Sanjeev Arora, MD, FACP, FACG, is the Director and Founder of Project ECHO. He is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine with tenure in the Department of Internal Medicine at University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Model was developed as an innovative paradigm to expand access to specialty medical care for vulnerable populations and underserved areas. Using videoconferencing technology integrated with clinical management tools, ECHO builds capacity among community-based clinicians via case-based learning and co-management of patients. This helps rural clinicians develop knowledge and self-efficacy so they can adopt research findings and deliver best practice care for complex and chronic health conditions. The first teleECHO clinic was developed in 2003 to respond to a growing health crisis hepatitis C and has since expanded to cover over a dozen other specialty areas and at Academic Medical Centers across the United States and around the globe. The Veterans Health Administration and the Department of Defense have also adopted the ECHO model to enhance access to specialty care. In 2007, Project ECHO came in first among more than 300 entries from 27 countries in winning the Changemakers award. This international competition was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Ashoka Foundation to identify programs that are changing the paradigm of how medicine is practiced.

In 2011, ECHO published a prospective cohort study in the New England Journal of Medicine, to prove that treatment for HCV by primary care providers using the ECHO model is as safe and effective as treatment by specialists at an Academic Medical Center. Over the last 10 years Dr. Arora has received more than 27 million dollars of grant support. Dr. Arora has been awarded numerous prestigious awards including: the Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation 19th Heinz Award for Public Policy, Second Rosenthal Award from the Rosenthal Family Foundation, and the American College of Physicians and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) President’s Award. Dr. Arora was also recognized during World Hepatitis Day 2014, at the White House in Washington DC, DC as a leader in advancing efforts to address viral hepatitis and the goals of the Action Plan for the Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis.

Hala is a national speaker and patient family centered care advocate.  Her professional background includes event and meeting management, non-profit work, development, and writing. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Master’s degree in Tourism Administration, both from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Her current work in patient family centered care stems from her experiences as a mother of a chronically ill child who has undergone two liver transplants and a bone marrow transplant.

Hala began her journey on the patient family centered care world as a volunteer patient/family advisor at Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in Annapolis, MD.  In her various roles at AAMC, from 2012-2015, Hala provided education to staff on patient family centered care issues.  In addition, she served on leadership committees that have focused on hospital wide patient family centered care strategic goals through LEAN process improvement.  Hala was a founding member and chair of the first Women and Children’s PFAC and development of the first advisor-nurse shadowing program.

Hala has been a speaker at conferences for organizations such as the Institute for Patient Family Centered Care, Maryland Hospital Association, the Healthcare Association of New York State, and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.  Hala has also been requested to join and participate at a number of American Hospital Association meetings and a Partnership for Patients Federal Partners Retreat.

In addition, Hala currently serves as an informal advisor on the Institute of Medicine Patient Family Leadership Network consultative group and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care/Gold Foundation Triple C Patient and Family Advisory group.  She was awarded a Front Line scholarship by the TEDMED admissions committee to attend TEDMED 2014 in Washington, D.C.  In January 2015, Hala began serving on the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) Care Delivery and Integration Cabinet. In March 2015, Hala was appointed to the American Academy of Pediatrics Family Partnerships Network Executive Committee and will be a teaching assistant for two sessions at the AAP national conference this fall.

Hala is currently is working as a consultant for a number of organizations looking to strengthen their family centered care mission and education objectives.

Hala continues to share her story and perspectives in national forums and with national associations.  She truly believes that healthcare will only move forward when we ALL partner together; together we are better.  Hala is a passionate advocate in making and supporting the “human case” for patient family centered care and patient engagement.