WISE - Key Persons

Alvin Kwong brings to WISE Healthcare experience that spans the healthcare industry - academia, hospitals, medical groups, insurance companies, consulting companies, and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Alvin has 10 years of dynamic healthcare management, consulting, and entrepreneurial experience driving innovative solutions. His project management experience began with managing and coordinating multimillion-dollar grants at the University of California, Los Angeles. He led a team of workflow engineers to conduct assessments of Santa Clara County community health centers' workflow, data quality, practice management, and registry systems, and implemented team-based strategies for care coordination. Additionally, he authored a systematic literature review of various team-based strategies for coordinating care. His next ventures included leadership positions at several consulting companies. At Kaiser Permanente Consulting, he conducted training programs for concurrent review teams in the behavioral health department. Next, Alvin delved into strategic planning and financial modeling for health centers throughout the United States. More recently, Alvin honed his business intelligence and data analytics skills with a physician management company, implementing pay-for-performance programs and revamping the business intelligence department by compiling a data warehouse and creating dashboards and reports for over 30 contracted ER and hospitalist programs. Most recently, Alvin spearheaded the development of a business intelligence division at Greg Facktor and Associates (GFA), a leading professional consulting firm in California with a focus on the healthcare industry. He also served as project manager for large grants for the Health Infrastructure Investment Program (HIIP) and Service Expansion Programs at Federally Qualified Health Centers. His breadth, depth, and understanding of the industry is valued by his clients, who trust him to make sustainable and strategic decisions and navigate them within the changing healthcare landscape. Alvin received a Master of Public Health in healthcare management and health policy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and cell biology from the University of California, San Diego. When not at work, Alvin spends his time outdoors cycling and golfing.

Andres Woodruff has a passion for healthcare administration, finance, and operations. He has recently begun with Wise Healthcare as an intern under the direct supervision of the Senior Director of Health Information Technology and Innovation. Andres received an undergraduate degree in Public Health Policy from the University of California, Irvine. He is currently in his final semester of graduate school where he will receive a master's degree in Healthcare Administration from California State University, Long Beach in May 2022. Andres holds experience within the healthcare sector in both clinical and non-clinical settings in patient relations, electronic health record management, revenue cycle management, billing and insurance, and clinical administration. He looks to go into the field of healthcare consulting with an emphasis on finance and operations management. During his free time, Andres owns a small production company that offers services in photography, videography, and music production. He is a creative at heart and enjoys bringing ideas to life.

As one of the team's support leads, Divine Pauleanne Castillo holds degrees in both communication and nursing. Additionally, she is a licensed nurse in the Philippines and in the state of Texas. At the start of her career, Divine served in a government tertiary hospital and was assigned to an Intensive Care Unit focused in providing care for patients with critical Pulmonary cases. Since then, Divine has transitioned to clinical process outsourcing and grown into this role over the last 7 years. She led Quality Process excellence delivery and worked with a team of up to 20 Quality auditors that handles transactional audits and state and client compliance certifications. She is trained in Lean Six Sigma Green belt that she applied when spearheading process improvement initiatives. She is a recipient of the Country Manager Quarterly Achievement Award and is known for resolving critical issues and escalations from high profile clients. She has covered different healthcare businesses from utilization review, utilization management, workers compensation and risk adjustment coding. She has ventured into project management as part of her career advancement and is looking forward to sharing her insights to clinics and make sure WISE Healthcare delivers high quality services to both clients and patients. Divine enjoys freshly brewed coffee to start her mornings. She is looking forward to exploring the outdoors with her son soon. She and her husband are already planning a road trip with him as soon as travelling will be allowed.

Job Titles:

• Chief Financial Officer
• Member of the WISE Team

Elizabeth Ahmed is qualified in all of the ways one would expect of a Chief Financial Officer; she has an MBA in Finance and a track record as a successful businesswoman with firms that are global powerhouses and members of the Fortune 500. She is a strategist and a resourceful leader of highly performing teams on the international stage. But it is the unexpected - a unique human element - which defines both her approach to the CFO role and her leadership style. At the root of this human element is her life experiences and travels, and a world view perspective that uniquely positions her for her role in a company with a global vision. Elizabeth began her corporate career in Japan, where she worked and lived for five years. Upon her return to the U.S., she joined development and investment company Trammell Crow (which later became CBRE Group, Inc.), where she oversaw company operations and asset management. She earned her MBA from Pepperdine University, and also furthered her studies in global management and business development at Oxford and Antwerp Universities. Subsequently, she took time to travel, visiting Africa, India, Europe and Asia, indulging her passion for learning about other cultures and exploring the world. Upon her return home, she continued her career in design and program management with the multi-national engineering firm, AECOM. Elizabeth served as vice president of the AECOM Project Management/Construction Management (PM/CM) business line, serving as market sector lead for the Americas. She was the highest-ranking female executive in the business line-an accomplishment all the more commendable in this male-dominated industry. She oversaw social infrastructure design projects totaling over $28 billion around the world, in healthcare, education, government and private sectors. Year after year, her team was among the highest performing in the company. She credits her leadership strategy for this success, stating: "I expect the highest caliber out of everyone, and I give that much more to them." It is appreciated. Even today her former colleagues reach out to her for advice. In light of all her accomplishments, Elizabeth is humble. She is committed to lending her wisdom and expertise to help others. Married and a mother of two, she is a PTA board member, a volunteer at the Redlands YMCA, and active with the Redlands Conservancy and Family Service of Redlands. One of her favorite expressions is "No one knows everything." It won't be long before she knows a little more. A lifelong learner, she is pursuing a doctorate degree in Design and Cultural Preservation specializing in History and Theory of Material Culture. She is a strong believer that the key to our future is understanding our past. She plans to use this education to further her mission to "share the gifts of knowledge and experience bestowed on me."

Gerald (Gerry) Gagner joined WISE Healthcare in 2018 after more than eight years of successful management experience in the hospitality sector, where he worked as a general manager for Panera Bread. One of his key accomplishments in that role was overseeing the opening of a new Panera Bread drive-thru café. His strategic planning, project management and recruiting skills resulted in record breaking sales in the café's first week of business. Gerry's focus on quality led to his store earning a score of 100% on an external food safety audit for the first time in that market's history. As Gerry's accomplishments grew, he was consistently given new responsibilities, including serving as the data analyst for his store's market area. He presented market trends and analytics to Panera Bread regional stakeholders. He was asked to assist in a store that was struggling. Putting to work the same workflow engineering skills that he will call on in his new role at WISE Healthcare, Gerry implemented new processes, hired a new management team and the store responded with improved profits and productivity. A respected leader, Gerry hired more than 100 employees during a time of upward growth. His training and development skills along with his motivational management style resulted in consistently low employee turnover and positive morale. An accomplished communicator, Gerry shared secrets to success and motivational messages to his colleagues in other cafés through a regular series of "Shout-Outs" in which he reported performance metrics and best practices.

Specialized in Psychology and Management, Joe DeMassimo has dedicated the past decade of his life to non-profit work and fulfilling a longtime goal of helping people. His anchoring principle has manifested in a myriad of professional ventures for Joe, from providing home support for at risk children, to running employment and training programs aimed at empowering socio-economically disadvantaged children, individuals with intellectual & developmental disabilities, and their families to live productive, self-reliant lives. Joe has joined WISE Healthcare as a Workflow Engineer and is responsible for leading the company's work with the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) to spread eConsult throughout the Inland Empire. As a case manager and behavior specialist at a Family Services organization for 6 years, Joe managed direct supervision of youth while maintaining a positive relationship with family members and implemented treatment plans to provide individualized intervention. Channeling such strong communication skills towards a new setting, he became a consumer services coordinator at a non-profit dedicated to providing services and programs to thousands of Inland Empire residents with developmental disabilities. Joe earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Communicative Disorders from the University of Redlands, during which he also provided after school enrichment programming for youth in grades K-12. Between his B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Management from the U of R, he served as a Child Care Worker. Outside of work, Joe enjoys paddle boarding and hiking with his wife, as well as taking his twin girls for outings to the beach or The Wild Animal Park.

Katherine Steinberg, MPP, MBA brings to WISE nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare market evaluation, health system project management, process improvement and strategic planning. She is an expert in transforming strategic initiatives into actionable operational workplans, analyzing available technologies to solve business issues, and utilizing human centered design to identify patient, provider and consumer needs. She has exercised her skills in engaging with technology to design and implement new models of care in a diverse range of healthcare settings and roles. After her time as a strategic planner for the Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles System, Katherine served as the Director of UCLA Health's Institute for Innovation where she led the Institute in identifying, piloting and deploying new technologies, products and services to support transformation across the health system. Through partnership with health system leadership Katherine identified innovations to accelerate strategic goals in the areas of access and population health and worked closely with operational partners to launch and evaluate these new models. A key component of this work included developing a novel approach to using human-centered design for value-based care clinical pathways. Some of the successful redesigns included surgical home, brain tumor IPU, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Katherine also managed and advised on a portfolio-critical issues pertaining to a remote patient monitoring strategy, virtual access approach, and the Value-Based Care Summit. As the former Vice President of Avalere's Center for Payment and Delivery Innovation, she partnered with a diverse range of clients including provider organizations, health plans and life science companies, to help them understand how new policies and initiatives related to payment and delivery reform will impact their business, and supported the development of strategies and operational plans for using digital health to achieve organizational goals. While at Avalere, using a human centered design approach, led the development of a preparation for shared decision making tool for women with advanced breast cancer and led work on behalf of several foundations coordinating multiple healthcare environments across the country in the development of actionable approaches for improving cost of care conversations between providers and patients. Katherine holds a BA magna cum laude from The University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Public Policy from UCLA, and a Master of Business Administration from NYU. When not focused on healthcare transformation, Katherine enjoys biking with her family, hiking with friends, and reading.

Lisa Altman, MD, is the director of innovation in healthcare at WISE Healthcare. She is a leader in clinical primary care with over 30 years of experience serving the public. She earned her medical degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in internal medicine, her fellowship in hematology and oncology, and served as chief resident of the UCLA San Fernando Valley Program. Her clinical specialties include primary care, women's health, and virtual care. Dr. Altman is passionate about innovative whole person healthcare and worked to evaluate and implement changes in healthcare delivery that streamline and improve the patient experience. She has worked to expand the adoption of patient-centered practices in a variety of clinical leadership roles for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System including associate program director of the Internal Medicine Training Program, director of administrative medicine and employee health, as well as associate chief of staff, overseeing ambulatory and primary care provision across 13 clinics serving 90,000 patients. She is also deeply committed to training and mentoring health care professionals as the director of a women's health fellowship and a clinical professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Altman brings her vast medical knowledge, and invaluable years of experience developing and implementing integrated, innovative clinical programs that incorporate virtual care to WISE Healthcare. Dr. Altman is based in Los Angeles where she enjoys spending time with her husband, two dogs, and three daughters.

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Co - Founder and CEO of Cynergis

Force. McMillan brings nearly 40 years of combined intelligence, security

With a background in Neuroscience, Information Technology, and Sociology as well as a status as an undergraduate university student, Matt Allen brings a diverse, youthful perspective to the WISE team. Matt brings troubleshooting expertise having managed software and hardware as well as digital rights and access for 500+ BYU employees as a computer specialist. Matt forms part of a neuroscience research lab at Brigham Young University looking at the neural mechanisms behind PTSD and memory. As part of this lab, he has been involved in technical writing, scientific presentations, and several publications. Matt also spent 2 years living in Ecuador as a religious voluntary representative engaging in service such as self-reliance training and teaching English as a second language.

Job Titles:

• Registered Nurse

In addition to sales, telemarketing and freelancing, Rebecca is also a registered nurse. She earned her B.S. degree in Nursing at Manila Doctors College in the Philippines and utilizes her healthcare background to give the best customer service possible at WISE. When Rebecca is not working, she enjoys watching movies of all genres as well as reading medical mystery books by Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, and Patricia Cornwell. In addition to these past-times, Rebecca has studied and learned how to speak Norsk, the Norwegian language.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Member of the WISE Team

Sajid Ahmed is a true innovator and pioneer in healthcare information systems. He has unparalleled experience in all aspects of applying computer technology and web-based applications to deliver the highest quality of medical care to patients, to facilitate collaboration among multiple and diverse medical care providers and systems, and to increase the efficiency of healthcare environments. He is the visionary behind WISE Healthcare and is guiding its work in artificial intelligence (AI), workflow engineering for healthcare organizations, virtual healthcare, and more. Currently serving as an adviser to the leadership team at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH) in South Los Angeles, Sajid was formerly the hospital's chief information and innovation officer. In that role he oversaw the hospital's $70 million health information technology initiative and launched an innovation hub on the 42-acre MLK Medical Center Campus. Sajid's prior experience also includes serving as director of health information technology and innovation for L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation's largest public plan, serving over 1 million Los Angeles County residents through free or low-cost health insurance programs. He was responsible for coordinating, managing, and integrating healthcare information technology and eHealth initiatives among multiple users and partners. This includes all medical care providers, community organizations, government agencies, vendors, and other health information technologies. He served as vice chair of the organization's Technical Advisory Committee. One of his most significant contributions to L.A. Care is the creation of HITEC-LA (Health Information Technology Extension Center for Los Angeles County) for electronic health record adoption and implementation for providers throughout L.A. County. He created and launched eConsult in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services before leaving L.A. Care. EConsult is an innovative telehealth system that allows for virtual consultations and collaboration with specialists. As eConsult expands throughout California and accumulates thousands of end users, it is becoming a national model for the standard for care coordination and access to specialty care in the U.S. Prior to his work on eConsult, Sajid was the visionary behind SelfMD™, where he developed artificial intelligence tools, including emulating logical inferences of cognition and intuition theory. He was instrumental in getting the U.S. Military Medical Command to adopt advanced diagnostic technologies and electronic health records systems. Sajid also served as co-chair on health IT committees for California's Health and Human Services Agency, helping to draft the state's $38.8 million Health Information Technology strategic plan. He has lectured at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Fielding School of Public Health, and has been a guest lecturer at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), at the University of Southern California (USC), and at California State University, Los Angeles. USC honored him for his teaching at the USC Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. He was a finalist for the Advanced Business League (ABL) Innovative Leadership Award for Healthcare. In 2016, the Los Angeles Business Journal lauded Sajid as "CIO/CTO of the Year" across all industries in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Currently, he is an advisory board member of the California Health eQuality Initiative, based at the University of California, Davis. He is a devoted husband and father of two, and enjoys backpacking, running, and diving.

Job Titles:

• Connor

Sarah O'Connor is passionate about improving the quality of care for patients and health care professionals. In her life experience, she has seen first-hand the challenges that health care organizations face implementing systems designed to streamline timely and effective communication. Sarah grew up in in the San Francisco Peninsula near Stanford University, a community that prizes innovation. Her early education included a charter school, which has developed game changing models for project-based learning. She continued her education at University of Redlands, where she studied environmental science. As an intern at Mamoní Valley Preserve, Panama, Sarah participated in research to assess the viability of monetizing forest ecosystems. She was co-leader with a team that mapped data for water shed change analysis. The team produced 3-D maps of the data for conservation activities and presented findings to key stakeholders in Panama. She subsequently presented this research at the ESRI user conference in San Diego, California. Key in these discussions was implementation of ESRI's applications. Sarah highly values community service and it is fundamental to her desire to make the world we share healthier. Through hands on work with Adaptive Physical Education in the Redlands Unified School District, she developed an appreciation for the importance of public policy in scaling systems for our special needs populations. Through her facilitating role, Sarah helped professional educators in their work with clients who are "at risk" in the general education environment. She also volunteers with the Redlands Family YMCA. While at University of Redlands, Sarah worked for the Office of Alumni and Community Relations. As she advanced in her role there, she was given increasing responsibility for community engagement, event management, marketing communications and web site development. She helped develop and implement programs that improve the visibility and effectiveness of customer facing programs. Sarah lives in Redlands, California.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor
• Chief Medical Officer
• Member of the WISE Team

Stanley Frencher Jr., the son of a primary care physician and nurse practitioner, likes to say he "was born to practice medicine." A board certified urologic surgeon, he grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, an area known to be one of the country's most obese, violent, and underserved. When his parents moved the family to an all-white subdivision with better public schools, he enjoyed academic and athletic recognition, including being named a National Achievement Scholar and an All-County basketball player. He credits his experience growing up in two very different Detroit neighborhoods with inspiring his passion for addressing health inequities. After high school, Dr. Frencher attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, where he was awarded the first annual Jean L. Cook, MD Memorial Award for Medical Excellence. He went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree in health management and policy at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. While enrolled there, he conducted research with the Center for Health and Urban Minorities, helping to identify health disparities across racial groups. He also worked as an intern with the office of Senator Charles Schumer where he gained a firsthand insight into the politics of healthcare policy. Dr. Frencher completed his surgical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. He interrupted his training to become a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Working with the American College of Surgeons (ACS), he sought to understand and eliminate inequities in the quality of surgical care through the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®). Dr. Frencher is currently an assistant professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the medical director of surgical outcomes and quality at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, and the chief of urology at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center. An enthusiastic teacher, he is a frequent presenter to academic and community organizations. When not working or lecturing, he competes as an amateur in powerlifting, enjoys standup paddleboard and is active in his church. He is married and the father of three children.

Job Titles:

• Afya As a Workflow Engineer

Specializing in Process Improvement and Management, Stephanie Fluitt has joined Afya as a Workflow Engineer and is responsible for supporting the company's work with the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) to spread eConsult throughout the Inland Empire and providing practice management of the HubMD Medical Group. Stephanie is an accomplished quality and process improvement professional with a passion for "better"; it might be great now, but by listening to the customer and applying complex problem solving, it could be even greater. One of her focus areas is working with empowered teams to enhance organizational performance. She has developed excellent leadership qualities and thrives when thinking strategically and analyzing data for evidence-based decision making. She has hands on experience in financial analysis, business development, process design, and operational excellence. Stephanie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from Bethany University and a Master of Business Administration from California Baptist University, where she won second place in the Robert K Jabs School of Business inaugural Business Idea Competition. Between her B.A. in Social Science and M.B.A., she explored start up software development, event management, healthcare administration and teaching. Outside of work, Stepanie enjoys writing, singing with local choirs, traveling the world (14 other countries and counting) and caring for her menagerie of pets.

Board certified as a family practitioner and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Steven (Steve) E. Davis has been practicing private family medicine for over 32 years. His academic and career background bears testimony to a rich combination of professional core values. Among them, providing educational and clinical services and supporting innovative health-technologies have proven integral to Steve's contributions in healthcare. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Baylor University, Steve pursued his DO and his Master's in Health Profession Education from Western University of Health Science. Since then he has accumulated a diverse repertoire of business development and clinical service through numerous leadership roles. While occupying different positions at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH), Steve honed his specialization in improving physician-patient interactions, the patient experience, and physician interaction while using electronic medical records. In recent years, he served as interim Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Informatics Officer at MLKCH, where he coordinated with the University of California Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, and a non-private organization to rebuild and open a private non-profit hospital in Los Angeles-the MLKCH. Working with a projected $30 million build budget, he significantly reduced costs through design and simplification.

Job Titles:

• Chief Operating Officer
• Member of the WISE Team

Waheed Baqai has a diverse set of skills, with over a decade in almost all aspects of healthcare management and operations. His experience includes laboratory research, consulting, teaching, nonprofit work, and special project experience. Before joining WISE, Waheed worked with HC2 Strategies as a senior consultant. Prior to HC2, Waheed worked as a quality director at Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, where he helped the organization transform its accreditation, clinical quality, and patient safety program. He also led several strategic initiatives, including Magnet designation and the MD Anderson Cancer Center partnership. Waheed oversaw the work of numerous Baptist Health teams, including Infection Control, Diabetes Education, Adult Nursing Education, and Nurse Navigators. Prior to moving to Florida, he worked at Loma Linda University Health as a director in the Patient Safety & Reliability department. His responsibilities included clinical decision support, analytics, revenue enhancement, quality outcomes, geospatial-enabled health mapping, and clinical documentation integrity. His work directly impacted improvements in the institution's public quality ratings with HealthGrades and Leapfrog, added over $55 million in additional CMS reimbursement to the organization, and provided physicians access to personalized outcomes data. Waheed received his bachelor's in science with a major in biopsychology and a minor in global peace and security from the University of California, Santa Barbara. A native of Loma Linda, California, Waheed returned after college to earn a Master of Public Health with an emphasis in biostatistics and epidemiology from Loma Linda University, where he was recognized for his academic and social achievements. In addition, Waheed has earned certifications in public health and as a Six Sigma Black Belt in performance improvement and has passed the fellow exam for the American College of Healthcare Executives. When not working to improve healthcare, Waheed enjoys traveling and cheering for his favorite football team-the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is a board member and longtime volunteer with California YMCA Youth & Government, which provides leadership development programs for middle and high school students throughout the state.

Job Titles:

• Physician
• Member of the Medical Group Management Association

William Jih is a family medicine physician who has been practicing in the Inland Empire area since early 2002. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University. His residency in family medicine was completed at Loma Linda Medical Center where he also served as chief resident. Throughout his career, he has served as a medical informatics liaison officer, the vice chair to the department of family medicine, medical director, and more, all at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Additionally, he served as chief medical officer of a large private multi-specialty medical group in the Inland Empire. A lifelong learner, Dr. Jih achieved his MBA from Louisiana State University in 2019. His experience is vast, with numerous awards to validate his medical excellence, starting with the resident teaching award and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Best Practice Recognition award for diabetes as well as the NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition award. He was awarded the Loma Linda Medical Center Physician Leader in Quality Prize in 2009. As a scholar he has presented on numerous topics including sexual violence, preventive care quality improvement, and systematic approach to medication reconciliation, all of which will help in his work with WISE Healthcare. Board certified in Family Medicine and Clinical Informatics, Dr. Jih is also a member of the Medical Group Management Association, American Medical Group Association, the American Academy of Family Practice, American Medical Association, and more. He is a California native and enjoys sports and photography.