Moderator
Kathleen C. Lee, MD
Associate Chief Transformation Officer, Associate Vice President, Penn Medicine
Associate Editor, NEJM Catalys
Dr. Lee is the assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. Previously, Dr. Lee served as the senior director of medical and strategic initiatives (MSI) at Comcast NBCUniversal. In this role,
she worked to further expand the scale of the MSI portfolio and establish the team as a global center of excellence by providing subject matter expertise and strategic support to business continuity and crisis management, vendor management, health
and benefit equity, medical diligence, employee engagement, and corporate medical programs across Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky.
Before her time with Comcast NBCUniversal, Dr. Lee spent seven years at Penn Medicine, where she served as a clinical innovation manager in the center for digital health and then as the director of clinical implementation in the Center for Health Care
Innovation. In these roles, she led a series of high-impact programs across the health system with scale to local communities and other institutions. Prior to that, she held a position as senior director of community engagement for Thread, a Baltimore-based
social innovation organization.
Dr. Lee has been published in the Harvard Business Review, the New England Journal of Medicine, and various other medical journals. Dr. Lee received her bachelor's degree in engineering from Princeton University and her medical degree from Johns Hopkins
University.
Faculty
Andrew S. Karson, MD, MPH
Interim President, UMass Memorial Medical Group
Dr. Karson is the interim president of UMass Memorial Medical Group (UMMMG), which oversees 2,600 employees, including 1,500 physicians and advanced practice providers. Dr. Karson’s work focuses primarily on supporting the 18 clinical department chairs
in the recruitment and development of their faculty, as well as helping to evolve the group’s compensation model and leading other strategic projects. Prior to serving as interim president at UMMMG, Dr. Karson was chief medical officer and a senior
vice president at UMass Memorial Medical Center, providing leadership over the Medical Center’s quality and patient safety programs, risk management, infection control, provider credentialing, ethics, graduate medical education, as well as regulatory
activities.
Before joining UMass, he served as the Partners Healthcare associate chief health information officer and the Massachusetts General Hospital’s associate chief medical officer, as well as the director of inpatient training and faculty development in the
MGH Department of Medicine. His academic career has centered on medical education and on leveraging health information technology to improve quality, patient safety, and hospital operations. Dr. Karson practices as an internal medicine hospitalist.
Sandhya K. Rao, MD
Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Dr. Rao is responsible for the strategic direction and ongoing operation of the health and medical management and pharmacy divisions of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, focused on improving the quality, outcomes, and affordability of health care
provided to members.
Dr. Rao joined Blue Cross in December 2020, and she provides extensive population health management experience leading to innovative delivery solutions and unique insights into what employers want in their health plans.
Previously, she served as vice president of clinical strategy at Haven, the health care organization formed by Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway. Before joining Haven, Sandhya was senior medical director for population health management
at Partners Healthcare. She also served as associate medical director of the Mass General Physicians Organization and as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Her clinical experience includes practice as a primary care provider at Massachusetts
General Hospital and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Rao earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in public health from Brown University and her medical degree from NYU School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
