2026 Annual Conference

Dr. Daniel Carnegie has been appointed chief data officer for DHHS. Carnegie is committed to developing intuitive, streamlined systems that empower teams across North Carolina to make informed decisions with confidence. His focus on data-driven solutions, strategic leadership and healthcare innovation aligns with the agency’s mission to improve community health outcomes across the state.

Throughout his career, Carnegie has provided leadership on major healthcare and technology initiatives. He led one of the nation’s largest Epic electronic health record implementations for New York City, spanning 11 acute care hospitals and more than 70 clinics. At Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, he led initiatives using technology to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes. He is board-certified in preventive medicine and has worked at the intersection of policy, data and public health.

Carnegie holds a medical doctorate from Howard University College of Medicine. He also earned a master of public health and a master of business administration from Johns Hopkins University. He completed his residency in preventive medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He lives in North Carolina with his family.

David McSwain, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatric critical care medicine and system chief medical informatics officer for UNC Health in North Carolina. He leads the integration of health IT and digital tools into clinical practice across the statewide health system. With more than 17 years of experience in digital health transformation, he has led the development of numerous health system-level innovations and national collaborations. His work focuses on optimizing the patient, family and clinician experience, embedding evaluation and research into digital health implementation and sustainability models, and ensuring innovations are accessible across diverse clinical settings and geographies.

Valerie Rogers, MPH, serves as senior director of government relations at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). She develops and executes government relations strategies advocating for digital health transformation and modernization across North America. In this role, she leads engagement with federal, state, provincial, tribal and international health officials to align policies related to data analytics, emergency response and environmental health. She also represents HIMSS in high-level briefings to help shape policy discussions on rural health, AI and public health data modernization.

Armando Bedoya, MD, MMCi, is chief data, analytics and medical informatics officer for Duke Health and an associate professor of medicine, biostatistics and bioinformatics. He helps lead the enterprise strategy for data and analytics and artificial intelligence. His work focuses on aligning analytics and AI investments with clinical outcomes, operational performance and financial value. His research focuses on using electronic health record data and applying artificial intelligence in clinical workflows.

Bedoya received his medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and completed training in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care and clinical informatics at Duke Health. He also earned a master’s degree in management and clinical informatics from the Duke University School of Medicine. He practices critical care medicine at Duke Regional Hospital.

Chris has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology leadership, including executive roles at Advocate Health, Atrium Health and Premier Inc. He has built and aligned high-performing teams to support enterprise technology and data platform transformations.

As vice president of IT business systems at Advocate Health, Chris leads the ERP and workforce management platform ecosystem, overseeing strategy, products, services and support. Under his leadership, Advocate Health deployed Workday’s full ERP platform across human capital management, payroll, finance and supply chain operations, as well as symplr’s time and attendance platform. The implementation spans 69 hospitals and more than 170,000 employees, representing the largest ERP cloud transformation in healthcare industry history.

Previously, Chris led Atrium Health’s ERP transformation, bringing together technology and operational teams to replace legacy on-premises applications with Oracle Cloud applications. He successfully led the deployment of Oracle Cloud ERP across Atrium Health Charlotte, Navicent Health, Floyd Health, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. At the time, it was the largest Oracle Cloud ERP implementation in the healthcare industry.

At Premier Inc., Chris served as vice president of implementations for the company’s ERP and labor analytics software-as-a-service platform. He oversaw significant revenue growth driven by customer adoption and led the integration of two strategic acquisitions, Healthcare Insights LLC and Aperek Inc., with a combined value exceeding $100 million.

Throughout his career, Chris has led technology and business teams at every level and managed major consulting engagements involving Deloitte, PwC, Centric Consulting, Huron, Apex Systems, New Resources Consulting and Medusind. He serves on the advisory board of New Resources Consulting and is a member of Workday’s Healthcare Advisory Council.

Chris has been a keynote speaker at Oracle CloudWorld and Deloitte’s Healthcare Summit and has also presented at Becker’s Healthcare events and Workday Rising.

Jessica Poisson, MD, MMCi, is a transfusion medicine and clinical informatics specialist with more than 10 years of experience at Duke Health. Her primary academic and clinical focus is ensuring the right blood reaches the right patient at the right time. As a clinical informaticist, she uses clinical data to improve decision-making and optimize patient care. Together, these interests support the timely delivery of accurate information to enable appropriate blood transfusion practices.

Poisson serves as medical director of clinical pathology informatics, associate medical director of transfusion medicine and director of patient blood management. She also serves on several professional committees, including the Information Systems Committee for the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) and as liaison to the ICCBBA Americas Technical Advisory Group for ISBT 128 labeling of medical products of human origin (MPHO).

Josh Baker is a Cloud Computing Solutions Specialist with HP Inc., focused on helping healthcare organizations modernize end-user computing environments through secure, scalable, and user-centered digital workspace strategies. He works closely with healthcare leaders, IT teams, and clinical stakeholders to address the challenges of workforce mobility, cybersecurity, endpoint management, and application access across diverse care settings. With experience supporting healthcare organizations navigating digital transformation initiatives, Josh brings practical insights into how technology can simplify operations, improve user experiences, and enable caregivers to focus more time on patient care. His approach emphasizes measurable outcomes, operational efficiency, and the human impact of technology on patients, clinicians, and IT professionals.

Dr. Rajesh Dash is a pathologist and clinical informaticist. He serves as vice chair for anatomic pathology and informatics in the Department of Pathology and as director of laboratory informatics strategy for Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina.

Dash has more than 25 years of experience in pathology, with a focus on breast cancer diagnostics, cytopathology and laboratory informatics.

He has participated in several national and international health IT initiatives. Dash has served on numerous committees for the College of American Pathologists, including a term on its Board of Governors, and most recently chaired the Artificial Intelligence Committee. He was the first pathologist appointed to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Healthcare IT Standards Committee.

Dash also serves as planning co-chair for Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (IHE PALM), a domain focused on laboratory data interoperability.

Sophia Bessias, MPH, MSA, is the Assistant Director of Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight. In her role, Ms. Bessias leads program operations and integrates best practices for safe, transparent, and fair implementation of algorithm-based technologies at Duke Health. She manages a technology registry and oversees evaluation of algorithm-based technologies for use in patient care and clinical operations.

Vishal Grover is a technology executive leading Digital Engineering & Innovation at Atlantic Health. He has spearheaded major enterprise initiatives including AI-driven healthcare solutions, patient safety platforms, and large-scale technology modernization programs that strengthen clinical operations and elevate digital experiences. Vishal is committed to leveraging innovation, data, and design to transform healthcare delivery and improve outcomes.