Healthcare Administrator & Patient Advocate

Christina Thielst, LFACHE, has experienced the evolution of the healthcare system over the last 40 years as both a hospital administrator and consultant. She has a particular interest in engaging patients and their family caregivers in care processes for improved safety and quality. A highly respected thought leader in the continually evolving field of health information technology, her visionary work operationalizes the application of new and emerging technologies that healthcare organizations can leverage as solutions to patient care and workplace challenges. Her books include Social Media in Healthcare: Connect Communicate Collaborate, 2nd Edition, Applying Social Media Technologies in Healthcare Environments and Establishing a Regional Health Information Organization. Her weblog, Christina’s Considerations, has also been added to the National Library of Medicine’s collection and archive of medicine and public health blogs.

Professor at Colorado Technical University

As a university professor at Colorado Technical University in the USA, she fosters future healthcare leaders, physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals to become an agent of transformation in the healthcare ecosystem toward achieving effective and successful outcomes. Likewise, She is a member of SMEs to develop and modify academic curriculums in health science and healthcare management. She believes that achieving the desired future, health and well-being for all, would start with the right education pathway, by empowering the human capital and innovating fresh ideas, and cultivating new mental models. Dr. Dina is an advocate of sustainable effectiveness development in the healthcare ecosystem and known for publishing the idea of the Quadruple Change framework for leading digital transformation in the smart healthcare ecosystem. From academia to practical medical environments, she has collaborated with healthcare organizations to create meaningful digital transformation and optimize care services in the digital era. She has several publications in leading digital transformation, innovation, telehealth, and digital health management that can be found in academic databases. She has been technical advisory board in IGI Publisher, journal reviewer, and the editorial board in international journals.

Chief Digital and Information Officer

As senior vice president and chief digital and information officer, Dr. Zafar Chaudry provides vision and leadership for the development of technology initiatives and enterprise-wide information systems and services for Seattle Children’s Hospital. His goal is to enable clinicians with the best technology to deliver safe and excellent care to our patients. Chaudry, who began his career as a physician, brings to Seattle Children’s over 20 years’ worth of experience in healthcare informatics and a strong technical, business, and international standards-based approach to IS. He has worked in senior IT roles in startups and served as faculty at the City Colleges of Chicago. He then became CIO of Europe’s largest women’s hospital (Liverpool Women’s) and its largest children’s hospital (Alder Hey), both in Liverpool, England. He moved on to serve as research director for global healthcare at Gartner. Most recently, he was the CIO of Cambridge University Hospitals in the United Kingdom.