Michael F. Cannon

Michael F. Cannon

Michael F. Cannon is the director of health policy studies for the Cato Institute. Cannon has been described as “ObamaCare’s single most relentless antagonist” (The New Republic), and “the man who could bring down ObamaCare” (Vox.com). His articles have been featured in the Wall Street Journal; the New York Times; and USA Today. He is the co-editor of Replacing ObamaCare, and co-author of Taxation Without Representation: The Illegal IRS Rule to Expand Tax Credits under the PPACA.

Mr. Cannon holds a BA in American government from the University of Virginia, an MA in economics, and a JM in law and economics from George Mason University.


Chris DeMars, MPH

Chris DeMars, MPHChris DeMars is the Director of Systems Innovation at the Oregon Health Authority Transformation Center, which is the hub for health system innovation and improvement in Oregon. At the Transformation Center, Ms. DeMars manages a team that supports the success of Oregon’s coordinated care organizations while also working to spread the coordinated care model to other payers. Ms. DeMars recently spent over eight years as a Senior Program Officer at the Northwest Health Foundation, where she managed the Foundation’s health care reform work, including support for Oregon’s delivery system reform and health reform advocacy organizations. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. DeMars was a Senior Health Policy Analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), where she authored numerous reports for Congress on Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance payment policy. Ms. DeMars has held positions at various health-policy consulting firms in the areas of public health, managed care and reimbursement systems, and she began her career as a Policy Analyst at Indiana’s Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Ms. DeMars lives in Portland with her husband and two sons.


Peter Graven

Peter GravenPeter Graven is a Health Economist at OHSU in the Center for Systems Effectiveness. His research interests include health insurance, methodology, small area estimation, simulation modeling, state health policy, and program evaluation. Dr. Graven received is PhD from the University of Minnesota in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration and his BS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also teaches in the Health Management and Policy track of the Oregon MPH program jointly offered between OHSU and PSU. Prior to his academic career in health economics, Graven worked in economic consulting and market research.


Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward

Senator Elizabeth Steiner HaywardSenator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward lives with her husband, Michael and teenage daughter in unincorporated Multnomah County. Her oldest daughter and her partner make their home in Northeast Portland.

Senator Steiner Hayward volunteers frequently at her children’s school and served as a Girl Scout troop leader and camp physician for ten years. She provides medical care at a safety net clinic for uninsured patients. Elizabeth has been on the board of Congregation Neveh Shalom since 2004, and is active within her congregation.

The Senator is also a family physician at OHSU where she works to provide primary care to both children and adults. She is a past President of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians and currently serves as the Director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Breast Health Education Program.

Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward was appointed to the Oregon Senate in December 2011. In this time of tight budgets she understands we must set clear priorities to make Oregon a better place to own a small business and raise a family. This year, the people of her districted voted overwhelmingly to return Elizabeth to the State Senate.


Leann R Johnson, MS

Leann R Johnson, MSLeann Johnson is the interim Director for the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Office of Equity and Inclusion. Prior to her interim appointment Leann served as the Executive Manager for Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights for the OHA. Leann holds a master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with program focus in Multicultural Organizational Development and Indigenous Psychology. She also has a B.S. in Communications Management from the University of Portland. Leann has 25 years of leadership experience developing equity, diversity and intercultural programs in the public and non-profit sectors. Past employers include Clark College, the City of Vancouver and the YWCA of Clark County. She has also served as a consultant to multiple agencies and organizations including the Vancouver Police Department, PGE, Bonneville Power Administration, Hewlett Packard and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Additionally, Leann is a Qualified Administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory.


Kristin Madison

Kristin MadisonKristin Madison is a Professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Her early research involved an empirical analysis of the impact of hospital system membership and hospital-physician affiliations on Medicare patient treatments, expenditures, and outcomes. Much of her subsequent work has evaluated the implications of health care quality reporting and related trends for patients, providers and regulators. More recently, she has written about legal and policy issues related to employers' use of financial incentives to promote health. Motivated in part by her experience as a member of Massachusetts' Health Information Technology Council, she has also been examining how regulators could use improved data collection and analysis to better inform their decision making. Professor Madison holds a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, a JD from Yale, and a PhD in economics from Stanford. She was a member of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Law School for ten years before joining Northeastern in 2011.



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