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Azra is responsible for vaccines, brand & specialty pharmaceuticals and all pharmaceutical services programs. Bringing over 15 years of health care experience in retail, hospital, academic and specialty settings, Azra is recognized in the industry for her expertise and speaks at industry conferences on maximizing value and supply chain management for acute and non-acute settings.
She holds a Doctorate degree in Pharmacy from Midwestern University and an MBA from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

Associate Vice President, Pharmacy Sourcing & Program Services

Azra Behlim, PharmD, MBA

Julie leads performance management programs and national networks for Vizient.&nbsp;In this role, she oversees quality, safety and clinical leadership programs, technical sales and solution delivery, and data science and member insights.
Having begun her career in nursing, Cerese has focused the majority of her professional work on clinical quality and performance improvement. She has conducted extensive studies on the factors that differentiate top performers and works with clinicians and health system executives to achieve their objectives regarding organizational performance and patient experience. In addition, she is the author of many journal articles on quality, performance improvement and clinical topics.
Cerese previously led the University HealthSystem Consortium&rsquo;s extensive performance improvement products and services. She oversaw its Intelligence&trade; suite of performance improvement platforms, including informatics, analytics, quality programs and research, and nursing and physician leadership activities. Cerese also provided direction for the Quality and Accountability Study, which was the basis for the nationally recognized Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award, presented by Vizient to the top-performing academic medical centers each year. 
 
Cerese&rsquo;s substantial knowledge of clinical quality improvement was supplemented by her role as director of quality and infection control at Chicago&rsquo;s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she leveraged her clinical quality improvement experience. Prior to that, she served as senior director of University HealthSystem Consortium&rsquo;s clinical process improvement area.
Cerese holds a doctorate from Loyola University with a focus on interprofessional education and collaboration. She also holds a master&rsquo;s degree and bachelor&rsquo;s degree in nursing, both from the Loyola University Chicago Niehoff School of Nursing.

Group Senior Vice President, Performance Management and National Networks

Julie Cerese, PhD, RN, MSN

Beth oversees analytical modeling, metric development, and the hospital ranking/scoring methodology and framework for Vizient members. Additionally, Beth supports member scenario and impact analysis regarding changes to the national landscape, including CMS Pay for Performance Program methods and publicly reported measures and methodology.
Prior to coming to Vizient, Beth was the Manager of Quality Analytics at BJC HealthCare in St. Louis, Missouri. In that role, Beth was responsible for statistical support including case-control analysis, risk prediction, and multi-factorial analysis across the BJC HealthCare. Beth has 15 years of experience in statistical analysis and modeling. Some of Beth&rsquo;s key accomplishments and experience include providing advanced analytical support for major hospital strategic initiatives and providing system wide analytical support.
Beth has Masters&rsquo; degrees in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University and Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. Beth earned her Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Senior Vice President, Data Science & Methodology

Beth Godsey, MSPA, MBA

Nicole (Nikki) is responsible for the Vizient Chief Nurse, Quality and Medical Executives National and System Clinical Executive Networks. A nurse for over 25 years, with an emphasis on nursing leadership, Nikki joined Vizient in 2018 as a senior networks director with National Networks. In this role, she led the development of new networks, which hold strategic priority for Vizient including System Chief Nurse Executives and other network needs as they arose.
Most recently, she worked as a nurse leader at a level one trauma center and enjoyed the opportunity to lead in both the acute care and ambulatory environments. The focus of her work has been interprofessional team development, operational and clinical improvement &ndash; including but not limited to &ndash; capacity management, employee engagement, dyad team development, increased operational efficiency/finance, improved patient outcomes and nursing leader development.
In addition to her role with Vizient, Nikki serves on the Board of the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Leaders, the Board of a local not for profit with a focus on optimizing care for those with dementia, Dementia Innovations and has served as an adjunct professor in the Marquette School of Nursing, teaching a nursing doctoral course in ethics and health advocacy. Nationally, Nikki has served on the American Organization of Nurse Leaders Publication Committee, contributing to the development of the Voice of Nursing Leadership publication and the AONL Advocacy Committee.
Nikki earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Indianapolis in 1998, and a doctorate in nursing with an emphasis on systems leadership and healthcare quality from Marquette University in 2018. She holds certification as a nurse executive-advanced from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

Nicole (Nikki) Gruebling, DNP, RN, NEA-BC

Brian provides direction and support for advisory work related to ambulatory and 340B pharmacy. He helps health care organizations identify opportunities for implementing or expanding outpatient retail ambulatory, central fill and/or home delivery and specialty pharmacy operations. With over 25 years of experience in the health care industry, Brian's expertise spans multiple retail and ambulatory pharmacy market segments.
Prior to joining Vizient, Brian was with Intermountain Healthcare, where he created the vision and strategy for their central fill, home delivery and specialty pharmacy fulfillment initiatives. He is a member of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and the National Community Pharmacists Association.
Brian earned a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in pharmacy from the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy and a master&rsquo;s degree in business administration and healthcare administration from Regis University.

Associate Vice President, Pharmacy Consulting

Brian Hardy, RPh, MBA

Cristina guides the strategy of Vizient's Environmental Sustainability Program while accelerating Vizient's leadership in sustainability practices across healthcare. She is responsible for collaborating across a wide set of functions to employ solutions and insights to reduce negative human and environmental health impacts while empowering smart, sustainable and resilient choices.
With approximately 15 years of experience, she has held various leadership roles in healthcare. Prior to joining Vizient, Cristina led a number of support departments and programs including sustainability at Yale-New Haven Hospital, a 1,541 bed non-profit medical center in New Haven, CT. Cristina holds a Master of Science degree in Health Systems Administration from Georgetown University and lives outside of Dallas with her husband, two children and two huskies.

Associate Vice President, Core Tenet Programs, Environmental Sustainability

Cristina Indiveri, MS

Dan leads the Vizient pharmacy program, which assists customer hospitals in transforming their pharmacy program into a central point of integrated care with solutions that help manage cost and improve quality outcomes for patients. Under his direction, the program supports more than half the nation&rsquo;s health systems and a robust portfolio of 12,000 contracted pharmaceutical products, providing access, choice and value across acute, specialty, non-acute, home infusion and long-term care facilities.
Dan has been an active voice on behalf of Vizient customers. He regularly updates government leaders and elected and federal officials, including the Food and Drug Administration, on issues and trends related to drug price increases, shortages and the need for more transparency across the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Dan also oversees Vizient&rsquo;s highly successful, 30-year Novaplus private label pharmacy program. Under his leadership, the program has expanded to include an Enhanced Supply program that helps ensure the availability of essential medications in the supply chain.
Under Dan&rsquo;s leadership, the Vizient pharmacy team has published important analysis of the hidden costs of drug shortages and pricing practices for existing drugs after receiving regulatory approval. His team also published a list of essential medicines, the absence of which could threaten hospitals&rsquo; ability to provide care.
With a doctor of pharmacy from St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Dan joined Vizient through the MedAssets integration, where he previously served as general manager of pharmacy. He has a diverse background in the pharmaceutical industry that includes experience in benefits management, retail, hospital, specialty and mail order.
Dan is a frequent industry speaker and has been interviewed and quoted in numerous publications such as NBC, CNN, Bloomberg News, Politico, Modern Healthcare, Becker&rsquo;s Hospital Review, Drug Topics, Managed Healthcare and The Center for Biosimilars. He has been recognized in the industry as a NextGeneration Pharmacist award finalist and as the 2022 Change Maker of the Year for the work he has led on ending drug shortages.

Group Senior Vice President, Pharmacy Solutions

Dan Kistner, PharmD

Shoshana Krilow, senior vice president of public policy and government relations, leads Vizient&rsquo;s Public Policy and Government Relations office, monitoring and advocating on federal legislative and regulatory developments of importance to Vizient and its members.
Prior to joining Vizient, Krilow served as director of health and clinical affairs for the University of California, focusing on issues related to health policy and biomedical research for the UC Health system. Krilow has also worked as a strategic advisor to health sector clients with a particular concentration on Medicare, the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, and the Affordable Care Act.
Krilow brings deep legislative expertise to Vizient having spent several years on Capitol Hill, where she worked as a health policy advisor for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Prior to her work on Capitol Hill, Krilow worked as an analyst, investment advisor, and regional, internal wholesaler for Goldman, Sachs and Co., Smith Barney, and J.P. Morgan respectively.
Krilow received her law degree from The Ohio State University in 2007 and became a member of the Ohio State Bar later that year. She is also a graduate of the University of Michigan where she received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Psychology.

Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations

Shoshana Krilow

Blending clinical leadership and informatics experience, David is responsible for driving numerous key initiatives for Vizient, including growing the Center for Advanced Analytics, leading the development of risk-adjustment methodologies and increasing the engagement of physicians and other clinicians. The Center brings together analytics from multiple clinical and operational offerings to provide insights to members across the continuum of care.
David joined the company in 2010 after serving as medical director of the emergency department at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago. He also served as a physician leader for information technology upgrades, including expansion of computerized physician order entry and documentation improvements. His background includes consulting for emergency departments and physician groups to optimize informatics, quality and compliance.
David earned a doctor of medicine degree from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. He is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Rush Medical School in Chicago and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

David Levine, MD, FACEP

As senior performance improvement program director, pharmacy, Jim is primarily responsible for developing and leading performance improvement collaborative programs focusing on medication safety and utilization.
Lichauer has more than 25 years of experience as a clinical pharmacy specialist and clinical pharmacy administrator in both private sector health systems and the Veterans Health Administration. His professional experience includes medication utilization, formulary management, regulatory compliance, medication safety, quality management, clinical program development and leadership.

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