Featured speakers will include Dr. Fred Cerise, Secretary, Louisiana State Department of Health and Hospitals; Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, Director, Agency for Health care Research and Quality, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Janet M. Marchibroda, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative.

North Louisiana will be represented in one of the afternoon breakout sessions.  Mr. Dennis Lower, Vice President for Planning and Development/Director of InterTech Science Park; Dr. Paul Sisson, Chair of the Math and Computer Science Departments LSUS and North Louisiana Partnership for Innovation (NLPI) Co-Principal Investigator; Dr. Susan Pierce , Associate Professor of Nursing at NSU; and Dr. Nathan Hutchings, Assistant Professor of Biology at NSU and North Louisiana Partnership for Innovation (NLPI) Co-Principal Investigator will articulate the potential role of the CERT Institute for Biomedical Informatics (CIBI) and NLPI in facilitating the state's efforts to build the necessary academic infrastructure to support e-health care reform.  CERT (the Consortium for Education, Research and Technology of North Louisiana - a consortium that consists of the 11 institutions of higher education in North Louisiana and the Biomedical Research Foundation in Shreveport), NLPI, the North Louisiana Partnership for Innovation-a CERT led initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, and CIBI are part of a concerted effort already underway to establish a nationally-competitive biomedical informatics initiative in North Louisiana.  CERT, NLPI, and CIBI are equipped to help direct the creation of the appropriate academic infrastructure and support for Louisiana's digital health care reform efforts. 

Through these presentations and others, the Louisiana eHealth Conference will provide Louisiana healthcare stakeholders the context and perspective needed to help make the informed decisions called for on this issue that touches us all.