Dr. Ariel P. Santos

Associate Professor
Chief, Division of Acute Care Surgery - Covenant Medical Center
Director of Telemedicine, TTUHSC School of Medicine
Principal Investigator, Texas-Louisiana Telemedicine Resource Center

Dr. Ariel P. Santos, MD, MPH, FACS, FRCSC, FCCM, is a board-certified surgeon subspecializing in Trauma, Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. An Associate Professor of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He is the current Chief of Acute Care Surgery at Covenant Hospital, Director of Telemedicine as well as Principal Investigator for Texas-Louisiana Telemedicine Resource Center.

Dr. Santos is a graduate of The University of Santo Tomas School of Medicine in Manila, Philippines and has earned his Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Louisville. He did his General Surgery Residency training both at Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila, Philippines as well as at University of Louisville in Kentucky, USA. Dr. Santos also completed a fellowship in Trauma, Burn and Critical Care at University of Louisville and a Clinical Fellowship in trauma and Acute Care Surgery at the University of Toronto – St. Michael’s Hospital.

Dr Santos served as the Chief Surgeon at Labrador West Regional Health Center in Canada and was an Associate Program Director of Emergency General Surgery in Penn State University Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania and SICU director and Associate Trauma Director at Northwest Hospital – TTUHSC in Amarillo, Texas. He is board certified in three countries: US, Canada and the Philippines.

Dr. Santos also enjoys teaching and has interest in outcome-based research. He is widely published in journal literature as well as co-authors of major surgery text books. He is an active member and leader of numerous organizations including the American College of Surgeon, Royal College of Surgeons and Physician of Canada, Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), and Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). He is a fellow in good standing of American College of Surgeon, Royal College of Surgeon and Physician of Canada and American College of Critical Care Medicine.

Robin Gelburd

President of FAIR Health

Robin Gelburd, JD, is the President of FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization with the mission of bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information. FAIR Health possesses the nation’s largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 34 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health licenses data and data products to businesses, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies and researchers. The company also uses its database to power a free, award-winning website that enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures, as well as learn more about healthcare reimbursement. Robin is a nationally recognized expert on healthcare policy, data and transparency. A recipient of a 2016 Dig|Benefits Technology Innovator Award, bestowed by Employee Benefit News, she has been invited to speak to organizations across the country on topics of critical importance to employers, employees, healthcare professionals and institutions, health plans, third-party administrators, consultants, researchers and other healthcare stakeholders. She also has published numerous articles on topics such as data analytics and quality, healthcare cost transparency, and consumer engagement and protection, among many others. Prior to being recruited as president of FAIR Health, Robin served for eight years as General Counsel of a medical research foundation comprising approximately 30 premier academic medical centers, hospitals and research institutions in New York. Before becoming General Counsel, Robin was a health law partner at a New York City law firm representing a broad array of healthcare-based clients. Earlier, Robin worked as a litigation and corporate associate at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster. She began her legal career as a federal appellate law clerk to the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., from the Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit.

Monica R. Chmielewski

Partner and Health Care and Life Sciences Lawyer at Foley & Lardner, LLP

Monica R. Chmielewski is a partner and health care and life sciences lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. She focuses her practice solely in representing health care providers, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and pharmacies in the area of health care, health care transactions, clinical research, supply chain, and food and drug law. Monica is co-chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Industry Team. She is also vice chair of the firm's Health Care Industry Team.

Kyle Y. Faget

Counsel Business Lawyer at Foley & Lardner, LLP

Kyle Faget is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. She is a member of the firm’s Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups and a core member of the firm’s telemedicine industry team. Kyle advises investors, physician practices, and consultants on a range of business, legal and regulatory issues affecting the telemedicine industry. She handles matters involving contracting fraud and abuse compliance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, self-disclosures and overpayments, the Anti-Kickback Statute, physician self-referrals (the Stark Law), health care marketing rules, HIPAA, corporate compliance programs, contracting, confidentiality and information sharing and policies and procedures. Her practice also focuses on advising clients on regulatory and compliance matters involving the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the AdvaMed Code and the PhRMA Code. She also regularly drafts and negotiates agreements required for the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical and medical device products. Prior to joining the firm, Kyle held in-house positions at pre-commercial and commercial stage companies.

Carmen Irwin

CMS Dallas Office
Local Engagement & Administration Staff (LEA)
Health Insurance Specialist/ Rural Health Coordinator

Carmen has worked with Medicare for the past 24 years. She started her career working in the anti-fraud department at one of the Medicare contractors. After a few years Carmen moved on to beneficiary outreach and education. In the fall of 2002 Carmen accepted a position with CMS in the Dallas Regional Office.

Carmen has worked with several Medicare Contractors for both program integrity and Medicare policy. In 2016, Carmen became the Rural Health Coordinator for the Dallas Regional Office. Carmen’s primary role is the provider education lead, for the Division of Local Engagement and Administration in the CMS Dallas Office.

Dr. Katie Benziger

Medical Director of Research at Essentia Health Heart and Vascular Center

Dr. Katie Benziger is the medical director of research at Essentia Health Heart and Vascular Center in Duluth, MN. She joined Essentia Health in 2017.

Dr. Benziger earned a bachelor’s of arts with honors at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. She received her medical degree from the University of Minnesota. Subsequently, she completed her residency training at University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She went on to complete fellowship training in cardiology at the University of Washington where she also completed her Masters of Public Health in the Health Metrics and Evaluation track.

Dr. Benziger has participated in many clinical trials, including the consortium primary investigator for the PREVENTABLE study. She has presided over the Heart and Vascular research program since her arrival in 2017 and has helped Essentia Health achieve substantial growth in its research efforts and expanding care of patients into cutting-edge medicine.

She is an active member of the American Heart Association (AHA) and speaks at local Go Red for Women events promoting women’s cardiovascular disease as well as sits on a number of national AHA Epidemiology committees. She is adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Benziger’s interests include preventive cardiology, hypertension, lipid management, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, and women’s heart disease. She is a board certified in advanced echocardiography.

Denaé Hebert

State Office of Rural Health Manager at Well-Ahead Louisiana

Denaé Hebert is the State Office of Rural Health Manager at Well-Ahead Louisiana, a chronic disease prevention and healthcare access initiative of the Louisiana Department of Health. In this role, she serves as the manager and main point of contact for the State Office of Rural Health grant program, as well as the Telehealth and Project ECHO initiatives within the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She also serves as the TexLa Telehealth Resource Center liaison for Louisiana. Prior to joining Well-Ahead, she worked for over six years in hospital corporate compliance, specializing in hospital licensure and certification and the Promoting Interoperability program (formerly known as the Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program).

Denaé holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish with a pre-medicine concentration and a minor in Latin American Studies from Millsaps College. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is a Louisiana Notary Public and is Certified in Healthcare Compliance.

Cameron Onks

Director Innovations in Health Technology

Cameron Onks is a Texas licensed Attorney in his sixth year of practice specializing in healthcare law and technology. Mr. Onks has extensive experience working in healthcare law, including counseling health care clients on business and transaction matters, federal and state regulatory issues, privacy and security, fraud and abuse, licensing and other regulatory issues. Mr. Onks serves as an Attorney and Director for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, Director of the TexLa Telehealth Resource Center, and Section Editor for the Policy Section and Technology Section of the Rural Health Quarterly Magazine.