Our Speakers

Kari Curry, RN, BSN, CCM, is an energetic and passionate leader who values the work of the clinical team. As the Director of Clinical Services for Emtiro Health, Kari oversees the delivery of Emtiro’s population health management program, with a keen eye on continuous quality improvement, enhanced services, and positive patient outcomes.

She began her nursing career in 2003 and specializes in Care Management. Her background includes Med/Surg nursing, hospital utilization, discharge planning, as well as care management in the hospital and community settings. Through her nursing journey, she found her passion in services provided by care managers; the impact they have on the health and wellbeing of patients, and ultimately in the communities in which they live. Kari has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and is a Certified Case Manager.

Colleen Hole, BSN, MHA, FACHE serves in a dual role at Atrium Health as Vice President, Clinical Integration, and Chief Nurse Executive, Atrium Health Medical Group. In addition, she is responsible for strategic and operational leadership for the Atrium Health Hospital at Home program, which was accelerated through the COVID-19 pandemic. In her CNE role, Colleen oversees non-provider clinical practice and role optimization in ambulatory care.

Prior to implementing Hospital at Home in March of 2020, Colleen served as Vice President, Clinical Integration in Population Health, where she was responsible for integrating the principles of population health and value-based care into clinical and operational practice. Prior to joining the Population Health team in 2017, Colleen served in the CHS Medical Group providing strategic and operational leadership of six provider specialties including, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Infectious Disease, Palliative Care, Geriatrics and Emergency Medicine. In addition, she led the CHS Critical Care Network to standardize, coordinate and enhance critical care services across all CHS facilities and implemented the Virtual Critical Care program to monitor nearly 400 ICU beds across the region. Colleen’s early and mid-career positions were primarily in acute care nursing leadership roles.

Colleen received both her bachelors and masters degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and began her nursing career at Charlotte Memorial Hospital in 1984. She was a 2008 recipient of the North Carolina Great 100 award and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Elizabeth Vaughan, DO, MPH, RD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine with a primary role as a physician scientist at UTMB. Prior to moving to UTMB in August 2022, Dr. Vaughan spent a decade at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. While at Baylor, she completed a T32 Primary Care Research Fellowship followed by a NIH/NIDDK K23 and currently a NIH/NIDDK R01. Her research focuses on health disparities, specifically the role of Community Health Workers in improving diabetes outcomes in low-income populations. International work throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and India and service in Texas border towns and US urban settings provided the foundation for this work.

Before her career as a physician, she worked as a Registered Dietitian, and has maintained her RD board certification. She completed an MPH during her Internal Medicine residency and is a board-certified Internist. She obtained certification as a Texas Community Health Worker Instructor in 2015. Her primary clinical roles are working on the inpatient ward as a Medicine attending.

Laneita F. Williamson, RN, BSN, is currently the Trauma Informed Care Manager at CareNet, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. She has been with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist for 23 years in a variety of specialties. She has developed a trauma informed care curriculum, and has provided trainings to over 2000 staff members, medical students, physician assistant students, 20 different departments, community programs, as well as presenting at state and national conferences. Her current efforts are to conduct a trauma informed organizational assessment around policies, practices, and environment, increase staff resilience, decrease workplace violence, continue current training efforts throughout the organization, create a trauma informed care train the trainer program, connect similar efforts throughout the Atrium Health enterprise while working in tandem with the trauma informed care task force on research efforts to improve staff and patient outcomes at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. She is an active participant on the workplace violence sub-committee, intimate partner violence committee, mental health task force, and a liaison for needs around JCAHO, DEI, Safety and Best Health. She is a member of the ad-hoc committee for the NC Healthy & Resilient Communities Initiative (HRCI) at the NC Partnership for Children.

Kelly Garrison, MBA, MHA, is a passionate and energetic leader.  She brings over 13 years of healthcare experience from a variety of different backgrounds including, Quality, Provider Network Development, Operations, and Informatics.  She has worked in a variety of settings throughout the healthcare industry including inpatient, outpatient, and community-based settings.  Through her experience in both hospital and community settings, she has developed a desire to support all sectors of health care with innovative models to drive improvement. Kelly earned a certificate from NC State University in Lean Healthcare and a certificate from The University of Virginia in Business Strategy. She completed a dual Masters program, earning a Masters in Business Administration and Masters in Health Administration from Pfeiffer University, and has a BS in Sports Medicine from Lynchburg College.  Kelly serves on the Board of the Forsyth County School Health Alliance and the School Health Advisory Council.

Yates Lennon, MD, MMM, currently serves as the President and Chief Transformation Officer for CHESS Health Solutions. He is nationally known for his work in quality, previously serving on the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Quality Leadership Council and presently on the National Association of Accountable Care Organization’s Quality Committee. Dr. Lennon’s background includes 23 years as a practicing OB/GYN and a Fellow of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He served as Chief Quality Officer for Cornerstone Health Care before joining CHESS in 2018 as Chief Transformation Officer. Dr. Lennon assumed the role of President in 2021. He has a deep understanding of practice transformation and how to engage physicians and their staff. His value-based care expertise allows him to translate his knowledge into initiatives that health care teams understand and can implement to ultimately transform patient care.