Healthcare: Value-Based Care Systems

Dr. Sara G. McNeil serves as an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Learning, Design and Technology graduate program at the University of Houston, where she has established herself as a leading expert in instructional design and educational technology. Her excellence in teaching has been recognized through multiple awards, including three University of Houston distinctions for Distinguished Leadership in Teaching, Distance Education Teaching, and Teaching Excellence, as well as a national teaching award from the University Continuing Education Association. As Managing Editor of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning Journal, she has significantly influenced the field of educational technology. Her most notable achievement includes the development of Digital History, a comprehensive educational resource featuring over 5,000 primary sources that has been recognized as one of the Top 5 resources in U.S. history and selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities EdSITEment list. She has also created innovative resources for K-16 teachers on Web 2.0 tool selection and implementation. Her research focuses on emerging technologies in educational environments, and she regularly consults with schools on 21st-century learning and technology integration. Through her teaching of graduate courses in instructional design, multimedia development, and visual information representation, she continues to shape the future of educational technology

Dr. LeChauncy Woodard serves as Clinical Professor and Founding Director of the Humana Integrated Health Systems Sciences Institute at the University of Houston College of Medicine, where she has earned prestigious recognition including Mastership in the American College of Physicians (awarded to only 1-2% of 161,000 members) and the 2020 Laureate Award from the Texas Chapter of ACP. Her extensive career combines clinical expertise as a general internist with groundbreaking research in healthcare quality improvement, particularly focusing on serving ethnically diverse patients and understanding socioeconomic factors affecting health outcomes. After earning her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completing her internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine, she has led numerous initiatives including the Houston VA Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education and served as Associate Director of the VA Quality Scholars Coordinating Center. Her research portfolio includes principal investigator roles on several federally funded grants, with over 40 publications in medical journals, while her educational impact extends through her leadership of interprofessional training programs and the development of contact tracing courses that have reached over 20,000 learners during the COVID-19 pandemic. As director of the Humana Institute, she continues to advance healthcare innovation through research, education, and community engagement, particularly focusing on improving care for chronically ill, multimorbid adults through team-based behavioral health interventions

Dr. Susie Gronseth serves as a Clinical Professor and Program Coordinator for the Learning, Design, and Technology Master's program at the University of Houston's College of Education. Her expertise focuses on inclusive instructional design, universal design for learning (UDL), and technology integration in education. She has earned significant recognition for her work, including the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Online Learning Network Award and the University of Houston College of Education Teaching Excellence Award. Her research has produced over 100 scholarly publications, with particular emphasis on flexible learning environments, accessibility in online education, and universal design principles. She co-authored the influential book "Universal Access Through Inclusive Instructional Design: International Perspectives on UDL" and serves as co-chair of the Universal Design for Learning Special Interest Group of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. As Principal Investigator on NSF-funded projects, she has contributed to advancing student mentorship in biometrics and developing innovative teaching methodologies. Her leadership extends to serving as Chair of the Community and Government Relations Committee of the University of Houston Faculty Senate and previously as president of the Inclusive Learning Network for the International Society for Technology in Education