Dr. Sara Pastoor is a family physician who currently serves as the Head of Primary Care Advancement at Elation Health, a primary care-focused electronic health records platform, where she advocates for primary care and its powerful role in healthcare. She also is the personal PCP to patients at People-Centered Health, a direct primary care practice in San Antonio, Texas.  Dr. Pastoor is a seasoned physician executive with 28 years of experience leading primary care innovation, EHR optimization, and health technology development. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and spent the first 15 years of her medical career in the Army Medical Department, helping to lead the Military Health System transformation to a patient-centered system for health. Dr. Pastoor has also led patient-centered transformation, primary care expansion, and EHR workflow optimization in the academic and employer-sponsored primary care settings. On the weekends, she volunteers in a free primary care clinic, teaching students and providing street medicine in her hometown.

Stephanie Quinn is senior vice president of external affairs and practice experience at the American Academy of Family Physicians where she oversees the AAFP Divisions of Government Relations, Practice Advancement, Strategic Engagements and the Robert Graham Center. Prior to joining the AAFP, Stephanie Quinn was vice president of federal government affairs at CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield where she led the company’s federal legislative agenda on issues such as market stability, drug pricing policy, and social determinants of health. Before CareFirst, Stephanie was assistant director of congressional relations for the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and served as deputy director of federal government affairs for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Stephanie holds a combined degree in linguistics and Spanish from the Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Mara McDermott is the Chief Executive Officer of Accountable for Health, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy organization committed to accelerating the adoption of effective accountable care. She is an accomplished healthcare executive with deep expertise in federal healthcare law and policy, including delivery system reform, physician payment and payment models.

Shawn Martin serves as executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the medical specialty organization representing 124,500 family physicians and medical students nationwide. Martin works with the board of directors on AAFP’s mission, strategy and vision and provides representation to other organizations, including medical, public and private sectors.

Stephanie Carlton, appointed by President Trump to be CMS Deputy Administrator, is a health care leader with unique experience across the dimensions of the U.S. health care economy—business, policy, higher education, and clinical.  As Acting CMS Administrator until Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed by the Senate, Stephanie led the Agency through the early days of working with DOGE, implementing Executive Orders, and running the $1.7T organization.  When a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Carlton focused on innovation and strategy with clients and led McKinsey’s Center for US Health System Reform. She also co-founded a place-based transformation with 20 community leaders in Texas to improve holistic health outcomes. Prior to McKinsey, she led Medicare Advantage and Medicaid issues on the US Senate Finance Committee (Republican staff) and worked as a labor & delivery nurse at Georgetown University Hospital. Carlton has guest lectured at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, served as a fall 2022 resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and was on the business school faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. She has served on the boards of the Health Care Cost Institute, Ignite Health Foundation, and the University of Texas McCombs Alumni Association.

Joe Albanese is the Director of Policy at the Center for Medicare. Joe was previously a Senior Policy Analyst at Paragon Health Institute where his work included numerous published reports and congressional testimonies pertaining to Medicare. Prior to that, he was a Program Examiner on the Medicare team at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Joe holds a Bachelor of Science and Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Daniel Castillo, M.D., M.B.A., is a physician executive whose career bridges medicine, health care operations, and business leadership, with a track record of building and scaling care delivery organizations that improve quality, expand access, and strengthen operating performance.
Currently, Dr. Castillo serves as chief executive officer of Optum Care, a national physician-led care delivery organization advancing value-based care at scale. In this role, he leads business performance and operational execution while advancing high-quality, coordinated care across the organization.

Dr. Castillo joined Optum in 2023 as CEO of Optum Care Delivery Midwest and later served as CEO of Optum Health East, overseeing care delivery across 10 states from Maine to Delaware. In that role, he led execution of the region’s strategy across Optum’s care delivery assets and was responsible for the experience of more than 5 million patients and over 15,000 team members.

Prior to joining Optum, Dr. Castillo was an operating partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners, where he helped drive growth, operational excellence, and portfolio performance across mid-market health care companies. He also served as group president and chief medical officer at Matrix Medical Network, a national provider organization focused on enabling value-based care in and around the home and in alternative care settings. Earlier in his career, he held executive leadership roles at Envision Healthcare and The Joint Commission.

Dr. Castillo also co-founded EmVenio Research, a clinical trials company focused on improving equity in clinical research, and helped scale the business across 15 states and the United Kingdom prior to its sale to a CRO.

An emergency medicine physician, Dr. Castillo continues to work clinical shifts at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and his M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dr. Kelsey Smith is President of the Direct Primary Care Alliance, a national physician-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the direct primary care model and supporting physicians. She advocates for policies and practice innovations that strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, reduce administrative burden, expand access to care, and improve the sustainability of primary care.

A board-certified family physician and owner of Pioneer Health Direct Primary Care in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Dr. Smith has practiced full-spectrum family medicine since 2007. After fourteen years in a traditional insurance-based practice, she transitioned to the Direct Primary Care model in 2021. Her experience practicing in both systems fuels her passion for strengthening primary care while improving access, affordability, and physician satisfaction.

Katie Boyer is the Sr. Director of Policy & Government Affairs at agilon health. In her role, she leads agilon’s advocacy and government affairs strategy as well as policy development and analysis. She serves as agilon’s in-house lobbyist and key contact for outreach to policymakers, regulators and external partners in Washington, DC. Katie has over 15 years of experience in healthcare policy at the federal level.

Prior to joining the team at agilon in 2023, Katie spent nearly 9 years at Nemours Children’s Health, most recently serving as the Senior Advisor of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs. During her tenure, she managed a policy portfolio spanning Medicaid innovation, value-based care, children’s medical coverage, telehealth and much more.

Her previous experience also includes three years at the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and one year at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) where she worked on health IT policy. Katie also spent a considerable amount of time in her early career as a Legislative Assistant for the Indiana House of Representatives.

Katie received her BA in Political Science from Butler University in Indianapolis and completed her Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) at Northwestern University.