Deborah H. Dahl, BSE, MBA, FACHE
Vice President
Patient Care Innovation
Banner Health
Deborah H. Dahl, BSE, MBA, is an Associate Administrator for Banner Desert
Medical Center. Banner Desert is the
largest (600 beds), most comprehensive hospital in the East Valley of metropolitan Phoenix. Located on an 80acre campus, its 1,500 physicians and
3,000 plus employees are dedicated to making a difference in
people’s lives through excellent patient care.
In 2004 Banner Desert saw approximately 100,000 patients in
the Emergency Department, delivered 8,123 babies, and provided care for 1,300 new cancer diagnosis patients. It is also
home to Banner Children’s Hospital where its medical professionals specialize in inpatient and outpatient pediatric care,
pediatric and neonatal ICUs, pediatric rehabilitation and pediatric emergency care. It has one of the top eICU programs in
the United States.
Bart M. Demaerschalk, MD, MSc, FRCP
Consultant, Department of Neurology
Professor of Neurology
College of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Dr. Demaerschalk received his M.D.
degree from the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He
joined the staff at Mayo Clinic in Arizona in 2001, and is currently a professor
in the Department of Neurology, and
director of Vascular Neurology, Hospital Neurology, Tele
Stroke, and Tele Neurology. Dr. Demaerschalk has specialized
in stroke, emergency neurology, and telemedicine for over a
decade. His research focuses on thrombolysis, regional stroke
systems of care, health economics, meta-analysis, evidence
based medicine, and telemedicine. He has co-authored American Heart Association and American Stroke Association
guidelines for the management of acute ischemic stroke and
American Academy of Neurology guidelines for telemedicine
in neurology. He has designed and conducted pivotal clinical
trials demonstrating reliability, validity, safety, and efficacy of
telemedicine for stroke and the first US cost effectiveness
analysis of telestroke.
Daniel J. Derksen, MD
Director, Community, Environment
and Policy Division
Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of
Public Health, University of Arizona
Daniel Derksen, MD, is the Walter H.
Pearce Endowed Chair; Director of the
Community, Environment and Policy
Division; Director of the Center for
Rural Health (CRH); and Professor &
Chair of the Public Health Policy and
Management section at the University of Arizona’s Mel &
Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. As CRH Director, he
oversees the State Office of Rural Health, the Rural Hospital
Flexibility Program, and the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program. Dr. Derksen was president of the New Mexico
Medical Society in 2009 and worked on medical homes legislation for the state’s Medicaid programs, which was signed
into law (HB 710).
James J. Dickson, BA, MBA
CEO / Administrator
Copper Queen Community Hospital
James J. Dickson is the Chief Executive
Officer of Copper Queen Community
Hospital, located in rural Bisbee, Arizona. As CEO for the last 15 years, he has
overseen the expansion of CQCH from
a struggling facility to a profitable and
nationally recognized rural health care
network. Dickson has led hospitals and
physician groups in Illinois, Ohio, New York and California. He
has spent the past 18 years working with critical-access hospitals, including the Copper Queen Community Hospital, a 14bed acute-care center offering a full range of services. It is a
Level IV Trauma Center and is considered among the top 5
percent of hospitals nationally for its innovative use of technology and access to specialty services through its telemedicine program. Mr. Dickson is the 2011 winner of the American
Hospital Association’s (AHA) Shirley Ann Munroe Leadership
Award. Dickson also recently received honors from the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and has been twice
named the Outstanding Rural Health Professional by the Arizona Rural Health Association. Dickson has served for the past
six years as a member of the Arizona Hospital Association
Board of Directors and is a past President of the Arizona Rural
Health Care Association.
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