Shoshanna Sofaer, Dr.P.H., Chair

Shoshanna Sofaer is the Robert P. Luciano Professor of Health Care Policy at the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, in New York City. She completed her masters and doctoral degrees in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, taught for six years at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health and served on the faculty of George Washington University Medical Center, where she was Professor, Associate Dean for Research of the School of Public Health and Health Services and Director of the Center for Health Outcomes Improvement Research. Dr. Sofaer's research interests include providing information to individual consumers on the performance of the health care system; assessing the impact of information on both consumers and the system; developing consumer-relevant performance measures; and improving the responsiveness of the Medicare program to the needs of current and future cohorts of older persons and persons with disabilities. In addition, Dr. Sofaer studies the role of community coalitions in pursuing public health and health care system reform objectives, and has extensive experience in the evaluation of community health improvement interventions. She has studied the determinants of health insurance status among the near-elderly, including early retirees. Dr. Sofaer served as Co-Chair of the Working Group on Coverage for Low Income and Non-Working Families for the White House Task Force on Health Care Reform in 1993. Currently, she is Co-Chair of the Task Force on Medicare of The Century Foundation in New York City, a member of the Board of Health Care Services of the Institute of Medicine, and a member of the Health Systems Study Section of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.


Patricia A. Butler, J.D., Dr.P.H.

Patricia Butler is a self-employed policy analyst on issues of health care financing, delivery, and regulation with state legislative and executive branch officials as well as with associations representing state governments. She has been a member of the National Academy for State Health Policy since its inception in 1987. Dr. Butler received her B.A. from the University of California in 1966, her law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1969, and her doctorate in health policy from the University of Michigan's School of Public Health in 1996. Among her publications are "Roadblock to Reform: ERISA Implications for State Health Care Initiatives" (1994), "Public Oversight of Managed Care Entities: Issues for State Policy Makers" (1996) and "State Managed Care Oversight: Policy Implications of Recent ERISA Court Decisions" (1998), published by the National Governors' Association, "Managed Care Plan Liability: An Analysis of Texas and Missouri Legislation" (1997), published by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and "Private-Sector Health Coverage: Variation in Consumer Protections under ERISA and State Law" (1996), published by George Washington University National Health Policy Forum.


George C. Eads, Ph.D.

Dr. Eads is Vice President and Director at the Washington, D.C. office of Charles River Associates (CRA) and is an internationally known expert in the economics of the automotive and airlines industries. Prior to joining CRA, Dr. Eads was Vice President and Chief Economist at General Motors Corporation. He frequently represented the corporation before congressional committees and federal regulatory agencies. He has served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. Dr. Eads has published numerous books and articles on the impact of government on business, and has taught at several major universities, including Harvard and Princeton.


Jack C. Ebeler, M.P.A.

Jack Ebeler is president and chief executive officer of Alliance of Community Health Plans. Previously, he was the senior vice president and director of the Health Care Group of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, focusing on the goals of improving access to care and improving care for people with chronic conditions. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy and as Acting Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he led department-wide policy efforts on priority health initiatives. Before serving at HHS, Jack was the vice president of Minnesota-based Group Health, Inc., now HealthPartners. He is on the Board of Directors of Families USA and the Health Care Services Board of the Institute of Medicine. Jack's undergraduate degree is from Dickinson College. He has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.


Barbara D. Matula, M.P.A.

Barbara Matula joined the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation staff in 1997 as Director of Health Care Access Programs after a 30-year career in the public sector. Her role at the NCMS Foundation is to increase health care access for low income and underserved North Carolinians through expanded health insurance coverage and improved health care delivery. For seventeen years, she was North Carolina's Medicaid Director and represented the State through numerous national and State associations, work groups and task forces related to health care financing, long term care, infant mortality reduction and the uninsured. For over nine years she chaired the Executive Committee of the National Academy for State Health Policy, which helped shape the States' agenda for health care reform. Barbara also served on North Carolina's State Health Coordinating Council from 1993 through 2001, and was recently appointed by the Governor to the Government Efficiency and Tax Loophole Closing Commission. Currently she is a member of the NC Institute of Medicine and has served on the Advisory Board of the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality (NICHQ). She has a Master's Degree in Public Administration and extensive experience in public policy, finance and intergovernmental relations.


Len Nichols, Ph.D.

Len Nichols is vice president of the Center for Studying Health System Change. He is a health policy expert who has written and published extensively on a variety of topics, including insurance market regulation, the effect of tax policy on health insurance purchase decisions and private insurance options for Medicare. He previously served as principal research associate at the Urban Institute, senior advisor for health policy at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and chair of the economics department at Wellesley College.


Christopher Queram, M.A.

Mr. Queram has been CEO of the Employer Health Care Alliance Cooperative (The Alliance) of Madison, Wisconsin since 1993. The Alliance is a purchasing cooperative owned by over 175 member companies that contracts with providers, manages and reports data, performs consumer education and designs employer and provider quality initiatives. Prior to his current position, Mr. Queram served as Vice President for Programs at Meriter Hospital, a 475-bed hospital in Madison. Mr. Queram is a member of the Board of the National Business Coalition on Health, and served as Board Chair for the past two years. He was a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. Mr. Queram served as a member of the Planning Committee for the National Quality Forum and continues as convenor of the Purchaser Council of the Forum. He is a member of the Wisconsin Board on Health Information and the Board of the Wisconsin Private Employer Health Care Coverage program. He holds a master's degree in health services administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.


Reed V. Tuckson, M.D.

Dr. Tuckson is Senior Vice President of Consumer Health and Medical Care Enhancement at United Health Group. Formerly, he was Senior Vice President, Professional Standards at the American Medical Association. Dr. Tuckson was President of Charles R. Drew University, School of Medicine and Science from 1991-1997. From 1986-1990, he was Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia. Dr. Tuckson serves on a number of health care, academic and federal boards and committees and is a nationally known lecturer on topics concerning community-based medicine, the moral responsibilities of health professionals, and physician leadership. He currently serves on the IOM Roundtable on Research and Development of Drugs, Biologics, and Medical Devices.


Edward H. Wagner, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.

Dr. Wagner is a general internist/epidemiologist and Director of the W.A. MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at the Center for Health Studies (CHS), Group Health Cooperative. He is also Professor of Health Services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Current research interests include the development and testing of population-based care models for diabetes, frail elderly, and other chronic illnesses; the evaluation of the health and cost impacts of chronic disease and cancer interventions, and interventions to prevent disability and reduce depressive symptoms in older adults. Dr. Wagner has written two books and more than 200 journal articles. He serves on the editorial boards of Health Services Research and the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, and acts as a consultant to multiple Federal agencies and private foundations. He recently completed a stint as Senior Advisor on Managed Care Initiatives in the Director's Office of the National Institutes of Health. As of June 1998, he directs "Improving Chronic Illness Care (ICIC)", a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The overall goal of ICIC is to assist health systems improve their care of chronic illness through quality improvement and evaluation, research, and dissemination. Dr. Wagner is also Principal Investigator of the Cancer Research Network, an NCI funded consortium of 10 HMOs conducting collaborative cancer effectiveness research. He is also completing service on the Committee on Rapid Advance.


Alan Weil, J.D., M.P.P.

Alan Weil directs the Assessing the New Federalism project at the Urban Institute. This project, the largest in the Institute's 34-year history, monitors, describes and assesses the effects of changes in federal and state health, welfare, and social services programs. Mr. Weil was formerly executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, the cabinet position responsible for Colorado's Medicaid and Medically Indigent programs, health data collection and analysis functions, health policy development, and health care reform. He was also health policy adviser to Colorado Governor Roy Romer, program director of the Colorado Children's Campaign, and legal counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Medical Security. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of California at Berkeley, a master of public policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.