Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
01/15/2008
Pelosi, Democrats Host Health Care Forum This Morning
“As Americans’ concerns grow about a weakening economy and
skyrocketing health care costs and loss of coverage, the New Direction Congress
is bringing together the leading minds on these issues with the legislators who
are prepared to make a difference,” said Speaker Pelosi.
The forum is part of an ongoing effort by the 110th Congress
to improve the nation’s health and health care.
It provided an opportunity for members and experts to step back from the
day-to-day health care debate and discuss ways to improve our health care
system.
Forty-seven million Americans are without health
insurance. Furthermore, every American
is affected in some way by chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, or heart
disease. These issues and many others were addressed at this morning’s health
care forum, which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours.
* * *
In addition to more than a dozen Members of Congress, the
following experts attended the forum:
Dr. William Brody, President,
William R. Brody is the President of The Johns Hopkins
University. Prior to assuming his
position at Hopkins, Dr. Brody has served as the provost of the Academic Health
Center at the University of Minnesota, the Martin Donner Professor and director
of the Department of Radiology, professor of electrical and computer
engineering, and professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, and
radiologist-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ)
Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., is Director of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Clancy had served as AHRQ's Acting
Director since March 2002 and previously was Director of the Agency’s Center
for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research (COER).
Dr. Clancy is a general internist and health services researcher. She holds an academic appointment at George
Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Benjamin Chu, President, Kaiser Permanente Southern
California Region
Benjamin Chu, MD, MPH, MACP, is regional President of Kaiser
Permanente Southern California in February 2005. Before he joined Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Chu
served for as president of
Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC)
Dr. Gerberding is the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and Administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry. She is an expert
in clinical pharmacology and infectious diseases and a national voice for both
domestic and global health, with a particular focus on public health and its
expanding role in health protection in the 21st century.
Dr. Jane Henney, Professor of Medicine, University of
Dr. Henney was a former Commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration and has served in a series of senior health policy leadership
positions in the public sector. She has
also served as the deputy director of the National Cancer Institute, vice
chancellor of health programs at the University of Kansas Medical Center,
interim dean of the
Dr. John Niederhuber, Director, National Cancer Institute
(NCI)
John E. Niederhuber, M.D., is the Director of the National
Cancer Institute (NCI). He was formerly
the Wattawa Professor-Bascom in Cancer Research, Professor of Surgery and
Oncology at the
Dr. Jody Pettit, Health IT Coordinator, Office for
Dr. Pettit is the Health Information Technology Coordinator
and serves at the Project Director for the Oregon Health Information Security
& Privacy Collaboration. Dr. Pettit
has been actively involved in health information development projects including
serving as the director of the Oregon Health Information Infrastructure project
for the Oregon Healthcare Quality Corporation, chair of the State of
Gladys Sandlin,
Gladys Sandlin is the Executive Director of the
William Spriggs, Department of Economics,
Mr. Spriggs is the Chair of the Department of Economics at
Mark Vachon, President and CEO of Global Diagnostic Imaging
(a division of GE)
Mark Vachon is President and CEO of Global Diagnostic
Imaging at GE Healthcare. Prior to
assuming the role of President, Mr. Vachon was Executive Vice President &
Chief Financial Officer at GE Healthcare, and began his GE career in 1982 as a
member of the Financial Management Program in
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director, NIH
NIH Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., leads the nation’s
medical research agency and oversees the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers with
more than 18,000 employees and a fiscal year 2007 budget of $29 billion. Dr. Zerhouni is a world renowned leader in
the field of radiology and medicine.
Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Zerhouni served as executive vice-dean of
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, chair of the Russell H. Morgan
department of radiology and radiological science, Martin Donner professor of
radiology, and professor of biomedical engineering and Vice Dean for research
at Johns Hopkins.