Meet our presenters

Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA

Principal, Barlow/McCarthy
Hudson, WI

Kriss Barlow has earned a national reputation as an expert on physician relationship and growth strategies. She builds physician engagement - increasing referrals and delivering meaningful, measurable results. Working with teams and their leaders, she supports talented liaisons in their journey toward field success. Kriss is a certified sales instructor and provider of sales training for teams at every level. Located in Hudson, Wisconsin, she is a sought-after speaker and trainer and is the author of five books on physician relations.

ANDREA BUTCHER

President, Talent Strategist, Executive Coach, Rebranding, Human Resources
HRD Advisory Group
Indianapolis, IN

Andrea is a visionary. Her passion is coming alongside leaders to help them maximize the performance of their teams. She has an impressive 20+ year career as a business leader, executive coach and advocate in talent development and human resources. With an undergraduate and graduate degree from Indiana State University (psychology and human resource development), Andrea has spent her career exercising her passion for people.

She began her career as a global leader at Premier Farnell, an electronics distributor based in London, England. She then worked as a consultant for FlashPoint based in Indianapolis. Most recently, Andrea served as the VP of Talent Development at DEFENDERS before her role as President for HRD Advisory Group.

Andrea has an ability to quickly connect with others. As a Certified Executive Coach (CEC) and a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), Andrea focuses on the development of leaders—being an engaging and dynamic leader herself. She is a speaker and podcast host; her strengths include uniting people to execute a clear strategy. “If I set my mind to it, it will most certainly get done, and I will always have fun doing it!” she says.

Lynne Fiscus, MD, MPH

President and Chief Executive Officer, North Chatham Pediatrics & Internal Medicine
Chapel Hill, NC

Lynne Fiscus, MD, MPH, is the President and Chief Executive Officer, as well a practicing primary care physician at North Chatham Pediatrics & Internal Medicine.  A collaborative leader, Dr Fiscus is experienced in developing physician and administrative dyad teams to create value for patients while fostering joy for clinicians and staff. Experienced in both community and academic settings, she has served as a practice transformation consultant for the American Medical Association and is involved in developing, implementing, and researching solutions to physician burnout.  Before returning to North Carolina, Dr Fiscus served as the Executive Medical Director for the University of Minnesota Ambulatory Clinics and an Executive Regional Medical Director for Fairview Medical Group in Minnesota.

Dr. Fiscus earned her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University in Theology. She completed medical school and internal medicine and pediatrics residency at UNC Chapel Hill and her Master of Public Health degree from UNC Gillings School of Public Health. Dr. Fiscus is board-certified in internal medicine and pediatrics.  An avid Baseball fan, she enjoys traveling with her husband and two sons, watching live music and theater, and spending time outside with her family and their rescue dog.

GABRIEL FLORES

Provider Relations Manager, Strategic Outreach, Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR

Gabriel Flores is the Provider Relations Manager for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), accountable for referral volume, continuing medical education, and provider satisfaction for Heart & Vascular, Cancer, and General Surgery in the Pacific Northwest. In his role, Gabriel acts as the communication conduit between healthcare providers to engage in conversation with a goal of greater care for all Oregonians.

Gabriel has over 20 years of business leadership experience in healthcare, strategy, real estate, and entrepreneurship and has held a leadership position managing teams for several years. Throughout his career, he has created a reputation for outstanding customer service, innovative strategic thinking, community leadership, and a passion for working with healthcare leaders to bring care to OHSU patients and surrounding communities.

Gabriel sits on the board of the American Association of Physician Liaisons, current co-chair and co-founder of Latinos Unidos OHSU employee resource group, and a contributor to many healthcare advisory boards. He has earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Leadership from Portland State University and a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship from Syracuse University.

stacy fox

Senior Physician Relations Representative , Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, CO

Stacy Fox, Senior Physician Relations Representative, is an experienced, strategic healthcare leader with demonstrated success in the hospital and health care industry. She has over 10 years of experience in relationship-building, project management, strategy, sales, physician relations, management and marketing. Stacy led tremendous growth for Colorado’s Health Information Exchange in her time as Outreach and Development Manager at CORHIO. And, in her 7 plus years at Children’s Hospital Colorado, she’s a proven team leader in physician relations, securing trusting relationships with referring providers.

lauren galloway coates

Senior Physician Relations Representative, Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, CO

Lauren Galloway Coates has 17 years of healthcare communications and relationship management experience: in a public relations capacity for a Montana hospital, as a communications officer with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service while completing her graduate studies, as a hospital consultant for HealthGrades and with physician relations at Children’s Hospital Colorado where she organizes outreach, education and drives strategy. Lauren points to her team’s support of one another as their key to astounding success.

erica hammond

Physician Business Development, Tampa General Hospital
Tampa, FL

Erica is the Manager of Physician Business Development for Tampa General Hospital where she orchestrates strategy across the business development team to enhance physician alignment and surgical volume. Prior to her current role, Erica served as the Business Operations Manager at The Surgery Center at TGH Brandon Healthplex where she was responsible for implementing operational processes and upholding regulatory compliance and accreditation measures. Erica came to The Surgery Center at TGH Brandon Healthplex after working at a healthcare technology and consulting firm for over four years. During this time, Erica consulted with some of the largest healthcare systems across the nation regarding their compliance strategies surrounding fair market valuations and other healthcare regulatory reporting. In addition to crafting long-term regulatory solutions for her clients, Erica developed a process-oriented foundation for the firm, to include a sales and marketing training program, an internship curriculum where she built strong relationships throughout national college universities, a retention strategy for both clients and staff.

Gerald E. Harmon, MD

President, American Medical Association
Pawleys Island, SC

Gerald E. Harmon, MD, a family medicine specialist having practiced for more than 30 years in coastal South Carolina, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2013 and elected board chair in 2018. In addition, Dr. Harmon also served as the secretary of the AMA in 2016.

In South Carolina Dr. Harmon has held several leadership positions in the South Carolina Medical Association, including chairman of the board and president. Dr. Harmon serves as a clinical professor at two of South Carolina’s medical schools and is a member of the clinical faculty for the Tidelands Health Family Medicine residency program while regularly precepting physicians in training.

In his hometown Dr. Harmon is an adviser to the board of trustees for his community health system and is vice president in a multispecialty physician practice. He is a medical director for several organizations and volunteers as medical supervisor for his local school district’s 23 schools. He has also been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from his county’s Chamber of Commerce. At the state level he has served as secretary for the State Aeronautics Commission.

Before his retirement from the military as a major general, Dr. Harmon served the nation in the Air Force Reserve, on Active Duty, and in the Air National Guard holding responsibilities as chief physician for the National Guard Bureau and assistant surgeon general for the U.S. Air Force. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

Dr. Harmon received his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from the University of South Carolina and has since been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Public Service. He received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his residency training program in family medicine with the U.S. Air Force at Eglin Air Force Base and is recognized as a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

During the rare times when not actively practicing medicine, Dr. Harmon and his wife, Linda, enjoy spending time outdoors in their coastal hometown of Georgetown with their three married children and seven grandchildren.

Michelle Kruger

Director of Business Development,Tampa General Hospital
Tampa, Florida

Michelle Kruger is the Director of Business Development for Tampa General Hospital where she’s responsible for defining and executing service line business development strategies, leading a physician business development team and expanding TGH’s referral network across the state of Florida and beyond. She has 15 years of experience in leading highly-successful business development teams in the healthcare industry, with a passion for data-driven sales processes, physician loyalty and retention and team member development.  Michelle also has experience in leading and executing physician and consumer marketing campaigns, customer service call center management, healthcare retail operations management and strategic project management in her previous positions with BayCare Health System Sagent, an enterprise business intelligence solutions company.

paula little

Physician Relations Territory Manager, The University of Kansas Health System
Kansas City, KS

Paula Little is a Physician Relations Territory Manager at The University of Kansas Health System. Providing an outstanding customer/patient experience is at the heart of all she does.

Paula’s expertise includes; internal and external physician engagement, new physician onboarding, project management and serving as a service line liaison between physician relations and various clinical departments throughout the health system. Paula’s true love is working as an ambassador for the Health System and serving as a concierge for referring offices.

JEN MORGAN

Physician Liaison, The University of Kansas Health System
Kansas City, KS

Jen Morgan is a Physician Relations Territory Manager at The University of Kansas Health System.  Jen has been in this role for 5 years and has been with the health system for 10. She is proud to be an ambassador for the health system and being a concierge to referring physicians and ensuring their patients’ needs are met.

Jen’s expertise includes; internal and external physician engagement, CME development, new physician onboarding, project management and serving as a service line liaison between physician relations and various clinical departments throughout the health system.

kathryn peck

System Associate Director of Strategic Communications, Social Media, Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR

Kathryn was born in raised in Vancouver, British Columbia where she first kicked off her career in communications. Her 14 years of social media experience has included jobs in the video game and tech industries, and most recently, health care.

Kathryn is a board chair of SocialMedia.org Health – a community for people running social media at major hospitals. She is also a volunteer at The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families and a city organizer for PechaKucha, the world’s fastest-growing storytelling platform.

Emilio Ruocco

Vice President, Physician Relationship Management and Claims Insights, Healthgrades
Nashville, Tennessee 

With a decade of expertise in claims data-driven market analytics, as well as, consumer, patient, and provider engagement, Emilio Ruocco serves as Vice President of Physician Relationship Management and Claims Insights at Healthgrades. He leads his team to provide Healthgrades' product and services organizations, prospects and clients guidance and industry knowledge about applications of data science in healthcare verticals, volume and referral growth solutions and integration of data insights into SaaS platforms. Prior to Healthgrades, Emilio served as the Senior Director of Performance Technologies at The Advisory Board Company, where he served similar roles helping the company develop and deliver the CrimsonTM technology suite for healthcare business development, physician practice management, and claims data analytics.

michele slater

Senior Physician Liaison, Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular
Philadelphia, PA

Michele Slater is a Graduate of Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Journalism/PR. Michele has over 25 years of experience in industry, selling various healthcare products and services in the Philadelphia and New Jersey Markets. She has represented a vast array of surgical devices and supplies then transitioned to growing referrals in the Senior Living area. Michele has been at Penn Medicine as a Senior Physician Liaison for the Heart and Vascular Team for 2 years. She has outreach responsibly for over 50 Penn Heart and Vascular Physicians, which includes CT Surgery, Electrophysiology, Interventional Cardiology, Advanced Heart Failure Cardiology and Vascular Surgery. She works closely with the Heart and Vascular Marketing Service Line to execute their initiatives.

susan teshack

Physician Outreach Liaison, Nebraska Medicine
Omaha, NE

Susan Teshack has multi-layered years of medical sales experience in Capital Equipment, Pharmaceutical, laboratory, home health, senior living and Hospital liaison, in Omaha, Missouri and New England. She has been consistently in the top 10% of sales reps in the region and nation and provided sales training and coaching for several of the companies she has worked for. Susan has a passion for growth, relationship building, learning, and creative problem solving that has translated to success as measured by happy referring providers.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt, MHA, FACHE

Chief Executive Officer, Tiller-Hewitt HealthCare Strategies
St. Louis, MI

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt is the founder and chief executive officer of Tiller-Hewitt HealthCare Strategies, the nation’s leading healthcare firm specializing in strategic growth and physician engagement.

Tiller-Hewitt works with healthcare organizations and leaders who want to consistently deliver strategic growth and measurable results. This has enabled hundreds of hospitals, health systems, and physician organizations to achieve sustained strategic growth and physician retention.

Amazon #1 Best Selling author of Untie Every kNOT – Discover What kNOTS are Causing You to Miss Out or Be Counted Out, Tammy is also the host of two podcasts: The Leadership Lens & Untie Every kNOT – A Practical Conversation about Potential and Purpose.

Joyce Wald, DO, FACC

Professor of Clinical Medicine, Interim Medical Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support Director, Practice Development Heart Failure, Transplant and MCS Programs University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Dr. Wald is a graduate of Gettysburg College with a bachelor of arts degree. She then went on to graduate medical school from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and then completed her medicine residency and advanced Heart failure and cardiology fellowship at Temple University Hospital. She is boarded in internal medicine, cardiology and advanced heart failure/mechanical circulatory support. She is now a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and is the Director of Practice Development for the Heart failure, Transplant and MCS Programs. Further, she is now the Interim Medical Director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support Program here at Penn and has led the efforts to build the Shock Team. Also as the physician lead for the heart failure floor (CICU) Unit Based Clinical Leadership Program, her team has spearheaded processes to decrease readmission rates, improve quality of care and improve transitions in care of patients leaving the hospital.

Joan williams

Executive Director of Client Services, Mercy Health
St. Louis, Missouri 

Joan joined the business development team at Mercy 22 years ago after having served as a clinical nurse for 15 years in both hospital and clinic settings. She has led the team for Mercy’s East community since 2013. The team consists of ten business development managers with responsibilities for provider engagement, employers, EMS, rural outreach, pharmacy, home health and hospice. Joan was instrumental in helping launch the PRM tool, Salesforce, for Mercy. She worked closely with cVariant during that launch and now works closely with the Healthgrades team.