Advisory Board

Articles

Almanac of Chronic Disease 2008

The United States is experiencing an unsustainable disease burden – 130 million people today suffer from chronic diseases – taking a tremendous toll on individuals, families, and communities. In addition to lives lost and quality of life lost, we are also a nation in crisis – an economic crisis.

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Linkwell Communications is advised by a Blue Ribbon Panel of experienced individuals with varied backgrounds in the field of healthcare, nutrition, and prevention.

David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., F.A.C.P., is a board certified specialist in both Internal Medicine, and Preventive Medicine/Public Health, and Associate Professor (adjunct) in Public Health Practice at the Yale University School of Medicine. Katz is the Director and founder (1998) of Yale University's Prevention Research Center; Director and founder of the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital (2000) in Derby. He is the principal inventor of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index utilized in the NuVal(tm) nutrition guidance program.

Jeff Oxendine, MBA, MPH is Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He is a faculty member in Health Policy and Management and is Founder and Director of the Center for Health Leadership. Jeff has been an executive, educator, and consultant in healthcare for 28 years. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Jeff held senior administrative positions in leading hospitals and medical groups including Partners Healthcare System, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Bay Imaging Consultants Medical Group, and Alta Bates Medical Center. In addition to his role at Berkeley Jeff serves as Co-Director of the California Health Workforce Alliance and the California Health Professions Consortium. He is also the Founder and President of Health Career Connection, a national non-profit.

Jamie Egasti was the CEO of the Folger's Coffee Company and a former senior executive with The Procter & Gamble Co., who ran primarily large food businesses. Jamie brings a history of innovation and entrepreneurship in leading organizations and turn-around performances among evolving business models, categories and brands. He has extensive experience in sales and marketing including start-ups, acquisition/divestiture and alliances as well as Global roles, and a demonstrated track record of building organizational capability, coaching and development, and building highly effective teams.

Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, a national and state-based coalition of hundreds of patient, provider, community, business and labor groups, and health policy experts, committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: chronic disease. Dr. Thorpe is also the Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, in the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He also co-directs the Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. Previously, Dr. Thorpe was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1995. He is a frequent advisor to national policymakers on healthcare reform, specifically on the development and evaluation of alternative approaches for providing health insurance to the uninsured.

Gene Miller is an experienced healthcare executive with 30 years experience bringing innovative ideas and solutions to health plans in the U.S. Gene’s health care services experience has included leading organizations in care management, disease management, medical management software, infusion therapy and outpatient surgery, as well as offsite clinical care. Gene’s experiences spanned early stage development to running a publicly traded company. In these roles Gene established trusted relationships with C-Level executives in the top health plans in the country.

Ken Linde brings a variety of healthcare leadership experiences to Linkwell – ranging from academic analyst to government regulator to health plan and wellness company CEO. Ken’s career spans CEO of Destiny Health (wellness), CEO of Principal Health Care, (one of the largest managed care companies), COO of Coventry Healthcare, vice president at Travelers Managed Care, regulator with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Senior Health Policy Analyst with Boston University, and a Director with the New Jersey State Department of Public Health. Ken has been involved with management, development, and overall operation, investment and analysis of health maintenance organizations (HMOs), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other forms of alternative health delivery systems/managed care. Ken has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health.

Paul Nezi is an experienced executive with over 40 years of line and staff experience in managed healthcare, technology, and service industries. Paul brings extensive background in marketing, sales, strategic planning, operations analysis, and general management to Linkwell. Paul’s career has included senior executive positions in marketing and sales at Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Virginia (Wellpoint), ChoiceCare (acquired by Humana in 1997), and LexisNexis. Earlier in his career he held marketing, sales, strategy, and operations analysis positions at XEROX and IBM. Paul is an investor and active director or advisor in several healthcare-related, early stage companies. Paul has a BA from Bucknell and an MBA from Wharton.