Who We Are
The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit organization. Our volunteer board represents a cross section of public and private insurance purchasers, patient advocates, providers, physicians and insurers in the state. Dozens of other stakeholders volunteer their time in committees that focus on health information technology, quality measurement, medical homes and outreach and education.
Executive Director:
Shannon Robshaw, MSW
Board of Directors:
President, Michael O. Fleming, MD, FAAFP
Vice-President, Julia Ann Adams Kenny, BS
Secretary/Treasurer, Linda Gage-White, MD, PhD, MBA
Board Members:
Gery Barry, MS, FSA
Yakima Black, MS
William F. Borne, RN
Frederick P. Cerise, MD, MPH
Karen Bollinger DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc
Frannie R. Kronenberg, MD, MSc
Stephanie Mills, MD, MHCM
Raymond A. Peters, SPHR
Eric B. Taylor, MS
Project Managers:
Executive Director:
Shannon Robshaw, MSW is the Executive Director of the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum, where she is responsible all aspects of the organization’s daily operations and works with the Board of Directors to plan and implement the Forum’s strategic priorities. She formerly served as an Executive Management Officer in the Office of the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), where she led the work with public and private stakeholders to develop the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum (LHCQF). During her time at DHH, Ms. Robshaw provided staff support to the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative, and served as lead staff for the Living with Illness and Disability workgroup. She also led other departmental and cross-agency transformation initiatives, such as the development of Louisiana’s Plan for Access to Mental Health Care and the Louisiana Integrated Treatment Services infrastructure initiative. Prior to her assignment to the Office of the Secretary, she served as the Director of Strategic Management and Fund Development for DHH’s Office of Mental Health. Before joining DHH, Ms Robshaw served for 10 years as the Executive Director of the Mental Health Association in Louisiana, where she established the organization as the prominent leader for mental health issues, building a multi-stakeholder advocacy coalition focused on legislation and policy.
President:
Michael O. Fleming, MD, FAAFP is a Family Medicine physician from Shreveport, Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and graduated from the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport. Dr. Fleming is active locally, nationally and internationally in the promotion of family medicine and is past president of both the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians, which represents almost 94,000 physicians and medical students in the United States. Dr. Fleming served on the prestigious Future of Family Medicine task force charged with developing a national strategy to transform and renew the specialty of family medicine to meet the needs of people and society in a changing environment; much of this work was incorporated into the recently released “Joint Principles of the Patient Centered Medical Home” released by the AAFP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Osteopathic Association.
Vice-President:
Julia Ann Adams Kenny, BS is the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Formerly she was the Director for Advocacy for the Louisiana chapter of the America Association of Retired Persons (AARP). She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Indiana University. In her capacity at AARP she coordinates the overall advocacy efforts of the state office to achieve the state and national goals of the association. Prior to joining AARP, Ms. Kenny was Executive Director of the Arc of Louisiana, a statewide non-profit organization advocating along with and on behalf of children and adults with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities. She has served on numerous community boards and committees including: AARP’s National Health Care Reform Workgroup, the Governor's Advisory Committee on Disability Affairs; the Louisiana Healthcare Redesign Collaborative, and the Department of Health and Hospitals Quality Leadership Committee.
Secretary/Treasurer:
Linda Gage-White, MD, PhD, MBA is a practicing Otolaryngologist and a Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. She holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University, is a graduate of the University of Miami MD-PhD program receiving her doctorate in biochemistry, and received her MBA from Centenary College in Shreveport. In addition to over 20 years of clinical practice, Dr. Gage-White served as Medical Director/Executive Director for Cigna Healthcare of Louisiana in the late 1990s. She is active in the local and national medical community including the Louisiana State Medical Society, has edited several medical journals, and is a former President of the Board of Directors of the Pelican Council Girl Scouts.
Board Members:
Gery Barry, MS, FSA
Yakima Black, MS is Executive Director of Mental Health America of Louisiana. She is a graduate of Southern University with a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling. Throughout her professional career, Ms. Black has focused on the rehabilitation needs of people with severe and chronic mental illness. She serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Mental Health Planning and Advisory Councils, is the immediate Past-Chair of the Louisiana Mental Health Planning Council, and was a behavioral health representative on Louisiana Healthcare Redesign Collaborative.
William F. Borne, RN is Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Amedisys, Inc., a provider of home health services in 19 states which is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr. Borne is an experienced Registered Nurse and a graduate of the Charity Hospital School of Nursing. Amedisys was recently ranked 55th in Forbes Magazine’s Top 200 Small Companies in America, and 7th in Fortune Magazine’s List of 100 Fastest-Growing Companies. He serves on various boards including the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation, Business First Bank of Baton Rouge and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation of Louisiana.
Frederick P. Cerise, MD, MPH is Louisiana State University System Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Education. He is a graduate of Notre Dame, the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and the Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Cerise was named in 2007 the Louisiana State University Systems Vice President for Health Care and Medical Education. Dr. Cerise previously had responsibility for the overall operations of DHH, which included Medicaid and the Offices of Public Health and Mental Health. A practicing internist, he has served as CEO and Medical Director of Earl K. Long Hospital as well as Secretary of the Louisiana State Department of Health & Hospitals. He is a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society and serves on the boards of Archbishop Hannan High School in New Orleans and the Hospice Foundation of Greater Baton Rouge.
Karen Bollinger DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc is Chief of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Tulane University School of Medicine and Executive Director of the Tulane University Community Health Center at Covenant House. She is a graduate of the both Tulane University’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine as well as Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Dr. Desalvo is a practicing internist, teacher and researcher – she is the C. Thorpe Ray Chair in Internal Medicine and co-Director of the Center for Health Equality Research at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, and currently serves as Vice-Dean for Community Affairs and Health Policy at Tulane University. She is active in the local and national medical community.
Frannie R. Kronenberg, MD, MSc is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Office at East Jefferson General Hospital. She received her medical degree from the University of Connecticut School Of Connecticut School Of Medicine, and a Masters of Health Care Management from the Harvard University School of Public Health. In her past role at EJGH she has created the Department of Clinical Excellence and Outcomes Management, led a successful initiative to achieve major teaching status for the hospital, and overseen the redesign of care management and several clinical pathways incorporating best practices and evidence-based medicine. An internist who practiced in Boston for 11 years prior to moving to Louisiana, she previously served as Chief Medical Information Officer at EJGH, as well as Medical Director in Internal Medicine at both the Tulane University Hospital & Clinic and the Brigham & Women’s Physician Group in Massachusetts.
Stephanie Mills, MD, MHCM is the Chief Information Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer for the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. A native of Lafayette, she received a BS from Louisiana State University, her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her Masters of Health Care Management from the Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Mills is a Pediatrician, and served as Medical Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. She is active locally and nationally in the promotion of health care information technology and she currently serves as a member of the Louisiana Health Information Exchange demonstration project, the Southern Governors’ Association Gulf Coast Task Force for Health Care IT, and is the co-principal investigator of a $1 million National Science Foundation Grant to investigate barriers to IT adoption in clinical settings with Dr. Sonja Wiley-Patton and colleagues from LSU’s College of Business Administration.
Raymond A. Peters, SPHR is Vice President of Human Resources for Roy O. Martin Lumber Company in Alexandria, Louisiana. He received a BA in Communication Arts from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, is a graduate of the LSU Executive Program, and holds a lifetime certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources awarded by the Society of Human Resource Management. During the majority of his thirty-year career in industry he has held a variety of human resources and commercial positions of increasing responsibility both nationally and internationally, including the management of large-scale employee health benefits programs. He is active in the community and most recently served on the board of directors for the United Way of Central Louisiana where he was Chairman in 2005.
Eric B. Taylor, MS, Chief Executive Officer SWLA Center for Health Services, Lake Charles, Louisiana. He has served in this capacity on two separate occasions. The first occasion occurring in 2001 until the Fall of 2002. The second occasion occurring after serving as the CEO for a Chicago based Community Health Center for two years. Eric has also served as a Chief Executive Officer of a Community Health Center, two Health Maintenance Organizations, and Commissioner for State of Tennessee, spanning a period of more than thirty-two years. Eric has a Master of Science Degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brooks, New York in Health Services Administration.
Nicole Pellitteri, MBA is project manager and staff lead for the Quality Measurement and Medical Home committees of the LHCQF. Mrs. Pellitteri was previously employed by the VHA Gulf States where she served as Clinical Coordinator and IT Liaison and then Business Development Coordinator/Producer where she also served on the Board of Directors as Secretary. Her responsibilities included clinical improvement reports on JCAHO activities and mock survey reports; value reporting activities, the Rapid Response Team database project; and production of special surveys and reports, such as Clinical Service line utilization. Mrs. Pellitteri received her professional degree, a Masters of Business Administration from Louisiana State University. She devotes personal time as an AARP Futures Council Member focused on health care reform. She also participates in Forum35, a community-wide volunteer service organization focused on improving the Baton Rouge area.
Will Jackson, MHA is project manager and staff lead for the HIT and Education and Outreach committees of the LHCQF.Prior to joining the LHCQF, Mr. Jackson was an Administrative Fellow at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center where he participated in strategic planning for the organization, performed data analyses of operating room utilization and efficiency and quantified opportunities for improvement, and performed as other duties to increase efficiency and improve quality and use of best practices in the hospital. Additionally, Mr. Jackson has worked as a researcher and data analyst for Louisiana Business Group on Health and performed a Gap Analysis on current health status in Louisiana which assessed areas needing improvement and benchmarked with leading in class states.
9/19/08