1997 Partnerships for Networked Consumer Health Information Conference

Biographies Of Conference Speakers - T-Z

Bradley Tanner

Dr. Tanner is CEO and President of Clinical Tools, Inc. (CTI), a multimedia software firm specializing in health education. CTI creates interactive health information products and services for the general public. Dr. Tanner is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His research focuses on the development and outcome evaluation of computerized patient tools. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society.

James C. Toler, MSE

Mr. Toler was previous Director / Biomedical Interactive Technology Center at Georgia Tech. Retired on September 30, 1996 but has continued to work part-time on research projects concerned with telecommunication application to the delivery of timely, quality, and cost effective health care.

Reed V. Tuckson, MD

Dr. Tuckson is President of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a private academic institution located in South Central Los Angeles. The University's mission embraces the concept of educating and preparing physicians and allied health professionals to serve traditionally undeserved communities, and to develop new knowledge in service to the health of ethnically diverse populations. Drew University is one of only four African-American Health Science Centers and the only one located west of the Mississippi River. Included among Dr. Tuckson's scope of responsibilities are the supervision of the University's College of Medicine, College of Allied Health and a broad array of children's education programs that begin with Head Start a Saturday Science Academy for elementary and junior high school students and concludes with an on campus Medical Magnet High School.

Prior to coming to Drew in 1991, Dr Tuckson served as the Senior Vice President for Programs of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. Earlier, his commitment to public service culminated in his tenure as the Commissioner of Public Health of the District of Columbia for four years.

He is currently President of the Association of Minorty Health Professions Schools and an active member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. His interests are reflected in his service on boards and committees such as: Baxter International, Inc.; the Foundation for Health Services Research; The Health Care Forum; Catholic Charities USA; Research! America; the Black Community Crusade for Children; Children Now; and United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Dr. Tuckson has long been passionate about the need for health reform that provides comprehensive universal coverage for all Americans.

Born in Washington, DC, Dr. Tuckson was educated at Howard University, received his MD from Georgetown University, and trained as an Intern, Resident, and Fellow in General Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar of the University of Pennsylvania, he studied health care administration and policy at the Wharton School of Business.

Deryk Van Brundt, DrPH

Dr. Van Brunt, is a health information scientist with knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics. As Chief Operating Officer of Windom Health Enterprises, he oversees new research and business projects and is knowledgeable in health care policy, analysis, health-oriented information systems and supporting computer and interactive communication technologies. His background includes co-founding two software companies, specializing in networking CD-ROM applications and developing multimedia and expert systems applications in the health and human service sector. Current projects include: research and development with the Koop Foundation on methods of health information interoperability within the health sector; designing developing and evaluating consumer health information systems with health plans, media companies, and employers; and technical design and organizational planning for community health information networks. Dr. Van Brunt teaches Health Informatics at the University of California at Berkeley, School of Public Health.

Donald M. Vickery, MD

Dr. Vickery, Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Health Decisions International, LLC, is the originator of the demand management concept and the leading developer of Demand Management products. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, he received his residency training at Stanford and Georgetown. Following a successful term as medical director of the Georgetown Community Health Plan, Dr. Vickery founded the non-profit Center of Consumer Health Education, Inc., now known as The Self-Care Institute. In 1984, he left the CCHE to found the Center for Corporate Health, developing innovative self-care programs using mass media and telephone based counseling. Along with numerous research publications, Dr. Vickery has authored Life Plan: Your Own Master Plan for Maintaining Health and Preventing Illness and Taking Part: The Consumer's Guide to the Hospital. He co-authored Take Care of Yourself and Taking Care of Your Child. Dr. Vickery is Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Dorothy Wetzel

Ms. Wetzel has spent the last 14 years working in consumer marketing for pharmaceutical companies such as American Cynnamid, American Home Products and Pfizer. At Pfizer, Ms. Wetzel is Director, Team Leader of Relationship Marketing in the Customer Advocacy Department. A graduate of Columbia Business School, she is now the chairperson for the Health Industry Committee of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club, New York.

Mark Whittier

Mr. Whittier is the architect of Nortel's (Northern Telecom) Integrated Community Network vision. For over ten years, Mark has worked to link public and private sector initiatives with integrated networks. Mark has delivered the Integrated Community Networks message to hundreds of communities across North America and in Europe.

Jean Wooldridge

Ms. Wooldridge is pursuing a thesis for an MPH at the University of Washington: impact of technology on health-information seeking behavior. Directs PNW CIS of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) network in five states. 1-800-4-CANCER phone service (14,000 calls/year), outreach to underserved, research, and NCI/CDC demonstration project with health departments and American Indians to increase breast and cervical cancer screening and access to treatment and information using World Wide Web. Ms. Wooldridge's interests include leveraging partnerships for Internet models and applications for medically underserved, especially for CD-ROM/Web, AI, IA, push, MUDs, and monitoring technology diffusion in underserved.

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