Board of Directors

Members and Officers of the New York eHealth Collaborative Board

• Rod Adkins, Senior VP, Development & Manufacturing, IBM Systems & Technology Group
• Maura Bluestone, CEO, Affinity Health Plan
• Troyen A. Brennan, MD, Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer, Aetna
• Pamela Brier, CEO, Maimonides Medical Center (Treasurer)
• Neil Calman, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Urban Family Health (Secretary)
• Andrew S. Doniger, MD, Director, Monroe County Department of Public Health
• Craig Duncan, former President and CEO, Northeast Health
• Eugene P. Heslin, MD
• Martin E. Hickey, MD, Senior VP of Health Affairs, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Arthur A. Levin, Center for Medical Consumers
• Farzad Mostashari, MD, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Richard M. Peer, MD, Past President, Medical Society of the State of New York
• Thomas P. Quinn, President and CEO, Community General Hospital (Vice Chair)
• Barbara Radin, Executive Director, Bronx RHIO
• Carol Raphael, President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Service of NY (Chair)
• Nancy H. Smith, Executive Director, Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York
• James R. Tallon, Jr., President, United Hospital Fund
• Lew Titterton, President, NYMED

Maura Bluestone, CEO, Affinity Health Plan
Maura Bluestone has served as President and CEO of Affinity Health Plan since its inception as The Bronx Health Plan in 1986. Affinity, a not-for-profit managed care plan, was the first health plan licensed in New York State specifically to serve government-sponsored populations, and, to a large extent, served as the model for development of the State’s Medicaid managed care program and as a pilot for State-funded programs for the uninsured. Ms. Bluestone has been a leading innovator in care management and community health initiatives for Medicaid and underserved populations in New York City. She is co-chair of the Medicaid Committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and serves on the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Advisory Council. Ms. Bluestone holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s degree in health services administration from the Harvard University School of Public Health.

Troyen A. Brennan, MD, Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer, Aetna
Troyen A. Brennan MD MPH is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Aetna Inc., one of the nation’s leading health care and related benefits organizations. Dr. Brennan directs Aetna’s National Quality Management and Clinical Policy units. He also provides oversight for Aetna’s National Medical Management unit, which includes our disease management programs and patient management services. Aetna is a pioneer in development of personal health records (PHRs) and pay for performance efforts nationally and in NYS. Dr. Brennan is also one of the leading national health services researchers in patient safety. He has served as professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School since 1995, and professor of law and public health at Harvard School of Public Health since 1992. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Brennan received his M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Yale Medical School, his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and his M.A. degree from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Pamela Brier, CEO, Maimonides Medical Center (Treasurer)
Pamela Brier is the President and Chief Executive officer of Maimonides Medical Center. She has been at Maimonides since 1995, for eight years as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer and since 2003, as the leader of this 700-bed major teaching hospital. Under Ms. Brier’s leadership, Maimonides has received national recognition as one of the AHA Most Wired and Most Wireless Hospitals, and it has been recognized several times by HealthGrades as a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence. Maimonides also received the HIMSS Nathan Davies Organization Award in 2002. Ms. Brier serves on the board of the Hospital Association of NYS and the New York City Board of Health; she also serves on the City’s Workforce Investment Board, reflecting her interest in community development and employment. Ms. Brier holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters Degree in Health Administration from UCLA.

Neil Calman, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Urban Family Health (Secretary)
Neil Calman MD is a Board Certified family physician who has been practicing in the Bronx and Manhattan for the past 30 years. He is President and a co-founder of the Institute for Urban Family Health. Dr. Calman led the early adoption of electronic medical records within the Institute’s community health center settings. His leadership in HIT policy and implementation was recently recognized by HIMSS which awarded its Physician HIT Leadership Award to Dr. Calman in 2006. Since 1983 Dr. Calman has led the Institute in developing family health centers in the Bronx and Manhattan and in establishing health professional training in medicine, nursing, administration and mental health. Dr. Calman is currently Chair of the Health Reform and Finance Subcommittee of the New York State Council on Graduate Medical education, and he also chairs the Clinical Committee of the Community Health Care Association of New York State.

Andrew S. Doniger, MD, Director, Monroe County Department of Public Health
Andrew S. Doniger MD MPH is the Director of the Monroe County Department of Public Health. He oversees the management of all Health Department programs, and works closely with community partners in developing strategies, policies and programs to improve the health of our community. Dr. Doniger has played a central role in development of local and state public health information systems in New York State. He is also a Pediatrician and was formerly the Chief of Pediatrics at the Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, Rochester’s largest neighborhood health center. Dr. Doniger has academic appointments at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry as Clinical Professor in both the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Doniger attended Amherst College and SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine, and he holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley.

Craig Duncan, former President and CEO, Northeast Health
Craig Duncan is the former president and chief executive officer of Northeast Health, a regional, comprehensive, not-for-profit network of health care and community services, formed in 1995 by the merger of Samaritan Hospital and the Eddy network, and joined by Albany Memorial Hospital in 1997. Northeast Health provides an array of health care services including primary, outpatient, acute, obstetric, behavioral, chronic, long-term, residential, rehabilitative, retirement housing, assistive living, community-based adult day care and home care services. Under Mr. Duncan’s leadership, Northeast Health has been an early adopter of many HIT applications. Craig is also the President of Clarion, LLC, a health care management consulting practice. He has a Master’s in Public Administration from Russell Sage College in Troy, New York.

Martin E. Hickey, MD, Senior VP of Health Affairs, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield
Martin E. Hickey MD is the Senior Vice President of Health Care Affairs and joined Excellus in February 2005. Dr. Hickey oversees the activities of Medical Affairs, Medical Benefits Management, Network Management and Contracting Support, Network Performance Support, Business Process Improvement, and also a pharmacy benefits management organization. In addition, Dr. Hickey is leading Excellus’ involvement in support of regional health information exchange activities in health care markets across New York State. He was also instrumental in the development of health information exchange activities in New Mexico. Martin received a Bachelor’s degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, is a graduate of the Rush Medical College in Chicago, and earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin.

Arthur A. Levin, Center for Medical Consumers
Arthur A. Levin is co-founder and the Director of the Center for Medical Consumers, a New York City based non-profit organization committed to informed consumer and patient health care decision-making, patient safety, evidence-based, high quality medicine and health care system transparency. He is recognized nationally and in New York State as a leading expert on quality and patient safety. Mr. Levin serves on the NCQA Committee on Performance Measures that is charged with developing performance measures for health plans and most recently, for physician practices, and as the consumer member of the FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee (DSaRM). He previously served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Quality of Health Care in America which oversaw development of leading policy reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. He earned his Masters of Public Health degree from Columbia University School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Reed College.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Farzad Mostashari MD MPH is Assistant Commissioner and Chair of the Primary Care Information Taskforce at the DOHMH, with the goal of encouraging and facilitating the adoption of secure public health-oriented health information technology and health information exchange in New York City. Dr. Mostashari is currently leading the city’s effort to implement electronic medical records in all community health centers, and he previously led the development of the city’s biosurveillance information systems. He is a member of the eHealth Initiative’s Leadership Council, and serves as Chair of the International Society for Disease Surveillance. He did his graduate training at the Harvard School of Public Health and Yale Medical School, internal medicine residency at Mass General Hospital, and completed the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service.

Richard M. Peer, MD, Past President, Medical Society of the State of New York
Richard M. Peer, MD is a board certified vascular surgeon and a medical director for the Buffalo Medical Group. He is past president of the Medical Society of the State of NY, where he has been involved in HIT, pay for performance and bioterrorism surveillance policy activities. The Buffalo Medical Group was an early adopter of electronic medical records, and provides web-based information to patients as well. Dr. Peer is also involved in the Western New York clinical information exchange. He graduated from Canisius College in Buffalo, earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and completed both his internship and residency at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital.

Thomas P. Quinn, President and CEO, Community General Hospital (Vice Chair)
Thomas P. Quinn is President and CEO of Community General Hospital, Syracuse, NY. He is on the board of the Hospital Association of NYS, and he also serves on the board of the newly formed Health Advancement Collaborative of Central NY which is supporting HIT adoption and use in that region. Mr. Quinn previously serves as Chief Operating Officer at Crouse Hospital and Corporate Vice President at the Health Alliance of CNY, both in Syracuse. He has worked in the hospital industry for 30 years in a number of different positions, having started at Community General Hospital. Mr. Quinn has a BA degree from LeMoyne College (Syracuse) and an MBA from Syracuse University, where he was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Carol Raphael, President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Service of NY (Chair)
Carol Raphael is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Visiting Nurse Services of New York, which is the largest nonprofit home health agency in the United States. VNSNY has been a pioneer in HIT clinical applications for home health, and it is leading as well as participating in a variety of health information exchange projects across the NYC region. Carol is also a member of the Markle Foundation’s Connecting for Health Steering Committee. She has an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and was a Visiting Fellow at the Kings Fund in the United Kingdom.

James R. Tallon, Jr., President, United Hospital Fund
James R. Tallon, Jr., a nationally recognized health care policy leader, is president of the United Hospital Fund of New York. Mr. Tallon also serves as a member of the New York State Board of Regents, the constitutionally established supervisory body of all education and education-related activities in New York. Mr. Tallon received a B.A., cum laude, in political science from Syracuse University and an M.A. in international relations from Boston University. He has done additional graduate work at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Jim has also received honorary doctorates of humane letters from the College of Medicine and School of Graduate Studies of the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, and from New York Medical College.

Lew Titterton, President, NYMED
Lewis Titterton is currently President of Nymed Inc. which owns and operates health care facilities in New York. He was Executive Vice President of the Hospital Association of New York State, and he founded MedE America (now part of WebMD) which provided enrollment and eligibility services to health care providers throughout the country. Lew is a graduate of Cornell University and State University of New York.