The Quest for Health Equity
Our two-day virtual event will showcase the barriers to health equity and highlight those organizations working towards improving it; payers, providers, state government organizations and much more. WEDI will offer a look at data-centric solutions that have emerged to support and encourage health equity.
Click Here for the agenda.
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Thank you to our Corporate Sponsor for their support!

Tuesday, February 23rd
The Call to Advance Health Equity
Time: 11:00am- 11:30am EST
Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association
A Roadmap for Reducing Health Disparities
Time: 11:30am- 12:00pm EST
Christopher Queram, Interim President & CEO, National Quality Forum
Digital Health Equity as a Necessity
Time: 12:00pm – 12:45pm EST
Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Dr. David Bates, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Making the Case to Address Health Equity
Time: 1:15pm- 1:45pm EST
Priya Bathija, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, American Hospital Association
Incorporating Health Equity into Value Based Care
Time: 1:45pm – 2:15pm EST
Tomi Ojo and Parsa Erfani, Harvard Medical School
Locate and Access; How UCSF’s Population Health Data Initiative is Helping to Collect and Storing Data Elements for Health Equity
Time: 2:15pm- 3:00pm EST
Dr. Courtney Lyles, Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, UCSF
Establishing and Building Community Trust
Time: 3:00pm- 3:30pm EST
Jaffer Traish, Chief Operating Officer, Aunt Bertha
Wednesday, February 24th
Day 2 Keynote
Time: 11:00am- 11:30am EST
George Halvorson, Chair, CEO Institute for InterGroup Understanding
CMS Health Equity Initiatives
Time: 11:30am- 12:15pm EST
CMS Office of Minority Health:
- Meagan Khau, Director of the Data and Policy Analytics Group
- Tenly Biggs, Public Health Analyst
- Dr. Jessica Maksut, Public Health Advisor
Operationalizing Equity by Leveraging Quality and Safety American Medical Association
Time: 12:15pm- 12:45pm EST
Dr. Karthik Sivashanker, Vice President of Equitable Health Systems and Innovation
Seth Blumenthal, Director, Clinical Review Group, Integrated Health Model Initiative
Gravity Project Updates
Time: 1:15pm- 1:45pm EST
Evelyn Gallego, Program Manager, Gravity Project
CEO, EMI Advisors LLC
Lighting a “FHIR” under Health Inequalities (IG Review)
Time: 1:45pm- 2:15pm EST
Robert Dieterle, Technical Director, the Gravity Project
CEO, Enable Care LLC
Viewing Emerging Trends in Healthcare Through the Lens of Equity
Time: 2:15pm- 2:45pm EST
Dr Sara Murray, Associate Chief Medical Information Officer, Inpatient Care and Data Science, UCSF Health
Sana Sweis, Director of Analytics Strategy, UCSF
Advancing Opportunities & Overcoming Challenges; SHIEC’s Focus on SDOH Data
Time: 2:45pm- 3:30pm EST
SHIEC’s Social Determinants of Health Committee Co-Chairs:
- Waldo Mikels-Carrasco, Indiana Health Information Exchange
- Jennifer Faries, MyHealth Access
Health Equity Leadership Roundtable and Town Hall
Moderated by Nancy Spector, WEDI Chair, Coding and HIT Advocacy Director, American Medical Association
Time: 3:30 - 4:15pm EST
- Dr. Deborah Duran, Senior Advisor- Data Science, Analytics and Systems, NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- Melissa Kotrys, Chief Executive Officer, Health Current, Board Chair, Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative
- Kenyetta Jackson, Health Equity Manager, Health Solutions, American Medical Association