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
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- Mary Rose Corrigan
- Public Health Specialist
Health Services Department
The City of Dubuque, Iowa
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- Michele Devlin
- Professor
Health, Physical Education & Leisure Services
University of Northern Iowa
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- Tom Evans
- President and CEO
Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
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Ellen Gaucher, MSN, MPH, FAAN- Consultant, Quality Solutions
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- Raynard S. Kington
- President
Grinnell College
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Dan Kueter- Founding Partner
Provicare, LLC
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- Todd Linden
- President and CEO
Grinnell Regional Medical Center
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Mariannette Miller-Meeks- Director
Iowa Department of Public Health
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Lisa Nolan- Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean
College of Veterinary Medicine
Iowa State University
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- Kirk Norris
- President and CEO
Iowa Hospital Association
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James O'Hare- Director
Safety and Risk Management
DuPont-Pioneer
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- Martin Sepulveda, M.D. FACP
- Vice President
Global Well-being Services & Health Benefits Design
IBM Corporation
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- Bern Shen
- Physician Executive/Entrepreneur/Investor View Bio
- Tom Slater
- CEO
State Public Policy Group
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John Tyrrell- Physician
Manchester, IA
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Stephen L. Ummel- Director
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, L.L.P.
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Laurie Zelnio- Director - Environment, Product Safety, Standards & Energy
Deere & Company
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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 National Advisory Council for the Agency on Healthcare Quality and Research. 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.
Dr. Michele Devlin is Professor of Health Education at the University of Northern Iowa, and Director of the Iowa Center on Health Disparities, an organization established by the National Institutes of Health to improve health equity for underserved populations. Dr. Devlin is also the founder and advisor of the award-winning UNI “Global Health Corps,” a model service-learning program that has trained more than 500 students in conducting culturally appropriate health education programs with over 40,000 diverse and underserved clients in the United States and abroad. Dr. Devlin is the recipient of the One Iowa Award, Richard Remington Award, the Governor’s Award, the Iowa Civil Rights Award, and other local, state, and national honors for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service in the cross-cultural health and human rights field. Dr. Devlin completed her master’s degree and doctorate in international public health at the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Devlin’s primary areas of specialty include refugee, minority, and immigrant care, as well as cultural competency and health communication with underserved populations. She has published more than 100 scientific reports and books, including “Health Matters: A Guide to Working with Diverse and Underserved Populations” and “Postville USA: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America.” In addition to her academic expertise, Dr. Devlin has 30 years of field experience working with public health agencies, non-profits, corporations, and government organizations, conducting programs both domestically and internationally with vulnerable populations, and is also an International Disaster Relief volunteer with the American Red Cross. Dr. Devlin has extensive travel experience, and has worked, visited, or studied in over 40 nations around the world.
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 is a consultant in the area of process improvement and quality improvement in health care and holds Masters of Science Degrees in Nursing and in 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. She previously served as Senior Associate Director of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and most recently as Executive Vice President at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Ellen has co-authored three books on quality in health care and served as a judge for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the State of Michigan Quality Leadership Award, and lead judge for the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence. Ellen served on numerous 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 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 PhD in medical microbiology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Nolan became the 15th Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University on January 15, 2011. She has been a professor, administrator, and researcher in the college since 2003, having served most recently as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies since 2009. During this period, the research program grew 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 and 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 Sepulveda is an IBM Fellow and Vice President of Health Industries Research for the IBM Corporation. He leads a global team of health industry subject matter experts guiding applied research in diverse disciplines for health care systems solutions and transformation in mature and rapid growth countries worldwide. He previously served as IBM VP Integrated Health Services and led health policy, strategy, health benefits design and purchasing, occupational health, wellness and health productivity for IBM globally. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Family Medicine and serves on the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund Commission for a High Performance Health System, and the Institute of Medicine’s Population Health and Public Health Practice Board. He chairs the Global Business Group on Health and the Institute for Health Benefits Innovation Research at the Employee Benefits Research Institute. He received M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard University. He completed residencies in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco Hospitals, Occupational/Environmental Medicine at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, trained in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the US Centers for Disease Control, and completed a fellowship in internal medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
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 Tyrrell 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 Tyrrell 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 PWC 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, Indiana and Southern 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. He has also served on the CPH Board of Advisors since the College was formed. In terms of volunteer community service, Mr. Ummel is a Trustee and Treasurer of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC.
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 and Energy/Climate at Deere & Company, where she has been since 1979. She is also a member of numerous community, business, and health organizations.