Why Patient Cybersecurity is Imperative and How to Implement into Your Curriculum

Sriram Bharadwaj (Sri) is Director of Clinical and Business Applications and CISO, University of California, Irvine, Healthcare (UCI Health) and has over 25 years of Information Management Systems experience in multiple industries including healthcare. Sri has held many leadership positions in health plans and prior to his current work at UCI Sri consulted with Integrated Delivery Network (IDNs) around ACO, HIE and Clinical integration. Sri has expertise in Applications Development, Enterprise-wide IT Infrastructure and Operations. Sri is well known for his process knowledge delivering performance improvements in multiple industries during his long tenure with Deloitte in various parts of the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA region. Sri also has expertise building products for customers through his earlier involvement with SAP AG (an ERP vendor).

Sri is a CPHIMS, PMP, CISSP, Chartered Global Management Accountant (FCGMA)(U.K), Professional, Academy of Healthcare Management (PAHM), and a Six Sigma Black Belt (ASQ). Sri is past committee member for the CIO Healthcare Summits and has delivered many presentations on Healthcare regulations and compliance at various conferences. Sri currently serves as Chair, Privacy and Security Committee, National HIMSS. Sri has been on the Southern California HIMSS Board for many years and also is involved with the HIMSS Interoperability and Standards Workgroup, Patient Engagement Workgroup providing thought leadership and opinion on various matters around patient engagement, interoperability, healthcare legislation, privacy and security.

Greg Garcia is the Executive Director for Cybersecurity of the Health Sector Coordinating Council, the convening organization for critical healthcare infrastructure organizations across 6 major subsectors, working in partnership with HHS and other government agencies to protect the security and resilience of the sector, patient safety and public health.

Greg was appointed by President George W. Bush as the nation's first Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. One of his major achievements in this role was conceiving and initiating creation of the National Cyber and Communications Integration Center, the nation’s 24x7 public-private partnership for cybersecurity watch, warning, analysis and incident response.

He also served as executive director of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, and held senior executive positions with Bank of America, 3Com Corporation, Information Technology Association of America, and American Electronics Association, all with the responsibility of driving change in public policy and business operations to strengthen the security and resiliency of the nation's critical infrastructures.

Greg served as a professional staff member on the Committee on Science in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he helped draft and shepherd enactment of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act of 2002.

Greg serves on the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, a government/industry committee advising the Secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security, and the Director of OMB, on national information security and privacy policy.

Bio pending.

Dr. Samra is Chair/Professor of Nursing at the University of South Dakota. Prior to the Chair position, Dr. Samra served in a faculty role and as Associate Chair of Research for Nursing. Dr. Samra worked in neonatal nursing before moving into academia and is a certified Clinical Nurse Leader. Dr. Samra holds BS and MS in Nursing, MS in Management, and PhD in Biological Sciences. In 2017, she completed the Leadership for Executives program from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Samra has led several community and research projects and has over 40 publications with $2M in funding. In recognition of her work, she received several state and national awards. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is internationally recognized for her prolific, meaningful research on neonatal care, children’s health, rural health and patient safety.

Dr. Samra serves in vital leadership roles in several professional organizations. She currently serves as a member on the National Health and Public Health Coordinating Council Cybersecurity taskforce; the Council works closely with over 100 members, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Agency of Health and Human Services. The taskforce is currently working on developing a basic curriculum to train pre-health professions in cyber hygiene. Other roles include Section Editor for Advances in Neonatal Care, Editorial Board member for the Journal for Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, member of the Mother Child Expert Panel for the American Academy of Nursing, and member of the Advisory Board for the South Dakota Center for Prevention of Child Maltreatment.

Dr. Sheila Whalen is a RN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Nursing Informatics board certification, a Master of Science in Medical Informatics, a Doctorate in Nursing Practice for Transformational Leadership. Her role as the Clinical Integration Program Manager, embodies Rush’s vision of having a nurse act as a liaison between Information Systems, Clinical Engineering and Clinical Staff as well as be an advisor to senior leadership for clinical technology acquisition and implementation. Dr. Whalen has led the transformation of a new patient monitoring system with device integration and virtual rounding; as well as a collaboration on a clinical communication pilot incorporating smartphones to improve clinical workflow. She also coordinates required medical device system maintenance to meet cybersecurity requirements.

Dr. Whalen is recognized as a Nurse Leader by Sigma Theta Tau International. She also serves as a task force member of Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HPH SCC) Joint Cyber Security Working Group (JCWG).