Dr. Steven Strongwater is the President and CEO of Atrius Health, a non-profit

accountable care organization with 6,800 employees serving 720,000 patients

across eastern Massachusetts and a national leader in delivering high-quality

coordinated medical, home health and hospice care.

Dr. Strongwater previously served as Geisinger Health System’s Chief

Transformation Officer and Chief Medical Executive for Acquisition Integration.

While at Geisinger, he provided transformational leadership developing new models

of care, as well as strategies and tactics to improve value, leveraging analytics and

simulation tools.

Dr. Strongwater has served also in a variety of leadership positions including

Assistant Chancellor, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Chief of Staff and Chief

Executive Officer, at UMass Medical Center, the University of Connecticut Health

Center and Stony Brook University Medical Center, respectively.  Currently, he

serves on the Mass Digital Health Council, IBM Watson Advisory Board, Janssen

Healthcare Innovators Council, Healthcare Executives Network, and on the Zetema

Project. He has a long standing interest in population health, physician resilience,

quality and patient safety.

Dr. Strongwater completed his undergraduate medical education at Upstate Medical

Center and a research fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Michigan. He

is a member of AOA and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies.

Michael Forth is the Vice President of Operations for Suffolk Northeast and is responsible for

overseeing operations strategy and management; identifying and cultivating client relationships;

recruiting and developing operations staff; and supporting work acquisition and the Suffolk brand.

Mike has 28 years of experience managing complex building construction projects and leading

high-performing teams. At Suffolk, Mike has been responsible for managing high-profile

healthcare and life science projects for clients including Baystate Medical Center, Steward Health

Care, Newport Hospital, Northwell Health, Vertex, GE Healthcare, Amgen and Quest

Diagnostics, among others. Prior to his role at Suffolk, Mike was the Director of Facilities for

Nantucket Cottage Hospital, a Partners Healthcare Affiliate Hospital.

Mike is a LEED Accredited Professional and is the former president of the Nantucket Builders

Association. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Technology from Northeastern

University. Mike lives with his wife Brenda and children Kathryn, Bridget and Anna.

Kevin B. Churchwell, MD, is the Executive Vice President of Health Affairs and Chief Operating Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital. He provides leadership, direction, integration and oversight for the medical delivery system, while partnering with the Chief Executive Officer on a full range of research, clinical, academic, operational and strategic issues.

Prior to joining Boston Children’s Dr. Churchwell was Chief Executive Officer for Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. As the lead administrator in the Delaware Valley, Dr. Churchwell was actively driving efforts to increase the quality and affordability of care for all children. Under his leadership, the Leapfrog Group recognized Nemours duPont as one of 12 safest children’s hospitals.

Dr. Churchwell also served as the CEO and Executive Director for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital, part of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. He previously served in several other capacities, including Chief-of-Staff, Medical Director for the Children's Health and Injury Prevention Program, Medical Director for the Pediatric Critical Care Services, and Transport Director.

A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Dr. Churchwell completed his pediatric residency and a clinical fellowship in Anesthesia and Pediatric Critical Care at Boston Children's Hospital. Since 1993, Dr. Churchwell has been a clinician and faculty member at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is a diplomat for the National Board of Medical Examiners and is board certified with the American Board of Pediatrics. Dr. Churchwell was recently appointed the Robert and Dana Smith Associate Professor of Anesthesia at the Harvard Medical School.

Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, is creating a new model of healthcare delivery, developing innovative strategies to move care from the hospital or doctor’s office into the day-to-day lives of patients. He is the author of The Internet of Healthy Things, describing how everyday objects will capture and use real-time biometric data to ultimately change behavior to improve our health.

Under Dr. Kvedar’s two decades of leadership, Partners Connected Health has launched a number of innovative mobile health programs, virtual care initiatives and clinical research programs for the more than 1.5 million patients served at Partners HealthCare-affiliated hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, community and specialty hospitals, community health centers, home care and other health-related entities. Partners connected health programs are helping providers and patients better manage chronic conditions, maintain health and wellness, and improve adherence, engagement and clinical outcomes.

Dr. Kvedar is serving as Program Chair for the Connected Health Conference, an industry defining event co-hosted by Partners Connected Health and the HIMSS Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance). He is also a member of the PCHAlliance Board of Managers.

He is internationally recognized for his leadership and vision in the field of connected health, and has authored over 100 publications on the subject; the popular cHealth Blog provides his insights and vision for connected health. Dr. Kvedar serves as a strategic advisor at Mavericks Capital, Puretech Ventures and Qualcomm Life, and he is a judge for the Harvard President's Challenge for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Kvedar is co-chair of the American Medical Association's Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group.

Connect on Twitter @jkvedar, @connectedhealth

Elizabeth A. Liebow, who joined Dana-Farber in 2004, is responsible for planning and business development for clinical services at Dana-Farber, as well as operational oversight of Dana-Farber's satellite locations and physician practices. Most notably, she directed the development of Dana-Farber's four satellite clinics and acquisition of eight physician practice sites, facilitated clinical operations planning for the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care, and oversaw strategic clinical growth planning efforts.

Ms. Liebow is currently focused on developing new partnerships with additional community sites and integrated delivery systems, continuing clinical growth on Dana-Farber's main campus, expanding care beyond New England, and improving efficiency and cost effectiveness in the community-based sites.

Ms. Liebow holds a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a BA in Economics from Brandeis University.

Jonathan Bykowski, AIA, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Principal & Practice Leader, Continuous Improvement

Jonathan has dedicated his career to not only transforming healthcare systems for clients but also their facilities’ design. As a Principal and Lean facilitator, Jonathan infuses process improvement into each step of the process. His passion for problem-solving drives him to challenge traditional solutions and approaches. He tailors the project approach for each client to understand their organization and develop improvements to support and enhance them. Jonathan is most excited about developing new tools to help engage stakeholders, drive consensus and increase value for capital projects.

Teresa Wilson is an accomplished architect with more than 30 years of healthcare design and planning experience and was previously Executive Principal and Managing Director of Steffian Bradley Architects (SBA) and Principal in Sterling Planning Alliance, SBA’s strategic healthcare consulting firm.

Teresa regularly speaks to the healthcare community about future trends and their impact on the built environment. In 2017, she was awarded the Healthcare Facilities Symposium Distinction Award, presented to a professional in the fields of healthcare planning, design, construction, and operations who has displayed leadership and vision to enhance the healing environment.

Throughout Teresa’s career, she has volunteered her time and expertise, including with the Healthcare Associated Infections Organization (HAIO), to organize and facilitate 20+ public sessions to address best practices for healthy buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Teresa’s work was published within the white paper by The Facilities Guidelines Institute: Guidance for Designing Health and Residential Care Facilities that Respond and Adapt to Emergency Conditions. Teresa is also a Fitwel Ambassador, focusing on design and operational strategies to create healthy and engaged communities through evidence-based research studies.

George Hurley leads DPR Construction’s Healthcare Core Market and has over 35 years of

experience in the engineering and construction of major healthcare projects. His extensive

background and technical expertise in project evaluation, financial management, scheduling,

and strategic planning has led to the successful execution of many large-scale projects. George

is passionate about executing projects utilizing integrated project delivery (IPD), incorporating

building information modeling (BIM) and Lean construction principles. Since joining DPR

Construction in 1997, he has helped change the way large projects are set up and executed.

Most recently, he served as Project Executive on Stanford Children’s Health Lucile Packard

Children’s Hospital Expansion.

George earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Montana State University and is

a U.S. Green Building Council LEED® Accredited Professional. George is a member of the

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Golden Gate Chapter, the American Society for

Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), and the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP).

As a health principal and market sector leader for New England, Jessica is responsible for bringing our vast network of specialized healthcare services and expertise to healthcare organizations throughout the region.

Recognized as a thought leader with 20 years of experience in strategic planning, master planning, design and delivering complex healthcare facilities for community and academic healthcare clients, Jessica guides project teams through the entire design process. She has extensive experience in employing methods for expediting design and construction, maintaining quality and minimizing risk throughout the project delivery process to inform better and expeditious decision-making.

Jessica’s portfolio includes the nationally renowned LEED Gold replacement facility for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts; various projects for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; and strategic facility master plans for the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. She is involved in the Women’s Executive Leadership and Living organization as a mentor to young professional women; as a guest lecturer at Boston architecture and design schools; and she serves on Boston’s USS Constitution Museum’s Board of Overseers.

Guillermo Sierra started working in the electrical industry in 2001 at Shooshanian Engineering in the electrical department. Since then he’s worked at engineering firms such as Fitzmeyer & Tocci, RW Sullivan Engineering, and CannonDesign. In the 17-years of experience as a designer, engineer and project manager in the healthcare construction sector; he’s been an intricate part of the design team for hospitals, medical centers, operating and imaging centers here in the New England region.

With over 30 years of experience, Allan Ames, President of BR+A, is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in 16 states and a LEED Accredited Professional. He is a frequent presenter at industry symposia including the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Tradelines, and Labs21. Allan is heavily involved in the engineering design for a broad range of project types for healthcare, academic, research, and pharmaceutical clients nationwide. In addition, he is a Building Systems Committee Member for the Hospital Associated Infections Foundation (HAIF) and an Advisory Council Member of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, Massachusetts Chapter.