20 Health Care Innovators Selected for Aspen Institute Fellowship

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 13, 2015)—The Aspen Institute today named 20 health care leaders selected to participate in the inaugural class of its Health Innovators Fellowship. This new two-year Fellowship will strengthen the leadership of innovators across the US health care ecosystem and challenge them to create new approaches that will improve the health and well being of all Americans.

Fellows hail from a wide variety of industries and sectors—including medicine, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, mental health, government, health care venture capital, veterans’ health, and more.

“We are thrilled to recognize an extraordinary group of individuals—10 men and 10 women—who reflect the best of passion and commitment in the US health care system,” said Rima Cohen, managing director of the Health Innovators Fellowship. “The Fellowship will harness the creativity, deep expertise, and diverse experiences of these leaders to help solve our health system’s complex challenges.”

“Remarkable leadership talent from across the U.S. is represented in this first cohort of Fellows,” said Michael C. Riordan, president and CEO of Greenville Health System. “As an academic health center committed to innovative care, we are excited to partner with the Aspen Institute and witness the power of the Fellows’ collective talents in leading the charge to transform health care.”

The Health Innovator Fellows will spend four weeks over the course of two years exploring their leadership, core values, desired legacies, and their vision for the health care sector. Importantly, each Fellow commits to launching a leadership venture that will stretch and challenge them and have a positive impact on health care in the United States. The Health Innovator Fellows also join more than 2,100 other entrepreneurial leaders from 49 countries to become members of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN).

The members of the 2015 inaugural class of Health Innovator Fellows are:

Joseph Betancourt, Director, the Disparities Solutions Center, Boston, MA

Alice Chen, Chief Medical Officer, San Francisco Health Network, San Francisco, CA

Elizabeth Fowler, Vice President of Global Health Policy, Johnson & Johnson, Washington, DC

Anna Haghgooie, Managing Director, Sandbox Industries, Chicago, IL

Patrick Hines, Founder and CEO, Functional Fluidics, Detroit, MI

Shannon Jaccard, CEO, National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego, San Diego, CA

J. Joseph Kim, President and CEO, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, PA

Drew Ladner, Founder and CEO, Pascal Metrics, Washington, DC

Marc Lara, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, MicroHealth, Mountain View, CA

Ann Lee-Karlon, Senior Vice President, Genentech, San Francisco, CA

Eric Leuthardt, Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine; Director, Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology; St. Louis, MO.

Rishi Manchanda, Chief Medical Officer, The Wonderful Company, Los Angeles, CA

John Marotta, Former CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder, Emerge Medical, Denver, CO

Nisha Money, Senior Medical Advisor, Department of Homeland Security’s US Customs and Border Protection, Washington, DC

Ikenna Okezie, Co-Founder and CEO, Somatus, Inc., McLean, VA

Rebecca Onie, Co-Founder and CEO, Health Leads, Boston, MA

Ann-Gel Palermo, Chief Program Officer, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Mount Sinai Health System; Associate Director, Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Patrick Springhart, Chair, Division of Urology, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC

Lisa Suennen, Managing Partner, Venture Valkyrie Consulting LLC, Mill Valley, CA

Laurie Zephyrin, National Director of Reproductive Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, New York, NY