PLENARY SESSION SPEAKERS
Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FNAPA, FACEP (E), Hon FRSPH, Executive Director, American Public Health Association
Georges C. Benjamin, MD, is well-known in the world of public health as a leader, practitioner and administrator. Benjamin has been the executive director of the American Public Health Association, the nation's oldest and largest organization of public health professionals, since December 2002. He came to that post from his position as secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Benjamin became secretary of health in Maryland in April 1999, following four years as its deputy secretary for public health services. As secretary, Benjamin oversaw the expansion and improvement in the state’s Medicaid program. Benjamin, of Gaithersburg, Md., is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is board-certified in internal medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a fellow emeritus of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health.
An established administrator, author and orator, Benjamin started his medical career in 1981 in Tacoma,
Wash., where he managed a 72,000-patient visit ambulatory care service as chief of the Acute Illness Clinic at the Madigan Army Medical Center. A few years later, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as chief of emergency medicine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After leaving the Army, he chaired the Department of Community Health and Ambulatory Care at the District of Columbia General Hospital. He was promoted to acting commissioner for public health for the District of Columbia and later directed one of the busiest ambulance services in the nation as interim director of the Emergency Ambulance Bureau of the District of Columbia Fire Department.
At APHA, Benjamin also serves as publisher of the nonprofit's monthly publication, The Nation's Health, the
association's official newspaper, and the American Journal of Public Health, the profession’s premier scientific publication. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and book chapters. Benjamin also serves on the boards of Research!America, Partnership for Prevention, the Reagan-Udall Foundation and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In 2008, he was named one of the top 25 minority executives in health care by Modern Healthcare Magazine, in addition to being voted among the 100 most influential people in health care from 2007 through 2011 and one of the nation’s most powerful physician executives from 2009 to 2011.
Connie Delaney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI
Dean & Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Minnesota
Connie White Delaney is Dean & Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Minnesota where she also holds an informatics appointment in the School of Medicine. Since 2001 she has held an informatics Professorship at the University of Iceland, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Nursing. Delaney is an appointee to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, an advisory body established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act within the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). She is the first Fellow in the College of Medical Informatics to serve as a Dean of Nursing. Delaney’s serve on boards includes LifeScience Alley, the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), Premiere Quest National Advisory Panel, National Quality Forum (NQF) Steering Committee. She was inaugural co-chair of the Alliance for Nursing Informatics a forum for all USA informatics organizations. Delaney is co-developer of the nationally recognized Nursing Management Minimum Data Set, research related to the USA NMDS, and co-founder of the international Nursing Minimum Data Set (iNMDS), and co-developer of computational modeling and simulation for educational nursing administration
Saralyn Mark, MD,
President, SolaMed Solutions, LLC; Author, Stellar Medicine: A Journey Through the Universe of Women's Health
Saralyn Mark, MD, an endocrinologist, geriatrician and women's health specialist, was the first Senior Medical Advisor to the Office on Women's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for ten years. As Senior Medical Advisor, Dr. Mark was responsible for the development and analysis of initiatives and programs on emerging technologies, public health preparedness, physician workforce issues, sex and gender-based medicine and women's health on earth and in space.
As a pioneer in women's health, she designed the first women's health fellowship in the Nation, helped create the National Centers of Leadership in Academic Medicine, the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health in academic and community health centers across the country and landmark educational campaigns on critical health issues. Dr. Mark is now President of SolaMed Solutions, LLC. In this capacity, she serves as a medical and scientific policy advisor to organizations and agencies including NASA, academia, industry, and non-governmental and professional society organizations. She is the author of Stellar Medicine: A Journey Through the Universe of Women's Health (Brick Tower, 2011).
Dr. Mark is a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and had been the civilian representative to the Surgeon General Physician Advisory Committee. She has chaired or served on over 50 national and international editorial and advisory boards, commissions and task forces including the President's Interagency Council on Women, the National Institutes of Health Federal Work Group on Bone Diseases, the NASA Medical Policy Board, NCQA HEDIS Measurement Advisory Panel, the United Nations Global Commission on Women's Health, and the UN Council on Gender Health.
Dr. Mark is an Associate Professor adjunct at the Yale University School of Medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Mark is also an Affiliate Professor and Distinguished Senior Fellow in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. She is an alumna of the New York University School of Medicine and Barnard College of Columbia University and completed her residency, fellowships and first academic appointment at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF).
Dr. Mark has published and delivered over 500 lectures in the United States and abroad. She is the author of Stellar Medicine: A Journey Through the Universe of Women's Health (Brick Tower, 2010). She has made over 150 television, radio, on-line and print appearances including CNN, NBC Nightly News and the Washington Post. Dr. Mark has received many accolades and awards from the federal government and prominent medical organizations such as the Secretary of Health Award for Distinguished Public Service, the Assistant Secretary of Health Award for Outstanding Team Performance and the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation's Public Service Award. Dr. Mark continues to foster the development of innovative programs and policies that affect the lives of men and women around the world.
George E. Thibault, MD,
President, The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
George E. Thibault, MD became the seventh president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation in January 2008. Immediately prior to that, he served as Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Partners Healthcare System in Boston and Director of the Academy at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He was the first Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at HMS and is now the Federman Professor, Emeritus. Dr. Thibault previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as Chief of Medicine at the Harvard affiliated Brockton/West Roxbury VA Hospital. He was Associate Chief of Medicine and Director of the Internal Medical Residency Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). At the MGH he also served as Director of the Medical ICU and the Founding Director of the Medical Practice Evaluation Unit.
For nearly four decades at HMS, Dr. Thibault played leadership roles in many aspects of undergraduate and graduate medical education. He played a central role in the New Pathway Curriculum reform and was a leader in the new Integrated Curriculum reform at HMS. He was the Founding Director of the Academy at HMS, which was created to recognize outstanding teachers and to promote innovations in medical education. Throughout his career he has been recognized for his roles in teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty. In addition to his teaching, his research has focused on the evaluation of practices and outcomes of medical intensive care and variations in the use of cardiac technologies.
Dr. Thibault is Chairman of the Board of the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and he serves on the Board of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Institute on Medicine as a Profession, and the Lebanese American University. He serves on the President’s White House Fellows Commission and for twelve years he chaired the Special Medical Advisory Group for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. He is past President of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association and Past Chair of Alumni Relations at HMS. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Thibault graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 1965 and magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1969. He completed his internship and residency in Medicine and fellowship in Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He also trained in Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute in Bethesda and at Guys Hospital in London, and served as Chief Resident in Medicine at MGH.
Dr. Thibault has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors from Georgetown (Ryan Prize in Philosophy, Alumni Prize, and Cohongaroton Speaker) and Harvard (Alpha Omega Alpha, Henry Asbury Christian Award and Society of Fellows). He has been a visiting Scholar both at the Institute of Medicine and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Visiting Professor of Medicine at numerous medical schools in the U.S. and abroad.