College of Public Health Board of Advisors
The College of Public Health Board of Advisors consists of leaders from academe, business, community health, government, health care, and labor. The role and function of the board is to provide advice and assistance to the college.
- Andrea H. McGuire, chair
- President and Chief Operating Officer
Meridian Health Plan
View Bio
- Mary Rose Corrigan
- Public Health Specialist
Health Services Department
The City of Dubuque, Iowa
View Bio
- Michele Devlin
- Professor
Health, Physical Education & Leisure Services
University of Northern Iowa
View Bio
- Tom Evans
- President and CEO
Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
View Bio
Ellen Gaucher- Group Vice President
Operations/Quality & Customer Satisfaction
Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield
View Bio
- Raynard S. Kington
- President
Grinnell College
View Bio
Dan Kueter- President and CEO
UnitedHealthcare
Iowa and Central Illinois
View Bio
- Todd Linden
- President and CEO
Grinnell Regional Medical Center
View Bio
Mariannette Miller-Meeks- Director
Iowa Department of Public Health
View Bio
Lisa Nolan- Dean
College of Veterinary Medicine
Iowa State University
View Bio
- Kirk Norris
- President and CEO
Iowa Hospital Association
View Bio
James O'Hare- Director
Safety and Risk Management
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
View Bio
- Martin Sepulveda
- Vice President
Global Well-being Services & Health Benefits Design
IBM Corporation
View Bio
- Bern Shen
- Physician Executive/Entrepreneur/Investor View Bio
- Tom Slater
- CEO
State Public Policy Group
View Bio
John Tyrrell- Physician
Manchester, IA
View Bio
Stephen L. Ummel- Director
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, L.L.P.
View Bio
Laurie Zelnio- Director of Safety, Environment, Standards, and
Enterprise Product Delivery Process
Deere & Company
View Bio
Andy McGuire’s education includes a BS degree in chemistry from Creighton University, a MD from Creighton University, and a MBA from Kennesaw State University. Dr. McGuire is President and Chief Operating Officer at Meridian Health Plan. She is currently involved in state and national health policy, including serving as a member of the CPT panel of the American Medical Association, charged with overseeing coding for all health care professionals, and Chief Medical Officers Committee of the Association of Health Insurance Plans. She also serves on multiple boards focused on her interests in health, women, and children.
Mary Rose Corrigan received her BSN from Mt Mercy College and her MSN from Clarke College. She has worked for the City of Dubuque Health Services Department since 1985 and in her current role as Public Health Specialist since 1989. She has been involved in the delivery of many public health programs and services, along with initiating many new programs and policies, including, Dubuque’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program and, most recently, the Crescent Community Health Center. Mary Rose works with local, state, and federal partners on public health policy and programs, including health promotion and disease prevention.
Michele Devlin received her master’s and doctorate degrees in international public health from the University of California at Los Angeles. She is Professor of Health Promotion and Education at the University of Northern Iowa, where she has received numerous honors for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service in the health and human rights field. Dr. Devlin is Director of the Iowa Center on Health Disparities, and she also directs Cultural Connections, a non-profit consulting organization at the University of Northern Iowa. Some of her areas of specialty include refugee, minority, and immigrant care, as well as cultural competency with underserved populations. Dr. Devlin has more than 25 years of field experience working with public health agencies, non-profits, corporations, and government organizations.
Tom Evans received both BA and MA degrees from Drake University. He received his MD degree from the University of Iowa in 1983 and completed his Family Medicine residency at Broadlawns Medical Center in 1986. He practiced family medicine for 13 years and served as Chief Medical Officer for the Iowa Health System from 1999-2005. Dr. Evans is currently President and CEO of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. The Collaborative focuses provider-led initiatives to promote transparency, improve clinical performance, improve patient safety and reduce costs. Dr. Evans serves as a faculty member with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the College of Medicine at Des Moines University and the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ellen Gaucher holds MS degrees in Nursing and Public Health. She has held many nursing and health care administrative positions over the course of her career, including working in a cardiac and thoracic ICU and as a Nurse Practitioner. Ellen is currently the Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. She joined Wellmark in 1997 and oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, with responsibility for Claims Administration, Customer & Provider Service, the South Dakota Plan’s business operations, and Wellmark’s third party administrator, First Administrators, Inc. Ellen also serves on several local and national boards and committees.
Dr. Raynard S. Kington was appointed President of Grinnell College in August, 2010. Prior to coming to Grinnell, he served in a range of positions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) including NIH Principal Deputy Director and NIH Acting Director, NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Prior to NIH, he was a division director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he led the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), one of the nation's largest studies assessing the health of the American people. He has been a Senior Scientist at the RAND Corporation, was the Co-Director of the Charles R. Drew University/RAND Center on Health and Aging, and has served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA. He was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science in 2006, serving as the chair of the Section on Administration of Health Services, Education, and Research through 2010.
Dan Kueter’s education includes a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts. Dan is CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Iowa and Central Illinois, a position he has held since March 2008. He joined UnitedHealthcare in 2001, holding various roles in Minneapolis until his appointment in September 2006, as President, UnitedHealthcare, Iowa and Central Illinois headquartered in Moline, Illinois. Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Dan was Director of Planning and Operations for Ingenix, a sister company to UnitedHealthcare within the UnitedHealth Group family of companies. Dan is also a board member of various health and community organizations.
Todd Linden received a bachelor’s degree in business, sociology, and communications in 1984 and a master’s degree in hospital and health administration in 1987, both from the University of Iowa. He also completed an administrative fellowship at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in 1988. Since 1994, Todd has served as President and CEO of Grinnell Regional Medical Center, a 49-bed acute care facility in Grinnell, Iowa that serves a population of 47,000 in a six-county area. Todd is a speaker at the national and state level covering topics such as leadership, healthcare environmentalism, stress management, and creating healing cultures. Todd has been involved with numerous hospital and healthcare organizations and has received numerous awards and honors, including the College of Public Health Outstanding Alumni Award in 2004.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks completed her undergraduate degree in nursing at Texas Christian University, master’s degree in education at the University of Southern California, and her MD at the University of Texas Health Science Center before completing her specialization in ophthalmology. In December 2010, Governor Terry Brandstad appointed Dr. Miller-Meeks Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. Dr. Miller-Meeks also served as the first woman president of the Iowa Medical Society and is a 24-year veteran of the United States Army.
Lisa Nolan earned her DVM and a MS and PhD, both in medical microbiology, from the University of Georgia. Dr. Nolan became the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University and the college’s 15th dean on January 15, 2011. She has been a professor, administrator, and researcher at Iowa State University since 2003, having served most recently as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies since 2009. During this period, the research program has grown substantially in expenditures and grants. Dr. Nolan is a member of numerous professional associations, has gained international recognition as a researcher for her rigorous work in the area of E-coli and holds three U.S. patents.
Kirk Norris is a graduate of Simpson College and Drake University Law School. Mr. Norris is President and CEO of the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA), a voluntary membership organization that represents all 118 of Iowa’s public and private hospitals. Under Mr. Norris’ leadership, IHA developed and organized “Iowa Cares About Medicare,” a statewide business and hospital coalition to advance equity in payment from Medicare. IHA became the catalyst and original supporting organization in the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative, a partnership with medicine and business that focuses on quality, efficiency, and patient safety initiatives. In 2004, Mr. Norris initiated IHA’s establishment of a healthcare careers scholarship fund which to date has provided over $500,000 in scholarships. Mr. Norris also serves on various committees and task forces in Iowa and for the American Hospital Association.
Jim O’Hare completed his undergraduate studies at Wayne State College (NE) and then earned his Masters of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska. He also holds an Associate in Risk Management designation from the Insurance Institute of America. Mr. O’Hare began his career with Pioneer Hi-Bred in 1988 and is currently the Director of Safety & Risk Management. His current responsibilities include worldwide strategic and operational responsibility for risk management including: safety, health & environment, risk financing, insurance, loss control, and claims management. Prior to joining Pioneer, Mr. O’Hare spent 15 years with US West Inc., with various responsibilities in sales, marketing, customer services, strategic planning, and risk management.
Martín-J. Sepúlveda, M.D., FACP, is an IBM fellow and Vice President of Integrated Health Services for the IBM Corporation. He leads a worldwide team of professionals providing health care policy, strategy and design and comprehensive employee well-being services to IBM's global businesses. He serves on the Institute of Medicine's Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the Commission for a High Performance Health System of the Commonwealth Fund, the Board of Advisors to the School of Public Health at the University of Iowa, the Board of the National Business Group on Health, and chairs its Global Health Benefits Institute. He received his B.A. from Yale University, M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard University, completed internal medicine residency at the University of California Hospital & Clinics, occupational medicine residency and epidemic intelligence service at NIOSH, CDC, and internal medicine fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and the American College of Preventive Medicine.
Bern Shen holds an AB (biochemistry) from Harvard and an MD, Master of Philosophy (molecular biophysics and biochemistry) from Yale. Formerly double Board Certified in internal medicine and emergency medicine, Dr. Shen practiced clinically for 15 years in settings ranging from medical centers to international sites. He then transitioned to a career in high tech, doing medical software and business development for Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, and serving as Intel’s chief healthcare strategist before getting involved in health/tech startup companies as a co-founder, advisor, or investor. In the nonprofit arena, he led the health practice at the Institute for the Future, has served as Chairman of the Health Trust, as a board member of several nonprofits, and has adjunct faculty appointments in schools of medicine, pharmacy, and business at UCSF and the University of Iowa.
Tom Slater has a BA in English from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Mr. Slater is the founder and CEO of State Public Policy Inc. (SPPG). SPPG was created following Slater’s two terms in the Iowa State Senate. He also served as the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Public Property in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He has served on numerous local, state, and national boards and commissions over the last 40 years. Mr. Slater has served on the CPH Board of Advisors since the College was formed.
John Tyrell earned his B.A. (1947) and M.D. (1950) degrees from The University of Iowa. He has been practicing family medicine in Manchester, Iowa, since 1951, including decades in his own private practice, the Tyrell Clinic, and has been a longtime leader in rural medicine and family practice in the state of Iowa. He has been a clinical professor in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, and served on the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, from 1991 to 1997. He has chaired several local and state health planning boards. He served as district councilor, chairman of the judicial council, chairman of the board of trustees, and president for the Iowa Medical Society. Nationally, he served as representative of the American Medical Association on the Advisory Committee on Outpatient Care for the Accreditation of Hospitals. Tyrrell is a member of the UI Alumni Association's Director's Club, and received the UIAA's Distinguished Alumni Award for Service in 2000. A member of the UI Foundation's Presidents Club, he continues to serve as a lifetime honorary director of the UI Foundation.
Stephen Ummel received a BA from Drake University and an MA in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa. He is currently Director, Healthcare Provider Advisory Practice for PricewatersCooper, LLP in Chicago, Illinois. He has previously served as Principal and National Advisor for Integrated Delivery Systems, Healthcare Consulting Practice, at Ernst & Young in Chicago; CEO of three multi-hospital health systems in Illinois and California; and as COO of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Mr. Ummel is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa College of Public Health and is the author of 25 articles/book chapters on various health topics. Mr. Ummel has served on the CPH Board of Advisors since the College was formed.
Laurie Zelnio received a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa in 1977 and a Master of Business Administration from St. Ambrose University in 1986. Ms. Zelnio is currently the Director of Environment, Product Safety, Standards, Energy/Climate, and Life Sciences at Deere & Company, where she has been since 1979. She is also a member of numerous community, business, and health organizations.