Jeffrey Ferranti MD
Chief Digital Officer & SVP, Duke Health

  • Ferranti is responsible for leading a team charged with the visioning, strategic planning, and effective adoption of integrated technology and information solutions that enable high-quality clinical care, research and education. He also serves as an informatics thought leader, both internal and external to Duke, and, in partnership with our wider medical community, develops an overarching informatics strategy in support of the Duke Health mission.

    As the leader of Duke's enterprise-wide Epic installation, he was responsible for deploying a single, seamless electronic health record across three hospitals and over 300 ambulatory clinics. Ferranti is passionate about leveraging advanced analytics to improve population health, implementing novel technologies to better partner with patients and promoting IT innovation to support new and emerging care models.

    An active informatics researcher, Ferranti was the Duke principal investigator on two Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-funded research projects. The first aimed at developing a model pediatric electronic health record format, and the second evaluating the use of technology to detect and prevent adverse drug events across Duke University Health System. In addition, he ran an innovations project exploring the novel use of iPad and tablet technology in the pediatric critical care. He developed several innovative applications including the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer (DEDUCE) and the Duke Integrated Subject Cohort Enrollment Research Network (DISCERN). Both of these projects aim to empower investigators with simple yet secure access to our enterprise data stores.

    Ferranti holds a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics from the Duke Pratt School of Engineering. He is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and is actively involved in numerous patient safety and quality improvement projects across the health system. He is also a practicing neonatologist at Duke University Hospital.

Lauren C. Kane MD
Past President, Women in Thoracic Surgery

  • Lauren C. Kane, MD, FACS, FACC, is a cardiac surgeon specializing in congenital heart conditions. She has served as faculty member and staff physicians at multiple hopsitals and academic organizations including Johns Hopkins University. and chair of the Patient Information Task Force for the Society of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Kane earned her medical degree from the University of Texas in Houston and her BS in microbiology from the University of Texas in Arlington, graduating cum laude. Dr. Kane completed her residency in general surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas. She completed a fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery at Emory University in Atlanta and congenital heart surgery at the University of Southern California Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In 2018, Dr. Kane participated in the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and Women and Thoracic Surgery’s prestigious Leadership Academy. She also received the Carolyn Reed Traveling Scholarship, an award enabling her to visit India, Japan and England to gain international surgical experience. She’s an active member of WTS leadership, serving as Vice President at the time of her nomination as a Featured Thoracic Surgeon.

Steve Parkis
CEO, Two Hat Security

  • Parkis is a prior Disney Online SVP who moved to become the CEO of Two Hat Security and helped liaison a buy out of the latter by Microsoft. The former Zynga executive had been President and serves as Board member. Parkis had leadership responsibilities on Disney and Pixar franchises, notably Toontown Online, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars and Club Penguin. At Zynga, he managed Farmville and Cityville. arkis has his MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern and graduated from Michigan State. He, his wife and three sons live in Winter Park, Florida.

Matthew Kroh MD
Vice Chair of Innovation and Technology, Cleveland Clinic

  • Matthew Kroh, MD, FACS, FASMBS, FASGE is the Vice Chair of Innovation and Technology in the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is the Director, Section of Surgical Endoscopy and Foregut Surgery in the Department of General Surgery. Kroh also holds positions with the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute and the Center for Surgical Innovation, Technology, and Education, located at the Cleveland Clinic main campus. He is Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He is licensed by the State Medical Board of Ohio and board-certified by the American Board of Surgery. His specialty interests include advanced laparoscopic surgery, bariatric surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, surgical endoscopy, single incision laparoscopic surgery, and robotic surgery.

    After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Boston College and Master's degree from Boston University, Dr. Kroh received his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University.

    Kroh has lectured widely on laparoscopic and bariatric surgery and related topics at medical conferences across the country and the world and he has co-authored many articles and book chapters that have appeared in leading medical journals, such as the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and Surgical Endoscopy . He has been involved in numerous research projects in his field, including fluoroscopy as an adjunct to laparoscopic gastric band adjustments for morbid obesity, predictors of advanced liver disease in patients undergoing bariatric surgery, development of a novel device for endoscopic management of Barrett's esophagus, and new methods of performing less invasive laparoscopic operations including robotics, Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery, NOTES procedures, POEM and ESD procedures, and many more.

    His professional memberships include the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the Association of Surgical Educators, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopists, and the Central Surgical Association.