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Carol Lewis

Carol Lewis

Vice President, UNC Health Enterprises

As Vice President of UNC Health Enterprises, Carol leads the exploration of new transformation opportunities for UNC Health Care including the pursuit of new ideas and businesses. Carol also created and oversees the UNC Center for Health Innovation where she directs innovation across the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health Care. She develops programs to cultivate an innovative culture while also building and managing a diverse portfolio of innovative initiatives in areas such as digital health, population health, value-based care and payment models, healthcare data and analytics, clinical research, and more. She also engages external partners to pilot and implement novel ideas.

Prior to joining UNC, Carol was a Director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina where she gained a strong understanding of health care payment models. There she developed corporate strategic plans, managed pharmacy benefits, and built health care provider networks. She also worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, creating strategies for Fortune 500 clients around growth, profitability improvement, new product development, market expansion and exit, customer segmentation, organizational structure redesign and business portfolio management.

Carol holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from Lafayette College and a Masters of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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Lesley Hall

Director

Lesley is a change leader with a proven track record for building, deploying, and leading large, complex, strategic initiatives in healthcare settings.  Before joining UNC Health, Lesley spent several years in various leadership positions at the corporate office of Trinity Health, the nation’s second-largest non-profit healthcare provider, facilitating projects in revenue cycle, patient experience, physician practice management, and regulatory programs.  Her career journey also includes working for Deloitte Consulting’s healthcare strategy and operations team and the Veterans Health Administration.  Currently, Lesley oversees the annual Innovation Pilot Award program and provides leadership support for multiple initiatives within the UNC Health Enterprises project portfolio.

Lesley is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Duke University and a Masters of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Ameer Ali, PharmD

Executive Director, New Product Development

Ameer has over a decade of experience working in innovation in academic health centers and private start-up companies. As Executive Director of New Product Development, he focuses on building and investing in top talent teams that build user-focused products and companies that generate new lines of revenue for the UNC Health system. A leader in healthcare innovation and a experienced entrepreneur, Ameer has a drive for creating new products and helping teammates realize their passions in the process. He is focused on supporting the development of investments through the entire value making process, from finding problem identification and ideation to product-market fit and successful exits.

 

Ameer earned his PharmD at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy where he continued to teach for another 10 years to build the Disruptive Pharmacy Innovation Lab.

Email: Ameer.Ali@unchealth.unc.edu

Sam Blacker

Samuel Blacker, MD

Physician Innovator

Sam joined the UNC Center for Health Innovation in January 2021 and is working on several projects with other health innovation team members. Overall project goals include finding new and creative ways for patients to access the health care system and subspecialty referral and for patients to actively participate in their own wellness.
Sam joined UNC in June 2018 as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology with the UNC Department of Anesthesiology. Prior to joining UNC, Sam was an Anesthesiologist in the US Army for 7 years with assignments including Womack Army Medical Center and Camp Bastion Afghanistan.

Sam graduated from the University of Delaware in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and earned his medical degree in 2007 from the Uniformed Services University. Sam completed his anesthesiology residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2011.

 

Michael Zimmer, PhD

Manager, Business Development & System Innovation

Mike has a diverse background working in industry, health care, innovation, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup. Before joining UNC Health, he was a Program Manager leading work in strategic and transformational change at ECU Health. He also was the lead in establishing an innovation center driving value through new technological developments. He is experienced in project management, design thinking, process improvement, and applying advance analytics and simulation modeling for complex problems. He is passionate about helping others in their development and knowledge for their growth. He will help execute and drive work in new business development and initiatives within UNC Health Enterprises.

Mike was born in Japan at a military base living the life of a military brat. He earned his undergraduate, masters and PhD in Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering at Florida State University.

Email: Michael.Zimmer@unchealth.unc.edu

Wilson

Brad Wilson

Senior Innovation Consultant

Brad is devoted to supporting transformation leaders in the development of a more effective and compassionate health system where both patients and health professionals are cared for and valued. He is driven by his passion for improving the health of everyone and reducing the costs of care. Before his current role, Brad collaborated with health leaders, frontline providers and community health organizations for nearly 20 years at UNC Chapel Hill, with 13 of them serving as an internal consultant and development professional at UNC Family Medicine, one of the top three Family Medicine Department’s in the nation.

Brad is a native of western North Carolina. He earned his BA from UNC Chapel Hill in Environment Policy Analysis and his MBA from NC State where he was selected as a McLauchlan Fellow.

Email: Brad.Wilson@unchealth.unc.edu