
Raj Ratwani, PhD
Director
MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Dr. Ratwani is the director of the MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, part of the MedStar Institute for Innovation. He is also an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. His career is focused on improving the safety, efficiency, and quality of care through the application of human factors and applied psychology. He has extensive expertise in health information technology usability and safety and has worked to improve this technology for frontline clinicians. He has also worked to optimize healthcare policies to promote safe and innovative technology and testified in front of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on electronic health record usability and safety.
Dr. Ratwani has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal publications and has been invited to give numerous talks in the area of human factors, health information technology, and safety. His work has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Pew Charitable Trusts, and several other agencies and foundations. He holds a master’s degree and PhD in psychology, with a focus on human factors, and was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
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Amy Will
Associate Director, Healthcare Delivery Research
MedStar Health Research Institute
Amy Will is the associate director for healthcare delivery research for the MedStar Health Research Institute. Will provides management and oversight for all of healthcare delivery research. Previously, Will was the program manager for the MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare and worked on multiple Health IT usability and safety related grants and contracts. She has been with MedStar since 2013 working in usability and research for the Human Factors Center. Will received a BA in psychology and Hispanic studies from East Carolina University.
Erica Savage
Manager, Ambulatory Quality and Safety
MedStar Health
In her role, Erica Savage focuses primarily on improving quality and safety across MedStar Health’s ambulatory sites by conducting event reviews, sharing best practices, analyzing and sharing data, and engaging local quality and safety leaders in performance improvement efforts. Savage has extensive experience analyzing patient safety event data, conducting quantitative and qualitative research using eye tracking, utilizing observational methods, and analyzing electronic health records. She previously worked as a project manager for the MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare and received a master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was selected as a Georgetown University Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI) scholar in 2016-2017 and received funding for her work on electronic health record usability policy. She has several publications in high impact journals including Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and Applied Clinical Informatics.
Katie Adams
Research Analyst
MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Katie Adams provides research support on all aspects of the research lifecycle, including study coordination, data analysis, and manuscript creation. She previously worked as the research assistant for the MedStar Simulation Training & Education Lab (MedStar SiTEL). Adams holds a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience from Dartmouth College. Through her coursework and previous work conducting observations and qualitative research with a pediatric neurologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, she has developed a strong interest in improving health care and system-provider interactions.
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Jessica Howe
Senior Research Specialist and System Safety Specialist
MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Jessica Howe received her MA in human factors and applied cognition from George Mason University. Previously, she worked as a research psychologist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center. Her research focuses on understanding the human dimension and employing various human factors research methodologies in order to provide effective, efficient, and safe solutions. Current projects include studying the impact of health information technology, specifically electronic health records, on clinician performance to inform usability policy, and also examining the effects of health information technology on patient safety. Howe has also led a number of patient safety initiatives examining various aspects of the healthcare system and provided systems solutions to impact change.
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Zach Hettinger, MD
Medical Director
MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Dr. Hettinger provides medical expertise and direction on projects, grants, contracts, and adverse event reviews. He has significant experience in funded research applying human factors methods to adverse event analysis as well as health IT usability and safety. He has received funding from AHRQ, NIH, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and several foundations. Dr. Hettinger completed a research fellowship at the University of Rochester and holds a master’s degree in clinical investigation.
Prior to his medical training, Dr. Hettinger was a web programmer, database manager, and network administrator. He has expertise in health IT and has focused his IT research in data visualization, human-computer interaction, and health IT safety. Dr. Hettinger is dual board-certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics. In addition, he is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Georgetown University and a practicing emergency physician at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.
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Rollin J. “Terry” Fairbanks, MD
Founding Director
MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Dr. Fairbanks is also vice president, quality and safety at MedStar Health; board-certified emergency physician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center; professor of emergency medicine at Georgetown University; and adjunct associate professor of industrial systems engineering at the University at Buffalo, among other roles.
Dr. Fairbanks holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics and a master’s degree in industrial systems and human factors engineering. He is a former paramedic, EMS medical director, and general aviation pilot.
Dr. Fairbanks has contributed to more than 120 human factors and medical publications. He has served on the National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Advisors, the POLITICO Health IT Advisory Forum, and the AHRQ Patient Safety Network Technical Expert Advisory Panel. He has also advised the ONC, Pew Charitable Trusts, AMA, and the US, Australian, British, and Spanish governments. Becker’s Hospital Review has named him among the top 50 experts leading the field of patient safety.
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Michael Hodgkins, MD
Chief Medical Information Officer
Dr. Hodgkins is a seasoned physician executive with more than 25 years’ experience in health services, clinical connectivity and e-business solutions. In his current role, he provides leadership and expertise in developing new products and services, AMA’s strategy for digital health and medicine and health IT policy. In addition, he represents the AMA as President and Chair of the board of directors of Xcertia, on the Sequoia Project board of directors and chairs the Carequality Steering Committee.
Prior to joining AMA, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of NaviNet, Inc., (formerly NaviMedix) a healthcare communications network company serving the health plan and physician market. Before that, he was SVP and Chief Medical Officer for Kinetra, Inc., a health information network services joint venture of Eli Lily and EDS.
Dr. Hodgkins completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in General Internal Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco where he was previously Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. He has a background in health planning and policy analysis and his ongoing interests include the design, development and implementation of technology-based solutions and services to meet the needs of the evolving health care market. Acknowledged as one of the 26 Smartest People in HIT by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2017, he is an invited speaker at national and regional conferences and frequently gives interviews as a key opinion leader and subject matter expert.
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Stacy L. Lloyd, MPH
Manager, Digital Health Strategy
Stacy L. Lloyd is passionate about integrating the physician and patient voice into healthcare technology for successful implementation and use. She has also served as a senior practice transformation advisor on the AMA’s Professional Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability team.
Prior to joining the AMA, Lloyd held various roles in finance and operations in the provider environment. Most recently, she was the senior practice manager for Department of Orthopaedics at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. During her time as a practice manager, she managed the daily practice operations, supported various clinics with the implementation of EPIC, and worked on numerous process improvement projects aimed at increasing practice efficiency and patient satisfaction.
Lloyd graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in finance and economics from Duquesne University. She earned her Master of Public Health in health policy and administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.
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Meg Barron, MBA
Director, Digital Health Strategy
Meg Barron is passionate about driving change by collaborating with physicians, technology leaders, and solution innovators to improve health care. She has served in product development and business development leadership roles at the AMA and, most recently, is responsible for driving the roadmap of initiatives that support the AMA’s digital health and medicine strategy. In addition, she has led partnerships and innovation-related initiatives, such as the inaugural AMA Healthier Nation Innovation Challenge, the establishment of the AMA Interaction Studio at MATTER, and the AMA Physician Innovation Network that enables entrepreneurs and physicians to collaborate on the development of new solutions.
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Collaborators
Saif Khairat, PhD
Dr. Khairat has led major projects in health IT usability and visualization, as well as telemedicine in health services research. He is site PI of the NIH-funded project, “Overcoming the Barriers to Clinical Trial Recruitment through Teleconsent.” Dr. Khairat was also co-principal investigator of the Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center.
He has authored more than 40 scientific articles in 20 peer-reviewed journals and conferences, served as an investigator for more than $2.5 million in research grants since 2013, and acted as associate editor of Applied Clinical Informatics and scientific reviewer to various other journals and conferences.
He serves on the American Medical Informatics Association’s Scientific Program Committee, the Working Group Steering Committee, and is past-chair of the Education Working Group. Dr. Khairat earned a PhD in health informatics and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Missouri, as well as a MPH in health policy and management from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
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Ryan Arnold, MD
Dr. Arnold is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Drexel University College of Medicine and a practicing physician in emergency medicine at Hahnemann Hospital. He has a master’s degree in medical science from the Boston University School of Medicine and a Medical Doctorate from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Following his residency in emergency medicine, Dr. Arnold completed a fellowship in shock research at Cooper University Hospital.
He has participated as both principal and co-investigator in multiple prospective clinical trials and has worked on industry and NIH-funded investigations in trial design, initiation, and execution. Dr. Arnold has extensive experience in clinical trial design, data interpretation and presentation, and manuscript preparation. He has served as a peer reviewer of manuscript submissions and is experienced in leading successful guideline development, healthcare consensus, and quality care initiatives.
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