Wellbeing First Champion Challenge

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 | 3:00-4:00 pm CT

Join the Surgeon Well-being Coalition and the American College of Surgeons Surgeon Well-being Program to learn about the Lorna Breen Foundation’s Wellbeing First Champion Challenge and how you can advocate to support licensure boards, hospitals, and health systems in auditing and changing, as needed, applications, forms, and addendums to be free of intrusive mental health questions and stigmatizing language. In addition, Dr. Susan Parisi, Chief Wellness Officer at Geisinger Health, will share about leading efforts at the hospital system level to become a Wellbeing First Champion.

Moderator

Halle Ellison, MD, MAS, PSHQ, FACS

Director, Physician and APP Well-being, Geisinger

Dr. Halle Ellison is the director of physician and advanced practice provider well-being at Geisinger, where she addresses systemic issues that affect well-being and professional fulfillment and leads Geisinger’s formal well-being coaching program. She is a board-certified general surgeon and a hospice and palliative medicine physician, as well as an Associate Professor of Medical Education at Geisinger College of Health Sciences. Prior to her current role, Dr. Ellison served as the inaugural Director of Student Wellness at Geisinger, where she developed policies and programs to enhance the well-being of medical, nursing, and graduate students.

She holds an MD from Ross University and a Master of Applied Science in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a member of the editorial board of BMC Medical Education and serves on the board of directors of the Academy for Professionalism in Healthcare. Dr. Ellison has presented and published on topics including preparing for workplace violence, learning and growing through medical error, and applying quality improvement principles to well-being initiatives in healthcare. Dr. Ellison is an active member of the ACS Surgeon Well-Being Workgroup’s Interventions and Resources subgroup. She is committed to driving systems-level change to improve health professional well-being and enhance organizational resilience and accountability alongside individual support.

Panelists

Corey Feist, JD, MBA

CEO & Co-Founder, Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation

Corey Feist, JD, MBA is a healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience. He is the CEO and co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, and Corey recently served as the CEO of the University of Virginia Physicians Group, the medical group practice of UVA Health, composed of over 1,200 physicians and advanced practice providers. Corey has authored numerous publications on the need to support the well-being of the healthcare workforce. He has served as an expert in multiple forums, including as a keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator, as well as provided formal testimony in the United States Congress. His advocacy efforts resulted in the first federal law focused on improving health worker well-being, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act. In 2023, Corey and his wife, Jennifer, were both awarded the Surgeon General’s Medallion for Health, the highest honor the US Surgeon General can present to civilians, for their efforts at the Foundation.

Corey holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the UVA Darden School of Business. He is also the past Chair of the Board of the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Corey holds his master’s in business administration from the UVA Darden School of Business, his Juris Doctorate from Penn State Dickinson School of Law and his Bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College.

Daniel Blaney-Koen, JD

Senior Attorney, American Medical Association

Daniel Blaney-Koen, JD, is a senior attorney with the American Medical Association Advocacy Resource Center (ARC). Daniel works directly with state and specialty medical societies, as well as national patient and physician advocacy organizations, on state and national legislative, regulatory, and policy issues.

Daniel is the lead attorney for the AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force and also leads the AMA’s legislative and regulatory efforts on physician wellness. Daniel focuses on state legislation, regulation, and national policy on mental health and substance use disorder parity and the nation’s drug overdose epidemic, with particular emphasis on overdose prevention and treatment; treatment for patients with pain; and broad harm reduction efforts. Daniel works directly with state legislatures, medical boards, hospitals, and health systems to analyze and update licensing and credentialing applications to support physicians and other health care professionals seeking care for mental health and wellness concerns. Daniel also covers other pharmaceutical issues and related insurance market reforms, and has held several roles at the AMA, including public information officer, policy analyst, and speechwriter. Prior to joining the AMA, Daniel earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Colorado State University. He earned his law degree from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Daniel, his wife, two sons, and daughter live in Chicago, Illinois.

Susan Parisi, MD, FACOG

Chief Wellness Officer, Geisinger

Dr. Susan Parisi joined Geisinger as the chief wellness officer in July of 2022. She brings three decades of experience in healthcare, spending the earlier part of her career caring for patients in obstetrics and gynecology. She’s held leadership roles in several organizations, most recently serving as the director of well-being for Nuvance Healthcare, where she worked to implement a strategic and collaborative well-being program that accommodates seven hospitals, a multispecialty group, and 2,500 physicians across New York and Connecticut.

After supporting fellow physicians through their own experiences with burnout and emotional exhaustion, Dr. Parisi pursued the prestigious Stanford Chief Wellness Officer training, which she completed in 2019. In 2018, she completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. She earned her Bachelor of Science with a concentration in genetics and development from Cornell University and her medical degree from New York Medical College. She serves on several boards and committees, and is an active member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.