Team

CARL HAACKE, Founder, CEO,as been a long-term technology entrepreneur, former White House Economics Policy Advisor, consultant, and business author. Over the last 10 years, as Founder of Skylight Labs, he has created several technology companies including mywebpost and startlightconnect, among others. He was also Founder of Skylight Consulting, which specialized in helping senior executives assess critical decisions and strategic options with clients such as Microsoft, the New York Times, the Ford Foundation, Viacom, and numerous start-ups. Prior to Skylight Consulting, Haacke was an Economic Policy Adviser in the White House National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration. Haacke has an MBA from Columbia University, Columbia Business School.

MICHAEL McCORMICK. Creative Director, game designer with over 30 years experience working on numerous top rated games as well as educational games. At Telltale games he work interactive story games for Minecraft, as creative director at Maxis-Electronic Arts he worked on Sims and SimCity 4, he was lead designer for Zynga’s Cityville. He’s also worked on projects for Dreamworks, lucas learning and many others. He received a Masters Degree in Technology in Education from Harvard University and BA in Cognitive Science from University of Michigan.

JAMES ASPINWALL, CTO, has managed product software development for over 20 years in companies ranging from Course Mavev, to Netflix, to the Atlantic news website, to Quicken tax preparation, to legal litagation claims processing. He has a Master''s degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.

NICOLE RIVILIS, Software Engineer, has been a software engineer for 10 years with expertise in Natural Language Processing (NLP). For New York Presbyterian Hospital, she developed methods for summarizing and extracting data from doctor’s medical notes in Electronic Medical Records. For Massachusetts General Hospital, she developed machine learning analysis of data from patients in the neurological ICU and epilepsy monitoring unit During her academic lab research she also created big data visualizations and NLP of electronic health records as a method to track and predict seizure activity. Nicole has a Masters Degree in Computer Science, Columbia University

Advisors

David Artz, M.D., is Founder/CEO of Standard Molecular, a Data Analytics Platform for Genomic Research. Prior to this he was the Medical Director of Information Systems at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he works closely with clinicians and managers to identify and find solutions for hospital wide IT issues. He manages several hundred IT specialists aimed at improving patient care. Most recently he led the team that launched Memorial Sloan Kettering patient portal. He also stewarded the evolution to electronic medical records, as well as building a large data warehouse to make clinical research easier and more efficient. David received his BS from University of Rochester, MD from West Virginian University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.

Rima Cohen was the Counselor for Health Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. She advised the Secretary of HHS on policy development in health, disability, human services, data, and science, and provides advice and analysis on economic policy. She helped to develop and lead Administration initiatives related to programs administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to this, Ms. Cohen was the Director of Health and Social Services for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where she oversaw the City’s health care programs and agencies, including Medicaid, the City’s public hospital and health care system, and the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. She also founded and directed Insurance Options for the Uninsured (IOU), a project sponsored by the Greater New York Hospital Foundation that developed and implemented strategies for expanding health insurance coverage in New York. Ms. Cohen has a master’s degree in public affairs, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan.

Michael Coulston, Esq. has been involved in hospital risk management in New York for the past 18 years. He is currently Vice President, Enterprise Risk Management and Associate General Counsel at Hospital for Special Surgery. Prior to this he was Associate General Counsel at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH). He graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1996.

Glenda Courser, RN Oncological Nurse at Washington Hospital

Kristi Graves, PhD, is Director of the Survivorship Research Initiative and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Graves has developed and tested interventions to improve coping and communication among breast cancer patients from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and thus is familiar with the importance of attention to health literacy, plain language and communication of uncertain information. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed post-doctoral training in psychosocial oncology at the University of Kentucky.

Sharif Elozy, MD is a Cardiovascular Surgeon at Cornel Weill Hospital. Prior to this he was at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He is a graduate of Harvard University and NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Ellozy completed the General Surgery residency program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Ellozy conducted clinical research during his residency, while acting as the Teaching Resident for the 1998-1999 school year. He then completed a fellowship in Vascular Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Ellozy's clinical interests include aneurysm surgery, carotid surgery, endovascular surgery, lower extremity occlusive disease and vascular surgery. Dr. Ellozy has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to the Mount Sinai residency program. He received the Student Council Teaching Award for House Staff in 1999 and 2003. Dr. Ellozy is also the recipient of the 2003 Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. He is the Surgery Clerkship Director at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Jean Johnson, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Dean Emerita, Professor of nursing, and a professional executive coach. As founding dean of the School of Nursing, she developed multiple programs including one of the university's first online programs. She was interim executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement. A longtime geriatric nurse practitioner, Dr. Johnson focused her research and policy work on patient safety, quality improvement and online education. She was also a senior advisor to the development of the Nursing Alliance for Quality of Care and member of the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses.

Nancy Pena, RN Nurse at Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Jeannine Salamone is the Director of the Patient Education and Advocacy at the American Society of Clinical Oncology since 2004, developing and managing programs and activities that aid patient advocates. She is also the founding member of Georgetown Breast Cancer Advocates, providing input into the design and implementation of the research goals, observational studies, and clinical trials carried out at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Shoshanna Sofaer is nationally known for her expertise in qualitative and mixed methods research on topics including: the development of quality measures that resonate with consumers and patients; the development of tools patients and families can use to engage productively in their health and health care; ways to improve the effectiveness of health care professionals in caring for older people. She is the Robert P. Luciano Professor of Health Care Policy at the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College. She previously held academic positions at George Washington University Medical Center and the UCLA School of Public Health. She completed her M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. degrees at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

John Snyder, MD, FAAP, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine, and a practicing pediatrician at Amherst Pediatrics in Amherst, Massachusetts. Previously, he was Medical Director of the teaching clinic at Baystate Children’s Hospital, and before that he was Chief of the Section of General Pediatrics and Medical Director of Pediatric Ambulatory Care at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. Since 1994, Dr Snyder has been active in pediatric resident and medical student education with a particular interest in evidence-based pediatrics. His main area of interest is medical myth and the ways in which parents utilize information in making medical decisions for their children. One area of focus has been the vaccine myth, and he lectures frequently on this subject in both academic and community settings. His other activities have included: contributor to the Gotham Skeptic blog, member of the New York City Skeptics’ board of advisors, and expert for BeWell.com (“A New Social Network on Health Founded by America’s Top Doctors”). Dr. Snyder graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, completing his residency training in pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He is board certified in pediatrics, and is a Fellow of The American Academy of Pediatrics. s.