Congressional Briefing Panelist Bios

Keynote Speaker

Peter Bach, MD, MAPP

Director The system wide impact of new cancer therapies

Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes

The Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, Dr. Bach is a physician, epidemiologist, writer, and recognized expert in healthcare policy whose work has been regularly featured in major scientific and lay press outlets such as the NEJM, JAMA, and the New York Times. Dr. Bach is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Health Care Services and National Cancer Policy Forum and the Committee on Performance Measurement of the National Committee on Quality Assurance; he is also the Chair of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Technical Expert Panel, which works to develop quality measures for PPS-exempt cancer hospitals.

Dr. Bach has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and editorials in scientific journals as well as 16 healthcare-related op-eds in outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. He has served as a mentor to 15 postdoctoral researchers, given more than 100 invited seminars, and been the recipient of multiple NIH grants.

Dr. Bach currently holds the titles of Member in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Also Featuring 

Matt Salo
Executive Director
The impact on state Medicaid programs
National Association of Medicaid Directors

Matt Salo was named Executive Director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) in February 2011. The newly formed association represents all 56 of the nation’s state and territorial Medicaid Directors, and provides them with a strong unified voice in national discussions as well as a locus for technical assistance and best practices.

Matt formerly spent 12 years at the National Governors Association, where he worked on the Governors’ health care and human services reform agendas, and spent the 5 years prior to that as a health policy analyst working for the state Medicaid Directors as part of the American Public Human Services Association.

Matt also spent two years as a substitute teacher in the public school system in Alexandria, VA, and holds a BA in Eastern Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.

Leigh Purvis, MPA
Director of Health Services Research
The Impact on beneficiaries’ access, cost and outcomes
AARP’s Public Policy Institute

Leigh Purvis is the Director of Health Services Research in AARP’s Public Policy Institute. She leads a team of policy analysts and researchers who work on health care issues that are relevant to the 50+ population.  In addition, Ms. Purvis heads the Institute’s work on prescription drug issues. Her primary areas of expertise are prescription drug pricing, biologic drugs, and prescription drug coverage under Medicare. She is a coauthor of the Public Policy Institute’s annual Rx Price Watch reports, which track price trends for prescription drugs widely used by older Americans. Prior to her tenure at AARP, she worked for the American Psychological Association.  Ms. Purvis is a recognized expert on prescription drug issues and frequently speaks with the press.

Ms. Purvis has a MPA with a concentration in health administration and policy from George Mason University and a BS in psychology from the University of Mary Washington.

David A. Fleming, MD, MA, MACP
President
The Impact on patients
American College of Physicians (ACP)

Dr. Fleming is Professor of Medicine and Chairman, Department of Medicine and Director, MU Center for Health Ethics at the University Of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, Missouri.  He has served on faculty there since 1980. From 1999-2001 he was a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services primary care research fellow at the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University, having practiced internal medicine and geriatrics in North Central Missouri for nearly 20 years prior to that experience.

In addition to his duties as chair of medicine and center director, he directs the clinical ethics consult service at University of Missouri Health Care, co-chairs the clinical ethics committee, and spends a great deal of time teaching and developing curriculum in health ethics and professionalism in the medical school and venues schools across the university campus.

He is widely published and pursues research in end of life care, health disparity, health literacy, organizational ethics, health care access, and research ethics. Dr. Fleming also serves as Chair of the Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee, member of the Board of Regents, and most notably, President, beginning April 2014, for the American College of Physicians, and is a member of the Board of Regents for the National Library of Medicine.

Cary Sennett, MD, PhD, FACP
President and CEO
The impact on specialty treatments
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA)

Cary Sennett, MD, PhD, FACP is President and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), the largest not-for-profit dedicated to improving the lives of the 60 million Americans with asthma and allergic diseases.

Dr. Sennett has more than 25 years of experience working with both public and private sector organizations to measure and improve the quality and value of health care in the United States. He has held leadership roles in industry (at Aetna, at US Healthcare, at Ingenix (Optum), at MedAssurant  Inovalon, and at Wellpoint/Anthem), and in not-for-profits (including the National Committee for Quality Assurance,  the American College of Cardiology, and the American Board of Internal Medicine).  He recently served as President of IMPAQ International, a policy research firm, and as a Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.

Dr. Sennett earned his medical degree from Yale University and his PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and is a Board Certified Internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians.