress toward achievement of the movement’s common objective: elimination of disparities in health care and health status.

Dr. Cristina Beato

Dr. Cristina Beato, a citizen of the United States of America, holds both a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and biology, and a medical degree from the University of New Mexico. She is fluent in Spanish and French and proficient in Portuguese and Italian.

Jacqueline Scott, JD

Jacqueline Scott, JD, ML serves as a Senior Program Director at the national Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). Ms. Scott holds appointments at the Harrison Institute for Public Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and Nyack College in Washington DC. She concentrates her health policy work in the areas of coverage, access, disparities, and vulnerable populations. Before coming to NASHP, Ms. Scott spent 10 years as a Senior Fellow and Adjunct professor at Georgetown where she concentrated her work on the legal and policy areas of public health law, children and family law, and race and gender equity. Ms. Scott has held past positions as a Policy Advisor in the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s offices in the State of Maryland, where she advised on issues ranging from community-based public health policy, women’s health, juvenile justice reform and children, youth, and family-related matters. Ms. Scott serves as a consultant, lecturer, and trainer for numerous academic, state, local private and nonprofit organizations. Ms. Scott holds a dual BA from Georgetown University; a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center; and a Masters in Business Leadership/organizational Management from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown.

Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.

Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., is the founding Dean and first President of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). With the exception of his tenure as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan was President of MSM for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he left the presidency, but continues to serve on the MSM Board of Trustees, to teach and to assist in national fund-raising activities on behalf of the school. A native of Atlanta, Dr. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College in 1954 and earned his medical degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Medicine in 1958. He is certified in internal medicine and hematology.

Dr. Sullivan was instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1963-1964., and assistant professor of medicine at Seton Hall College of Medicine from 1964-65. In 1966, he became co-director of hematology at Boston University medical Center and, a year later, founded the Boston University Hematology Service at Boston City Hospital. Dr. Sullivan joined the Boston University School of Medicine in 1966 and remained until 1975, holding positions as assistant professor of medicine, associate professor of medicine, and professor of medicine.

Sally K. Richardson

Executive Director/Associate Vice President of Health Sciences, Institute for Health Policy Research

Associate Vice President for the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University

Sally K. Richardson is the director of the newly established Center for Healthcare Policy and Research in the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University. She began her duties in mid-September 2009 and is responsible for developing the strategies, resources and implementation activities upon which the center will be based. Richardson comes to the center position from the federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) where she served as director of HCFA’s Center for Medicaid and State Operations, responsible for all Medicaid policy and operations, the Medicare Survey and Certification program, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act activities, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability operations, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medigap policy and intergovernmental relations. Richardson served for a year as HCFA’s deputy administrator and for three years as the head of its Medicaid bureau. During her tenure at HCFA, she also represented the agency on a variety of departmental and White House working groups, including the Public Health Council, the District of Columbia Based Services, the Hispanic Action Agenda and the American Indian/Alaskan Native consultation workgroup. In early 1993, Richardson left her position as director of West Virginia’s Public Employees Insurance Agency to serve as a member of President Clinton’s Health Care Task Force. Previous positions in West Virginia included deputy director of West Virginia’s Department of Health, chair of the West Virginia Health Care Cost Review Authority and assistant commissioner, West Virginia Department of Welfare. Richardson holds an AB degree from Vassar College, an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Charleston and serves on the adjunct faculty of West Virginia University’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Ho Luong Tran, President and CEO

Ho Luong Tran, MD, MPH, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), a national advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening policies, programs, and research to improve the health and well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. As president and CEO, she has grown the organization's annual budget from $2.9 to more than $6 million, helped create the Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Alliance (NHPI) and the National Council of API Physicians, and led the development of A Blueprint for the Health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Under Dr. Tran's leadership APIAHF has partnered with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Health Through Action (HTA), the first cooperative effort between a private foundation and a national AA and NHPI organization. This $16.5 million community investment is providing local communities with the funding, training, and technical assistance to address the ethnic-specific health issues in AA and NHPI communities. HTA is forming a national network and building a cohesive AA and NHPI health movement that speaks with one voice for change.

Dr. Tran has been recognized as an inspirational leader and visionary administrator. With over 20 years of experience leading innovative legislative, policy and community initiatives and an outstanding ability to establish coalitions between the public, private and community sectors. Dr. Tran has been an invaluable advocate for policy changes and for the elimination of health disparities.

John B. Hammond, III

John B. Hammond, III John Hammond recently joined the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. as President and CEO. In this capacity, Mr. Hammond is responsible for implementing the strategic imperatives of the Board of Directors, and offering recommendations regarding strategy and policy for the organization and its 106 chapters around the world. Before joining the “100”, Mr. Hammond was employed with Booze Allen Hamilton as a Senior Manager on the Organization and Change Team, working to identify new business opportunities, to develop staff and support infrastructure development. Prior to joining Booz Allen, Mr. Hammond worked as an independent consultant in the area of organizational change and development. His clients included both Federal and state agencies, as well as University business units. Coincident with his career as an independent consultant, John served in numerous leadership roles in non-profit and educational institutions. Most recently he served as Chief Operating Officer for the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC), Inc. As that organization’s COO, he is responsible for running the day-to-day operations, which included program management, information technology, membership, public relations, and development.