Department of Health and Human Services

Bio, via Department of Health and Human Services:

Renee L. Ellmers was appointed by the White House as Regional Director of Region 4 of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in May 2017. As a Presidential Appointee, Ms. Ellmers provides executive leadership as the primary representative for the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The office of the Regional Director is also tasked with intergovernmental and external affairs bringing together federal, state, local and tribal government organizations, along with other external partners. In her role, Ms. Ellmers is responsible for the eight southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as six federally recognized tribes; making Region 4 the largest of ten regions. Renee Ellmers comes to us from the great state of North Carolina with a strong background in public service. She was elected to three terms in the House as the U.S. Representative for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District. In Congress, she served on the Health Subcommittee of the Energy & Commerce Committee. As a congresswoman, Ms. Ellmers supported and called for funding of the 21st Century Cures Act. This Act will bring our health care innovation infrastructure into the 21st Century, delivering hope for patients and loved ones and providing necessary resources to researchers to continue their efforts to uncover the next generation of cures and treatments. Ms. Ellmers was born and raised in Michigan. She graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1990 and began her career as a surgical intensive care nurse. She later became clinical director for Ellmers General Surgery and the Trinity Wound Care Center in Dunn, North Carolina. Ms. Ellmers was active in her community as a member of the Dunn, North Carolina Planning Board and the Chamber of Commerce. She currently lives in Dunn, North Carolina with her husband of 23 years, Brent, who is a General Surgeon, and her son Ben, a student at North Carolina University.

Bio, via Georgia Department of Public Health via Internet Archive:

Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., serves as the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and State Health Officer. Dr. Fitzgerald, a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist and a Fellow in Anti-Aging Medicine, has practiced medicine for three decades. As Commissioner, Dr. Fitzgerald oversees various state public health programs including Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Maternal and Child Health, Infectious Disease and Immunization, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Emergency Medical Services, Pharmacy, Nursing, Volunteer Health Care, the Office of Health Equity, Vital Records and the State Public Health Laboratory. Dr. Fitzgerald also directs the state’s 18 public health districts and 159 county health departments. Prior to joining DPH, Dr. Fitzgerald held numerous leadership positions. Fitzgerald served on the board and as president of the Georgia OB-GYN Society and she worked as a health care policy advisor with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Paul Coverdell. She has served as Chairman of the Board for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and remains a Senior Fellow. Additionally, she served on the Military Academy Selection Boards for Senators Paul Coverdell and Saxby Chambliss, and was a founding board member for the Paul Coverdell Leadership Institute. She also contributed to Leadership Georgia serving as a program chair, served as the 7th District Representative to the Georgia State School Board, and held board posts with Voices for Georgia’s Children, the Advanced Academy of West Georgia, the University of West Georgia Foundation, and the Carrollton Rotary Club. Dr. Fitzgerald holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Georgia State University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Emory University School of Medicine. She completed post-graduate training at the Emory-Grady Hospitals in Atlanta and held an assistant clinical professorship at Emory Medical Center. As a Major in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Fitzgerald served at the Wurtsmith Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) Base in Michigan and at the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.

Bio, via Republican National Lawyers Association:

Heather Flick has worked in two White House administrations, founded two successful companies and has held multiple corporate board seats throughout their acquisitions. She has lived in Beijing (where she studied at China University of Political Science and Law) Hong Kong, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco where her commentary has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, Sacramento Bee and on KRON and KTVU. She is an opinion columnist for The New York Observer and has been featured in the New York Observer and the Financial Times and New York Times online. The Flick Group's network of attorneys and experts advise US and international clients in all areas of commercial transactions and licensing, entity formation, purchase/sale transactions, corporate governance and management, IP protection, litigation and general business advice. We provide specialized emerging stage company services tailored to entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors and political and election law counseling to state and local candidates and committees. We take pride in providing clients with on-demand services, information and superior networking at half the cost of a large firm.

Bio, via Department of Health and Human Services:

Dr. Scott Gottlieb was sworn in as the 23rd Commissioner of Food and Drugs on May 11, 2017. Dr. Gottlieb is a physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate who previously served as the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a senior advisor to the FDA Commissioner. He also worked on implementation of the Medicare drug benefit as a senior advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he supported policy work on quality improvement and the agency’s coverage process, particularly as it related to new medical technologies. In 2013 Dr. Gottlieb was appointed by the Senate to serve on the Federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee, which advises the Department of Health and Human Services on healthcare information technology. Dr. Gottlieb was previously a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan, where he also practiced medicine as a hospitalist physician. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York and is a graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and of Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, where he studied Economics.

Bio, via Department of Health and Human Services:

Bruce D. Greenstein is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As the CTO at HHS, Bruce provides leadership and direction to ensure that HHS effectively uses data, technology and innovation to improve the lives of the American people and the performance of the operating divisions across the Department. Greenstein joins HHS after serving as President - West, at Quartet. In his last government role, Greenstein held a Cabinet post with Governor Bobby Jindal as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals. As the chief of Louisiana’s largest agency, Greenstein led over 11,000 employees and a budget of over $9 billion. With a talented executive team, Greenstein led many reforms of the state’s health care system, including implementing managed care for over one million enrollees, privatizing state health care facilities, increasing the state’s adoption of health information technology, and passionately leading the Birth Outcomes Initiative. Prior to his position as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana, Greenstein was an executive at Microsoft where he led the company’s worldwide health and human service business vertical with teams across the globe. He developed and led the worldwide go-to-market strategy and execution, as well as the development, promotion and maintenance of relationships with government and health care elites (CEOs, Ministers, and Secretaries, of health care organizations) to drive Microsoft’s value to customers in health care. Before Microsoft, Greenstein held senior positions in the federal government at the US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as in Florida state government.

Bio, via The Claremont Institute:

Matthew Grinney is communications advisor to Senator Mike Lee. He researches and writes on a wide range of policy topics, focusing particularly on constitutional issues and the legislative reforms included in Senator Lee’s Conservative Reform Agenda. Before joining Senator Lee’s staff, Mr. Grinney worked as a research assistant in the Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation, where he wrote for the Daily Signal and researched the history of American political thought. Mr. Grinney earned an M.A. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied political philosophy, worked as a teaching assistant, and wrote a thesis examining the writings and diplomatic career of Alexis de Tocqueville. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University.