Dallas, Texas – Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), which improves healthcare for vulnerable populations using advanced data science and clinical experts, announced the hiring of Natasha Goburdhun, MS, MPH, as Vice President, Connected Communities of Care, and the promotions of Yolande Pengetnze, MD, MS, FAAP, to Vice President, Clinical Leadership, and Albert Karam, MS, MBA, to Vice President, Data Strategy Analytics.
These executive leaders will boost PCCI’s innovative clinical and data analytics programs that have made a significant impact, including helping North Texas navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Vice President, Connected Communities of Care, Goburdhun uses PCCI’s advanced analytics to provide detailed insights on community health and social needs and assists community organizations, payers and providers in developing strategies and impact/equity measures that address the needs of vulnerable populations. She brings over 20 years of strategic planning and operations experience in health plan, provider and community-based organization sectors to PCCI.
Goburdhun was most recently the Vice President of Business Development & Operations at YMCA of the USA. Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles at Aetna Accountable Care Solutions and the American Hospital Association and served in consulting roles at Sg2 and Navigant.
She holds an MPH in Health Management from Yale University, an MS in Neurobiology from Northwestern University and a BS in Neurobiology from the University of Michigan.
“Natasha brings an amazing set of skills matched with experience and passion to help the underserved in our communities,” said Steve Miff, CEO and President of PCCI. “She is a true expert at the practical implementation of social determinants of health (SDOH) principles that will benefit all of the programs she supports. Natasha is a true trailblazer and we are eager to see where she leads PCCI’s SDOH efforts.”
Dr. Pengetnze, as Vice President, Clinical Leadership, leads multiple projects at PCCI, including a population health quality improvement project on pediatric asthma and the development of a program supporting the prevention of pre-term births. She joined PCCI in December 2013 as a Physician Scientist while remaining a Clinical Faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). Her interests include the use of advanced predictive analytics integrating traditional data sources and novel “Big data” sources to improve health outcomes at the individual and population level.
Dr. Pengetnze, received her MD in 1998 from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon and completed a Pediatric Residency training in 2008 at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. She joined the General Pediatric Hospitalist Division of UTSW as a faculty in 2008. She completed a General Pediatric/Health Services Research Fellowship training and a Master of Sciences in Clinical Sciences at UTSW in 2013.
“Yolande has contributed heavily to PCCI’s success and is an important leader advocating for mothers and children,” said Miff. “Her passion for helping children has resulted in a number of successful partnerships with Parkland Health (Parkland) and the Parkland Community Health Plan (PCHP). This includes preterm birth prevention and pediatric asthma care programs. She recently joined other Parkland leaders to raise awareness of the harm COVID-19 can have on unvaccinated children with asthma, an important action with direct impact on the health of children in our region.”
Albert Karam, as Vice President, Data Strategy Analytics, focuses on data science platforms, infrastructure and innovative patient care solutions. He is responsible for creating predictive algorithms and real-time decision support to Parkland and other institutions across the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.
Karam has been with PCCI since 2016 and has researched, identified, managed, modeled and deployed several predictive models for Parkland and PCHP. He has also managed elements of PCCI’s data analytics teams that supported the Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Karam’s extensive experience offers a diverse understanding of modeling workflows and implementation of real-time models.
Albert obtained an MS in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in 2015, and in 2020, he earned a duel degree MBA and MS in Data Analytics from UTD with a focus in Healthcare Administration.
“Albert and the team he leads at PCCI are the unsung analytics heroes of the Dallas healthcare community,” Miff said. “The impact of Albert’s work can be felt all through our community, as his predictive modeling plays a pivotal role in many programs at Parkland and DCHHS. He brings an exceptional set of standards to his work and is committed to using technology to create better clinical outcomes.”
About Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation
Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), founded in 2012, is celebrating a decade as an independent, not-for-profit, healthcare intelligence organization. Affiliated with Parkland Health, PCCI leverages clinical expertise, data science and social determinants of health to address the needs of vulnerable populations.
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