She has been practicing as a pediatrician in Virginia for over twenty years. In addition to her clinical duties, she has served as an administrative physician in various roles for Mid-Atlantic Permanente and Southern California Permanente Medical Groups since 1988. Presently she is the Physician Chair of the Regional Medication Safety Committee and Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of Kaiser Permanente, Mid-Atlantic States Region.

Joe Hilbert is the Executive Advisor to the State Health Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Joe has worked in state government since 1990. Prior to coming to the Department of Health, Joe served as a Senior Health Policy Analyst with the Virginia General Assembly’s Joint Commission on Health Care. From 1990 to 1998, he was a legislative analyst with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. In this position, he performed program evaluation and policy analysis for the General Assembly in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of State government administration and management.

Joe received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from State University of New York at Albany and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from New York University.

Betsi’s clinical background is Medical/Surgical Nursing with a specialty in Critical Care and she has held several management positions throughout her career. 

Betsi is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and has worked in Quality for the last 7 years.

Mr. Johnson leads the firm’s Governmental Relations Team and routinely appears before the Virginia General Assembly to lobby on a broad number of issues affecting businesses, landowners, hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, and professional associations. His experience and track record of drafting and introducing legislation, advocating, amending, or opposing legislation, has proven indispensable to firm clients in Virginia and beyond. Mr. Johnson represents The Medical Society of Virginia, International Paper, HCA Healthcare, Community Health Systems, Virginia Harness Horse Association, Comcast, Community Loans of America, Liberty Healthcare, Allergan, the Frederick County Industrial Development Authority, Virginia's Commitment, Amgen and a number of other businesses and associations. 

Mr. Johnson frequently lectures on recent legislative actions, case law developments, and risk management strategies.

Dr. Leonard was a practicing anesthesiologist for 14 years with the Colorado Permanente Medical Group, where he was Chief of Anesthesia, Chief of Surgical Services, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. In 1999, he helped Kaiser Permanente forge a collaborative relationship with Dr. Robert Helmreich’s Human Factors Research Project to work on the application of human factors teamwork and communication training in medicine. 

For the past several years, he has taught extensively throughout the Kaiser Permanente system and at outside organizations in high-risk areas, such as surgery, obstetrics, critical care and others to enhance safety. At IHI, he has been active in several domains, including the Patient Safety Officer Training Course, Transforming Care at the Bedside, and the Superior Performance Initiative in the United Kingdom. 

In addition to teaching and lecturing, Dr. Leonard wrote a book on patient safety, Achieving Safe and Reliable Healthcare, in collaboration with Dr. Allan Frankel from Partners Healthcare and Terri Simmonds from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. 

An Honors graduate at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Dr. Leonard did his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, with fellowship training in Cardiac Anesthesia. 

Dr. Liebelt has held academic appointments at Yale University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has authored over 30 book chapters for leading toxicology textbooks as well as numerous manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Liebelt is the President of the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT), the national professional organization of medical toxicologists. She currently is a member of the American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination Committee. In the past, she was also a member of the Subboard of Medical Toxicology with the American Board of Emergency Medicine for 9 years. 

Dr. Liebelt is Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at Children’s Hospital of Alabama as well as a member of the Performance Improvement Council. She has been involved in numerous quality and safety initiatives and led many projects related to adverse drug events and medication utilization.

Dr. Liebelt has lectured both nationally and internationally on various topics in medical toxicology. She has served on several expert panels for both the Centers for Disease Control, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institutes of Health. In 2006, she attended the UCLA Anderson School of Management Healthcare Executive Leadership Program. Her research interests include adverse drug events including medication errors and adverse drug reactions, quality of care for poisoned patients, antidepressant poisoning, and pediatric environmental toxicology.

David began his career as a Boeing aircraft design engineer. In his final years at Boeing, David organized a human factors and safety group where his team won the International Whittle Award for the development of a human error investigation process now used by air carriers around the world. 

In 1997, David launched a research and consulting practice focusing on the management of human error through the integration of systems engineering, human factors, and the law. David has served as an advisor to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Human Factors Research Program and to the NASA Space Shuttle Program. 

In the healthcare sector, David was the principal consultant to guide the State of Oregon and the Oregon Health Care Association to build the first state-wide, quantitative model of medication safety risk. In the area of safety culture, David authored for the National Institutes of Health the document “Patient Safety and the ‘Just Culture’: A Primer for Healthcare Executives.” David’s Just Culture tools have now been implemented at a statewide level in both Minnesota and North Carolina. In November of 2005, David’s firm launched the Just Culture Community, a web-based resource for organizations on the journey to more open learning cultures. In December 2005, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices awarded David the Cheers award for his work in developing the “Just Culture.”

Before joining HCA in 2006, Dr. Perlin was Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, as the senior-most physician in the Federal Government and Chief Executive Officer of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Dr. Perlin led the nation’s largest integrated health system.

At VHA, Dr. Perlin directed care to over 5.4 million patients annually by more than 200,000 healthcare professionals at 1,400 sites, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, counseling centers and other facilities, with an operating and capital budget of over $34 billion. A champion for implementation of electronic health records, Dr. Perlin led VHA quality performance to international and domestic recognition as reported in academic literature and lay press and as evaluated by RAND, Institute of Medicine, and others.

Dr. Perlin has served on numerous Boards and Commissions including the National Quality Forum, the Joint Commission, Meharry Medical College and the American Health Information Community. Broadly published in healthcare quality and transformation, he is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics. Dr. Perlin has a Master’s of Science in Health Administration and received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology (performing research in molecular neurobiology) with his M.D. as part of the Physician Scientist Training Program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia Campus.

Recognized as one of the 15 most influential physician executives in the United States by Modern Healthcare, Dr. Perlin has received numerous awards including Distinguished Alumnus in Medicine and Health Administration from his alma mater, the Founders Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and is one of nine honorary members of the Special Forces Association and Green Berets.

Dr. Perlin has faculty appointments at Vanderbilt University as Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics and at Virginia Commonwealth University as Adjunct Professor of Health Administration.

Dr. Perlin resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Donna, an Emergency Pediatrics Physician, and children, Ben and Sarah.

VDH is led by the State Health Commissioner, Dr. Karen Remley. The State Health Commissioner serves as the principal advisor to Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine, Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn Tavenner and the Virginia General Assembly on a wide range of public health issues. Dr. Remley was appointed by Governor Timothy M. Kaine in 2008. Dr. Remley has been involved in every aspect of health care including positions as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk, Medical Director of External Quality at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia and Chief Executive Officer of Physicians for Peace. 

Dr. Remley earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City; a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University; and an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She is a pediatrician and certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, sub-board of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.