Key Contributor Award Recipients

Igor Gejdos
Technical Work Group
Roche Diagnostics

Igor stepped up to fill a void in the XHR Interface Team.  He quickly immersed himself in the technology and became an expert on the Continua Personal Health Monitor EHR interface.  He spent 3+ days of toiling to map IEEE device nomenclature into appropriate SNOMED CT nomenclature.  Additionally he is the main contact/liaison to the HL7 Structured Document Technical Committee, presenting out as necessary and tracking/resolving technical issues required for the specification.

Bernard Burg
Technical Work Group
Panasonic

Bernard has been key in assisting with the PAN Interface.  He picked up the Thermometer specialization and drove it to completion while incorporating team comments.  He also made an extra effort to adopt and "test and run"  the new IEEE template for the team's future use.

Bernard Burg is in charge of telehealthcare development at Panasonic, with a key role to foster, outside of Japan, Continua-related collaborations worldwide. His technical contribution ranges from standardization work, to design and development of new concepts. His core competencies cover proof-of-concept design, prototype implementation, intellectual property creation, and concept promotion to technical and non-technical audiences.

Prior to working in telehealthcare, Bernard was a pioneer in Intelligent Agent technology, where he held a position of VP in the Agent Standard FIPA while leading research teams at Hewlett-Packard that implemented key mechanisms in the leading semantic web environment Jena. In addition, he launched the EU LEAP project which produced the first standard agent platform running on phones while working for Motorola. Bernard holds a PhD in machine learning from Paris XI-Orsay. Originally a mechanical engineer, he was ‘corrupted’ by computer science and AI while studying robotics and control systems.

Steve Kahle
Technical Work Group
Precor, Inc.

Steve has done an outstanding job participating in the TCWG VASC RFP review team, reviewing and assessing over 200 pages of proposals. He was the first to set up and complete his interviews and one of the first to review feedback.

In addition, the IEEE 11073-20601 mapping analysis of requirements to guidelines was a critical path item that Steve volunteered for. He did a great job presenting the analysis and leading the TWG to consensus resulting in ~20 changes to the IEEE 11073-20601 spec in order to closer align it with Continua Requirements.

Steve worked on the VASC RFP Review Team and actively participates in the Technical Working Group, IEEE 11073, the Core Devices Team and is leading a Task Group Evaluating Use Cases, Requirements and Technologies for Low Power Transport Layers.

Steve is a Principal Engineer in the Research and Innovation Group at Precor, a leading Fitness Equipment manufacturer and member of the Amer Sports Group. His roles include leading the R&I Software Team, partnership and technology evaluation, managing software contractors, new product development and liaison to Continua.

With 24 years of experience in electronics, Steve worked in positions from production technician to CEO and is equally at home deeply immersed in the lab or making a presentation to a large audience. Prior to joining Precor, Steve led engineering efforts in RAID Data Storage, Data Acceleration Technology, Marine Instrumentation, and spent a decade with Hewlett-Packard. Steve holds degrees in Marine Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering.

George Mac Ginnis
Assistive Technology Programme Lead
NHS Connecting for Health

George achieved outstanding results in getting use cases ready for ballot. He drove the completion of several use cases and did an excellent job of identifying the necessary details required to ensure quality use cases that adequately represented a variety of perspectives. Additionally, he helped build stronger relations with the TWG through participation in the xHR interface group and with the security and privacy group. He made significant contributions to the TWG work. Equally important is his creation of valuable lines of communication between the UCWG and the TWG that will continue to pay dividends.

George leads NHS Connecting for Health’s assistive technology programme, which was established in response to growing need to support the development and procurement of telehealth technologies that meet the emerging needs of the National Health Service in England, including integration into the NHS’ electronic Care Records Service. As well as working with the Continua Health Alliance developing proposals for future aspects of interoperability, George has been involved with in setting up a national procurement framework for personal health systems and supporting the creation of the large scale “Long Term Condition Whole System Demonstrator” projects in England.

George has a wide range of experience in IT and business change projects. His previous work includes deployment of digital x-ray systems and implementing new emergency service command and control operations. George holds masters degrees in Engineering, International Affairs and Business Administration.

Jeff Egan
Use Case Working Group
Christus Health

Jeff achieved outstanding results in getting use cases ready for ballot. He drove the completion of several use cases and did an excellent job of identifying the necessary details required to ensure quality use cases that adequately represented a variety of perspectives. Additionally, he helped build stronger relations with the TWG through participation in the xHR interface group and with the security and privacy group. He made significant contributions to the TWG work. Equally important is his creation of valuable lines of communication between the UCWG and the TWG that will continue to pay dividends.

Randy Carroll
Senior Software Engineer
IBM

Randy Carroll shouldered an incredible amount of work by volunteering to fill a critical path gap and deliver the ISO/IEEE 11073 Aging Independently Hub device specification.
This entailed immersing himself in both the Aging Independently domain and the IEEE 11073 technology. Additionally, he paved the way for all PHD specification compliance sections by authoring the first one. Randy has great intellect and experience which he intentionally applies to issues that are critical to the team’s success. He is very results oriented and always respectful and warm to others.

Randy Carroll is a Senior Software Engineer for IBM at their Research Triangle Park facility where he works in a software standards and strategy organization. His current work focuses on the healthcare industry especially personal healthcare and "aging in place.” In support of this work, he actively participates in Continua Health Alliance and other standards organizations such as IEEE and HL7, where the base building blocks are being constructed.

Previously, his work included vehicle telematics and RFID based supply chain management. While he has held a variety of management and development positions over the years, his primary interests remain centered around embedded computing and the practical application of technology. He holds a B.S and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky, as well as an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University.

Lars Schmitt
Technical Working Group
Philips Research Europe

Lars Schmitt pioneered the ISO/IEEE 11073 device specialization work by delivering the Weight Scale specification and prototype implementation. His work served as a significant catalyst for completion of all other device specializations as they draft heavily from this work. Additionally, he took a leadership position on Interoperability Guidelines Team and coordinated broadly to resolve and document guidelines for the device data framework section. Lars is technically strong and well-organized. His great communication skills enable him to work well with others to drive consensus on key issues.

Lars is a Research Scientist at Philips Research Europe. Since joining Philips in 2006, Lars has been active in the healthcare domain addressing connectivity standards and technology. In this context, he has been actively participating in the Continua Health Alliance and other standardization organizations such as IEEE, Bluetooth, and ZigBee.

Lars received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. Early this year, Lars successfully defended his PhD thesis in Communications Engineering from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Jayant "JP" Parthasarathy
Program Manager
Nonin Medical Inc.

JP stepped up to chair the Core-Device team at a critical time for the team, and he has already brought good project management practices to the team. In addition, JP is a great person to work with. Not only is he talented and intelligent; he is also compromise-oriented. He works to find win-win solutions to problems. And, he is generous with positive feedback. In addition, JP has helped drive interoperability proto-types to test and demonstrate the forming guidelines.

Jayant "JP" Parthasarathy is a Program Manager at Nonin Medical Inc, (Plymouth, MN), a leading manufacturer of innovative physiological monitoring products. JP led the Bluetooth Medical Devices Profile Working Group as an elected Co-Chair in its first year and currently serves as the Chair of the Continua Alliance Core Devices Group. Additionally, he is closely involved with healthcare communication related standardization activities at the IEEE and USB Forum. JP received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in Wireless Neural Micro-systems.

Doug P. Bogia
Standards Architect
Digital Health Group
Intel Corporation

Doug has been the driving force behind the 11073 PHD group where he has brought parties with strong opinions together to find common ground. This is exemplified in the progress in the 20601 specification where he forged a compromise between the authors of competing approaches, has kept the group on subject, has successfully avoided scope creep and bridged disagreements that resulted in all parties freely accepting the conclusions. Additionally, he, along with others he has recruited, has created successful interoperability demonstrations that have fueled optimism about the group's success. While 11073 is distinct from Continua, Continua's success is dependent upon the 11073 group producing a viable spec. Doug has been instrumental in making this a reality. Doug's objectivity, diplomacy and technical knowledge are deserving of high praise.

Doug Bogia is a Standards Architect in Intel’s Digital Health Group. In 1995, Doug received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in Computer Supported Collaborative Work. Since joining Intel in 1995, Doug has held a number of positions ranging from implementing collaborative business and personal products, implementing small business support services, to creating telecommunication products. During 2002, he assisted in creating the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture standard enabling the telecommunications industry to begin interoperable implementations in 2003. Recently, he shifted focus to the healthcare industry. Doug led the formation of the ISO/IEEE 11073 Personal Health Devices Work Group where he currently serves as the Work Group Chair. He is also an active participant in the Continua Health Alliance, Bluetooth Medical Devices Work Group, and USB Personal Health Device Profile.

Rick Zall
Proskauer Rose, Inc.

In May 2007, along with Partners HealthCare, Rick Zall co-organized and co-chaired the Continua-sponsored Personal Health Management Forum at Proskauer's New York offices. An important catalyst to making this forum a reality, Rick provided Proskauer conference facilities at no cost and was one of three individuals personally involved with setting the program for the day and recruiting speakers. The forum, geared toward large employer human resource senior executives, featured Continua and many of its member companies and addressed the potential use of connected devices in employee health benefit management programs. In co-organizing this forum with Partners HealthCare, Rick went above and beyond to help advance Continua's interests. The forum helped to spark increased interest and excitement in this important focus area. Further, it led to a spontaneous grass roots effort among Continua members to formalize a previously discussed reimbursement workgroup subcommittee geared toward large employers. The forum will likely be an annual event and Rick’s activities and energies here have been exemplary in helping to advance Continua and its mission.

David Simons
Philips Research Europe

David Simons is friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, and responsible. He exemplifies a TWG Key Contributor. Mr. Simons has been a strong TWG contributor over this past year by often working off hours to provide detailed reviews for all of the requirements and the standards proposals. He led the E2E team to baseline and then continuously improve the E2E architecture document, effectively reconciling all comments and suggestions. As part of this, he categorized architectural components and provided logical modeling of reference device classes, cardinality, and a reference topology and explained it in easy-to-understand terms.

Currently, Dr. Simons is a senior architect at Philips Research Europe in the area of healthcare systems architecture. From a technology perspective, he and his research team support Philips businesses in medium-to-long term growth opportunities. In scope are applications and services for remote patient management and personal and consumer healthcare.

In this context, he has been participating in the Continua Health Alliance Technical WG, from early on. With the end-to-end architecture sub-team, he will continue to focus on the overarching and longer-term architectural aspects of the Continua interoperability framework.

Previously, Dr. Simons worked as a senior scientist in the area of connectivity middleware for CE home entertainment networking, contributing to both Philips’ corporate research programs and external research projects with European partners.

Dr. Simons holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the Eindhoven University of Technology. He lives near Eindhoven with his wife and their toddler son.

Chris Burns
Tunstall Group

The Aging Independently team has always been a great example of teamwork and high quality work products and Chris Burns is the key backbone that facilitates this. He worked long hours to educate Continua member organizations on Aging Independently technologies and how they relate to care needs by creating a succession of white papers, support material, and requirements. Additionally, he spearheaded the completion of the TWG review and ensured his team completed well ahead of time.

Mr. Burns is currently Systems Consultant with Tunstall Group, the leading provider of telecare solutions. Working with the strategic Business Development group, his responsibilities include the definition of new system and product propositions, and the development of technology partnerships.

Mr. Burns joined Tunstall in 1988 as a Design Engineer. He then spent 12 years in various hardware and firmware related roles developing products to meet the requirements of both UK and international Telecare markets. In 2000 he changed industries to gain experience leading the Electronics & Controls department of one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of central heating boilers, rejoining Tunstall in 2004 to take up his current position. Mr. Burns is a Chartered Engineer, holds a BEng(hons) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering and is close to completing an MBA(Tech Mgmt). Mr. Burns and his wife live in Yorkshire. He enjoys sailing in his spare time.

Masumi Ishikawa
Intel

Masumi Ishikawa earned recognition as a key contributor to both the Continua Marketing Work Group and the Government Affairs Work Group. Mr. Ishikawa provided the leadership in organizing the Tokyo Telehealth Symposium offering open discussion on the telehealth industry in Japan. He successfully recruited prominent government and industry representatives to address key issues in feature presentations. Additionally, Mr. Ishikawa secured core sponsorship ensuring the logistical success of the symposium and growing the awareness of the Continua Health Alliance and its mission in a vital market. Mr. Ishikawa is a member of Intel's policy and standards team in Japan working with both governmental organizations, technology and healthcare companies.

Mr. Ishikawa is a Digital Health Policy and Standards Manager of Intel Japan office and is responsible for driving standardization initiatives and policy changes that enable improvement of healthcare through IT utilization in Japan. Before joining Intel in April 2006, he had worked at the IT Strategy Headquarters of Japanese Government and drafted Japan's latest healthcare IT promotion strategy by leading cross-sectoral initiatives in the healthcare industry. Mr. Ishikawa earned a MBA from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University, and MS and BS in civil engineering from the Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan.

Szymon Zyśko
Silicon & Software Systems (S3)

Szymon Zyśko has done a great job within the Technical Work Group E2E Architecture team and in the Merge team by collecting team-specific requirements, reviewing them with the other members and editing the document in a structured way. There were a significant number of detailed review comments that Mr. Zyśko resolved diplomatically and expeditiously in order to deliver on time. Additionally, he raised the bar on quality inputs by providing priorities, version numbers and use case mappings on all requirements.

Mr. Zyśko is the Technology Officer for the Consumer Healthcare business line at Silicon & Software Systems (S3). His responsibilities include driving the technical direction of the business line, generating and managing intellectual property and representing S3 in industry organization bodies globally. Mr. Zyśko joined S3 in 2000 as a software engineer. In this role he technically managed multiple leading-edge telecommunications and enterprise telemonitoring projects before recently being appointed as Technology Officer for the Consumer Healthcare business line. Mr. Zyśko holds a MSc. in Computer Science with honors from the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland.

Julie Fleischer
Intel Corporation

Julie Fleischer has taken the lead of consolidating all requirements of the different sub-teams of the Continua Technical Working Group into one combined document. She has been pro-active from the beginning of this process by tackling the tough problems, approaching the right people, and making sure that all work gets done. Without the dedication of Ms. Fleischer it would not have been possible to properly consolidate all the different requirements in a concise way within a limited time.

Ms. Fleischer has been an active contributor to the Continua Technical Working Group. She is the USB Implementers Forum liaison to Continua, and she worked on various teams that assisted in defining the TWG v1.0 Requirements. She is currently the chair of the USB Personal Healthcare WG. In her 9 years at Intel, she has worked in various roles, including project management, software quality assurance, software testing, and software test leadership. She received her BS and MS in Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mark Ainsworth
Precor, Inc.

Mark Ainsworth has shown himself to be a great contributor and leader in Continua's Technical Work Group. He has brought himself up to speed on all Technical Work Group requirements quickly, and has shown leadership on the calls by bringing up issues and enabling the team to resolve them. He has also been a great contributor and always signs up for a significant portion of work and completes his work on time.

Mr. Ainsworth earned a BS in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University in 1976, and a MSEE from the University of Washington in 1980. He has over 30 years experience in electronics and embedded software design. Mr. Ainsworth has been working at Precor, Inc., a leading manufacturer of fitness equipment, for the past 11 years. He started there as a senior software engineer, and is now Director of Electrical Engineering. In his spare time, Mr. Ainsworth is active in a local Boy Scout troop, where he serves as merit badge counselor and outdoor leader. He also plays viola, clarinet and saxophone in local amateur music groups.

Ali Rogan
Tunstall Group

Ali Rogan earned recognition for providing timely input on the Aging Independently category for all of Continua's key marketing projects. Ms. Rogan went beyond the call of duty to provide new, original content for the Continua Web site and upcoming newsletter as well as identifying new speaking opportunities for Continua board members. Ms. Rogan has helped bridge the knowledge between the Government Affairs Work Group and the Marketing Work Group so that Continua's messages and programs stay on target and properly consider the impact of governmental decisions.

Ms. Rogan is the Group Marketing Director of the Tunstall Group, the world’s leading provider of telecare solutions which play a pivotal role in supporting older people and those with long-term needs to live independently, by effectively managing their health and well-being.

Ms. Rogan’s responsibilities include the ongoing development of the Group strategic plan which includes a thorough understanding of our customer’s needs, the delivery of a consistent branding policy and the successful launch of new solutions and initiatives to the market. This activity is based on a strategy that is consistent with the evolving health and social care agendas, key government priorities and demographic and environmental factors.

She also works closely with partners and represents the industry by being an active member of the Continua Health Alliance marketing and government affairs working groups, to maximize opportunities to meet the demands of changing societies across the 30 countries where Tunstall operates.

She joined Tunstall in July 2002 with the objective of enhancing customers’ understanding of the complete range of Tunstall’s solutions and developing a communications programme to ensure telecare is firmly on the agendas of key influencers within the government, health, social care, housing and voluntary sectors.

Ms. Rogan has over 20 years marketing experience and is a Chartered Marketer. She has worked in a variety of industries including telecommunications where she has 7 year’s experience.

Julie Cantor Weinberg
Boston Scientific

Julie Weinberg earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Government Affairs Working Group. Ms. Weinberg’s leadership was key in developing content for the internal and external messages on reimbursement policy in the United States. Ms. Weinberg is Director of Government Affairs for Boston Scientific, a Fortune 500 company which manufactures and developers innovative medical technologies. She has responsibility for the development and implementation of policies and strategies addressing federal and state issues of priority concern to the company. Prior to joining Guidant (which was acquired by Boston Scientific in April 2006) in 1998, Julie served for three years as the Associate Director, Employee Benefits Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the nation's largest industrial trade association. At the NAM, she had responsibility for health system reform and all aspects of health benefits policy, including monitoring the effect of Medicare and Medicaid on private employers.

From 1991 to 1995, Ms. Cantor-Weinberg worked as an analyst at the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), a congressional agency. At GAO, she wrote testimonies and reports on a wide range of health policy issues at the request of various Congressional committees. She is a past board member of the Indiana Medical Device Manufacturers Council and of URAC, a health care accrediting organization. She is also a member of Women in Government Relations, the Tax Coalition, and co-chairs the media relations of the R&D Credit Coalition. She is also the Vice Chair of the IMDMC Government Relations Committee and the Chair of the Continua Health Alliance US Government Affairs Working Group. Ms. Cantor-Weinberg earned a masters degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University.

Rose Higgins
iMetrikus

Rose Higgins earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Use Case Working Group. Ms. Higgins coordinated the analysis which comprehensively mapped device functions to data, supporting the implementation of Version 1 Guidelines. Ms. Higgins also provided key insight and contributions to the overall process and strategy.

As President of iMetrikus, Rose Higgins is responsible for developing the company's strategy, managing day-to-day operations, strengthening the company's infrastructure, developing products and services to meet the needs of new and emerging markets, and preparing the company for the future.

Ms. Higgins has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare including operational management, product development, technical marketing, project leadership, and clinical management. Prior to joining iMetrikus, she served as the group director of product marketing and information management for the Pyxis Corporation, a healthcare automation company and Cardinal Health subsidiary.

Before joining Pyxis, she was an administrative director of medical management at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University (Heinz School) and Duquesne University School of Nursing.

Mark Schnell
Cisco Systems

Mark Schnell earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Technical Working Group. Mr. Schnell provided a proactive approach and exceptional effort developing the USB architecture, Use Case technical feasibility analysis and chairing the IPLan team.

Mr. Schnell has an EE degree (BS and Masters) and has spent 14 years in telecom at Nortel and 7 years in datacom at Cisco. His training is HW design. Over the years he has developed numerous boards, chips and systems.

Frank Wartena
Philips

Frank Wartena earned dual recognition as a key contributor to both the Continua Technical Working Group and Use Case Working Group. Mr. Wartena served as Secretary of the Use Case team, accepting the challenge of coordinating the communication between the use case and technical teams while driving requirements development for disease management.

Mr. Wartena is a Research Scientist at Philips Research Europe, located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. He joined Philips Research in 2004 after receiving his master's degree in Computer Science with honours from the University of Twente, The Netherlands. For the past two years Frank has been active in the personal healthcare domain addressing the whole spectrum from technology to business models. During this time Frank spent three months working at Philips Medical Systems in Seattle, WA. He recently received the Distinguished Scientist 2006 award from the Philips Research Europe management. As side activity he is active in promoting technology amongst high school students by giving workshops on how to program games for mobile phones.

Mr. Wartena is active in both the Use Case Working Group as secretary and in the Technical Working Group's Disease Management Sub-team.

Jill Christians
Philips

Jill Christians earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Marketing Working Group. Ms. Christians’ work to advance the awareness and importance of the Continua Health Alliance by aligning executive endorsement from the Philips CEO at IFA, the premier Consumer Electronics tradeshow in Europe.

Ms. Christians is Marketing Services Manager for Philips’ Connected Care business, headquartered in Andover, MA. Formerly part of Philips Medical Systems, the Connected Care business unit is part of the new Consumer Healthcare Solutions group, reflecting Philips’ corporate focus on providing patient-friendly products and services for care both in and outside the hospital. Ms. Christians earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Brown University.

David K. Hemsath
IBM Corporation

Dave Hemsath earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Technical Working Group. Mr. Hemsath developed a key set of security and privacy recommendations for personal telehealth, writing a seminal White Paper and providing expert review for the Continua Technical Working Group.

Mr. Hemsath joined IBM in 1979 after receiving a BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He has spent 13+ years in information security and privacy development, design, architecture, strategy and standards. Currently assigned to IBM Software Group’s Public Sector Solutions team where he serves as a security and privacy resource for all of the industry solutions teams.

He is an International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium [(ISC)2®] Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), with Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP) concentration.

He is a member of:

• The Association for Computing Machines (ACM),
• The Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and its Computer Society (senior member)
• The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA),
• The Computer Security Institute (CSI), and
• Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the International Honor Society for the Computing Sciences.

Rick Schrenker
Partners Healthcare

Rick Schrenker earned recognition as a key contributor to the Continua Use Case Working Group. Mr. Schrenker provided hard work, dedication and perseverance while reviewing, evaluating and organizing the first Continua Health Alliance Use Case submissions in preparation for the ballot and vote.

Mr. Schrenker manages the Systems Engineering Group in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received an MS in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Schrenker is a member of the IEEE EMBS and Computer Societies, the American College of Clinical Engineering, the ACM, and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, and is a cofounder and Life Member of the Baltimore Medical Engineers and Technicians Society. He is active in IEEE 11073 standards activities.

Eric White
Intel Corporation

Eric White earned recognition as a key contributor to the Use Case Working Group. Mr. White provided hard work, dedication and perseverance while reviewing, evaluating and organizing the first Continua Health Alliance Use Case submissions in preparation for the ballot and vote.

Mr. White is responsible for identifying and developing healthcare and technology standards that enable new markets and user experiences. Currently, he is very active in the Continua Health Alliance as the Editor in the Use Case Working Group and as the Chair of the Technical Working Group's Health and Fitness Sub-team. Prior to joining Intel in 2006, he spent 10 years at Cerner Corporation where he served as an Architect and Solution Manager for various application, service and middleware projects.