Celebrating HIMSS Global Health Conference Award Recipients

From outstanding service to demonstrated leadership in health information and technology, HIMSS honors members whose courage, curiosity and determination are helping transform the global health ecosystem. Congratulations to all award recipients.

• Changemaker in Health Awards
• HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health IT
• HIMSS Chapter Awards
• HIMSS Joint Awards
• HIMSS Service Awards
• HIMSS Foundation Scholarships
• HIMSS Student Case Competition
• Board of Directors Service Award
• Stage 7 Maturity Model Awards
• Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence

2021 Changemaker in Health Awardees

HIMSS proudly recognizes 11 awardees of the inaugural Changemaker in Health Awards. In addition, HIMSS is proud to recognize the recipient of the first-ever Changemaker Lifetime Achievement Award.

HIMSS Changemaker in Health Awards recognize inspiring senior healthcare executives who rigorously challenge the status quo in their journeys to build a brighter health future. The awards celebrate innovative individuals as they lead change in their relentless pursuit to improve care by harnessing the power of information and technology.

Awardees were determined by public voting, making the HIMSS Changemaker in Health Awards uniquely powerful and a true representation of the voice of health information and technology. See the complete list of awardees.

HIMSS Announces Most Influential Women in Health Information and Technology Award Recipients for 2021

The HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health Information and Technology Awards recognizes influential women at all stages of their career progressions, celebrating those female visionaries harnessing the power of information and technology to transform health and healthcare. This award is unique among power lists and award programs; it’s inclusive of all women of influence, no matter where they may be in the health information and technology field.

The HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health Information and Technology Award Recipients

Leigh Burchell
Vice President, Policy & Government Affairs
Allscripts
North Carolina, USA

Over the past 12 years, Leigh Burchell has served as vice president of policy and government affairs for Allscripts (having worked for the company more than 20 years in total). In this role, she determines the company’s response to all governmental activities, as well as conducting internal education around legislative and regulatory developments. Burchell has helped the company and its customers navigate significant sea changes, including the HITECH Act, the Affordable Care Act, and recent federal efforts to encourage interoperability and address information blocking within the healthcare industry. She is a subject matter expert frequently sought out for her knowledge and perspectives on emerging topcis in health and healthcare IT, serving as a prominent voice in health-related advocacy.

Este Geraghty
Chief Medical Officer and Health Solutions Director
Esri
California, USA 

Este Geraghty, MD, MS, MPH, GISP, is a distinguished healthcare leader with a deep-rooted passion for using information technology and data to improve healthcare and public health. Dr. Geraghty serves as the Chief Medical Officer and Health Solutions Director at Esri, where she leads the health and human services sector to transform healthcare through the strategic implementation of geographic information system (GIS) technology. Her background allows her to serve as a bridge to healthcare industry leaders where she helps them leverage GIS to improve decision-making, increase efficiencies in community/population health and modernize public health and healthcare services at local and global scales.

Ursula Hübner
Professor of Medical and Health Informatics and Quantitative Methods
University of Applied Sciences
Osnabrück, Germany 

In the 35 years of her professional career, Dr. Ursula Hübner has devoted herself to exploring innovations in medical and health informatics to ensure continuity of care, particularly in the fields of health IT maturity benchmarking and health IT standards development. She has taken a leading role in the development of global health informatics educational recommendations under the umbrella of TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform). In her different leading positions in industry and academia, she has driven the translation of new technical developments into meaningful applications. Throughout her career, Dr. Hübner has recognized the importance of health informatics education, not only as a professor but also as an academic leader. Since 2019, she has held the position of the academic dean for the promotion of young scientists and digitalization.

Laura J. Kroupa
Chief Medical Officer
Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization
Department of Veterans Affairs
Missouri, USA

Dr. Laura Kroupa is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM). As CMO, she oversees clinical strategy and planning efforts for the electronic health record (EHR) transformation. Her responsibilities include oversight of change management, training, deployment, process reengineering, clinical interoperability, data strategy and innovation for the EHR. In this role she is driving interoperability to provide a unified, seamless and trusted health record for Veterans across the care continuum.

Kroupa has been actively involved in the field of health informatics for more than 20 years and has demonstrated her commitment to using information and technology to positively transform health care. With a background in informatics education, she has designed and applied electronic medical records (EMR) and EHR software and applications and converted and analyzed medical and health data to ensure quality of care across multiple information systems. 

Tabitha Lieberman
Senior Vice President Clinical and Revenue Cycle Applications
Providence
Washington, USA

In her role today at Providence, one of the country’s largest health systems, Tabitha Lieberman leads a large team dedicated to implementation, support, optimization, and project execution for core healthcare applications. On her watch, Providence successfully deployed a single standard EHR, making Providence one of Epic’s largest customers. This expansive effort includes over 70 hospitals and 1200 ambulatory clinics across Providence and Community Technologies, their hosted Epic offering. Tabitha’s real passion is in building highly effective diverse teams to make a difference in healthcare.

Molly McCarthy
National Director, US Health Providers and Plans
Microsoft
Washington, DC, USA

Molly K. McCarthy MBA, RN-BC is National Managing Director of Microsoft’s U.S. Health Providers and Health Plans Industry Team. In her role, McCarthy manages a team of subject matter experts — including doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and industry experts — who support more than 300 enterprise customers in the U.S. healthcare ecosystem of providers and health plans. Other responsibilities include demonstrating thought leadership and developing industry education and solution strategies. McCarthy is a well-respected leader in the health IT community as she shares her expertise to improve the nursing profession using information technology.

Gillian Strudwick
Chief Nursing Executive & Scientist
Centre for Addiction & Mental Health
Ontario, Canada

Dr. Gillian Strudwick is the Chief Nursing Executive (interim) and a Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) — Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, and one of the world's leading research centers in the area of addiction and mental health. Dr. Strudwick supported her organization’s efforts in achieving Stage 7 on the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (2017). She was also instrumental in CAMH achieving the distinguished Davies Award in 2018, and the HIMSS Stage 7 revalidation in 2021.

Ashwini Zenooz
President & Chief Medical Officer
Commure
California, USA

Ashwini M. Zenooz, M.D., is President and Chief Medical Officer at Commure. Prior, Dr. Zenooz was Salesforce's Chief Medical Officer and General Manager of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences. She previously served as Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) overseeing the national EHR modernization program. She has held senior policy development and operational roles including Deputy for Veterans Affairs Health Policy and Services, Legislative Health Policy Fellow with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Committee Staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Zenooz received her MD in the Medical Honors Program at the University of Florida, completed her radiology residency at Henry Ford Health System, and completed an Abdominal Imaging fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is board certified in radiology and continues to practice medicine today.

HIMSS21 Women in Health IT Awardees will be recognized Aug. 9-13 at HIMSS21 in Las Vegas.

HIMSS Awards Outstanding Chapters & Leaders

HIMSS recognizes the achievements of all 58 chapters and 850+ chapter leaders. Our local volunteers, who have an immense passion for health information and technology, lead the chapters of HIMSS with more than 75,000 engaged members. Chapters offer locally and globally relevant education, events, networking, advocacy, certification preparation, career advancement, scholarships, volunteer opportunities and much more.

Each year, the award recipient selection process is led by peer volunteers from our knowledgeable and experienced Chapters Task Force and Chapter Advocacy Task Force. The awardee selection criteria is fully transparent so that we can recognize awardees based on relevant contributions and efforts throughout the year.

HIMSS is proud to announce this year’s award recipients for the following categories:

• Chapter Leader of the Year
• Chapter of the Year (three categories: Small, Medium, Large)
• Chapter Advocate of the Year

HIMSS recognizes all chapter volunteers for their hard work and contribution.

Chapter Leader of the Year

The Chapter Leader of the Year Award recognizes an individual who demonstrates significant leadership and extraordinary contributions to the chapter, the chapters program, and the Society. The Chapter Leader of the Year exhibits a strong commitment to strengthening the health information and technology industry in their local region for the betterment of all members.

Sepi Browning, President, Georgia Chapter

For the past 11 years, Sepi Browning has served faithfully as a chapter volunteer, committee chairperson, board member and now President of the Georgia chapter. She is often called upon by previous chapter leaders to take on additional responsibilities outside of her normal role as a board member or chairperson.   Sepi has served and represented herself as an ideal board member and leader by consistently participating in committee calls and tasks.   She is a hands-on president, contributing in panels with other organizations, and representing the chapter by being present at all events and is available for anyone’s needs. Sepi excels in running efficient and productive meetings and works closely with each chapter committee chairperson to make sure they have all the resources needed to achieve their goals and associated metrics.   Sepi created and focused on documenting the baseline foundational standard operating procedures so that all committee chairs and board members could successfully obtain knowledge and continue to enhance any task for the benefit of the chapter and the chapter members.  Under her guidance, chapter membership, clinician participation, and corporate sponsorship is up +3%.   In addition, the chapter scholarship/endowment efforts increased this year to the tune of $24K with 9 scholarships. Sepi challenged the board and its committee leaders to rethink the way we connect with our members as a result of COVID-19.   She encouraged the chapter board to develop and coordinate a number of creative virtual programming and networking events that have continued to keep chapter members informed and connected. She coordinated virtual events such as lunch and learns, virtual happy hours, and a celebratory event to recognize student scholarship winners.

Chapter of the Year

The Chapter of the Year Award recognizes chapters who have had a strong impact on their geographical region in a meaningful way through the works of the chapter to produce health information and technology-centered events, education, initiatives, collaborations, advocacy, and more. The Chapter of the Year Award spotlights the amazing work dedicated volunteers perform every year, and illustrates the impact chapters have on the HIMSS mission and the chapter program as a whole.

Small Chapter of the Year: South Dakota

The South Dakota chapter held a spring conference with high caliber speakers. The chapter converted their financial documentation process to improve reporting and were able to maintain a good financial position, in spite of needing to cancel their major annual event. The chapter was able to secure a South Dakota state proclamation recognizing National Health Technology Week. They increased recognition of chapter activities with local leaders by leveraging a strong social media presence.

Medium Chapter of the Year: Midwest Gateway

The Midwest Gateway chapter created new event planning processes that improved the success of their events. In addition, they partnered with local universities and organizations to host engaging events throughout their region. The chapter revised their board structure to improve the annual leadership transition and the volunteer pipeline. Midwest Gateway chapter leaders created a new member outreach program to welcome and engage new members, this has led to a 5% membership increase. In addition, the chapter supported a student scholarship.

Large Chapter of the Year: Georgia

The Georgia chapter has enhanced their Standard Operating Procedures for each chapter committee to improve volunteer engagement and leadership onboarding. The chapter has contributed to scholarships benefitting ten students.  The chapter maintained a strong events calendar and quickly transitioned to a strong virtual event presence with innovative programming. Chapter leadership has focused on expanding programming and engagement throughout the region, expanding beyond the metro areas, to reach additional membership. This led to a 7.5% increase in chapter membership.

Chapter Advocate of the Year

The HIMSS Chapter Advocate of the Year Award recognizes an individual who demonstrates significant leadership and extraordinary contributions in state, local or provincial policy advocacy on behalf of their chapter.

Larry Voyten, Advocacy Chair, Northern Ohio

Larry Voyten has been on the Northern Ohio Chapter Board for over 15 years and has served as Advocacy Chair for most of those years. He leads the annual Ohio Health Information Technology Advocacy Day and organizes the chapter board, members and events around this event. In fact, Mr. Voyten helped to receive a proclamation from the Governor for the event as State Health IT Day. Mr. Voyten continues to work hard to collaborate with the Central & Southern Ohio Chapter. He has leveraged each chapter’s strengths and leadership, enabling Ohio-focused advocacy initiatives to be known to a large base of chapter members. In January 2021, Mr. Voyten facilitated the first of the chapter’s advocacy webinars, which featured a panel with local, regional and national representation. This well produced and received webinar included a sponsor highlight, bringing in value to the chapter and sponsors. Further, he engages with HIMSS staff and regularly participates in the HIMSS Chapter Advocacy Task Force, sharing his learnings with other chapters. The intent is sincere and Mr. Voyten remains committed to improving the healthcare community. Mr. Voyten brings his leadership skills and consistent reliable guidance to the board which extends to the Northern Ohio chapter membership. He provides a depth and breadth of healthcare knowledge and experience that provides direction to the board and moves the chapter forward in changing times.

HIMSS Joint Awards

HIMSS-AMDIS Physician Executive Leader of the Year Award

The HIMSS-AMDIS Physician Executive Leader of the Year Award recognizes a physician leader who demonstrates significant leadership in optimizing health engagements and care outcomes through information and technology. The award is given for success and achievement as a physician leader championing information and technology to optimal strategic impact. The recipient is selected jointly by the Board of Directors of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) and HIMSS.

2021 Recipient:
Natalie Pageler, MD
Chief Medical Information Officer
Stanford Children’s Health

HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award

The HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award recognizes a nursing informatics leader who demonstrates significant leadership contributions by optimizing health engagements and care outcomes through information and technology. This award is given to an individual for success and achievement as a nursing informatics leader in a provider, supplier or academic organization, or a professional society. The recipient is selected jointly by the HIMSS Board of Directors and the Governing Directors of the Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI).

2021 Recipient:
Cheryl Parker, PhD, RN-BC, CNE, FHIMSS
Clinical Assistant Professor
University of Texas at Tyler

HIMSS Service Awards

HIMSS John A. Page Distinguished Fellows Service Award

The HIMSS John A. Page Distinguished Fellows Service Award recognizes commendable and long-standing contributions to the society made by a Fellow Member. The HIMSS John A. Page Distinguished Fellows Service Award can be made for a single exceptional contribution, for a sustained contribution, or for a lifetime of exceptional service.

Sepi Browning, FACHE, FHIMSS, PMP, CPHIMS
IT Site Director
Emory Healthcare

HIMSS Life Fellow Member Award

Tracey Butler, BSIE, MBA, LSSBB, LFHIMSS
Michael Carr, LFHIMSS
Joan Duke, LFHIMSS
Mark McDougall, LFHIMSS
Linda Nice, LFHIMSS
Linda Reeder, RN, MBA, CPHIMS, LFHIMSS
Jennifer Schuster, MS, RN, LFHIMSS
Detlev H. (Herb) Smaltz, PhD, LFACHE, LFHIMSS
George Whetsell, BS, MS, MPH, LFHIMSS, LFACHE

HIMSS Life Member Award

Eugene D'Amore, MBA, MS, BS, LHIMSS
Ray Dunn, MBA, LHIMSS
Jeffrey Hammen, LHIMSS

HIMSS Foundation Scholarships

As the philanthropic arm of HIMSS, the HIMSS Foundation promotes health information and technology education and issue awareness on global and national levels.

The HIMSS Foundation offers scholarships to HIMSS student members who have achieved academic excellence and demonstrate the potential to be future leaders in health information and technology. Scholarships are awarded to undergraduate and masters students according to merit, financial need and other factors. To support future HIMSS scholars, consider making a tax-deductible donation.

Undergraduate Scholarship

Kimberly Cypert

Master's Scholarship

Jennifer Cookingham

Midwest Gateway Chapter of HIMSS Scholarship

Lillian Eversman

Richard P. Covert, PhD., LFHIMSS Scholarship for Management Systems

Kesley D. Tyson

Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship

Geoffrey Bocobo

Georgia Chapter of HIMSS Scholarship

Janna Pruiett

South Florida Chapter of HIMSS Scholarship

Sabrina Hyde

South Texas Chapter of HIMSS Scholarship

Autumn Holland

Virginia Chapter of HIMSS Scholarship

Brooke Thadeus

HIMSS Student Case Competition

First Place: UAB Blaze:  University of Alabama at Birmingham
Ashley Beasley, MSHI
Robert Gallagher, MSHI
Larissa Pierce, MSHI

Second Place: ESFCOM:  Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University
Anna Tang, MD
Shi Min Tan, MD

Board of Directors Service Award

HIMSS North America Board of Directors
Susan Heichert, BSN, MA, FHIMSS 
Marc Overhage, MD, PhD, FACP, FACMI
Emma Cartmell, MSc, FHIMSS
Sumit Nagpal, FHIMSS

HIMSS Europe Governing Council  
Merik Seven
Elena Bonfiglioli

HIMSS Asia Pacific Governing Council
Andrew Saunders 
Linus Tham

HIMSS Analytics Board of Directors
Lindsey Jarrell
R. Hal Baker, MD
Mark Godley
Douglas A. Gentile

Stage 7 Maturity Model Awards

HIMSS congratulates the healthcare organizations around the world that achieved Stage 7 validations in 2020 for their efforts to advance health and wellness for everyone, everywhere. See the complete list of 2020 winners.

The HIMSS suite of healthcare maturity models provide prescriptive frameworks to healthcare organizations to build their digital health ecosystems. Each eight-stage (0-7) maturity model operates as a vendor-neutral roadmap for success and offers global benchmarking. Receiving a Stage 7 validation on a HIMSS Maturity Model is a global symbol of an organization’s dedication to digital transformation in healthcare.

Organizations that earned Stage 7 validation in 2019 and 2020 will be recognized at the 2021 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition.

Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence

The HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence showcases healthcare organizations that demonstrate globally innovative, thoughtful applications of information and technology to drive and redefine evidence-based best practices so that others can learn, adapt and improve population health and patient outcomes. See the complete list of 2020 winners.