Sepsis Summit Speaker Bios
Amy Bowerman, RN, BSN
Amy Bowerman is the VP of Post-Acute/Rehabilitation Services for the Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, New York. Amy oversees the operations of Visiting Nurse Association of Utica and Oneida County (Certified Home Health Agency); Senior Network Health (Managed Long Term Care Agency); Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (RNC); Intensive Rehabilitation Unit (IRU); Case Management and Social Work Services of the Wynn Hospital. Amy serves as a Board Member for the NYS Home Care Association, as well as sitting on the HCA Executive Committee, MLTC Forum, and is the SEPSIS Work Group Clinical Leader. Amy brings over twenty-five years of nursing experience in Emergency Nursing, Home Care, Pediatrics, Quality, Nursing Administration, and Managed Care.
Kathryn Bowles, PhD, RN
Kathryn Bowles, Professor and vanAmeringen Chair in Nursing Excellence, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing; Vice President and Director of the Center for Home Care Policy & Research, VNS Health: Principal Investigator of I-TRANSFER.
Sara Butterfield, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM, IPRO
Sara Butterfield serves as the Assistant Vice President of Health Care Quality Improvement for IPRO. Under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 12th Scope of Work she served as the Program Director for NY and NJ, and Task and Aim Lead for the Partnership for Community Health Initiative. Ms. Butterfield served as the Project Manager for the NYS Department of Health Medicaid Accelerated eXchange (MAX) Series and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Project Firstline initiative.
Since joining IPRO in July 1998, Ms. Butterfield has coordinated collaboration across all healthcare sectors and community-based organizations on a cross-setting, multidisciplinary level to support improved healthcare outcomes, coordination of care and population health.
Ms. Butterfield holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing from Russell Sage College, Troy, NY. She received the Certified Case Manager credential and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.
Al Cardillo, LMSW
Al Cardillo is currently the President and CEO of the Home Care Association of New York State (HCANYS), a statewide organization comprised of federal and state certified home health agencies, licensed home care services agencies, hospices, managed long term care plans, waiver programs, allied organizations, and individuals, providing home and community-based care to several hundred thousand New Yorkers annually, and the affiliated organization HCA Education & Research, which directs and leads statewide initiatives in public health, health delivery and innovation.
He is a member of the adjunct faculty for public health for the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
His sepsis related work includes collaborative development and administration of HCANYS “Stop Sepsis At Home” initiative, advisory board member to Sepsis Alliance and to END SEPSIS-The Legacy of Rory Staunton, and project director for multiple sepsis grants awarded to HCANYS, including “Improving Sepsis Prevention, Screening & Intervention In the Community & Across the Continuum.”
He holds a Master of Social Work Degree in Direct Practice and is a New York State Licensed Master Social Worker.
Joseph J. Carreno, PharmD, MPH
Dr. Jo Carreno is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and the Director of Research and Sponsored Programs at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He earned his PharmD from ACPHS and an MPH from Wayne State University. He also completed a general pharmacy residency at New York Methodist Hospital and a pharmacy fellowship in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship at Wayne State/Henry Ford Hospital.
Dr. Carreno specializes in inpatient infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, and applying technology to improve clinical outcomes. His work has been cited over 500 times, and he frequently presents at national conferences such as IDWeek. He recently completed a term as Chair of the Publications Committee for the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.
In his current role, he oversees a $2 million research enterprise and leads strategic initiatives to grow intramural and extramural funding. He brings a systems-level approach to sepsis education, integrating clinical expertise, public health insight, and evidence-based innovation.
Raymund Dantes, MD, MPH
Dr. Dantes is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, where he also serves as the Physician Lead for the 10-hospital Emory Healthcare Sepsis Program. He has previously served as a Medical Advisor for the CDC, where he co-led the creation of the CDC Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements, and many studies and projects advancing our knowledge of sepsis epidemiology and quality improvement.
Marianne Grady
Marianne Grady has a decades-long nursing career primarily focused in home health care settings. She is currently the Senior Health Services Director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid plan, serving NYC, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Ms. Grady has been with Anthem for nearly 14 years, first as Clinical Director for their Managed Long Term Care Program before transitioning to her current role in 2021.
Before joining Anthem, Ms. Grady held leadership positions in numerous home health care and long-term home health care programs in New York City and Long Island. She has extensive knowledge of Medicare, Medicaid and Managed Care regulations.
Currently, Ms. Grady serves on the board of the Home Care Association (HCA) of New York State and is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at Hofstra University's School of Health Sciences. She obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Adelphi University and a Master's Degree in Health Care Administration from Hofstra University.
Tom Heymann
Thomas Heymann is the President and CEO of Sepsis Alliance. Tom has led Sepsis Alliance to consecutive years of growth including the organization’s drive to increase sepsis awareness from 19% to 69% and the expansion of sepsis.org to a site serving more than 2 million patients, family members, caregivers, and medical professionals each year. Tom also led the organization’s efforts to launch Sepsis Alliance Institute, which has trained more than 60,000 health professionals, Sepsis Alliance Connect, a unique support platform for sepsis survivors and their loved ones, and Sepsis Alliance Voices, a platform for national and state advocacy. The organization’s focus is on education and training, equity-diversity-inclusion, antimicrobial stewardship, and innovation.
Alda Osinaga, MD, MPH
Dr. Alda Osinaga is the Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Clinical Center in the Office of Health Services Quality and Analytics in the New York State Department of Health. In her role, she oversees quality improvement initiatives and clinical programs that aim to improve the delivery of safe, effective, high-quality care throughout New York’s health care system, such as the Sepsis Care Improvement Initiative. She works with a variety of stakeholders, including hospitals, outpatient providers, and payers. Dr. Osinaga is trained in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine.
Kathleen Rauch, RN, MSHQS, BSN, CPHQ
Kathleen Rauch has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare quality, patient safety and regulatory and accreditation compliance. Working in the acute care setting, she has served as a lead on initiatives for adopting the Just Culture methodology, achieving zero preventable harm and implementing strategies to improve performance on value-based payment programs. Rauch has been published in the Journal of Healthcare Quality and has served as a presenter at regional conferences where she has shared readmission reduction strategies.
As vice president of HANYS’ quality advocacy, research and innovation division, Rauch provides strategic direction, planning, coordination and oversight for development and execution of HANYS’ quality and patient safety agenda. She oversees numerous quality improvement grant projects, directs the formulation of advocacy and education strategies for HANYS’ quality agenda, collaborates with HANYS members, advocates on their behalf with regulators and policymakers and develops collaboratives and other educational resources. She holds a Master of Science in healthcare quality and safety from Thomas Jefferson University.
Craig A. Umscheid, MD, MS
Dr. Umscheid is a general internal medicine physician and clinical epidemiologist, who serves as the Director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, where his team strengthens healthcare safety through support of research, practice improvement, and data analysis and measurement. Previously, Dr. Umscheid served as Chief Quality and Innovation Officer at the University of Chicago, and began his career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was Vice Chair of Quality and Safety for the Department of Medicine, and Director of Penn’s Center for Evidence-based Practice.