2024 Population Health Innovation Summit

Margarida Barroso, Ph.D., is a professor with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Albany Medical College (AMC) in Albany, New York. Barroso is also the director of the AMC Imaging Core Facility and an adjunct professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. She received her Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Lisbon/Gulbenkian Institute of Sciences in Portugal and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University. Barroso is a renowned expert in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging with two issued patents on FRET imaging technology. She is a former president of the Histochemical Society and serves as a council member of the International Federation of Societies for Histochemistry and Cytochemistry. Barroso’s diverse expertise integrates basic cell biology with methodological advances in imaging technology to position her research group as a major force in the visualization, quantitation, and optimization of drug delivery into cancer cells using receptor-targeted approaches. She is funded by a NY state Rowley breast cancer research grant and several NIH grants, including a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Informatics Technology Cancer Research (ITCR) grant to study the application of artificial intelligence to classify metastatic cancer cells using subcellular features. Recently, she was nominated as an associated member of the NCI Cancer Cell Biology Imaging Research network.

Jason Benitez, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with the Capital Region Chamber, assists businesses and organizations in the Capital Region and beyond in embarking on and advancing their DEI journey. Benitez also works to further the Chamber’s strategic mission relevant to DEI. He previously worked for 15-plus years in higher education at the University at Albany, SUNY Schenectady, and Union College, where he served as associate dean of diversity and inclusion. He serves on the national board of directors and is chair of the DEI division for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and is a board trustee for the Northeastern, NY, chapter of the Make a Wish foundation. Benitez holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and a certificate of advanced study from the University at Albany. He lives in Slingerlands, NY, with his wife and two children.

Todd Britton was selected in March 2022 to serve as the New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Program’s (NYSDOH-OHIP) chief information officer (CIO). In this position, Britton oversees the state’s Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) information technology portfolio, valued at more than $500 million. As the CIO, Britton serves in a principal advisor role to the NYS Medicaid director, planning the strategic direction of the NYS MMIS and the deployment of resources to astutely meet and exceed the expectations of the NYSDOH’s customers, while meeting the demands for Medicaid reform. He is responsible for the various systems within the Division of Operations and Systems (DOS). This entails coordinating with and providing advice to the NYSDOH senior leadership regarding IT, information management, information assurance, and website activities management and operations.

Prior to his selection as CIO, Britton served as the deputy CIO for nearly three years. He also served as the executive director for the Program Management Office at the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC). While at OSC, Britton was instrumental in establishing an enterprise program management office, which built upon the project management methodologies and services in place to establish a mature business analysis center of excellence, providing business analysis services, training, and mentoring in the profession. Britton took the lead in improving project and portfolio oversight for an IT portfolio exceeding $100 million dollars. He provided executive leadership and oversight in the areas of project management, business analysis, information governance, compliance, and departmental policy.

Britton has held several leadership roles during his tenure in the information technology and healthcare administration fields. He has more than 10 years of experience in the planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of technical solutions that address and support the missions of his customers.

Britton holds a BSA in accounting and auditing from The College of Saint Rose. In addition, he has completed the Key Executive Leadership Certificate program and holds a variety of technical and professional certifications. He has also served on numerous boards and in cochair positions throughout his 30-plus years in health and human services in New York State.

Rumi Chunara’s research focuses on developing computational and statistical approaches to use data holistically across healthcare, social, environmental and policy factors, to improve population-level public health. At NYU, Chunara also directs the Center for Health Data Science. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow and instructor at HealthMap and the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program at Harvard Medical School. She completed her Ph.D. at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and her BSc at Caltech. She has received awards from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, Facebook Research, and Gates Foundation Grand Challenges. In addition, she was recognized by MIT Technology Review as a “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” and received the Max Planck Sabbatical Award.

Kim Hill Ridley was appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to serve as New York State’s first-ever chief disability officer (CDO) on February 14, 2022 – the same day that New York’s Office of the Chief Disability Officer was created by law within the New York State Executive Chamber, making New York one of the first states in the country to establish such an office. Ridley has been charged with advising the governor and executive staff on policy and budgetary issues pertaining to disability issues, serving as the state’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator and chairing New York’s Most Integrated Services Coordinating Council, which is responsible for the state’s compliance with the Olmstead Act.

Ridley and her team spend a significant amount of their time meeting with advocates and people with disabilities and their families and focusing on priority topics such as home care, employment, housing, accessibility, and transportation. They also collaborate with state agencies to reduce the silos that exist within the many service delivery systems in New York State.

Prior to joining the New York State Executive Chamber, Ridley served as the principal analyst for the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on People with Disabilities, which focuses primarily on people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Previously, Ridley served as director of the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities, which focused primarily on issues pertaining to people with physical and sensory disabilities.

Ridley holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Utica College of Syracuse University and resides in Latham, NY with her husband, Michael, and her two children, Michaela and Alex.

Josh Klemm was appointed as the chief information officer of the New York State Thruway Authority in October 2021. He previously served in a variety of positions during his 20-year information technology career, including 14 years with the state of New York. Klemm served as chief information security officer and director of the Bureau of Systems and Informatics at the New York State Department of Health, where he and his team played a critical role in developing the systems and reports for the state’s COVID-19 response. In addition, they ran the All Payer Database, Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS), provider directory, and master data management systems. Klemm also held positions with the AIDS Institute and with the Department of Labor. He received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science from the University at Albany, where he serves as an adjunct lecturer in informatics with the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity.

Rohini Kosoglu is a leading national policy expert and veteran of the White House, Congress, and presidential campaigns who has been at the forefront of driving transformative change in social, technology, and economic policy over the last two decades. Kosoglu recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President, where she was the first Asian American woman to serve in this position. She is currently a Venture Partner at Fusion Fund, a venture firm that focuses on early-stage technology and health care investments. She also is a Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) and Director of Innovation Policy at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.  

In the White House, Kosoglu led and promoted initiatives on behalf of the President and Vice President to strengthen democracy, advance gender and racial equity, and create economic mobility for millions of American workers and families. Kosoglu also served as a key advisor during the creation and implementation of the American Rescue Plan, including the national response to the COVID-19 crisis, the CHIPS Act, the AI Bill of Rights, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Cancer Moonshot. On behalf of the Vice President, she helped forge a number of public-private partnerships in the White House, ultimately driving billions of private sector dollars towards national priorities of the President and Vice President and leveraged the strengths of both the government and private-sector. Vice President Harris praised Kosoglu as “a brilliant and trusted leader” who “brought vision, strategic judgement, and a depth of experience as our Administration has addressed some of the most urgent challenges facing our nation.” 

Kosoglu served as a Senior Advisor during both the Presidential transition and 2020 U.S. Presidential election on behalf of President Biden and Vice President Harris. In her campaign role, she also helped manage debate preparations for Vice President Harris. During the 2020 election, Kosoglu crafted policy initiatives to design a more inclusive economy for all communities, particularly those that have been historically left behind, and increase opportunities for American families and workers to succeed. 

Earlier, Kosoglu made history as the first South Asian American woman to serve as Chief of Staff in the United States Senate under then-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris. She managed hearing preparations for some of the highest-profile Senate hearings over the last decade including investigations around data privacy, cybersecurity, and social media interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as Supreme Court nomination hearings. Additionally, under her organizational leadership, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies named Harris’ office under Kosoglu’s tenure as the most diverse in the U.S. Senate. 

Kosoglu’s career in the United States Congress has also included over a decade of leadership positions crafting social, economic, and technology policy initiatives with senior Democratic Senators, including U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Notably, Kosoglu was a key negotiator during the passage of the historic Affordable Care Act. She also was a lead negotiator and drafter during the reform of the Food and Drug Administration which led to landmark designations for approval of innovative drugs and devices, known today as Breakthrough Therapies and Breakthrough Devices, respectively, as well as laws to strengthen patient-centered care in the 21st Century Cures Act. 

Kosoglu was a former resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School and received her bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from George Washington University. She serves on several nonprofit boards and advises across the public and private sectors. 

Xiaobo Xue Romeiko, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research focuses on developing computational approaches to assess the environmental health impacts of complex systems and applying those approaches to suggest sustainable and equitable solutions. Her work is funded by a range of federal and nonprofit organizations, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and was featured by multiple media.

David P. Schaeffer has more than 17 years of government auditing experience with the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s Division of State Government Accountability (SGA), covering New York City agencies and the New York State Medicaid program. Currently, Schaeffer leads SGA’s new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Unit, auditing AI and emerging technology. This resulted in one of the first audits on AI performed by state auditors, who assessed NYC’s AI governance. Schaeffer manages multiple audit teams, which use advanced data analytic skills to research and audit and is a founding member of the Data Consult Team, which is an internal resource for audit teams to help identify data sets and methodologies to assist in their audits and to improve data literacy division-wide. Prior to working for SGA, Schaeffer studied political science and public policy at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the State University of New York, University at Albany, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2006.

Chelsea Sherrod has been a sports reporter and host at SportsNet New York (SNY), home of the New York Mets broadcasts, since 2006. Sherrod hosts shows and reports on New York and tri-state area professional sports teams like the New York Mets, Yankees, Jets, Giants, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Knicks, and Nets. She also provides coverage of the UConn Women’s Basketball team and much more.

As a reporter for SNY, Sherrod was imbedded with the UCONN Women’s basketball team as they advanced to the Women’s Final Four this season.

Prior to joining SNY in December of 2022, Sherrod spent about a year and a half at the New England Sports Network (NESN) as a reporter and host after working as a weekend sports anchor at WKTV in Utica, NY, for just under two years.

Sherrod recently graduated with a master’s degree in strategic communications and public relations from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. She received a bachelor’s degree in visual communications from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT, where she played four years of NCAA Division III women’s basketball before attending the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, where she received a certificate in broadcast training.

Born and raised in Bridgeport, CT, Sherrod is proud of where she comes from. She loves her family and loves all sports, especially soccer and basketball. Her true passion is the growth and development of women in all aspects of sport.

Deborah Szajngarten is the vice president of marketing at Carbyne, a global leader in mission-critical contact center technologies. With extensive experience in marketing and communications, she is a dynamic executive known for her strong focus on driving growth and market expansion in emerging technology companies. Her career is highlighted by significant contributions to growth-stage tech companies, where she has been instrumental in crafting marketing strategies that boost credibility and market presence during crucial growth phases. Before joining Carbyne, Szajngarten worked with startups, such as Vimeo, and mid-stage companies like Radware, as well as major brands, including Canon and Samsung, where she refined her skills and made significant contributions to their marketing efforts.

Jameson Toole, Ph.D., has more than 13 years of experience building novel machine learning and applying artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems. He is the cofounder and former chief technology officer (CTO) of Fritz AI, a Boston-based startup. Toole holds a Ph.D. and MSc from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds undergraduate degrees in physics, economics, and applied mathematics from the University of Michigan.

Fei Wang, Ph.D., is a tenured professor of population health sciences and emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research interest is machine learning and artificial intelligence in biomedicine. He is the founding director of the WCM Institute of AI for Digital Health. Wang has published on major AI venues, including Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and KDD, as well as major medical venues, including Nature Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JAMA Internal Medicine. Wang is an elected fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association, American College of Medical Informatics, and International Academy of Health Sciences and Informatics, and a distinguished member of the Association for Computing Machinery. Wang’s research has been extensively funded by federal agencies — including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Office of Naval Research — private foundations — including the Michael J. Fox Foundation and American Heart Association — and industries such as Amazon, Google, Boehringer Ingelheim, Regeneron, and Sanofi.

Dr. Benita Zahn is a nationally certified health and wellness coach and works with clients at Capital Cardiology Associates in Eastern New York. Zahn spent more than 40 years as a New York Emmy Award-winning health reporter and news anchor at WNYT in Albany, NY. She is a contributor to the weekly “Live Smart” page in the Times Union newspaper, Pacesetter running magazine, and the magazine 55+. Zahn also created and cohosts the biweekly podcast Everything Theatre. She earned a master’s degree and doctorate in bioethics at the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College. A member of the Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Zahn performs on many local stages and was recently named Best Actor in the Times Union “Best of” poll.