Mark D. Amey has joined USC as chief information officer for several units, effective Sept. 21.

Amey will lead development and implementation of information technology (IT) strategic plans and procedures for USC University Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital, the Keck School of Medicine and the Doctors of USC physician group.

One of Amey's top priorities is creating a seamless information delivery system among these entities, enhancing faculty and staff communication and patient care delivery.

Amey previously served as regional CIO and vice president of Ascension Health Information Services in Tucson, Ariz., and the Carondelet Health Network hospitals of Ascension Health. There he was responsible for regional leadership and management of information services for eight hospitals totaling 1,461 beds, various clinics and related services. He also served as the liaison between the system office, regional and hospital executives, physicians, board members and customers. Prior to that Amey was chief information officer of the Southern California region for Adventist Health, which included five hospitals.

"From a patient perspective, a more effective information delivery system allows information and data to flow easily between the hospital and physician's office," Amey said. "The goal is to create a fully integrated health care delivery system where these separate units work as one, enhancing the clinicians' effectiveness, the patients' experience, and ultimately the clinical outcomes that we provide."

Information and results generated in the clinical setting can be used by Keck School of Medicine faculty for research and development, a model that may lead to improved physician practices down the road, Amey noted. The university acquired the USC University Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital on April 1, 2009, in an historic purchase agreement with Tenet Healthcare Corp. USC's purchase included 471 inpatient beds and 1,700 hospital employees. More than 500 faculty physicians known as the Doctors of USC and associated with the Keck School of Medicine of USC practice there.

"Enhanced information technology services is a major part of our plan for developing our hospitals and providing the most cutting-edge patient care," said Mitch Creem, CEO of the hospitals. "Mr. Amey brings a wealth of experience in developing and implementing IT strategic plans in patient care environments. His leadership will be essential as we complete the transition to a world class university academic medical center."

Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen Puliafito noted that the work of the medical school needs to link with the hospitals and clinical practices in order to thrive.

"Mr. Amey is an excellent choice to lead our integrated technology initiative," Puliafito said.

Amey received a bachelor of business administration degree in management and finance from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., and later earned a master's in business administration from La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif., with an emphasis in health care administration.

Jeffrey J. Guterman, M.D., M.S. is the Medical Director for Clinical Resource Management in the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and a Professor of Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In Dr. Guterman’s former role as Chief of Ambulatory and Community Medicine at Olive View - UCLA Medical Center, he was responsible for developing and operating the primary and managed care delivery network in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. His research focus on the application of information technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of medical care resulted in practical and implementable solutions that are changing the way care is delivered.

He pioneered the development of the first nationally distributed program for the computerized collection of patient information for Poison Control Centers. His current research is on the integration of computer technology into the management of the continuum of care for patients who present to the Emergency Department and on automated clinical monitoring of patients at home via telephonic voice recognition systems.

Through cooperative efforts with pharmaceutical and medical industry leaders and health care providers, Dr. Guterman has developed medical decision support products encompassing comprehensive preventive health care, automated remote monitoring for disease management programs, integrated Internet-based referral systems and miniaturized accelerated polymerase chain reaction instruments. The goals of these efforts are to provide lower cost, better health care with improved patient satisfaction.

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1981 with a Master of Science degree. His dissertation topic was the enhancement of medical and management decisions utilizing information technology. He received his M.D. (1983) and Internal Medicine training at Brown University. Additional post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine and Toxicology was completed at UCLA. His research works have been published in a broad range of peer reviewed journals including the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the American Journal of Clinical Pathology and the Proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care.

David Grant is the CIO of AssistMed, Inc., a healthcare technology and service company with over 17,000 clinical users registered in the US and Canada. He joined AssistMed based on a shared vision to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs with the application of appropriate and targeted solutions.

Mr. Grant is also a founding partner of MedEfficient Healthcare Solutions, LLC, a healthcare company based in Mission Viejo, CA that provides wireless electronic prescribing and increased HCC revenue capture products to medical group and IPA physicians.

Previously he founded Rx-Connect, a startup venture that was acquired by PacifiCare Health Systems in 2001. While at PacifiCare, Mr. Grant served as a President & CEO of MEDeMORPHUS (Rx-Connect), and Vice President with PacifiCare’s E-Solutions. MEDeMORPHUS was responsible for delivering more than $13,000 savings on drug spend per physicians and created over $75 MM of recurring value to PacifiCare and other payers.

Mr. Grant was recognized as InfoWorld’s CTO of the Year finalist for technology innovations and has served as a technology strategist for well known companies such as PacifiCare, Autobytel, Countrywide and Nestlé. His efforts have successfully enabled these companies to increase profits and provide better products and services to their customers.

Mr. Grant is skilled in managing complex organizations and startup ventures. He has received Leadership awards for his abilities to identify opportunities, and to build collaborative teams that foster achievement cultures.

Mr. Grant also serves as a board member or advisors for several companies including Ad-Vantage Networks, Inc., iXept, Inc., and UniversCel, Inc. that are companies that have all received Angel funding and are based on patents he developed.

Jim Bialick is the Director of Public Policy for JC White Consulting, working as an expert in HIT issues, especially as it pertains to the policy development process within ONC. He is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Newborn Coalition, a legislative and action-oriented coalition that serves as an unrelenting advocate for America’s newest, most vulnerable citizens.

Jim works on the leading edge of stakeholder engagement and the development of national health information technology infrastructure. To reinforce his understanding of public policy and health IT Jim draws on his previous experiences in drug development, the years that he spent internationally as health and wellness liaison between several American NGOs and the Mexican Secretary of Health, and as Director of Technology Innovation for Genetic Alliance.

As a former staffer of the HIT Standards Committee for the Office of the National coordinator, vocal participant in the public proceedings of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, and a former community organizer, Jim’s work has extended beyond traditional health technologies into developing systems that facilitate collaboration between novel stakeholders in new and innovative ways.

Ted Meisel is a digital entrepreneur, investor and advisor. He is a Senior Advisor with Elevation Partners. Ted brings to the firm extensive experience in the operations and strategy of digital media and advertising companies. He provides input to potential investments and is an active board member at Forbes Media and Marketshare Partners, where he works with the management teams on strategic, operational and organizational issues.

Ted is the former CEO of Overture Services, the pioneer of search advertising. He joined the company (originally GoTo.com) in 1998 and led it to $1 billion in worldwide revenues by 2003, its fifth full year of operations – when Yahoo! acquired Overture for $1.8 billion. Ted stayed on as President of the newly-named Yahoo! Search Marketing division for two years, integrating with other Yahoo! Units, and leading it to continued and rapid revenue growth and an expanded worldwide footprint.

Prior to Overture, Ted was an executive at CitySearch, now a division of IAC/Interactive Corp. CitySearch became the leading internet city guide, ultimately absorbing its main competitor, Microsoft’s Sidewalk. His responsibilities at CitySearch included editorial, product management, product design, professional services, business development, and engineering.

Before he became an internet executive, Ted spent eight years with the consulting firms of McKinsey & Company and Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting) in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Singapore.

Ted is an active angel investor in and advisor to a number of early stage companies. He is the Chairman of WiserCare (shared decisionmaking for patients with a diagnosed condition), a board member of Tap11 (platform for marketers to leverage social media), and an advisor to FatTail (workflow and yield management platform for publishers). He is currently evaluating several more Health 2.0 opportunities.

In addition to his business interests, Ted is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Hope Street Group (www.hopestreetgroup.org), a bipartisan group of business leaders and professionals devoted to changing socioeconomic policy so that we have a vibrant middle class as the century unfolds. HSG is especially active in reforming our education and health care systems.

Ted holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and lives in Los Angeles.

Ashish Soni is a faculty member and Director of the Information Technology Program (ITP) at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. Under his leadership the department has experienced a significant turnaround in the quality of instruction and become a campus wide leader in integrating emerging instructional technologies both in and out of the classroom.

Ashish is actively involved with the technology industry and consults with startups and Fortune 500 companies in the areas of digital strategy and innovation, social media, online communities, online advertising and emerging Web 2.0 technologies. He is an expert in the strategic and innovative use of technology across different disciplines, and is interested in the intersection of technology and medicine, journalism and social work. He was a strategic advisor to Office of Intelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy, and helped them conceptualize a Global Online Knowledge Ecosystem. He is currently designing a social media and interaction platform for an organization focused on business social responsibility. He is also currently leading a team to build mobile applications that interface with medical devices in collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine at USC. He sits on the advisory board of several organizations including the MySpace Incubator, Slingshot Labs. He keeps his pulse at the edge of the digital world, and is deeply knowledgeable about trends, emerging solutions, platforms and opportunities.

Ashish also teaches classes at USC in the areas of Web 2.0 and Social Media, Building Web Startups, Online Marketing and Strategic Technology Management.

Mr. Soni holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

Nikhil's expertise revolves around building businesses and teams from just an idea phase with a specialization in internet/web technologies, software and green businesses. Nikhil brings diverse experience in various industries in several roles including management consultant, business advisor and C-level positions. A serial entrepreneur with the mindset of a management consultant, Nikhil has helped his clients succeed through careful planning, analysis and execution. Nikhil has held the position of COO in a business advisory and management consulting firm where he advised clients in various industries such as hospitality, renewable energy, real estate, healthcare, financial services, nutrition and social networking and helped with funding requirements, private placements, business process redesign, business planning, devising marketing, business development and go-to-market strategies, mentoring entrepreneurs, structuring MBO's and LBO's and consulting to executive management. Nikhil has consulted to various Fortune 500 clients in industries such as retail, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and helped with implementing multi-million dollar projects and advising on mergers and acquisitions.

Nikhil currently sits on the Mentoring Committee of the Los Angeles Business Technology Center and the Executive Committee of the Caltech MIT Enterprise Forum. He is the Founder of OnGreen, Inc., which is on its way to becoming the world's largest clearinghouse and marketplace for greentech. Nikhil has a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance from USC's Marshall School of Business.

Ashish Soni is a faculty member and Director of the Information Technology Program (ITP) at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. Under his leadership the department has experienced a significant turnaround in the quality of instruction and become a campus wide leader in integrating emerging instructional technologies both in and out of the classroom.

Ashish is actively involved with the technology industry and consults with startups and Fortune 500 companies in the areas of digital strategy and innovation, social media, online communities, online advertising and emerging Web 2.0 technologies. He is an expert in the strategic and innovative use of technology across different disciplines, and is interested in the intersection of technology and medicine, journalism and social work. He was a strategic advisor to Office of Intelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy, and helped them conceptualize a Global Online Knowledge Ecosystem. He is currently designing a social media and interaction platform for an organization focused on business social responsibility. He is also currently leading a team to build mobile applications that interface with medical devices in collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine at USC. He sits on the advisory board of several organizations including the MySpace Incubator, Slingshot Labs. He keeps his pulse at the edge of the digital world, and is deeply knowledgeable about trends, emerging solutions, platforms and opportunities.

Ashish also teaches classes at USC in the areas of Web 2.0 and Social Media, Building Web Startups, Online Marketing and Strategic Technology Management.

Mr. Soni holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

Lynn Foster is the Founder and CEO of BPT Pharmaceuticals, an early stage company focused on Multiple Sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases. He previously served as Emerging Technologies Director at Greenberg Traurig, L.L.P., one of the largest law firms in the United States. In that position he provided consulting services to clients on Technology Transfer, Patent Licensing and raising capital from Federal Research Grants, Venture Capital, and Strategic Investors.

Lynn has the unique background of more than 15 years of experience with Technology Transfer and the federal grant process as a government manager at both the Federal and State and as an entrepreneur. Lynn previously managed the State of California CalTIP seed grant program that matched federal research and development grants with commercialization funding.

Lynn’s primary technical focus is Nanotechnology. He is the Editor and Co-Author of the best selling textbook, “Nanotechnology: Science, Innovation & Opportunity” (Prentice Hall, 2005). He wrote the first Trade Study on Nanotechnology in 2000 and organized many of the early knowledge conferences and Trade Missions in the field. He has been quoted on technology and finance topics in numerous national and industry publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes and National Public Radio.

Lynn serves on the Executive Committee of the Caltech Enterprise Forum, the Advisory Board of Finaventures, a Venture Capital fund focused on early and mid-stage technology ventures, and the Advisory Board of the Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization. He had 21 years of active and reserve service with the US Army including service in the first Gulf War and Bosnia. He holds an MBA and a B.S. in Production and Operations Management.