About
Your Beacon Team
Hawaii Island Beacon Community is comprised of well-qualified and respected individuals representing all areas of health care, public policy, Health Information Technology, education and community engagement on Hawaii Island: Board, Staff and Participating Organizations
Beacon Staff
Principal Investigator
Daniel E. Brown, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer & Project Director
Susan B. Hunt, MHA
Fiscal and Administrative Services Manager
Paula Chun
Clinical Transformation Program Manager
Melinda Nugent, MS
Program Evaluation Manager
Walt Thistlewaite, PhD, MPH
Health Information Exchange/Health Information Technology Manager
Laurie Bass, MCSC
Health Information Technology Analysts
Kevin Ikeda
Larry Kniffin
Beacon Nation Information Dissemination Project Specialist
Lauren Prepose, MEd
Program Facilitator
Rachel B. Dawson, MA
Clinical Transformation Expert
Della Lin, MD, MS
Facilitator
Judy Chan, MPH
Former Beacon Staff
Alistair Bairos, MD - Care Redesign Coordinator
Saturnino Doctor - Health Information Technology Analyst
Mari Horike - Community Outreach Facilitator
Jeffrey Jendrysik - Senior Project Manager
Andrew Levin, JD - Patient Ombudsman
Linda Ranney - Meaningful Use (MU) Analyst
Cynthia Ross, MPH - Clinical Program Coordinator
Jessica Yamamoto, MA - Community Engagement Team Manager
Participating Organizations
Alere Accountable Care Solutions
College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
Department of Health District Health Office
East Hawai‘i Independent Physician Association
Five Mountains Independent Physician Association
Hawai‘i Health Information Exchange
Hawai‘i Island Care Coordination Services
Hawai‘i Island Healthcare Alliance
Hawai‘i Medical Service Association
National Kidney Foundation of Hawai‘i
North Hawai‘i Community Hospital
North Hawai‘i Outcomes Project
West Hawai‘i Community Health Center
West Hawai‘i Home Health Services, Inc
West Hawai‘i Independent Physician Association
Board of Directors
HIBC is a corporation formed to facilitate management of the national Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program.
Officers
Sharon Vitousek, MD
Board President
Director, North Hawaii Outcomes Project
Randy Kurohara
Vice President
Director, Department of Research and Development, County of Hawaii
Richard Lee-Ching, MD
Vice President
President, East Hawaii Independent Physicians Association
Karen Teshima
Board Secretary
Executive Assistant, Office of the Mayor
Directors
Howard Ainsley
Chief Executive Officer
Hilo Medical Center
Money Atwal
Regional Chief Financial Officer
Regional Chief Information Officer
Hilo Medical Center
Craig Feied, MD
Beth Giesting
Healthcare Transformation Coordinator
Office of the Governor
Michelle Hiraishi
Executive Director
Hui Mālama Ola Nā ‘Ōiwi
William “Billy” P. Kenoi
Mayor
County of Hawaii
Brian Panik, DO
Emergency Room Physician
Hawaii Health Systems Corporation
Bill Park, MD
Senior General Surgeon
North Hawaii Community Hospital
Lyric Santiago, MD
Physician
Hilo Urology Clinic
Paul Strauss
Chief Operating Officer
Alohacare
Richard Taaffe
Executive Director
West Hawaii Community Health Center
Elisa Yadao
Community Affairs, Marketing and Communications
Hawaii Medical Service Association
