Community & State Perspectives Blog Meet our blog authors
Arethusa Stevens Kirk is a National Senior Medical Director for UnitedHealthcare Community & State where she serves as the VP of Population Health & Clinical Strategy supporting each of the health plans nationally to achieve key clinical and business objectives. Areas of focus in her portfolio and for her team include population health strategy, health equity and quality advancement, clinical model and program development, virtual health, medical behavioral health integration and clinical innovation.
With over 17 years of healthcare and community leadership experience, Dr Kirk has served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Baltimore City and as a National Health Service Corps Scholar. She continues to practice as a primary care physician and as an Associate Physician of the Neurology and Development Inpatient Unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr Kirk is board certified in Pediatrics and completed her residency at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital.
She holds an honors degree in Visual Arts and Semiotics from Brown University and her Medical Doctorate from George Washington School of Medicine. Prior to her career in medicine, she served with the Missionaries of Charity in India, taught at an open school in the Republic of South Africa, and lived with a regional village midwife as a U.S. Peace Corps Health Education Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa. Finally, her parallel chief commitment is to shepherd the development and potential of her two boys.
Michelle Martin
Senior Policy Director, Complex Care and LTSS, UnitedHealthcare Community & State
Srinivas Merugu, MD
Chief Medical Officer for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio
Nicole Truhe
Senior Director of Federal Policy, Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
As the Senior Director of Federal Policy, Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice, Nicole leads the development of policy positioning and associated advocacy and thought leadership strategies related to both traditional and complex Medicaid covered populations. This includes TANF and CHIP populations (with focus on maternal and child health), Medicaid Expansion, Child Welfare, Criminal Justice Involved, and I/DD populations. Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Nicole served as the Government Affairs Director for America Forward where she led policy strategy and advocacy efforts related to Pay for Success/evidence-based policy, workforce development, career and technical education, higher education, and social innovation. Nicole also worked for over a decade at a national child welfare and children’s mental health non-profit where she advocated for policy and funding changes in the child welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid/children’s mental health, and innovative financing policy areas. Nicole has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and a Master’s in Public Administration/Public Policy from the University of Memphis.
Dr. Alexander Billioux
Chief Medical Officer, Government Programs and Senior Vice President, Population Health & Social Care, UnitedHealthcare
Dr. Alex Billioux is the chief medical officer (CMO), Government Programs, and senior vice president for population health and social care at UnitedHealthcare. As CMO, he is responsible for the individual care, population health, and provider partnership strategies for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare and Medicaid plans. He also leads enterprise-wide strategy and capabilities to address individual health-related social needs and community social drivers of health. He is an internal medicine doctor focused on supporting whole-person health by delivering coordinated physical, behavioral, and social care and advancing cross-sector population health strategies and sharing data to foster coordinated, learning health systems. Dr. Billioux was formerly the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Health and a senior advisor and division director at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
Dr. Billioux received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University and his D.Phil. in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford. He holds a B.A. from the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
Guest bloggers
Dr. Debra Andree
President/Chief Executive Officer, Community Health Centers, Inc.
Blair Harrison
National Policy Director of Community & Social Health, UnitedHealthcare Community & State
As the national policy director of community & social health at UnitedHealthcare Community & State, Blair’s policy and advocacy work focuses on health equity, housing and homelessness, food access, interpersonal violence, social connection, justice involvement, economic stability and workforce development, behavioral health, and social impact investing.
Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Blair was the deputy director of a local health department and served previously as the senior advisor on health, homelessness and housing for the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness. Blair is an infectious disease epidemiologist by training and has worked on trauma-effective systems change and advancing health and racial equity for more than 15 years.
Donna Meltzer
CEO of the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
Samantha O'Leary
Vice President, Growth Performance & Execution Community & State
Tom Tracy is a National Senior Director on Clinical Strategy & Population Health Team of UnitedHealthcare’s Community and State division. Tom’s areas of focus include the development of strategies to deepen the integration of medical-behavioral interventions and refinement of clinical models to best meet our members’ individual needs. His approach draws on his extensive experience as a clinical social worker, resulting in strategies that are person-centered and address health disparities. Tom’s entire career has been spent in serving the Medicaid population. He currently holds a license in clinical social (LCSW) and, prior to his tenure with UnitedHealthcare was the Chief Strategy Officer for a NJ-based community mental health center. His clinical experience spans multiple populations ranging from children, families and adults with mental health concerns. He has further developed and managed community-based programs, including supportive housing, Assertive Community Treatment, juvenile justice programs, as well as outpatient and in-home therapy-based programs. Tom holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Management from Thomas Edison State University. He is also a PROSCI Certified Change Management Practitioner. Tom, and his husband and their two daughters live in NJ, just outside of Philadelphia.
C. Grace Whiting
President and CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving and Member of the UnitedHealthcare National Advisory Board
A native of Chicago, Illinois Daniel is a May 1999 graduate of Hampton University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He also holds an Associate’s Degree in Mortuary Science from the University of the District of Columbia. Daniel has more than 17 years of professional experience working in federal advocacy. Currently, Daniel is the Director of Business Development – East Region for UnitedHealthcare Community & State. In this role, he advises health plan leaders on how to engage community partners to help solve for social determinants of health and healthcare issues affecting the Medicaid population. Prior to his position at UnitedHealthcare, Daniel served as a lobbyist for AARP where he handled issues pertaining to the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Program) and caregiving. Daniel has served as the Director of Federal Affairs for PHI formerly known as the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute where he represented the organization before members of Congress, the Administration and executed the organization’s federal agenda. Daniel has also served as the National and Federal Programs Director for Compassion and Choices and end of life advocacy organization. Prior to this for more than 10 years, Daniel served as the Director of Policy and Program Development for the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc., Wilson’s political experience includes serving as Staff Assistant to Senator Charles Schumer (NY), Public Affairs Officer in the Office of Management and Budget under then President William Jefferson Clinton and Regional Finance Coordinator for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under the leadership of Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Daniel served as the 2016 Co-Chair for the Aging in America Conference that was held in Washington, DC. In 2017, Daniel was recognized by Next Avenue as one of the “Top 50 Influencers in Aging”. Daniel serves on the Diversity Equity & Inclusion Advisory Committee’s for UnitedHealthcare and for the American Society on Aging. Daniel’s memberships include serving as a board member of TERRIFIC, Inc., a DC based non-profit organization that serves the needs of the elderly through housing, congregate meals, transportation and case management; Volunteers of America, Chesapeake Region and the College Park Sandy Spring Maryland Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
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