Q-Calls
Pay Now or Pay Later
Financing Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment
Faculty
Lisa Simpson MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP
Dr. Simpson is Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati. The Center provides evidence based information to inform policy and program decisions at the local, state, and national levels with an emphasis on strategies to improve the quality of health care, the effectiveness of public programs, and child well being.
Dr. Simpson, a board-certified pediatrician, also serves as the National Director for Child Health Policy at the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, an education and research organization dedicated solely to improving the quality of health care provided to children, and leads the policy arm of the Childhood Obesity Action Network. She also serves as an elected member of AcademyHealth’s Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Health Services Research as well as numerous other national committees. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of AHIC Successor Inc. In addition, Dr. Simpson was recently appointed by Governor Beshear to co-chair the Committee on Child Health of the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Commission on Philanthropy.
A nationally recognized health policy researcher, Dr. Simpson has led studies of the quality and safety of care for children and adolescents, the role of health information technology in improving care for children, disparities in care for children and youth, the health policy response to childhood obesity, and the role of policies in advancing child health, including both state and national policies. She is especially active in childhood obesity at the local (Greater Cincinnati) level, state level, and nationally. She was formerly the Deputy Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Maternal and Child Health Director in Hawaii. Dr. Simpson earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), a Masters in Public Health at the University of Hawaii, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco. She has received numerous awards including the Excellence in Public Service Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Senior Executive Service Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, the DHHS Secretary's Distinguished Service Award and most recently, the 2007 Health Policy Researcher of the Year award from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
Barry Zellen MD, FAAP
Dr. Zallen is the Medical Director for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). He earned his A.B. in Biology at Brown University, and his M.D. at Northwestern University Medical School. Dr. Zallen did his pediatric residency at Boston Floating Hospital and at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He also completed a fellowship in General and Developmental Pediatrics at Children’s.
Following a few years on the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Dr. Zallen joined Harvard Community Health Plan (HCHP) (now Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (HVMA)), as a pediatrician. He was a medical director at HCHP/HVMA for 10 years before joining BCBSMA in 2000.
Currently, Dr. Zallen is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with physicians and hospitals, including Mass. General, Brigham and Women’s, Lahey, Children’s, and HVMA. These responsibilities include development of incentive measures of quality, safety and efficiency for contracts, and collaboration in new ventures. He is also the lead physician executive in BCBSMA involved in trend management efforts and leads BCBSMA efforts related to pediatrics. Dr. Zallen’s clinical interests include developmental and behavioral pediatrics, and genomics.
Holly Alexander RN, BSN
Holly Alexander is the Director of the Office of Clinical Quality Improvement for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s Office of Medical Assistance Programs. She is a consultant for the Bureaus who monitor and direct the quality improvement programs related to the managed care and enhanced primary care case management delivery systems. Two of the initiatives she has consulted on are implementation of the enhance primary care case management program and three pay-for-performance programs. In addition she is the project manager for the childhood obesity and tobacco cessation in pregnant women initiatives. Prior to this position she worked with HEDIS and CAHPS data and the development of a consumer report card. She has a Bachelors in Nursing and is a licensed RN.
