Who We Are

NeedMyDoctor has developed a unique service that harnesses the power of the Internet to enhance doctor-patient communication.

Management

Joseph Sameh, CEO and President
Mr. Sameh is a successful serial entrepreneur and strategic planner with more than 30 years experience in computer, telephone, and communications systems, primarily in the healthcare environment. A recognized industry leader; author, frequent speaker at professional conferences, and specialist in applying creative solutions to human interface and process improvement challenges.

Accomplishments include the early development of the centralized recruitment concept (Phone Screen – 1991 - http://www.phonescreen.com/) as the recognized industry model for enhanced performance in accelerating subject recruitment for clinical drug trials. At an estimated delay time cost of over $1million daily (PhRMA, 1998), the cost of time is staggering. In 1999, Sameh introduced secure real time On Line Reporting (OLR) to further hasten the rate of subject enrollment into drug studies. Industry wide 86% of all clinical studies trail recruitment timelines by a minimum delay of one month (CenterWatch Monthly, January 2002). Since OLR implementation, Phone Screen has completed recruitment projects on time or ahead of schedule 78% of the time. OLR was the first HIPAA compliant real-time recruitment reporting tool in the industry.

Authorship includes peer-reviewed articles in call center and drug development publications, as well as contributing author for the industry handbook, ‘A Guide To Patient Recruitment’ (CenterWatch, 2000). Sameh has been mentioned in The Chicago Sun Times, Wall Street Journal, PharmaVoice, The Monitor, and CenterWatch Weekly among others. He has authored articles in many call center publications including most recently Connections Magazine (January, 2003)

Presentation experience includes Illinois Teleservices Association, Great Lakes Teleservices Association, Drug Information Association, Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes Medical Center, Johns Hopkins, Association for Clinical Research Professionals, University of Illinois Chicago Center for Enterprise Development, and National Amtelco Equipment Owners, among others. Sameh has experience as an expert witness relating to health care call center issues.

Jeff Reiniche, CFO
Mr. Reiniche is a CPA in the State of Illinois and has health care industry experience. Most recently he was the CFO and Director of Operations for Health Alliance, L.L.C., the nation’s leading Medicaid Disease Management Company. Prior to joining Health Alliance, Mr. Reiniche was a Principal Consultant for PriceWaterhouseCooper in the Merger and Acquisition Risk Services group. While there his clients included Nike, Simmons Mattress Company, Cody Fragrances, and Warnaco to name a few. He came to PriceWaterhouseCooper from The Vigoro Corporation where he was the director of accounting and consolidations. Jeff started his career with KPMG PeatMarwick and is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he earned a degree in Accountancy with a Minor in History.

Kenneth Biss, E.E., Ph.D., Director of Quality Engineering
Dr. Biss directs the Quality Engineering and Data Architecture effort for NeedMyDoctor.com. He is an innovative quality engineering professional with major experience in managing process improvement and excellence efforts including Six Sigma software implementation. His “Software Metrics for Process Improvement” has trained numerous engineers to measure the results of their process improvement efforts

He has provided technical counsel on many quality systems, put into practice quality systems that are built on Best Practices and created innovative processes for assuring quality. As the Software Quality Engineering Manager for the iDEN Technology Division at Motorola he provided technical direction enabling the division to achieve the CEO Award for Quality and level 3 of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Motorola was granted the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.

Dr. Biss received his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Michael Hoffman, Director of Software Development
Mr. Hoffman is a senior marketing and business development executive. With full P&L responsibility for several companies, Hoffman has a track record of successful revenue generation, establishing key strategic partnerships, and managing limited resources for maximum benefit. Hoffman has significant venture experience having raised more than $30 million in financing in Europe, the US and the Middle East. He has led companies through Initial Public Offerings and has established contacts in the finance and investment community. He is an expert in business software and Internet applications and has built and managed multinational software development, sales and marketing teams.

Advisors

NeedMyDoctor retains an expert advisory board with diverse experiences. This board is charged with providing overall guidance to NeedMyDoctor™ as well as detailed assistance in areas of particular concern. Board members were selected on the basis of their professional expertise, areas of interest, involvement in the development and promotion of healthcare resources, and their ability to represent the viewpoints of the various constituencies who will use NeedMyDoctor™.

Dr. Barry Aprison was a National Institute of Health postdoctoral fellow in molecular genetics at Indiana University.  He joined the staff of the Museum of Science and Industry, in Chicago, in 1988.  Since then, he has directed more than 25,000 sq. ft. in Museum projects, including IMAGING: The Tools of Science (1993); AIDS: The War Within (1995); NetWorld (2001) and Genetics: Decoding Life (2002).  Both the IMAGING and AIDS exhibits received awards from the American Association of Museum's annual curators' committee exhibit competition program.  In 2002, Dr. Aprison was selected for Richard Saul Wurman's "1000" book, listing the thousand most creative people in the United States.  Over the years, grants produced by him have been awarded from the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other agencies.  He is currently the Museum's Director of Science and Technology.  

Irwin Benuck, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School and a practicing pediatrician.  His area of expertise and interest include Preventive Cardiology and Tobacco Prevention and Intervention in the Pediatric Practice.  He is an active attending physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Evanston Northwestern Hospital and Children's Memorial Hospital where he served as President of the Medical and Dental Staff from 1994-1998 and was the founding president of Children's Community Physician's Association, an Independent Physician's Association (IPA) whose membership number over 250 pediatricians and pediatric specialists.  

Ira J. Goodman, M.D. is an anesthesiologist who practices full time in the field of pain management in the largest private pain practice in metro Chicago.  He has a special interest in medical informatics and increasing efficiency for clinical practitioners.  In addition to their practice, Dr. Goodman's group is involved in clinical trials.  Dr. Goodman’s practice is the Official Pain Specialists for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Blackhawks. 

Karen M. Kiley Ms. Kiley’s current role is Regional Manager of Telecommunications systems for a leading health care organization. She possesses more than twenty-five years experience in the Telecommunications field. Opened a hospital owned and operated Medical Answering Service in 1983 with 10 physicians, and grew the business segment to provide services to more than 1800 medical professionals. She designed and implemented a major hospital medical call center in 1996 offering answering service, hospital departmental support, class registration, physician referral and appointment scheduling.  Results of this effort included the elimination of redundant work activities throughout the hospital, reduced operational expenses, increased efficiencies and improved customer service. Throughout her career, Karen Kiley has been a regular presenter to and resource for hospitals and other health care call center organizations.  

Dorcas Lind is Vice President at Grey Healthcare Communications a global healthcare advertising and public relations firm. Ms. Lind served as senior clinical research associate within Johnson & Johnson’s feminine hygiene franchise with responsibility for conducting clinical trials and managing the development of global educational/marketing materials. 

Ms Lind has extensive experience in health communications, marketing and research with a particular focus on women’s health and strategic philanthropy. She is a member of the Grey management team with responsibilities in business development, strategic program planning and implementation of clinical trial recruitment programs. Dorcas brings a background in public health with experience in behavioural science, health education, social marketing, and program evaluation.  

Michael L. Millenson is a nationally recognized expert on the quality and cost of health care, on patient empowerment and on e-health. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age (University of Chicago Press), now in its third printing.

At present, Millenson is the Mervin Shalowitz, M.D.Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and he serves as a senior adviser to the Information Technologies for Better Health program of the Markle Foundation.

Millenson is on the editorial board of the journals Quality and Safety in Health Care and Managed Care and is a consulting editor to Inquiry. He is also a frequent speaker to health-care organizations and policy groups. 

Richard K. Musselman has spent the past thirty years in the medical profession. He is a founding member of Clinical Research International a large CRO and has managed numerous international phase II-III clinical trials including many mega studies across multiple therapeutic disciplines. Richard’s work in the CRO industry spans thirteen years.

Musselman has spoken on pharmaceutical and central laboratory issues ranging from project management to contract/proposal development, proposal validation, contract negotiations and other timely industry issues. He has chaired or presented at over 50 industry meetings, conferences and seminars for the DIA, IIR, CBI, IBC, SRI, IQPC, Management Roundtable, Barnett, Visions, and EPCI.

Richard held the position of Senior Director, R & D Contract Management and Procurement for G.D. Searle (Pharmacia) where he was responsible for a $340,000,000 annual Clinical and Pre-Clinical outsourcing budget. During this period he was able to save the company over $50,000,000.

He is currently President and CEO of AvAMed Consulting Group, Inc., a firm that provides innovative Project Management and Budgeting software and Clinical Development consulting services to the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Central Laboratory, Medical Device, CRO, e-business and Diagnostics industries.

Jose Nazari, MD is a practicing electrophysiologist and an assistant professor of medicine at Rush Medical College and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently he is director of the electrophysiology laboratories at Illinois Masonic Medical Center and Provena Mercy Hospital. 

Dr Nazari is the chairman of the board of Medical Information Systems, a company dedicated to building applications for acquisition and distribution of medical knowledge. In that capacity, he is the principal architect of EPIC, the electrophysiology information center, an electronic medical record productr for the electrophysiology practice. 

David Penzell possesses over 20 Years experience in the direct marketing and advertising industry including e-commerce.  His client experience includes Philip Morris, United Airlines, Ameritech, Walt Disney World, Dell Computer, Swiss Colony, Highlights For Children, Reiman Publication, and Discover Card among many others. Experience includes design and management of pay-for-performance e-networks including conversion programs and web search optimization.  

Mr. Penzell is a frequent guest lecturer at Loyala University and the Direct Marketing Association.

Henry A. Schiff is Vice President Risk Management for Carr Futures, a brokerage house based in Chicago with offices worldwide.  Responsibilities include overseeing the credit and risk for the North American customer base.  Previously, Mr. Schiff held positions with ING Securities, Drexel Burnham Lambert and Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette..