Announcement of New 2006 Board Members

CTeL Announces New Board Members for 2006

Washington, DC – The Center for Telehealth & E-Health Law (CTeL) is delighted to announce the addition of three new members to its Board of Directors rounding out its expertise in policy issues related to health information technology, rural health, and physician specialty care. “We are delighted that Jeremy Bonfini, Mary DeVany, and Dr. Karen Edison have accepted our offer to join CTeL’s Board of Directors,” said Chair Joseph Tracy, Vice President, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health System. “This is an auspicious time for CTeL as we continue to move the field of telehealth and HIT forward. We are posed to take full advantage of the many skills and areas of expertise that Jeremy, Mary, and Karen bring to the organization.”
Jeremy Bonfini Intel Corporation	Jeremy Bonfini is the Worldwide Digital Health Policy Manager at Intel Corporation. At Intel Corporation, he engages with national governments to create public policies that speed health information technology deployment. In the US, he has successfully advocated for increased funding of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Office for the Advancement of Telemedicine. Internationally, he serves as the Chair of the European American Business Council's eHealth Working Group. Prior to working at Intel he was the Congressional Relations Manager for the National Mining Association; served as an Education Research Analyst for Nicholas St. Aubyn, a Member of the House of Commons in London, England; and from 1994 to 1997 he served as a Congressional staff member.
Mary DeVany Avera McKennan Telehealth	Mary DeVany is a Manager at Avera McKennan TeleHealth Network. She has been involved with telemedicine activities since 1993 where she began here career as the state-wide telemedicine activities coordinator for the State of South Dakota. Since that time, she has managed the telemedicine activities of the two largest hospitals in South Dakota. In 2006, Mary served as on the planning committee of the CTeL's Telehealth Leadership Conference. In 2006, Avera's Rural Health Institute was awarded a regional telehalth resource center grant from HRSA's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth and a Rural Development Distance Learning and Telemedicine Gant from the USDA Rural Development porgram.
Karen Edison, MD University of Missouri	Karen Edison, MD is a clinician, educator, and researcher with health policy expertise. She is the Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and Medical Director for Missouri Telehealth Network. She received her medical degree and completed her residency in dermatology at the University of Missouri in Columbia where she joined the faculty in 1993. Karen is a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow and worked for Senator Jeffords from 2000-2001. Karen serves as the co-chair of CTeL's annual Telehealth Leadership Conference.
“Telehealth is at a crossroads – it has the ability to address the barriers confronting it in part by the additional skills, contacts, and energy that each of these individuals bring to the Board at this critical time. Jeremy, Mary, and Karen, each have been working diligently to address to barriers to telehealth, including cross-state licensure, funding, reimbursement, and clinician adoption, “said Jackie Eder-Van Hook, CTeL’s Executive Director.
It is clear that telehealth is moving more into the mainstream as its benefits are becoming more well known. Providers, policymakers and patients are embracing telehealth and we look forward to continuing this momentum and further reinforce telehealth’s pivotal role in health care. The CTeL Board is integral to our ability to implement real and sustainable change within health care and there is no better group of individuals with whom I have more confidence in helping us make this happen”, said Eder-Van Hook. Jeremy, Mary, and Karen join existing other members of the CTeL's Board of Directors:
Dale Alverson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico Jana Katz-Bell, MPH, CAO, Center for Health & Technology, University of California, Davis Karen Rheuban, MD, Prof. & Medical Director, University of Virginia Health Systems Curtis Rooney, JD, President, The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) Rob Sprang, MBA, Director, Kentucky TeleCare, University of Kentucky Medical Center Chair Joseph Tracy, MS, Vice President, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network Jackie Eder-Van Hook, MS, Executive Director, CTeL, Ex Officio Robert J. Waters, JD, Partner, Gardner Carton & Douglas, LLP, Telehealth and E-Health Law Chair & Government Relations Chair, CTeL General Counsel, Ex Officio