Where
Gateway Conference Center at Wilmington Hospital501 West 14th Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
Driving Directions
Contact
Timothy E. Gibbs, MPH
Delaware Academy of Medicine and the Delaware Public Health Association
302-733-3919
tgibbs@delamed.org
Driving Directions
From I-95, southbound
Take exit 7B (Delaware Avenue). Turn left onto Delaware Avenue. At the second traffic light, turn left onto Jefferson Street and go one block onto the Wilmington Hospital campus. Park in the patient/visitor parking garage (F).
From I-95, northbound
Take exit 7 (Delaware Avenue). Turn right onto Delaware Avenue and move into the left lane. At the first light, turn left onto Jefferson Street and go one block onto the Wilmington Hospital campus. Park in the patient/visitor parking garage (F).
PARKING & ACCESS TO GATEWAY CENTER
Attendees should park in the visitor garage and enter through the main lobby of the hospital. Proceed to the right of the information desk past the Au Bon Pain and down the stairs to the atrium and then down the stairs marked Gateway Conference Center. Elevator is available from the lobby.
Health Summit
Delaware Health Care Benchmark and Legislative Update
9:00 AM Welcome
Deb Brown, Executive Vice President, American Lung Association | Mid-Atantic Region
Kate Smith, MD, MPH, DE Academy of Medicine / DE Public Health Association
9:15 AM Delaware Health Care 2017 Legislative Recap
10:00 AM Delaware Health Care Benchmark presentation
Secretary Kara Walker, Department of Health and Social Services (bio below)
11:00 AM Break
11:15 AM Going forward - 2018 legislative session
12:00 PM Brown bag lunch to eat on site or on the go
Dr. Kara Odom Walker was sworn in as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Services on Feb. 6, 2017. As Secretary, she leads the principal agency charged with keeping Delawareans healthy, ensuring they get the health care they need in a fast-changing world, and providing children, families and seniors with essential social services including food benefits, disability-related services, and mental health and addiction treatment. She oversees one of the largest departments in Delaware's government with an annual budget of more than $2 billion.
As Secretary, Dr. Walker chairs the Health Fund Advisory Council, and is a member of the Delaware Health Care Commission and the Delaware Center for Health Innovation Board.
Secretary Walker previously worked as the Deputy Chief Science Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a nonprofit, nongovernment organization in Washington that is authorized by Congress to improve evidence available to help patients, caregivers, employers, insurers and policymakers make informed health care decisions. She managed the Institute's research investments, which totaled $1.6 billion in 2016, toward a planned total of $2.5 billion by 2019. She formerly taught Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, as an Assistant Clinical Professor, and has worked with several national organizations to advocate for health equity and for access to quality health care in minority and underserved populations, including the National Medical Association, the Student National Medical Association and the American Medical Association. Dr. Walker has been recognized for leadership by Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development, American Medical Association and the National Medical Association.
A Caravel Academy high school graduate, she earned her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware and her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She has a Masters of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Masters in Health Services Research from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, where she also completed a post-graduate fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program. She is a board-certified family physician and has provided direct patient care in many primary care settings, including those for uninsured and underserved populations. She has published research papers on physician workforce issues, health care organization and delivery.