Emily L. Graham, RHIA, CCS-P

Ms. Graham is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. Before her move to Hart Health Strategies Inc., Ms. Graham served as the Assistant Dean and Program Director for the Health Information Management (HIM) and Clinical Data Coding (CDC) Programs at Northern Virginia Community College's (NVCC) Medical Education Campus (MEC). Ms. Graham continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member for the traditional HIM/CDC programs, as well as the Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) Community College Consortium Health IT Workforce Development Program.

Prior to her time in academia, Ms. Graham served as the Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), where she focused on a variety of regulatory issues, including Medicare physician reimbursement, Medicare's quality improvement initiatives and advancements in health information technology. In that role she had regular dealings with representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services, to include the CMS, the ONC, and the FDA. She also served as Chair of the Quality and Health Information Technology and Regulatory Committee's for the Alliance of Specialty Medicine and as a staff liaison to the AMA's Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel and Relative Value System Update Committee (RUC), the NQF, SQA, and AQA Alliance.

Ms. Graham previously held a position at the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head Neck Surgery as a Practice Management Coordinator, where she focused on coding and reimbursement issues. She has also held positions in an acute care hospital billing office and in a physician practice.

Ms. Graham is a Past President of the District of Columbia Health Information Management Association (DCHIMA). Ms. Graham obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree in HIM from Stephens College.

Brian Henderson

Brian Henderson is a Senior Government Affairs Specialist at WJ Weiser & Associates, where he helps handle state government relations and legislative advocacy for the Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations. He has worked on a variety of patient access issues including step-therapy, non-medical switching, and pharmacy benefit managers. Prior to working with CSRO, he worked in the Canadian Federal Government on analyzing health and energy policy issues. Brian graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History.

Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, RhMSUS

Dr. Kumar is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. After attending college at the University of Pennsylvania, he went to Saba University School of Medicine and completed Internal Medicine residency at the University of Kentucky. He arrived in Iowa in 2014 and completed fellowships in both rheumatology and allergy/immunology in 2017, as well as a master’s degree in medical education and certification in musculoskeletal ultrasonography. His clinical interests include the intersection of autoimmunity and immunodeficiency, musculoskeletal ultrasonography, and ocular inflammatory diseases. As the Associate Program Director for the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program, he is also driven by a desire to improve the quality of medical education as well as the value of clinical work for both patients and practitioners. Outside of clinic, Kumar has a keen interest in medical journalism, quality improvement, and humanism, and is the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism-in-Research Associate Editor. Full biography. 

Jerry A. Molitor, MD, PhD

Dr. Molitor is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Molitor earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at Duke University, where he helped develop evidence of a family of NF-kappa B nuclear transcription factors in T lymphocytes. He completed his MD at the University Of Iowa College Of Medicine. Dr. Molitor completed his Internal Medicine Internship and Residency, as well as a Rheumatology Fellowship, at the University of Washington. Dr. Molitor conducted numerous clinical and translational research projects through the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, where he was Director of the Arthritis Clinical Research Unit from 2001-2007, and Associate Director of Clinical Research from 2004-2007. He joined the University of Minnesota in 2007, where he heads the multidisciplinary Scleroderma clinic. He has participated in the Scleroderma GWAS, and in multiples studies of Systemic Sclerosis biomarkers and natural history, as well as in various aspects of drug development. Dr. Molitor has clinical research interests in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Sclerosis pathogenesis and disease prevention, and has been a consultant or investigator in multiple trials of candidate therapies for these conditions. His translational research focuses on understanding the interplay between impaired immune responses to infections and associated autoimmunity. He leads current studies examining this phenomenon in individuals with periodontal disease and the development of Rheumatoid Arthritis–associated autoantibodies.

Dennis Tibben

Mr. Tibben is the Director of External Affairs for the Iowa Medical Society.In this role, he leads policy development and advocacy efforts with the Iowa General Assembly, Congress, and Executive Branch agencies, as well as communications efforts on behalf of the Society. Prior to joining the Iowa Medical Society, Dennis served as Correspondence and Judicial Appointments Coordinator in the Iowa Governor’s Office, as well as a Legislative Assistant in the Iowa Senate. Dennis received his bachelor's degree in Political Science, with an emphasis in American Government, from Iowa State University and his Master of Public Administration, with an emphasis in Public Policy, from Drake University.

Disclosures

Relevant to the content of this educational activity, the following individuals have no conflict of interests with commercial interests to disclose.

• Bogdan Cherascu, MD, MS, Activity Director and Planning Committee Member
• Emily L. Graham, RHIA, CCS-P, Speaker
• Lorene Harder, Activity Coordinator and Planning Committee Member
• Brian Henderson, Panelist
• Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, RhMSUS, Speaker
• Dennis Tibben, Panelist

Relevant to the content of this educational activity, the following individuals a conflict of interest with commercial interests to disclose.

• Jerry A. Molitor, MD, PhD, Speaker