Consistent with the IHI’s policy, faculty for this program are expected to disclose at the beginning of their presentation(s), any economic or other personal interests that create, or may be perceived as creating, a conflict related to the material discussed.  The intent of this disclosure is not to prevent a speaker with a significant financial or other relationship from making a presentation, but rather to provide listeners with information on which they can make their own judgments.

Unless otherwise noted below, each presenter provided full disclosure information, does not intend to discuss an unapproved/investigative use of a commercial product/device, and has no significant financial relationship(s) to disclose. If unapproved uses of products are discussed, presenters are expected to disclose this to participants.    

John B. Chessare, MD, MPH, is a hospital executive who has been actively involved in designing and managing systems of care in academic medical centers and in community hospitals. A pediatrician, he has published in the areas of child development, pediatric health services delivery, and clinical epidemiology. Dr. Chessare has worked with Dr. Eugene Litvak to improve hospital flow and he has been a faculty member for Jump Start, NICHQ's quality improvement introductory course for health care leaders. His present work includes implementing system changes required for world-class health care.

Kathleen Fuda, PhD, Data Analysis Manager, Program for Management of Variability in Health Care Delivery, Boston University Health Management Institute, manages data collection, analysis, and reporting operations for the Program’s consulting and research activities. She has 24 years of experience in health care policy and data policy, and health services research. She speaks regularly about the use of variability methodology and operations management in health care settings, the impact of poor scheduling practices at hospitals, and emergency department utilization and policy issues. Dr. Fuda has served as an expert reviewer for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, an advisor to AHRQ’s effort to develop a research agenda concerning emergency medical services, and an expert reviewer in an AHRQ-sponsored project to develop measures for emergency department operations. She has published numerous articles and reports.

Uma Kotagal, MBBS, MSc, Senior Vice President for Quality and Transformation, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, is a neonatologist who has an interest in health services research. She was the leader of the hospital's participation in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pursuing Perfection initiative. Dr. Kotagal is a faculty member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Director of the Center for Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness focused on the development, implementation, and study of interventions to improve the health of children.

Eugene Litvak, PhD, professor at Boston University School of Management, is a co-founder and director of the Program for the Management of Variability in Health Care Delivery at the Boston University Health Policy Institute. He also teaches an operations management course as an Adjunct Professor of Operations Management in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to arriving in the US, he served as chief of the Operations Management Group at the Computing Center in Kiev, Ukraine. He is an author of more than 60 publications, frequently presents at national and international meetings, and is faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Michael C. Long, MD, Clinical Consultant, Program for Management of Variability, Boston University Health Policy Institute, co-founded the Program with Dr. Eugene Litvak in 2001. He has more than 25 years of clinical and management experience in the operating room as Staff Anesthesiologist, Director of Clinical Anesthesia, Chairman of Operations Improvement for the OR, and Deputy Director of the Operating Services for Operations Improvement and Information Systems at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Since 1995, Dr. Long has collaborated with Dr. Litvak in the development and practical application of innovative methodologies for cost reduction and quality improvement in health care delivery systems. Dr. Long currently continues his participation as an integral team member of the Program.

Brad Prenney, MS, MPA, Deputy Director, Program for Management of Variability in Health Care Delivery, Boston University Health Policy Institute, is involved in managing and directing the Program's consulting engagements, grants, research, policy development, and education and training. He has directed the assessment of patient flow at numerous hospitals. Mr. Prenney joined the Program in 2004 after having spent twenty years with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where he directed the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, oversaw Emergency Medical Services, and coordinated the Department's efforts to address ED overcrowding and ambulance diversion.

Marilyn Rudolph, RN, BSN, MBA, Vice President, Performance Improvement, VHA Pennsylvania, Inc., supports organizations in their efforts to improve health care quality and clinical and operational performance in wide variety of health care initiatives. Prior to joining VHA, she was Director of the Outpatient Surgery and Endoscopy Departments at Sewickley Valley Hospital. In addition to her leadership and performance improvement roles, her clinical background includes over 20 years as a registered nurse with a focus on ambulatory, emergency, critical care, and perioperative nursing. Ms. Rudolph has led hospital efforts to improve perioperative patient flow, increase on-time surgical case start times, reduce surgical case cancellation rates, and streamline multiple perioperative processes. She serves as faculty for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement Flow Learning and Innovation Community, has supported multiple organizations in their efforts to reduce costs and improve patient throughput and clinical outcomes, and is co-author of several articles on perioperative improvement.

Frederick C. Ryckman, MD, Clinical Director of Pediatric Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, is also Professor of Surgery and Director of the Pediatric Surgical Fellowship program at the University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He has been the surgical director of solid organ transplantation, leading the liver, small intestine, and multi-visceral transplant services since 1985. His other practice interests include long-term heart and lung bypass (ECMO) and hepatobiliary surgery in infants and children. Dr. Ryckman's interest in OR management led to collaboration with the Program for the Management of Variability in Health Care Delivery to re-engineer flow management in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Operating Room.

Sandeep Green Vaswani, MBA, is a core member of Boston University’s Management of Variability Program team for OR redesign and patient flow improvement projects. He has wide ranging experience in strategy, finance, operations, and data mining for executive decision making. Previously, he was Director of Analysis and Planning at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he established the department within their Center for Clinical Excellence. In that role Mr. Vaswani served as an advisor to hospital executives and oversaw strategic and business planning, departmental multi-year planning, cost benchmarking, and the development of capacity utilization and projection models. He played a broad role in the development of the hospital’s new cardiovascular center, including strategy planning, financial analysis, operational planning, the board approval process, and the architectural design process.