Adrian Gropper – Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Gropper is a pioneer in patient-centered and patient-controlled health records on the Internet. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MD form Harvard Medical School. Early work on telemedicine and picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) with Massachusetts General Hospital also introduced him to MIT’s Guardian Angel project that many consider the parent of many of today’s patient-facing technologies. In 1995, Dr. Gropper founded AMICAS (NAS:AMCS) as the first Web-based radiology PACS and the first to provide direct links to diagnostic imaging in electronic health records.

Dr. Gropper founded MedCommons in 2004 to develop software for image-enabled, patient-centered health records supporting all of a patient’s caregivers. Dr. Gropper participated in many early standardization efforts including IHE, HITSP, Liberty Alliance and the Continuity of Care Record steering committee. He also serves on the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange Technology Workgroup, the Massachusetts Medical Society Committee for Information Technology and Markle Foundation panels. Currently he participates as a patient-access advocate in the NwHIN Direct Project and consults on image-enabling patient portals, NwHIN secure messages and electronic health records as well as health information technology in the cloud.

Katherine Johnson – Director of Communications. Katherine (Kat) Johnson graduated from Cornell University in 2007 with a B.A. in Africana Studies. She then embarked on an extensive tour of the United States. She began volunteering for Patient Privacy Rights in the fall of 2007. In January 2008, Ms. Johnson was hired in as PPR’s Programs & Outreach Coordinator. Ms. Johnson became Communications Director in 2010. Her focus is communications, office management, coordinating major projects with PPR’s founder, Dr. Deborah Peel, and outside partners, and working with the board of directors, staff and volunteers to expand PPR’s presence and outreach.

Cory Laurel – Research Specialist. Cory Laurel received a B.A. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997. After college she worked at Cedra Corporation performing pharmaceutical research and revising chromatography test methods. In 2000 she was hired at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Austin, where she developed different manufacturing methods for proficiency testing products and pilot protocols for calibrators and controls. Ms. Laurel also volunteered at the National Domestic Violence Hotline and at Project Transition Doug’s House Hospice. In 2013 Ms. Laurel returned to UT Austin completing the Health Information Technology and Exchange Specialist Program, where she began working with PPR through a one-month practicum. She was hired on in April 2013 as a “general support” member of the Health Privacy Summit Team.

Atalie Nitibhon – Policy Director. Atalie Nitibhon received a B.S. in Human Biology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. After working at the American Cancer Society’s National Cancer Information Center, she returned to school to receive a Master of Arts in Human Services and Conflict Resolution from St. Edward’s University, then a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. While obtaining her graduate degrees, she worked as an intern for TexHealth Coalition, where she supported the organization’s work with Executive and Legislative offices during the 2009 Texas Legislative Session. Ms. Nitibhon also worked as the Health Policy intern for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, where she began researching various aspects of Personalized Medicine and different Health Information Technology initiatives. Following graduation from the LBJ School in May of 2010, she worked as the Field Director for the 2010 Donna Howard Campaign.

Ms. Nitibhon began working with PPR through the LBJ School prior to the 2011 Health Privacy Summit. Her role has included researching and writing case studies on relevant patient privacy topics; assisting with post-Summit writing, survey, and Work Group projects; and serving as a “general support” member of the Health Privacy Summit Team.