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Board of Directors

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Mary N. Hennings

Mary N. Hennings

Chairperson

Mary Hennings is a senior healthcare executive with 35+ years of broad health care experience. Her expertise is in formulating and implementing product and organizational innovations that deliver desired business results while supporting better care, coverage, and customer experiences. Her leadership roles in both integrated health care delivery and health insurance settings have included: 1) business and product strategy; 2) product development, launch and management; 3) and operations/performance enhancement. She gravitates to the challenges of creating products and programs that are engaging to customers. Mary is motivated by the opportunities to deliver performance improvement for customers that innovation projects create.

Mary has worked in senior roles in both health insurance and care delivery settings as well as operated her own consulting practice. Her most recent insurance experience includes leading product strategy at DentaQuest, a national dental insurance company; and commercial product strategy, innovation and implementation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, where she and her team created value-based benefit designs, tiered networks and wellness incentive programs. Prior to that, she was chief operating officer of Harvard University’s Health Service, an integrated, pre-paid delivery system that serves the University’s faculty, staff, retirees and students. Mary and her interdisciplinary project team reformulated the Health Service’s patient flow and processes to measurably improve access, efficiency, and patient satisfaction, as an IHI demonstration site. She has also held senior roles in tertiary and community hospitals, HMOs, a state health regulatory agency and in several health plan start-ups.

Mary has served on and been president of several not-for-profit boards in her community. She is a dedicated gardener and enjoys family time, hiking, travel, and friends.

Mary N. Hennings

Chairperson

Danny Sands, MD, MPH

Danny Sands, MD, MPH

Chief Advocacy Officer, Co-Founder

Dr. Danny Sands is passionate about healthcare transformation. A practicing physician with training and experience in clinical informatics, Dr. Sands has worked in a variety of capacities in the health care IT industry since 2004. Prior to that he spent almost 14 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he developed and implemented innovative systems to improve clinical care delivery and patient engagement, including clinical decision support systems, an electronic health record, and one of the nation’s first patient portals.

Dr. Sands is the recipient of numerous healthcare honors, including recognition in 2009 by HealthLeaders Magazine as one of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better.” He is the co-author, with e-Patient Dave deBronkart, of Let Patients Help.

Dr. Sands holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and for twenty years has maintained a primary care practice in which he makes extensive use of health IT—much of which he helped to introduce during his tenure at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In addition to practicing, Dr. Sands is a speaker and works with a number of innovative companies.

Dr. Sands is a popular speaker and consultant, who blogs at DrDannySands.com and is active on Twitter as @DrDannySands.

Danny Sands, MD, MPH

Chief Advocacy Officer, Co-Founder

Eric Bersh

Eric Bersh

Secretary

Eric Bersh is an Emmy award winning editor, director and producer. He is a founder of Changeful LLC, a healthcare content creation company. The company’s first product, Changeful, is an innovative mobile app and data analytics platform designed to empower family and professional caregivers to take control of their own health and well-being, leading to cost savings for insurers, providers and ACOs.

Prior to Changeful, he was Executive Producer at The Academic Channel, producing several student videos surrounding substance abuse for University of Southern California, and a mental health DVD, A Penn State Suicide Primer: Parents Want to Know.

Bersh was Producer for the MAT@USC: University of Southern California Master of Arts in Teaching degree (online). Later, he was Course Producer for American Honors, producing the first four online honors courses for Spokane Community College.

Working for Newsweek Broadcasting, and as a network TV editor and producer, he won four Emmy awards for documentary specials and a children’s series. He won a fifth Emmy as Supervising Editor for The Barbara Walters Specials.

Eric Bersh earned his BSc in Communications & Theater at Temple University. He studied for a Master’s degree in Cinema at San Francisco State University.

Eric Bersh

Secretary

Liz Boehm

Liz Boehm

Board Member

Liz Boehm is executive strategist at Stryker, where she oversees the CEO Coalition, manages the Heart of Safety Learning Community, and hosts the award-winning Caring Greatly™ Podcast. Her life’s work is to restore dignity and respect to the healthcare experience. Liz has an extensive healthcare background including 15 years as leader of global healthcare research at Forrester Research. Her work focused on patient and consumer behavior, delivery and payment system management, and the role of technology in helping to transform healthcare. This experience has made her a national expert and sough after speaker on experience transformation. Beginning her career as a Peace Corps volunteer at a health center in rural West Africa, Liz is relentless in her pursuit to improve human connections and conditions in healthcare. Through professional and volunteer work in hospitals, she’s developed a profound respect for the dedication of the doctors, nurses, and staff who commit their lives to caring, as well as the courage of patients who survive and thrive as a result of their combined efforts. Liz holds a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College.

Liz Boehm

Board Member

John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

Board Member, Co-Founder

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. was the founder of one of the leading psychology and mental health resources, Psych Central. The site he founded in 1995 was sold to Healthline in 2020. He continues to run online mental health support groups at My Support Forums and support groups for neurological conditions at NeuroTalk.

Dr. Grohol is a behavioral psychology expert, technologist, developer, and has been a researcher in the area of online behavior and technology’s effects on human behavior. He won the Distinguished Professional Contribution to Media Psychology award from the American Psychological Association’s Division 46 in 2011, and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists. He is the co-author of Self-Help That Works and author of The Insider’s Guide to Mental Health Resources Online. He also publishes the quarterly trade publication for psychologists, New England Psychologist.

In addition to being a co-founder of the Society for Participatory Medicine and its first treasurer, he also sits on the boards of the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression (iFred) and the non-profit Help & Heal Mental Health Fund.

John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

Board Member, Co-Founder

Cindy Hale

Cindy Hale

Board Member

Cindy Hale has deep leadership expertise across the healthcare industry, working alongside executive teams to determine disruptive market opportunities and translate that into brand, marketing, and partnership strategies that deeply engage providers, caregivers, and patients around a shared journey. Her professional history includes her most recent role as SVP, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for SeniorLink, the country’s largest structured caregiving provider, as well as senior executive roles and/or advisory relationships with health-focused organizations including Walden Behavioral Care, Psychiatry Redefined, Franciscan Children’s, Boston Children’s Hospital, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Five Star Senior Living, Aleris Life, Ageility, Caregiver Homes, Mass General, Dana Farber, Quest Diagnostics, Aspen Dental, Goodcell, Wellforce, Circle Health, and others. In addition to her direct leadership within various healthcare organizations, her background includes strategy, advertising, and communications experience within two agencies, including KHJ Activation, where she was the Senior Vice President of Healthcare, and at OTW, one of New England’s fastest-growing advertising agencies, where she was the President and Founder, working with top consumer brands in healthcare, hospitality and retail.

When working with leadership teams in healthcare, Cindy builds market/growth strategies with a unique blend of science and creativity, focused on building accountable platforms based on deep insights and analytics as well as creative expression of how a care-focused brand connects with its stakeholders. She refreshes marketing teams to expand brand breadth and depth, including digital strength, customer experience, omnichannel demand generation, sales enablement programs, and partnership development for expansion in both current and new markets.

Cindy is an ardent supporter of Dana Farber, serving as co-captain for the PMC Team Flames which has raised over $10M for cancer research. She has served on multiple boards including A Better Chance, the YMCA, and Eating Disorder Information Network. Additionally, she has served on the Women’s Leadership Board and the Health & Science Board for The Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Cindy Hale

Board Member

Daniel Halpren-Ruder, MD, PhD

Daniel Halpren-Ruder, MD, PhD

Board Member

Daniel H. Halpren-Ruder was awarded an MD (Tulane) and PhD (biochemistry, Northwestern) and trained in Internal Medicine (University of Vermont Medical Center).  He “caught” the Emergency Medicine (EM) “bug” while @ UVM , earning Board Certification upon eligibility and has been recertified twice.  After a 40-year career of clinical practice, EM practice management and entrepreneurialism, Dan spent an immersive 14 months @ Jefferson Med Ctr in Philadelphia learning and practicing in the digital health space.

While providing EM, Dan was recruited by the RI Medical Society to join the board of RI Quality Partners (now Healthcentric Advisors), a Federally (Medicare) mandated QIO.  Over 14 years he served as Board Member rising to Board President. Dan remains a staunch advocate of healthcare QA and is Boarded by the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians.

Dan retired from clinical practice in 2020, committing to making a difference at the nexus of healthcare quality management, digital health, and healthcare reform. “The participatory patient has been shown to have better outcomes (optimizing quality) at likely less cost, the very backbone of the healthcare value transformation.”

Daniel Halpren-Ruder, MD, PhD

Board Member

Sarah Krüg

Sarah Krüg

Board Member

Sarah Krüg is CEO/Executive Director of CANCER101, a patient advocacy organization she has been on the board of for two years, in a quest to help patients and caregivers navigate their cancer journey. Driven by the passion to make an impact in patient care and engagement, Sarah has held a variety of roles within healthcare.

She previously held the position of Global Education Director in the Medical Education Group at Pfizer, focused on establishing global health care improvement strategies and medical education standards worldwide. She also established the Global Investigator Initiated Research Program at Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer in 2001, Sarah spearheaded the development of the Pediatric disease management clinical pathways and conducted clinical research at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center. She is also on the board of the Cancer Patient Education Network, and serves as Research Chair.

Sarah Krüg

Board Member

Brenda Merriweather, MSN, RN

Brenda Merriweather, MSN, RN

Board Member

Brenda Merriweather is a Clinical Nurse Specialist and current Doctoral student working on her Doctorate of Nursing Practice at Walden University. She is originally from Huntsville, Alabama. She has 3 children, Joshua 25, Jeremy 25, and Alex 19. In 2007, Ms. Merriweather graduated from The University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Master’s degree in Nursing-Clinical Nurse Specialist, Acute Adults Program. In 1996, she graduated with a Bachelor’s in Nursing from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1990, she graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Ms. Merriweather has a passion for working with the Sickle Cell population. In 2010, Ms. Merriweather was the Sickle Cell Program Coordinator at Baptist Health System in Montgomery, Alabama where she developed and Implemented the Proactive and Aggressive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Model. In 2013, she worked as a Case Manager II for the Sickle Center of Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2016, she was awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2018, she worked as a Nurse Case Manager with the Sickle Cell Team at Johns Hopkins University. In 2021, she worked as a Research Nurse Specialist with the Sickle Cell Branch at The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at The National Institutes of Health. Ms. Merriweather will be working in a new position at Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C. in January 2023 as a Clinical Program Coordinator in Hematology for Sickle Cell patients.

Ms. Merriweather was approached by Mr. John Novak to write a blog for The Society for Participatory Medicine’s ePatient Blog in September 2021. Mr. Novak was looking for content from healthcare disruptors/innovators. Ms. Merriweather agreed and here is the article:   https://participatorymedicine.org/epatients/2021/12/how-empathy-education-communication-and-the-past-model-transformed-sickle-cell-patient-care.html

Brenda Merriweather, MSN, RN

Board Member

Jay Spitulnik, PhD

Jay Spitulnik, PhD

Board Member

Jay Spitulnik, PhD, has been working in areas directly and indirectly related to managing health informatics in the corporate and academic communities for more than 35 years. His work has involved informatics operations as well as large and small system implementations. Currently, he directs the Health Informatics Graduate programs at Northeastern University. His teaching in this program is geared toward full-time project managers, those whose project management assignments will only be part of their work, and anyone who will be managing change initiatives in any type of organization. Jay holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Boston University and a PhD in Organizational Psychology from Walden University. He is certified as a Green Belt by the American Society for Quality and as a Certified Performance Technologist by the International Society for Performance Improvement. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Association for Healthcare Quality and the Society for Participatory Medicine. Jay is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Participatory Medicine.

Jay Spitulnik, PhD

Board Member

Past Presidents

 

Burt Rosen (2019)
Susan Woods (2018)
Joseph Ternullo, JD, MPH (2017)
Jonathan Wald, MD, MPH (2016)
Nick Dawson (2015)
Josh Seidman (2014)
Sarah Krug (2013)
Danny Sands, MD (2010 partial-2012)
Gilles Frydman (2010 partial)
Alan Greene, MD (2009)

The Founder’s Circle is the group of visionaries who founded the Society in honor of Dr. Tom Ferguson.