Prior to becoming New Jersey’s Acting Health Commissioner, you created and led the Cooper Center for Healing, an integrated pain, addiction, and behavioral health center that is part of Cooper University Health Care. How will that experience inform your leadership of the Department of Health? First and foremost, the experience as a leader working…Read More…

Andrea Martinez-Mejia is the new executive director of the Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, one of the original Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations and now a Regional Health Hub. The Coalition has worked closely with the Quality Institute for many years.   What is your vision for the future of the organization?  Being the Coalition’s new Executive…Read More…

Erin Henderson Moore is the President & CEO of Fidelis Care NJ.   You have a long history working in Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), most recently in Washington, D.C. What prompted your interest in managed care? My interest in managed care has been profoundly shaped by my professional experiences and my desire to make…Read More…

Saira A. Jan, MS, PharmD., is a vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and Professor Emerita at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University. She has been affiliated with both organizations for more than 25 years.   You are an organizer of the School…Read More…

Ria Rodney, Director of Nurture NJ, the initiative that aims to make New Jersey the safest and most equitable place in the nation to deliver and raise a baby.   What drew you to this role as the first Director of Nurture NJ? I’m a nurse with an educational background in social work, and I’m…Read More…

Pamela Harmon, DNP, MSN, RNC-NIC, Director, Women and Children’s Division, Saint Peter’s University Hospital and Administrative Director of the Mary V. O’Shea Birth Center.   Saint Peter’s University Hospital and its birth center have truly embraced Team Birth, an evidence-based model for better provider and patient communication during the birthing experience. How do you see Team…Read More…

Lina Walker, PhD, Senior Vice President for Global Thought Leadership at AARP. Dr. Walker will be the keynote speaker of the Quality Institute’s Winter Conference, A Framework for Health Aging in New Jersey.   As an economist, what demographic shift in the next 30 years will be most significant? Birth rates are falling, and people are…Read More…

Christine Ivery, MPH, CHES, has joined the Quality Institute as a Program Officer. Ivery brings deep experience as a public health leader and educator dedicated to health equity.    Can you tell us about yourself and what drew you to the Quality Institute?  I grew up in Pennsauken, in Camden County. My mother is a nurse,…Read More…

Staci R. Grant, RHU, Vice President Benefits Division, Henry O. Baker Insurance Group.   Open enrollment season is here. What are your small employer clients seeing in terms of health insurance premium costs and any new options? In the small employer market, we’re seeing premium increases anywhere from two and a half percent to 11…Read More…

Amy Murtha, MD, Dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.   You come with an impressive background: Professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services at the University of California, San Francisco, and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Pediatrics at Duke University. What drew…Read More…