About Us
Meet The Team
Stephen Lockhart, M.D., PhD
Founding Director Emeritus
Dr. Lockhart is a board-certified anesthesiologist, and Chief Medical Officer for Sutter Health (retired). A Rhodes Scholar, he has a master’s degree in economics from Oxford University and a doctorate in biostatistics from Cornell University. He serves on the California Surgeon General’s Advisory Council focused on the study of adverse childhood experiences and served on California Gov. Jerry Brown’s Advisory Committee on Precision Medicine. He is a board member of the ECRI Institute, REI, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and chair of Parks California.
Leon Clark, MBA
Chief Research and Health Equity Officer
As Chief Research and Equity Officer, Leon Clark has responsibility for research, oversight of Sutter Health’s Institute for Advancing Health Equity, and serves as the designated institutional official for Sutter’s graduate medical education program. Prior to joining Sutter Health in April 2020, Leon spent more than 20 years at the Mayo Clinic. For the past decade, he served as chairman of Mayo’s research administration department where he was instrumental in the re-imagination of research and educational activities to advance patient care. Leon earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from DePaul University. He is a certified Quality Fellow by the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Kristen M.J. Azar, R.N., MSN/MPH, FAHA
Scientific Medical Director
As scientific medical director, Kristen leads a team of scientists, clinician-researchers and analysts to use the resources and data within our integrated network to incubate innovations and solutions to eliminate health disparities within our system and beyond. Kristen joined Sutter’s research enterprise in 2009 and through her role as a research scientist, over the past decade, has lead and completed numerous studies and publications in the areas of health disparities, health equity and cardiometabolic disease risk and management. She was named a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) in 2018 and holds graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Alice Pressman, PhD, MS
Research Director
Dr. Pressman is Executive Director for the Center for Health Systems Research and an associate adjunct professor at UCSF. She is an epidemiologist and biostatistician, with expertise in health systems research, clinical trials, and evaluation methodology, focusing on health disparities and chronic pain. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, and has more than 30 years of experience in diverse settings, including academia, community-based research, and healthcare systems.
Maria R. Moreno, MPH
Program Manager
Maria has been with Sutter Health since 2003, leading the system’s health equity initiatives including the Advancing Health Equity Program and a system effort to collect self-reported patient demographic information (Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry/Language). She received two California Endowment and one RWJF awards to address language and diversity needs across the system. Maria holds an MPH from Columbia University. In 2017, she received a fellowship to the Harvard Medical School Disparities Leadership Program.
Stephanie Brown, M.D., MPH
Clinical Lead
Dr. Brown is an Emergency Physician at Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. She has been actively engaged in complex care and health equity efforts since joining the medical staff in 2014, and from 2017-2018, she co-chaired the Community-Integrated Healthcare Partnership. As the Clinical Lead for the Institute, Dr. Brown contributes her clinical, policy, and care coordination expertise to the design and implementation of pilot programs and research efforts.
Internal Advisory Committee
Albert Chan, M.D., MS, FAAFP
VP, Chief of Digital Health
Dr. Chan co-leads digital transformation at Sutter Health, balancing implementation of digital health initiatives with life as a husband, father, family physician and researcher, both as an adjunct professor at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and an investigator at the Sutter Center for Health Systems Research. Together, we are a team of servant leaders dedicated to empowering patients and clinicians with solutions to improve the health of the communities we serve.
Dave Cheney
Chief Executive Officer, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento
David is the chief executive officer of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. As the leader of one of the city’s largest private, not-for-profit organizations, he leads 3,500 employees and nearly 1,000 medical staff members in offering high quality, affordable healthcare to all residents of the region.
John Gates
Chief Financial Officer, Sutter Health Bay Area
John has served as Sutter Health Bay Area Chief Financial Officer since 2015. John has been with Sutter Health since 2008 and brings 30 years of experience in increasingly responsible healthcare leadership positions in finance and a wealth of knowledge in medical group formation and financial management, bond financing, patient financial services, hospital finance and a myriad of other responsibilities.
William M. Isenberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Isenberg oversees the quality and safety of care provided across Sutter Health’s integrated healthcare network. He directs the use of error prevention tools and other high reliability strategies to keep patients and staff safe while optimizing quality outcomes.
Anna Kiger, DNP
Vice President and Chief Nurse Officer
As Sutter Health’s first chief nurse officer, Anna is accountable for executive nursing leadership, clinical nursing practice, education, and nursing research. In addition, she serves on the Samuel Merritt University Board of Regents.
Lauri Medeiros
Vice President of Philanthropy, Campaign Services and Operations, Sutter Health
Lauri leads a cross-functional team focused on philanthropy campaign development services, corporate and foundation fundraising, direct response, prospect research, and operations across Sutter Health.
Christopher Stanley, M.D.
Chief Population Health Officer
As the first Chief Population Health Officer for Sutter Health, Dr. Stanley is responsible for Sutter’s Population Health Services division which provides support to our managed care/value-based care patients and populations.
Keri Thomas, MPPA
Vice President, External Affairs, Sutter Health Valley Area
Keri Thomas serves as the Vice President, External Affairs for the Sutter Health Valley Area. She is responsible for working with elected and community leaders and not-for-profit agencies on sustainable programs that enhance community health in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, Solano, Amador, Yuba, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. Keri has a passion for connecting programs and services to help create a seamless system of care for our communities most vulnerable.
Chris Waugh
Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer
As Sutter Health’s first Chief Innovation Officer, Chris Waugh applies his extensive experience in human-centered design to guide the integrated network’s innovation strategy. Human-centered design is a creative approach that seeks personalized solutions to meet individual needs — understanding people and their behaviors, identifying trends and exploring solutions that improve a person’s healthcare experience — in order to make healthcare more usable and accessible for patients, doctors and nurses.
Jonathan Williams
Vice President of Government Affairs
Jonathan is responsible for developing, implementing and managing Sutter Health’s public policy and regulatory strategies in Washington D.C. As part of the Public Affairs organization, Jonathan works closely with executive and physician leadership to engage on a wide range of issues that impact Sutter’s integrated health system, support patient care and deliver value to the diverse communities Sutter Health serves.
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We believe that as a provider network we must do all we can to advance health equity, and we are committed to collaborating with others throughout the state and nation in these efforts. (Please don’t include any patient health information in the email)