Theme: World Class Care

Carle and Health Alliance have been on a path toward world-class care to create upper decile outcomes for every patient and member. At TEDxCarle, we aim to share ideas from a variety of Carle experts who are working to help make the organization world class in every way.

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Andrew Webb

Director, Clinical Imaging Sciences

Andrew is the new director of the Clinical Imaging Research Center at Carle. Since 2008 he has been the director of the High Field Imaging Centre in the Department of Radiology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. In addition to over 300 peer-reviewed publications he has authored four academic text books on medical imaging and biomedical instrumentation. Most meaningfully, in 2010 he founded the Nadine Barrie Smith trust which supports four student fellowships per year for women in science and engineering.

Christina Trusner

HR Director, Talent Partners

Throughout Christina’s 22 years at Carle she has served in roles aligned with her educational background in Human Resource Management including physician and professional recruitment, education and development, organizational effectiveness, provider services and more. She currently serves as the director of the Talent Partners team in Human Resources where she leads the HR Business Partners, Employee Relations and Provider Support teams to assist leaders and employees with navigating workplace complexities and creating meaningful employment experiences. She is a member of the American Medical Group Association, Society for Human Resource Management, and American Society for Healthcare Human Resources.

Dr. Blair Rowitz

Associate Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Rowitz has over 20 years of experience taking care of bariatric surgery patients, and was amongst the first surgeons in the country to perform laparoscopic gastric bypass procedures. He currently serves as the associate chief medical officer for surgical services, specialty institutes and graduate medical education and the associate chief academic officer at Carle Foundation Hospital. He is also the associate dean for clinical affairs and clinical assistant professor for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Dr. Karen Eisenmenger

Preoperative Medicine

After getting her medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and completing a Family Medicine Residency there, Dr. Eisenmenger joined Carle in July of 2003, working at Convenient Care until 2014. She currently works in Carle's Preoperative Physical Clinic and joined the Carle Experience Team in 2018 as an advisor. As a mother of three boys, two on the autism spectrum, she has given presentations to students at the University of Illinois, at local schools and other various groups regarding autism advocacy and general education.

Jonathan Woods

Executive Director, Community Health Initiatives

Jonathan has been a nurse for 19 years and has over 12 years of experience as a nurse leader. He currently serves as the executive director of Community Health Initiatives. There, he focuses on improving the health, educational achievement, and economic prosperity of disadvantaged populations, with special focus on prenatal and early childhood development. Jonathan is certified as a Nurse Executive through ANCC, and he is a former recipient of the Power of Nursing Leadership Sage Award from the University of Illinois-Chicago for his commitment to mentoring and facilitating professional development.

Katlyn Morin

Quality Data Analyst

Katlyn is a Certified Medical Practice Executive through MGMA and has been with The Carle Foundation for just under 10 years. She previously served as the manager of the Eye Department, General Surgical Services and Business Development before moving to Quality Services in 2017. Katlyn specializes in data analytics, organizational recognition programs and quality improvement projects.

Leroy Candler

Account Representative II

Leroy currently serves as an account representative II at Carle and is working towards a degree in healthcare administration at Southern New Hampshire University. He prides himself on being positive and always carries a smile. Leroy strives to make sure anyone he comes into contact with leaves feeling better than when they first met.

Nishly Lopez

Medical Interpreter

Nishly has served as a Spanish medical interpreter at Carle for two years. Born and raised in Chicago she is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois and anticipates returning to school to complete her masters in speech pathology or education.

Pam Bigler

Chief Nursing Officer

Pam started her leadership career over 35 years ago as a charge nurse in the Emergency Department. She has held leadership roles in Education, Critical care and Informatics. Pam came to Carle in 1998 as Director of Critical Care Services. She has been the chief nursing officer at Carle Hospitals and Clinics since 2006. Pam has led Carle hospital and the Carle Physician group to a prestigious Magnet designation three times and in the past year achieved initial Pathway to Excellence recognition for Hoopeston.

Patricia Singer

Patient Care Manager

Patricia has over 18 years of nursing experience in settings such as ICU, recovery room and ambulatory areas and is currently the Patient Care Manager for all Champaign-Urbana Convenient Care locations. While she was the patient care manager for the Ambulatory GI department at Indiana University Hospital, the program ranked 13 nationally according to U.S. News and World Report.

Rajul Gandhi

Clinical Director, Population Health + ACO

After earning a Doctor of Pharmacy and a Masters of Business Administration, Rajul has served patients for 26 years with more than a decade of work at Carle. He is currently the clinical director for Population Health and ACO.

Rakesh Mehta

Director, Digital Health and Innovative Solutions

. Rakesh is a clinician by training, who spent several years in ICU before moving over to the world of healthcare information technology where he now serves Carle as the director of Digital Health and Innovation Solutions. His interest in innovation started when he worked for a small start-up company and was responsible for developing innovative medical simulation applications for surgical residents, Natural Language Processing tools, prototype EHRs and a host of other digital applications. His passion for innovation was solidified ever since as he worked with the largest pediatric hospital in the country as a formal innovation champion. There he co-created a formal structure to manage healthcare innovation.

Sue Reardon

Director, Population Health

Sue has been at Carle for over 30 years in various leadership positions and currently is the director of Population Health for the Carle organization. Sue is pleased to be able to utilize her wide range of healthcare experience to assist the organization in its value transformation journey.