Staff & Governance
Meet Our Team!
Executive Leadership
Fred D. Rachman, MD
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Fred Rachman has been with AllianceChicago since its inception in 1997, assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2003. In his role as CEO, he has overall responsibility for AllianceChicago programs, including strategic direction, assurance of appropriate resources, and external relationships. Prior to leading AllianceChicago, he held executive leadership roles at Erie Family Health Centers and Howard Brown Health, attended patients at Erie Family Health Centers, and was a Field Representative for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. Among other activities, Fred also served as co-director of the Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC), served on the Board of Directors of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), KLAS advisory Board, and the Illinois Health Information Exchange Advisory Committee. He is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine (MD) and Johns Hopkins University (BA), completed post-graduate courses in Ethics, Economics, and Healthcare Management at Harvard University School of Public Health, and is board-certified in Pediatrics. He is an attending physician in pediatrics at Lurie Children’s and Northwestern Memorial Hospitals
Andrew Hamilton
RN, BSN, MS
Chief Informatics Officer
Andrew Hamilton serves as Chief Informatics Officer, he is responsible for developing clinical decision support and National Clinical Performance Measures into the organization’s EHR and is leading the organization’s efforts related to the development and implementation of an Enterprise Data Warehouse solution. Prior to working for AllianceChicago, Andrew was a Pediatric Critical Care nurse and a member of a large academic hospital HIT team supporting the implementation of clinical information systems. He has also served as Director of Patient Care Services for Howard Brown Health Center, a Chicago-based Federally Qualified Health Center. Andrew is the Past President of the Board of the Centricity Healthcare User Group (CHUG), and is adjunct faculty at Loyola University School of Nursing and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Nursing. He holds a BS in Nursing and an MS in Nursing Business and Health Systems Administration with a focus on Nursing Informatics, both from the University of Michigan School of Nursing.
Margaret S. Castrovillari
CPA, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Margaret Castrovillari serves as Chief Financial Officer, she has direct responsibility for the financial, accounting, and administrative affairs of the company. She oversees day-to-day accounting, finance, treasury, human resource, budgeting/forecasting, legal and contract negotiations, Member/Partnership relationships, and corporate and governance compliance issues. Prior to joining AllianceChicago in 2014, Margaret worked with senior management and outside consultants in implementing and administering some of the largest debt-restructuring, bankruptcy and merger deals in the real estate and financial services industries. She has a BS in Accounting from the University of New Orleans and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business with concentrations in Analytic Finance, Strategic Management & Entrepreneurship, and has over 30 years of progressive financial reporting and management consulting experience. Margaret is a serial entrepreneur that enjoys the diversity and challenge of creating and growing businesses with socially-redeemable values.
Warria Esmond, MD
Chief Clinical Officer
Dr. Warria Esmond serves as the Chief Clinical Officer at AllianceChicago. Warria coordinates and promotes clinical leadership, advancing quality health outcomes through guidance and leadership on the optimal implementation and use of Health Information Technology. She also serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Settlement Health in NY. Warria received her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, has been in practice for more than 20 years and is Past Chair of the New York Primary Care Association’s Clinician Committee (CHCANYS). In collaboration with CHCANYS, AC, HCN, and additional stakeholder groups, she works extensively with health centers around the country on issues like joy in practice and workforce retention. Warria has a clinical background in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Ekem Merchant-Bleiberg
Senior Director of HIT Operations
Ekem Merchant-Bleiberg serves as the Senior Director of HIT Operations for AllianceChicago. Ekem leads a multidisciplinary team to support community health centers with application optimization and delivery. She has additional experience with the full cycle of EHRS implementation, including vendor selection, clinical content development, project management, end-user training, and multi-site implementations. Additionally, Ekem directs product & functionality review and implementation development, clinical content implementations, and Community Health Solutions implementations. The Operations team functions as the internal project managers for various projects. Before joining AllianceChicago in 2002, she worked for Federal Region II developing curriculum, training materials, facilitation, and project management. Ekem is a graduate of Oberlin College (BA, BS) in Oberlin, Ohio.
Nivedita Mohanty, MD, MS
Chief Health Impact Officer
Dr. Nivedita Mohanty has experience in community health, federal policy, clinical research, academic medicine, and international volunteerism. Nivedita joined AllianceChicago in 2015 after a year in Washington, DC as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow where she gained first-hand exposure to synergies between policy, health research, and clinical practice as well as the role of HIT in advancing national health priorities. Her role at AllianceChicago is to leverage our HIT infrastructure and partnerships to enhance evidence-based practices in community health and generate new evidence through patient outcomes and health services research. Nivedita has been a pediatrician at Erie Family Health Center since 2007 and is an Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine with clinical responsibilities at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Prentice Women’s Hospital. She has been a volunteer with multiple organizations for children with HIV, disabilities, burns, congenital heart disease, and cranio-facial defects on medical service trips to Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America.
Keith Winfrey, MHSA
Senior Director of Business Development
Keith Winfrey joined AllianceChicago in 2023, and works closely with the Executive Team to vet, shape and operationalize new opportunities across all AllianceChicago business service lines. Previously, Keith served as the Manager of Business Products-Survey Tech, Business Process and Application at the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Earlier in his career, he was the Director of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review at Psychiatric Institute of Atlanta. Keith has served as a Trustee Board Member for the University of St. Francis and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the College of Business and Health Administration graduate studies. He has also served as a Trustee Board Member for Easter Seals and is currently a Silver Cross Hospital Community Trustee. Keith earned his bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois and received a Master of Science in Health Service Administration from the University of Saint Francis, and a Certificate from Harvard Leadership Institute. He is also a Certified Change Management Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.
Tina Aggarwal, MS, BSN, RN
Clinical Informaticist
Tina Aggarwal joined AllianceChicago in 2019. She serves as a member of the Informatics team and is a bridge between the needs of AllianceChicago and its User Community. She is transitioning from Loyola University Medical Center, where she worked as a Registered Nurse in the Ambulatory Surgery Center for 5+ years. In addition to her traditional nursing duties, she worked closely with the Epic EMR Optimization team assisting with new technology application implementations, training staff members, and working with end-users to improve clinical staff workflow issues to improve efficiency and patient outcomes. Her interest in improving patient care through the integration of health information technology led her to pursue graduate studies in the field of health informatics. Tina is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (MS Health Informatics and BS Nursing).
Dana Bright, MSW
Associate Director of Research Operations
Dana Bright joined AllianceChicago in April 2022, and provides operational oversight and leadership for Research and Innovations initiatives, ensuring the successful execution of related core processes and outputs. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Dana worked at the American Academy of Pediatrics as a Senior Manager supporting immunization and infectious diseases initiatives and at Rush University Medical Center where she managed community-based health promotion programming. She brings over fifteen years of experience in health-related program and grants management within professional association, healthcare, and social service organizations. Dana is a graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH and received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan.
Jeremy Carr
Director of Applications
Jeremy Carr joined AllianceChicago in 2012. Previously, he served as Director of IT at Howard Brown Health Center and was the primary EMR manager there when they transitioned to EMR in 2006. Currently, Jeremy is the primary technical contact working with vendors for new implementations and projects, as well as assisting with escalated software issues. He assists with collecting and analyzing requirements, developing interfaces, and designing integration models to support the EHRS to capture structured data via interfaces with third party “add-on” product and other applications. Jeremy is a graduate of Utah State University with a BS in Business Information Systems and has worked with application and data analysis in various industries since 1995 and in healthcare specifically since 2006.
Alice Eggleston, PA-C, MPH
Clinical Research Scientist
Alice Eggleston joined AllianceChicago in May 2022, and partners closely with health centers and researchers in designing and implementing clinically relevant research and programmatic projects to enhance patient outcomes and health services research. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Alice worked at Whitman-Walker Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Washington, DC specializing in HIV and LGBTQ healthcare. For six and a half years, she served as a research/primary care Physician Assistant (PA) and Clinical Research Manager. She also served as Clinical Research Investigator at Atlantia Clinical Trials, conducting trials related to nutrition and microbiome clinical research. Alice is a 2021-2022 Research Fellow with the American Academy of PAs to examine the role of PAs in the clinical trials setting. She holds a Master of Science in Health Sciences and a Master of Public Health with a focus in Community Oriented Primary Care, both from George Washington University.
Abbey Ekong, MA
Research Manager
Abbey Ekong joined AllianceChicago in 2021 and serves as a coordinator for multiple research projects. In her role, she provides administrative support to the AllianceChicago Research Team, including project recruitment, data validation, and collaborating with health centers on coordination of research initiatives. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Abbey worked as an HIV Care Coordinator and a Sexual Health Educator in Chicago. She received her BS in Interdisciplinary Health Services and a BA in Spanish from Western Michigan University and received her Master of Biomedical Sciences from Roosevelt University.
Maricela Espinoza, HIT-PRO-T
Health Information Technology Analyst
Maricela Espinoza joined AllianceChicago in 2009. She has an in-depth understanding of Practice Management and billing implementations, including workflow transformation and the development of documentation tools and training programs. Mari has extensive experience supervising front office operations in community health centers. Additionally, she assists in investigating and troubleshooting application and IT problems.
Azalia Garcia
Community Health Worker/Health Coach
Azalia Garcia joined AllianceChicago as a Community Health Worker/Health Coach for the research team supporting the PCORI grant titled “Tipping Points.” She actively works to recruit study participants at Erie Family Health Centers, working closely with them to set healthy lifestyle goals, behavioral contracts, and engage in collaborative problem solving with patients. Azalia has experience working in the health care field as a Certified Nursing Assistant in a long-term care facility, as well as working in the transplant and hepatology unit in a hospital as a Patient Care Tech. Healthcare is Azalia’s passion, which is why she is currently studying Nursing at Malcom X College. She enjoys working closely with patients and their families and is always eager to learn new ways to help and serve the patient population.
Maggie Hamielec, MPH
Assistant Research Program Manager
Maggie Hamielec joined AllianceChicago in April of 2022. Prior to joining the research team, she worked in health education, pandemic response, and program evaluation. In her role as an Assistant Research Program Manager, she provides administrative support to the AllianceChicago Research Team. Maggie holds a BS in Community Health and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Amro Hassan
Solutions Architect
Amro Hassan joined AllianceChicago in 2014, after working as a Senior SQL Developer at Bank of America, designing mortgage applications and making intelligent insights using Microsoft technology. In his current role, Amro is responsible for extracting information from clinical and business systems stored primarily in the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse – all in support of AllianceChicago’s quality and performance reporting activities as well as its members, stakeholders, and user community. Amro also supports research and grant reporting needs and queries for public health surveillance. He has a BS in computer engineering and is certified as a Microsoft solutions expert.
Claudria S. Hurt, MSHRMD
HR/Business Operations Manager
Claudria Hurt joined AllianceChicago in 2005. She has critical experience in essential support services – the operation of help desks, communication with vendors, preparing call and troubleshooting reports, monitoring grant expenditures and all aspects of Human Resources for the organization, including talent acquisition and benefits administration. Claudria received undergraduate degrees from Illinois State University and Westwood College of Technology, and earned a MS in Human Resource Management and Development from National Louis University.
Arjit Jain, MSMIS
Senior Data Analyst
Arjit Jain originally joined AllianceChicago as SQL Data Analyst and now serves as Senior Data Analyst. Previously, he worked as a Data Analyst at Klein Consulting where he led the data team and worked on various analytics & IT projects. At AllianceChicago, Arjit is responsible for writing SQL scripts to extract data from Microsoft SQL Server and Parallel Data Warehouse, creating reports, and assisting the team in Data Warehouse maintenance. He gained his Masters degree in Management Information Systems at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Christina Kim, MPH, PCMH CCE
Practice Transformation Coach
Christina Kim joined AllianceChicago in 2014. Previously, she worked as a Patient Centered Medical Home Coordinator at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) on the south side of Chicago and a Provider Resource Coordinator at a Medicare/Medicaid Replacement Managed Care Organization in Central Illinois. Christina transitioned from a Clinical Implementation Specialist to her current role as a Practice Optimization Coach in 2016. She is primarily responsible for leading the Patient Centered Medical Home initiatives and providing support for Promoting Interoperability. Christina received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Elisabeth Knose, PT, DPT
Customer Success Analyst
Lizzy Knose joined AllianceChicago in January 2022. As a Customer Success Analyst at AllianceChicago, Lizzy works closely with health center staff who use athenaOne. Assisting health centers in reconfiguring, optimizing, and troubleshooting their athenaOne instance are just a few ways Lizzy assists health centers. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Lizzy worked as an inpatient physical therapist at local hospitals for 10 years and still maintains her DPT license.
Jenya Lazarova, PPM
Executive Assistant
Jenya Lazarova joined AllianceChicago in 2016. She works with the administrative and finance teams, supporting day-to-day office activities, such as processing mail and accounts payable, along with assisting with front desk management. In addition, Jenya supports executive leadership by managing calendars and making staff travel arrangements.
Elizabeth Gonzalez
Public Health Program Manager
Elizabeth (Liz) Gonzalez joined AllianceChicago in November 2023, and serves as Program Manager for the Public Health Initiatives team. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Liz worked at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in their research center and community health institute. Liz has experience in program development, health education programming, and project management, and holds a Master of Public Health degree with a focus in community health practice from DePaul University, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health Education from Illinois State University.
David Liss, PhD
Health Services Research Scientist
Dr. David Liss joined AllianceChicago in November 2021, and conducts research to improve the quality and value of primary care delivery. He has expertise in the evaluation of real-world interventions using both observational and experimental research designs. Since 2013, David has been a faculty member at the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he serves as Research Associate Professor. At Northwestern, he has led studies on the use of smartphone apps to coordinate care for low-income patients who visit hospitals throughout Chicagoland, diagnostic coding of social determinants of health, and interventions that simultaneously address patients’ medical and social needs. David has also served as a Co-Investigator on several pragmatic trials testing the effectiveness of interventions in historically underserved populations. He received his PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Washington.
Todd Locey
Application Analyst II
Todd Locey joined AllianceChicago in 2016. He was previously the EMR Manager and Data Analyst at Waikiki Health and has an in-depth knowledge of reporting and interfaces. In his role at AllianceChicago, Todd assists the Senior Applications Analyst with new implementations and projects as well as escalated software issues. He also helps to maintain and upgrade Centricity and its third-party add-ons, develops interfaces and internal and external reporting. Todd is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a BA in Economics and has worked with athenaPractice and data analysis for the past four years.
Megan Monahan, MNM
Grant Project Manager
Megan Monahan joined AllianceChicago in April 2023. She has extensive experience working with a broad range of nonprofit organizations, focusing on grant writing and management, donor relations, and philanthropic strategy. In her role, Megan works with internal and external stakeholders to support pre-award material requests and to guide grant proposals through the submission process. In addition, she works with executive leadership on strategies to expand grant-funding sources and achieve revenue goals. Megan is a graduate of George Washington University (BA) and received her Master in Nonprofit Management degree from DePaul University’s School of Public Service in 2015.
Elizabeth McKnight, MMI
Health Informatics Specialist
Elizabeth McKnight joined AllianceChicago in 2010. Previously, she had a long and varied career at a major academic medical center in Radiology and Imaging Informatics. Elizabeth is deeply committed to health information exchange, immunization registry, and patient engagement and is currently involved in HIE implementation in several states. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a master’s degree in Medical Informatics, both from Chicago’s Northwestern University.
Mirta Milanes, MPH
Research Program Manager
Mirta Milanes joined AllianceChicago in August 2023. In her role, she provides administrative management of a portfolio of research studies. Previously, she was a Recruitment and Retention Specialist and Clinical Research Coordinator for the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, operated by the Institute for Family Health. She worked closely with a Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention advisory group to identify and test new methods for recruiting and retaining a diverse population within an NIH-funded acupuncture for chronic pain study. Past research experience includes coordinating clinical trials for pancreatic and neuroendocrine cancer, chronic asthma in elderly populations, integrative medicine, and implementation of pharmacogenetics in clinical care. Ms. Milanes holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Chicago and an MPH in Epidemiology from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Jin Nam, RN, MS
Director of Practice Transformation
Jin Nam joined AllianceChicago in 2016. She oversees and engages in initiatives that look at opportunities to support CHCs in their transition away from fee for service to value-based care models, such as CMS’s TCPI grant with a focus on quality and process improvement. In her previous roles at academic medical centers in Chicago, she has utilized her clinical background and experience in operations and data-driven process improvement to achieve positive clinical and financial outcomes. Jin received her BS in Nursing, MS in Nursing Administration, and MS in Health Informatics at UIC. She is currently working towards a Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Implementation Science at IUPUI.
Rashmi Narayan, MD, FAAP
Clinical Research Scientist
Dr. Rashmi Narayan is a board-certified pediatrician with 12 years of experience working with a diverse range of patients, leading advocacy efforts, and contributing to clinical and health services research. After 10 years in academic pediatrics, she joined AllianceChicago as a Clinical Research Scientist in September 2021. In this role, Rashmi works collaboratively as a principal investigator and clinical expert to leverage Health Information Technology infrastructure and to advance research that promotes health equity and reduces health disparities. She received her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and completed her pediatric residency at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she also was selected to be a chief pediatric resident. Rashmi was an academic pediatrician at Saint Louis University and Rush University Medical Center prior to joining AllianceChicago.
Nicole Padula, MPH
Informatics Project Manager
Nicole Padula joined AllianceChicago in 2019, and serves as a member of the Informatics Team assisting in the day-to-day activities, and completing informatics-related tasks for projects committed to the thoughtful use of the EHR. Most recently, she worked with the Medical Research Analytics and Informatics Alliance serving as the Director of Technical Operations for The Chicago Area Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Network (CAPriCORN), a clinical data research network. She is a graduate of Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine where she earned a Master of Public Health degree.
Jeff Panzer, MD, MS
Physician Innovator
Dr. Jeff Panzer joined AllianceChicago in September 2017. He is the physician innovator at AllianceChicago, vice president of care transformation for Tapestry 360 Health, and a practicing family physician. Jeff works to modify roles, workflows, culture, and technology to transform primary care and better meet the needs of patients and care teams. He helped to create Tapestry’s Innovation Center at Albany Park. He previously served as practice transformation consultant at the AMA and as medical director at two, value-based primary care companies. In addition, Jeff was a medical director at a health center in rural Ethiopia. He is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine and received his Master’s degree in healthcare quality and patient safety from Northwestern University. Jeff is board-certified in Family Medicine.
Shannon Pohl, MS, BSN, RN
Director of Informatics
Shannon Pohl rejoined AllianceChicago in 2018 as Director of Informatics after previously serving as a Clinical Informaticist and Implementation Specialist. Her current focus areas include improving patient care using health IT and data analytics as well as supporting clinical workflows with health IT innovation. A Registered Nurse by background, she has worked in various informatics roles, with her most recent experience working as a Data Scientist for IBM Watson Health, and an Informatics Nurse Specialist for University of Chicago Medicine. Shannon is a graduate of University of Illinois at Chicago (MS Health Informatics, Master’s Certificate Nursing Administration), and the University of Michigan (BS Nursing).
Carlos Salgado
HIT Implementation Specialist
Carlos Salgado joined AllianceChicago in 2016 after having spent four years working at a Health Center in Chicago where he gained experience with configuration setup, maintenance, and management of the Citrix Applications. He also managed EMR technicians for all EMR-related applications used at six different locations. Initially joining the AllianceChicago Support Services Team, Carlos moved to the Clinical Implementation Team to assist sites with implementing athenaPractice upgrades, paper-to-EMR roll outs, add-on applications, troubleshooting, and he provides training on HIT tools for AllianceChicago hosted health centers and other HCCNs.
Star A. Sandifer
Director of Finance
Star Sandifer joined AllianceChicago in 2011. She has experience working in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. In her role, she is responsible for the day-to-day finance operations, thus ensuring the integrity of accounting information by complying with accounting and federal guidelines to protect the value of the organization.
Jodi Simon, DrPH, MS
Health Services Research Scientist
Dr. Jodi Simon joined AllianceChicago in 2019 as a Health Services Research Scientist. In this role, Jodi works with participating health centers and external stakeholders to conduct patient outcomes and health services research. She brings over 18 years of experience as an independent consultant conducting health services research primarily focused on drivers of adoption of health information technology (HIT) and the use of HIT to support chronic disease care. Prior to consulting, she worked for various HIT companies, and at Kaiser Permanente, where she developed disease management and other population health programs. Jodi received her Master of Science in Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health and her Doctorate of Public Health from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Shelly Sital, MPH
Director of Public Health Initiatives
Shelly Sital joined AllianceChicago in 2020 to support efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic and public health initiatives. Shelly leads the AllianceChicago Public Health team in preparing health centers to address and mitigate public health issues in the communities they serve. Her work includes supporting numerous quality improvement initiatives in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Shelly was the Director of Operations for a large, distributed data network, and still serves as an operations liaison. She was also a Project Director for a multi-state research study, and has supported Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation and healthcare informatics improvement efforts since 2005. Shelly holds a Master of Public Health with a focus in health policy and administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BS in Biological Sciences with a focus on aging from the Ohio State University.
Matthew Sterling
Senior Director of Information Technology
Matt Sterling joined AllianceChicago in 2014. He is an IT executive with over 20 years of progressive IT support and management experience. Matt is responsible for the technical operations of the AllianceChicago’s datacenter infrastructure as well as technical implementation of any new or upgraded products. He came to the AllianceChicago from Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, where he was responsible for the technology projects associated with a replacement hospital building which opened in 2011. Prior to that, he worked at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after holding previous technical management positions supporting education and various other industries. Matt has achieved and maintained CNE, MCSE and CCNA certifications and holds a BS in Management Information Systems from National Louis University in Chicago.
Kai Tao, ND, APN, MPH
Principal, Impact and Innovation for Illinois Contraceptive Access Now (ICAN)
Dr. Kai Tao has extensive experience in women’s health programs and clinical operations, opening of a private practice for underserved women in Arizona and leading a midwifery group at Erie Family Health Center. For the last 13 years, she has been on faculty with Northwestern School of Medicine, working clinically per diem at Prentice Women’s Hospital. Kai also served as VP of Clinical Operations and Associate Medical Director for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, where she oversaw 17 health centers, the Quality Assurance Department, and Community Education. In 2013, she was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Director at Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Kai is the primary author of the Illinois Family Planning Action Plan – a multi-pronged approach to increasing contraceptive access with the goal of decreasing unplanned pregnancies. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, she was the Deputy Commissioner/Chief Program Officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Kai received her Master of Science and Doctorate of Nursing from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and her Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health.
Carmela Tyler, MBA
Senior Accountant
Carmela Tyler joined the AllianceChicago finance team in 2019 to provide accounting, auditing and budgeting analysis. She has extensive accounting experience, particularly in preparation of financial statements and tax documents. Carmela has worked in the non-profit and for-profit accounting sectors. She graduated magna cum laude from LeMoyne-Owen College with a BBA in Accounting and earned her MBA with concentration in Accounting from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Kyra VanDoren
Public Health Program Coordinator
Kyra joined AllianceChicago in August 2023. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Public Health Studies and Spanish from Elon University in 2021, and has experience in health education programming, clinical research and project management. In her current role, Kyra provides administrative support to AllianceChicago’s Public Health Initiatives team.
Jena Wallander Gemkow, MPH, BSN, RN
Research Associate
Jena Wallander Gemkow joined AllianceChicago in 2019 and serves as a Research Associate, managing and leading health research projects geared toward improving healthcare at community health centers. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Jena worked as the Communications and Evaluation Coordinator at the Illinois Hunger Coalition, a statewide anti-hunger advocacy organization, where she managed all external communications for the organization along with analyzing direct service interventions for efficacy. Jena is a graduate of Marquette University and received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Colorado-Anschutz College of Nursing in the Health Care Systems track.
Eve Walter, PhD
Director of Research and Evaluation
Dr. Eve Walter joined AllianceChicago in October 2022, bringing with her more than a decade of experience leading primary care research centering on reducing disparities in health and delivering patient-centered care including studies related to diabetes, women’s health, integrative medicine, and medication adherence. Since 2018, Eve has held a faculty appointment as Associate Professor of Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In that role, in addition to supporting the scholarly pursuits of medical faculty for a large New York-based Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Dr. Walter served as faculty on three, primary care residencies. Eve is currently the PI on an NIH- funded study examining diversity in recruitment and retention in clinical trials and has been the lead evaluator on numerous federal and state funded grants. At AllianceChicago, Eve is focused on supporting and growing our research infrastructure. She received her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Albany in 2005.
Andrea Wilson, MS
Innovation Strategist
Andrea Wilson joined AllianceChicago in March 2017. In her role as Innovation Strategist, she works across multiple teams at the organization to analyze, design, and operationalize technology-enabled innovative solutions. Andrea focuses on creating unique value via new products, services, processes and/or experiences at AllianceChicago and partner organizations. Over her career, she has held various roles in product development, digital transformation, and user experience design at UnitedHealth Group, McKinsey & Company and University of Chicago. Andrea received her Master of Science from the University of Chicago.
Ta-Yun Yang, MS
Clinical Data Manager
Ta-Yun Yang joined AllianceChicago in 2020 and serves as a clinical data manager for multiple research projects. In this role, he develops queries, optimizes algorithms, and conducts statistical analysis with electronic health records for public health researchers. He also enhances the communication between healthcare professionals and technical experts. Prior to joining AllianceChicago, Ta-Yun worked as a data science assistant at the Cook County Assessor Office and Department of Finance in Taiwan, where he applied his computer science and programming skills to improve the efficiency and equity in data-driven policies. He received his Master of Science from the University of Chicago.
Amy Yarrington, MA
HIT Coordinator
Amy Yarrington joined AllianceChicago in 2016 starting on the Practice Transformation team as a Practice Facilitator where she gained experience with private practices, FQHCs, and ACOs using various EHRs. She made a natural transition to the HIT Services team and entered the new role of HIT Coordinator where she serves as the bridge between the health center needs and AllianceChicago resources. She was previously a project manager of clinical research studies at Northwestern University. Amy received her BA in Biological Sciences and Global Health from Northwestern University and MA in Medical Sciences from Boston University.
AllianceChicago Governance
AllianceChicago operates under the ownership and guidance of our four non-profit 501 (c) (3) founding members, and is governed by a Board of Managers that includes the Chief Executive Officers of each of the founding member Centers, as well as the AllianceChicago Chief Executive Officer and the Near North Health Service Corporation Director of Finance and Accounting.
AllianceChicago Board of Managers
Ed Stellon, MS, MA, CADC, Chair
Vice President and Executive Director,
Heartland Alliance Health
Tristé Lieteau Smith, MD, JD, Co-Chair
Chief Executive Officer,
Near North Health
Lee Francis, MD, MPH, Treasurer
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Erie Family Health Centers
David Munar, Secretary
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Howard Brown Health
Ex-Officio Members
Mary Kay Gilbert, MBA
Chief Growth Officer,
Heartland Alliance Health
Amy Valukas, MPH
Chief Operating Officer,
Erie Family Health Centers
Anthony Armstrong, MPA
Vice President of Strategy and Business Development,
Howard Brown Health
Fred D. Rachman, MD
Chief Executive Officer,
AllianceChicago