Jeremy Alberga

Jeremy Alberga is a senior manager at AcademyHealth and primarily works on The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. He also manages AcademyHealth's contract with HRSA to provide technical assistance to 43 State Planning Grant awardees. His responsibilities include providing technical assistance to state policymakers on health policy reform, specifically expanding and maintaining health insurance coverage through public programs and public/private partnerships; disseminating state models of expansion through the program's written products; convening workshops and small group consultations for policymakers; and assisting in the development of technical assistance documents. Mr. Alberga also is the lead content developer for SCI's Web site and has authored publications on a range of topics from Wisconsin's BadgerCare program to innovative state efforts to incentivize quality care. He received his M.A. in international health policy from the George Washington University and his B.A. from McGill University, Montreal.

Greg Belden

Greg Belden is a senior program associate at The Leapfrog Group. Mr. Belden started at The Leapfrog Group in February of 2002, while enrolled in George Washington University’s MBA program. He graduated from business school in May 2003 with a concentration in health services management and policy. At The Leapfrog Group, Mr. Belden works to support Leapfrog’s Regional Roll-Out and Incentive and Reward efforts.

Before joining The Leapfrog Group, Mr. Belden participated in National City Bank’s Management Trainee program in Chicago. Prior to attending graduate school, he did a year of volunteer service as part of an Americorps-sponsored volunteer group run by The Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Mr. Belden obtained his B.A. in economics and pre-professional (pre-medical) studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Linda Bilheimer

Linda Bilheimer is a senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she is the leader of the Coverage team, directs the Foundation's policy synthesis project, and works on a wide range of health policy research and evaluation issues. She focuses, in particular, on initiatives for expanding health insurance coverage, microsimulation modeling of health insurance reform proposals, evaluations of large initiatives for improving the quality of health care, and the linkages between research and policy. Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Bilheimer was the deputy assistant director for health at the Congressional Budget Office. Previously she was a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research and director of health statistics and epidemiology at the Arkansas Department of Health. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Alice Burton

Alice Burton is director of the State Health Policy Group at AcademyHealth, where she leads The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program, and advises on other special projects. Previously, Ms. Burton was the director of the planning administration at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In that role, she was responsible for policy analyses and advising the Department on health care financing legislative issues, including Medicaid, the Maryland Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the uninsured. She also served as the project director for Maryland’s Health Resources and Services Administration Planning Grant on the uninsured.

Ms. Burton is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and holds a master’s degree in health policy from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Daniel Campion

Mr. Campion is a director at AcademyHealth where he is responsible for developing and guiding national demonstration and technical assistance projects to expand access to health care services and improve the functioning of health care markets. Mr. Campion manages AcademyHealth's contract to disseminate health services research findings to public policymakers, funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) User Liaison Program. He also staffed the RWJF-funded State Initiatives in Health Care Reform Program (1991- 1998) and Health Care for the Uninsured Program (1989-1991). Mr. Campion joined the Alpha Center (predecessor to AcademyHealth) in 1989. Prior to that, he worked in mortgage banking and directed a community health center. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross, a master's degree from the Yale School of Management, and a certificate in organization development from Georgetown University.

Deborah Chollet

Deborah Chollet is a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C., where she conducts and manages research on private health insurance coverage, markets and regulation, including employer-sponsored health plans for workers and retirees, individual health insurance, and Medicare supplement plans. She regularly provides direct technical assistance to states on matters related to private health insurance coverage and markets. She is a senior consultant to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives program, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Benefits Quarterly, the Journal of Insurance Issues, and Health Administration Press. Her previous positions include vice president of Alpha Center (now AcademyHealth); director of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research and associate professor of Risk Management and Insurance at Georgia State University; senior researcher at the Employee Benefit Research Institute; and assistant professor of economics at Temple University. Dr. Chollet holds master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

Pamela S. Dickson

Pamela Dickson is a senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her program activities focus on increasing access and quality of care for all Americans, with a particular emphasis on reducing racial and ethnic disparities. Before joining the Foundation, Ms. Dickson held several senior positions at the New Jersey Department of Health. As Assistant Commissioner from 1988 through 1994, she supervised the all-payer hospital rate-setting system and the health planning program. As director of health care reform initiatives, she coordinated efforts among the Governor's Office, the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Insurance to implement New Jersey's 1993 Health Care and Insurance Reform Legislation.

Ms. Dickson has held positions as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Health Data Organizations and of the Access for the Uninsured Steering Committee of the National Academy for State Health Policy. She holds an M.B.A. in health care administration from the Wharton School of Business.

W. David Helms

Dr. Helms is president and CEO of AcademyHealth. He is also president and CEO of the Coalition for Health Services Research, AcademyHealth's advocacy arm. Dr. Helms serves as senior advisor on AcademyHealth’s contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for its knowledge transfer and application initiatives. He is frequently invited to facilitate consensus processes on health policy issues and on the development of research agendas. He also serves on a number of health-related boards and advisory committees.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Helms founded and directed the Alpha Center where he was president from 1976-2000. He received his doctorate in public administration and economics in 1979 from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

Julie James

Julia Ann James (Julie) is a principal in the Washington, D.C., consulting firm Health Policy Alternatives, Inc. (HPA). She joined the firm in 1998 with more than 25 years experience in health services research, planning, and policy. Before joining HPA, she was the chief health policy analyst for the Senate Committee on Finance. In this capacity she was responsible for overseeing all health policy issues within the jurisdiction of the Committee, including Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and health system reform issues. Prior to joining the Finance Committee staff in 1991, Ms. James was involved with health policy in the state of Oregon. She began her career as a research assistant at the Kaiser Health Services Research Center. She was active in health planning in the state, first as the associate director of the regional health planning agency, Northwest Oregon Health Systems, and later as a Governor’s appointee to the Oregon Health Council, which she chaired for a year. She also served as vice-chairman of the Oregon Certificate of Needs Appeals Board.

Eileen Kostanecki

Eileen Kostanecki is the federal Health and Human Services Advisor to Governor Jennifer Granholm in the State of Michigan-Washington, D.C., office. Ms. Kostanecki focuses on federal policy relating to Medicaid, Medicare, and other insurance issues; public health; prescription drugs; bioterrorism; welfare; family and children's issues; workforce; and unemployment issues.

Prior to joining the Governor's staff, Ms. Kostanecki was the legislative director for The Economic Alliance for Michigan, the statewide business-labor coalition in the state that concentrates on health and unemployment issues. She also served as the health policy advisor for the Michigan House of Representatives in Lansing when the Patient Bill of Rights and HMO liability issues were at their peak.

Before working in the legislature, Ms. Kostanecki was assistant director for corporate government affairs at Henry Ford Health System, where she focused on local, state, and federal issues, appropriations, and community relations. Eileen holds two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree from Wayne State University.

Jack Meyer

Jack A. Meyer, Ph.D., is the founder and president of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Dr. Meyer has conducted policy analysis and directed research on frontline issues in health care reform and social policy for 20 years. He is the author of numerous books, monographs, and articles on topics including health care, labor market and demographic trends, and policies to reduce poverty. Dr. Meyer is also the founder and president of New Directions for Policy, a health care consulting firm.

Brenda Motheral

Brenda R. Motheral, Ph.D., is vice president of research and development at Express Scripts, where she leads program development and management for trend and clinical programs and heads the Office for Evidenced-Based Pharmacy Benefit Design. The mission of the office is to provide objective, timely, and relevant research on pharmacy benefit management to plan sponsors, policymakers, and the health care community.

Funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Motheral has studied the impact of three-tier copays, closed formularies, and various other pharmacy benefit design strategies. Dr. Motheral has extensively published in peer-reviewed journals and recently authored The 2003 Pharmacy Benefit Guide for Evidence-Based Pharmacy Benefit Design. Before joining Express Scripts, Dr. Motheral was on the faculty of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy and served as director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy. Dr. Motheral received her pharmacy degree and M.B.A from the University of Kentucky and her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.

Don Moulds

Don Moulds was appointed director of the California State Senate Office of Research in January of 2004. Previously, he was principal consultant to Senator John Burton, President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate. Here he specialized in health care, insurance, and workers’ compensation. In 2000 he was chief consultant to the Workers’ Compensation Conference Committee chaired by Senator Patrick Johnston and in 1997 he was a fellow in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Moulds graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois. He is also a member of the philosophy department at California State University, Sacramento.

Len Nichols

Len Nichols is vice president of the Center for Studying Health System Change. He is an expert on the uninsured, health care costs, Medicare reform, individual and small-group insurance markets, health workforce, and coverage expansion policy alternatives. Previously, Dr. Nichols was a principal research associate at the Urban Institute, senior advisor for health policy at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, a visiting public health service fellow at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and associate professor and chair of the economics department at Wellesley College. He earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Cheryl Roberts

Cheryl Roberts is the deputy director of programs and operations for the Department of Medical Assistance Services for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is responsible for the development, administration, and operations of the Medicaid fee for service, managed care, long-term care, and operational programs which serve 600,000 enrollees and expends $3.7 billion dollars annually. Previously, she held the position of director of managed care and was responsible for successfully expanding mandatory managed care organization programs throughout the Commonwealth. Prior to working with the Department, Ms. Roberts was the chief operations officer of a Medicaid health plan where she developed a successful prenatal intervention program. She has also been an assistant vice president of operations for a large health insurance company in New York City. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from Rutger’s State University Law School.

Theresa Sachs

Ms. Sachs joined EP&P Consulting (EP&P) in March 2003 and has 15 years of experience in health care and Medicaid with a specialization in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Her experience includes policy and budget analysis, legislation, administration, and contract management. She specializes in policy analysis of health care issues, program development, budget neutrality and policy negotiation, and program implementation. Before joining EP&P, Ms. Sachs worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was a nationally known expert on Medicaid and SCHIP waiver issues, and was instrumental in development of CMS policies regarding managed care. Ms. Sachs also has experience as a legislative analyst for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, a program manager for The National Council on Aging, and director of an Area Agency on Aging.

Gregory Serio

Gregory V. Serio was nominated as Superintendent of Insurance by Governor George E. Pataki on April 10, 2001, and was confirmed as New York's 39th Superintendent by the State Senate on May 9, 2001. Prior to his appointment as Superintendent, Mr. Serio served for six years as First Deputy Superintendent and as general counsel of the Department for three years. Previously, Serio served from 1989 to 1994 as Chief Counsel to the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance, and as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman and Deputy Majority Leader. Before entering public service, he was associated with the Long Island law firm of Rivkin, Radler, Dunne and Bayh and has also served as of counsel to the Albany law firm of Crane, Kelley, Greene and Parente. In addition, Mr. Serio has also served as adjunct professor of public administration at C.W. Post College of Long Island University.

Mr. Serio was instrumental in the efforts to bring captive insurance companies to New York, to streamline the product approval process, to bring online electronic processing of new and renewal licenses and to implement New York's groundbreaking Healthy NY program. Additionally, as superintendent, he has directed the development of the state's disaster coalition and insurance emergency operations center and the development of the Health Care Roundtable, a forum for the debating of significant health insurance and health policy issues.

Thomas Snedden

Thomas Snedden is the director of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly, more commonly known as the PACE program. He has served in this position since 1985. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Snedden held a variety of program posts in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office, Office of Administration.

The PACE program, enacted in 1984, is a state-funded prescription drug benefit for qualified older Pennsylvanians funded exclusively from state Lottery Fund proceeds. In 1996, a supplementary drug benefit was enacted and is known as the PACE Needs Enhancement Tier (PACENET). PACE/PACENET is the largest state program of its kind: serving 230,000 enrollees, reimbursing 9.4 million claims annually, at an aggregate annual benefit cost of $365 million.

Terry Stoller

Terry Stoller has been with Medimetrix since its inception in 1987 and offers more than 20 years of experience in the areas of managed care and health care coverage programs for the uninsured, including program planning and implementation. She serves as national program director for The Robert Wood Johnson’s Communities in Charge initiative, a program to assist communities in rethinking health care financing and delivery for the uninsured. She has also been involved in the design and implementation of innovative comprehensive health coverage programs for children. In addition, her expertise includes managed care program and operations planning and implementation, payor negotiations, provider payment and risk-sharing methodologies, medical management and product positioning strategies for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the health plan and provider marketplace. Before joining Medimetrix, Ms. Stoller was employed by Arthur Andersen & Company, CIGNA and the Harvard Community Health Plan. Ms. Stoller received her master’s degrees in nursing and public health from Yale University where she was also a fellow at the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

Alan Weil

Alan Weil directs the Assessing the New Federalism project at the Urban Institute. This project, the largest in the Institute’s 34-year history, monitors, describes and assesses the effects of changes in federal and state health, welfare, and social services programs. Mr. Weil was formerly executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing — the cabinet position responsible for Colorado’s Medicaid and Medically Indigent programs, health data collection and analysis functions, health policy development, and health care reform. He was also health policy adviser to Colorado Governor Roy Romer, program director of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, and legal counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Medical Security. He is the author of many articles and co-editor of two books: Welfare Reform: The Next Act, and Federalism and Health Policy. He holds a bachelor degree in economics and political science from the University of California at Berkeley, a master of public policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.