Peoplechart Advisory Board

The combined experience and expertise of Peoplechart's Medical Advisory Team plays an essential role in guiding the design and development of our services and products. As a team, they ensure that Peoplechart delivers useful, high-quality services and products that are relevant and credible to the medical community and to patients alike.

Members of our Advisory Board have strong clinical, scientific, patient care, and consumer advocacy backgrounds, with extensive practical and public policy experience. As they give guidance to Peoplechart's Management Team, they share their experience with delivering quality care, quality information for consumers and organizations, while keeping our focus on patient's health and wellness.

To date, we are pleased to say that our Advisory Board include leaders from 4 national consumer organizations, all based in Washington metro area. Through them, we hope to receive feedback for improving the usefulness of our products to consumers and generate presence in the consumer's mindset for the importance of the Personal Health Record model.

Paul Alandt

Paul Alandt is President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Age Centers of Greater Cleveland, a not-for-profit corporation encompassing four community senior centers, 12 supportive housing facilities, and a home-delivery meal program that serves more than 5,000 aging Ohio residents.

Since assuming leadership in 1983, Mr. Alandt has increased the organization's fundraising revenues tenfold and slashed administrative costs by 35%. Today, he oversees 100 employees, a $3 million annual budget, and outreach programs to provide Cleveland seniors with a wide range of services including transportation, meals, counseling, social activities, health screening, legal services, and help with Social Security or tax problems.

From 1977 to 1983, Mr. Alandt was Executive Director of the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging, where he managed more than 100 government-grant contracts and a multi-million dollar service program for elderly residents of five Cleveland-area counties. While there, Mr. Alandt secured an $8 million federal grant to create a program that eventually evolved into Ohio's statewide PASSPORT program, currently connecting 24,000 seniors with long-term care services.

Mr. Alandt began his career as a priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, where he held positions that included student counselor at the local university and Director of Religious Studies at a Catholic preparatory high school. He received a bachelor's degree from Sacred Heart College in Detroit, divinity degrees from Gregorian University in Rome, and a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He received post-graduate executive training under a Gund Foundation Scholarship to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The Peoplechart team has benefited greatly over the past year from Mr. Alandt's insight into the health care needs of seniors, his advice on marketing messages, and his knack for pointing out overlooked opportunities to provide technology and services to this growing segment of the population.

Ray Bullman

Ray Bullman, M.A.M., joined the staff of the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) in 1985, and has served since January 1995 as Executive Vice President. The NCPIE, a multidisciplinary nonprofit coalition of more than 130 organizations, was founded in 1982 to improve the communication of information to consumers and health-care professionals on the appropriate use of medicines.

From 1979 to 1984, Mr. Bullman served as community program development specialist with the National High Blood Pressure Education Program under a contract to Kappa Systems, Inc., from the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institute of Health (NIH). He was also administrator of the Rockville Community Clinic in Rockville, Maryland, from 1972 to 1978. Mr. Bullman received his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and his Master's in Association Management from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

A longtime Peoplechart adviser, Mr. Bullman has provided a wealth of consumer insights during team discussions, and his expertise in consumer health communications informs the evaluation and refinement of Peoplechart's instructional materials, pamphlets, and presentations.

Linda Golodner

Linda Golodner joined the National Consumers League (NCL) in 1983, and was later appointed Executive Director in 1985 and elected President in 1991. Among the oldest and most recognized consumer organizations in the country, the NCL was founded in 1899 to bring consumer power to bear on marketplace and workplace issues. The NCL's priority programs address food and drug safety; health-care reform; fair labor standards; telecommunications; financial services; environmental issues; and consumer fraud.

Ms. Golodner also chairs the National Council on Patient Information and Education, and serves on the boards of the Patient Safety Institute and the National Patient Safety Foundation as well as the steering committee of the Centers for Education and Research in Therapeutics. In 1997, she was honored with the American Pharmaceutical Association's Hugo H. Schaefer Award and recognized by the United Nations Association for her work in human rights. The American Council on Consumer Interests presented her with its 1999 “Friend of Consumers” Award for her contributions to policies that promote consumers interests nationally and internationally.

Previously, Ms. Golodner was owner and President of a public-affairs firm representing nonprofit institutions and policy organizations. She also worked at the Capitol on the staff of U.S. Congressman James G. O'Hara of Michigan, and served as a commissioner and chair of the Fairfax County Commission for Women. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland in 1975.

Ms. Golodner has provided countless vital suggestions on the strategy and timing of Peoplechart's public-relations and media efforts, and she continues to advise the team on all matters related to project marketing, consumer education, and ease-of-use issues.

Gail Hunt

Gail Hunt is President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving, a nonprofit coalition of more than 40 national organizations including the AARP, the American Society on Aging, the National Council on the Aging, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. The Alliance works to support the family caregiver through research, outreach, and public awareness programs, such as the first national caregiver survey in 10 years (with the AARP); an outreach program providing librarians and health-care professionals with materials to distribute to caregivers; and three studies on the impact of caregiving in the workplace.

The White House appointed Ms. Hunt to the policy committee of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, an event she previously attended as an official observer in 1995. She served on the U.S steering committee for the 1999 U.N. Year of the Older Person and as an official observer at the 1995 U.N. NGO Forum on Women in Beijing. She was a featured speaker at the European Community's 1993 “Aging of the Population” symposium in Dublin; the 1994 “Working and Caring” symposium in Bonn; the 1995 EU Panel on Caring and Employment in Brussels; the 1996 Second International Conference on Gerontechnology in Helsinki; and the First, Second, and Third International Conferences on Family Care (1998 U.K., 2000 Australia, and 2002 U.S.).

Ms. Hunt's elder-care work has received notice in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Working Woman, American Demographics, The New York Times, Parade Magazine, CNN, and MSNBC, among others. She attended Vassar College, received a degree in English literature from Columbia University, and later attended the International Graduate Institute at Oxford University.

Ms. Hunt counsels the Peoplechart team on industry and government policy trends that affect the aging, particularly PHR's complex research and policy implications for caregivers.

Jack Lewin

Jack C. Lewin, M.D., is Executive Vice President and CEO of the California Medical Association, the nation's largest state medical association with a membership of 35,000 physicians and annual budget of $55 million. Dr. Lewin also oversees the Audio-Digest Foundation, Marathon Multimedia, American Sound and Video, the Landes Slezak Group, the Institute for Medical Quality, and other subsidiary companies.

Dr. Lewin has led several state and national efforts on health system-reform, health-care access, and issues of public health and safety. He is a past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and has been honored by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Officers Association, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. He serves on a number of boards including Hepatitis Foundation International, the Public Health Foundation, Consumers Allied for Patient Protection, CALINX, the AMA Commission on Unity, the Navajo Nation Health Advisory Board, and the California Governor's Council on Sports and Fitness. He is also chairman and founder of MEDePass, Inc., a high-tech company that provides Internet security, confidentiality, and authentication for healthcare providers.

Prior to his work with the CMA, Dr. Lewin held positions including Director of Health for the state of Hawaii, CEO of Hawaii's largest hospital system, and professor of International Health at the University of Hawaii. He received his M.D. from the University of Southern California.

A Peoplechart adviser since 2002, Dr. Lewin generously shares his wide knowledge of the health-care marketplace and his innovative ideas for leveraging technology to improve patient care.

Whitney Limm

Since winter 2004, Peoplechart has benefited greatly from the involvement of one of Hawaii's busiest surgeons, Dr. Whitney Limm.

After completing his Transplant Fellowship in San Francisco in 1991, Dr. Limm returned to Hawaii to join Surgical Associates. Today, he is involved in over 100 transplant procedures a year as Director of Kidney Transplantation for the state's only organ transplant facility, Honolulu's Transplant Institute of the Pacific. He also maintains his primary office at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where he serves as Chief of General Surgery and Medical Director of Surgical Services. He also promotes the advancement of medical knowledge among his peers by serving as state president of the American College of Surgeons – and instructs future physicians as Deputy Director of the Surgical Residency Program at the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Limm is a frequent contributor to medical-science journals as well, with several published articles to his credit. His many honors include being named the American College of Surgeons' Outstanding Young Surgeon of 1998 and the National Kidney Foundation's 2003 Transplant Surgeon of the Year. He volunteers as a board member for several health-related organizations including HMSA, Hawaii's largest provider of health-care coverage. And in his free time, Dr. Limm races in triathlons.

Dr. Limm has a faculty appointment as Associate Professor at the Department of Surgery at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. He received his B.S. in biology from Stanford University and M.D. from UCLA School of Medicine.

As a member of the Peoplechart Advisory Board, Dr. Limm has provided countless suggestions for improved product development, as well as the invaluable opportunity to apply Peoplechart PHR in a demanding transplant setting.

Kathryn McDonald

Kathryn M. McDonald, M.M., is Executive Director of the Center for Health Policy and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also Associate Director for the collaborative Stanford-UCSF Evidence-Based Practice Center. Her research focuses on health-care quality and patient safety, as well as on multidisciplinary approaches for evaluating health-care practices, interventions and technologies. She has served as project director or investigator on many projects of the Stanford University School of Medicine, including the Cardiac Arrhythmia and Risk of Death Patient Outcomes Research Team; the international Technological Changes in Healthcare investigation; and the development of quality and patient-safety indicators for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Ms. McDonald has more than five years of experience in development of research for the Evidence Reports issued by AHRQ, and she is co-author of all published reports as well as those in progress. Previously, she worked as a manager for technology optimization and business development at Stanford Hospital, and as R&D manager for new product development at a medical-equipment firm. She received her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University and her Master of Management (health-care emphasis) from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Ms. McDonald's association with Peoplechart dates to the early stages of the National PHR Research Project. Besides remaining involved with the project's ongoing evolution, she has provided boundless time and energy to help the Peoplechart team understand research measures and proposal development, and she freely shares her expertise in the direction of government-led programs on quality improvements and patient safety.

David Meltzer

David Meltzer, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, as well as an associated faculty member of the university's Harris School of Public Policy and Department of Economics; a co-director of its Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the M.D./PhD Program in the Social Sciences; and on the faculty of its Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy, Population Research Center, and Center on Aging.

Dr. Meltzer's research explores problems in health economics and public policy. A major area of his research examines the theoretical foundations of medical cost-effectiveness, delving into complex issues such as the validity of quality-of-life assessments in serious-disease contexts and accounting for the future costs of extending life. His other areas of study examine the effects of managed care and medical specialization on the cost and quality of care at teaching hospitals; the role of mortality decline in developing countries; the effects of prospective payment systems on cost and quality of care; and the effects of FDA regulation on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Meltzer's awards include the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Economics, the University of Chicago Searle Fellowship, the Lee Lusted Prize of the Society for Medical Decision-Making, the Health Care Research Award of the National Institute for Health-Care Management, the John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship, and the Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Award. He is a faculty research fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, and also served on the “Future of Medicare” panel for the National Academy of Social Insurance as well as a study panel on U.S. organ-allocation policy for the Institute of Medicine.

Dr. Meltzer received his M.D. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Meltzer has been Peoplechart's adviser on economics and research since March 2004. He has counseled the team at length on the importance of collecting quality data and on methodologies to measure cost effectiveness. His dual expertise in economics and research has proven indispensable to the identification of effective niches strategies and channels for marketing Peoplechart.

Rachael Wong

Rachael Wong joined Kokua Mau in 2000 and has since served the Hawaii-based end-of-life care coalition in positions that included project coordinator, public educator, publicist, and grant writer. Kokua Mau (“Continuous Care” in Hawaiian) is a statewide partnership of hospitals, hospices, schools, insurers and public agencies that work together on policy analysis and research involving end-of-life care. Ms. Wong's efforts have increased the number of trained palliative-care specialists in Hawaii and palliative-care programs in health care institutions across the state.

Ms. Wong worked previously as a consultant to Hawaii's Department of Education ISI-Health Enhancement Services, and MyHealthDirective.com. She serves as President of the Transplant Association of Hawaii, and also recently sat on the Executive Committee of the National Kidney Foundation's New York-based transplant council and sits on the ethics committee of St. Francis Medical Center.

Ms. Wong received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a Master's degree from the University of Hawaii, School of Public Health. Her post-graduate honors include fellowships with the Pacific Century Fellows Program and the St. Francis International Center for Healthcare Ethics.

Ms. Wong has provided enormous help to the team in recent months by freely sharing her insight into how end-of-life issues affect long-term care decisions as well as by facilitating introduction of Peoplechart to the providers in Hawaii's growing kidney-transplantation program.

Eduardo Ortiz

Eduardo Ortiz, M.D., M.P.H., is Associate Chief of Staff at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he also continues (by his own insistence) to teach and provide clinical care. Dr. Ortiz is a board certified internist with advanced training in clinical informatics, health-services research, and continuous quality improvement. He serves as a faculty member in the Division of Health Sciences Informatics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and as a clinical-faculty member at the George Washington University School of Medicine. For a brief period, Eduardo also worked as an Associate Physician for the Division of General Medicine of the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

He is a past chair of the Evidence-Based Medicine Task Force for the Society of General Internal Medicine. Before joining the VA, he was senior adviser for clinical informatics to the AHRQ Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships. Other positions he has held include faculty member at the UC-San Diego School of Medicine, staff physician at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, investigator with the VA-RAND Health Sciences Program, and site coordinator for the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center in San Diego.

Dr. Ortiz is noted for developing programs on evidence-based health care and clinical informatics for local and national audiences of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, administrators, and other health-care personnel. His primary research interests address the application of evidence in health care, the use of clinical informatics to improve safety and quality of care, the evaluation of medical-practice patterns, and quality improvement in health care. His credits as an author include more than 50 peer reviewed publications, book chapters, government reports, and presentations on issues related to health-care quality.

Dr. Ortiz has been involved in the development of PHR since the field's very beginning, when the concept was still being defined on a national level. His insights into the current status and direction of PHR implementation, particularly from the public-policy and informatics perspectives, are valuable assets to Peoplechart's continuing development.

Emeritus Advisors

Karen Perizzolo

An MIT graduate in Life Sciences, Karen completed her MD and Internal Medicine residency at Stanford University. She maintained a private practice in Los Gatos, CA from 1992 to 2001. Selected by fellow physicians as top 5% of doctors from among 10,000 Bay Area doctors in a recent KQED survey, Karen was also listed as one of the best Internists by Bay Area Checkbook.

Hector Llenderrozos

University of Chicago graduate in Biology; Masters in Public Health and MD from University of Illinois. Did his residency in Family Medicine at University of Michigan. He has taught at University of Michigan Dept. of Family Medicine, Shanghai Medical University, and Harvard Medical School. Served as Medical Director of Portman Center, Worldlink Clinics in Shanghai. Recently moved to Los Angeles and works as Family Physician in a Multiethnic Community Clinic. Public health background includes having been Acting Medical Director of Manchester, Michigan Migrant Health Clinic, and playing supporting roles at Homeless clinics at Ann Arbor, MI Cambridge, MA and Venice Beach, CA.

Ursula Wagner

Trained in Analytical Psychology from C.G. Jung Institute of Psychology, Zurich. Graduated from California School of Professional Psychology, Berkeley, with Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical Psychology. She worked for several years under contract to the National Cancer Institute (NIH) Coping with Cancer Program, and maintains a general practice specializing in patients with co-morbid psychiatric and medical disorders.