The Care Collaborative Staff
Leadership
John F. “Fred” Thomas, PhD, MSSWExecutive Director
Fred is a professor in the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine and the School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. With a career spanning over 20 years as a system of care designer, ehealth innovator, health outcomes researcher and health care/health policy educator, his journey is underscored by a relentless pursuit of innovation, clinical education and outcomes-oriented research. He is currently the executive director of The Care Collaborative, where his focus is on inspiring a wide array of clinical providers to adapt their practice models to include peer mentored approaches to care and clinical education. As Fred has spent his career on improving the health care system, he has a deep commitment to advancing a spectrum approach to telehealth-care delivery, assuring the right sizing of care with a focus on improving the quadruple aim. Educating and nurturing the next generation of healthcare providers has been a cornerstone of his career. His dedication to these efforts has led to dozens of peer-reviewed publications and over $80 million in funding from local, state and federal grants and awards.
Prior to his role at The Care Collaborative, Fred served as the director of community-based mental health services and policy at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His academic journey began with a BBA (Finance) in Texas, followed by a MSSW at the University of Texas and finally with a PhD in population health/epidemiology from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Fred is involved in numerous organizations and societies and is recognized as a national thought leader in telehealth, systems of care and population health. Beyond his professional pursuits he and his wife Stephanie enjoy traveling in their Airstream to new and unique locations, gardening and spending time with their four children.
Devin Miller, MPH, DrPHDirector of Operations
Devin joined The Care Collaborative as the Director of Operations in 2023. Her background is in health care management, policy and population health. Specializing in improving access to care and collaborating on innovative healthcare delivery solutions, she oversees the day-to-day operations of the ECHO Colorado and eConsults programs. Prior to this role, Devin worked at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. When Devin’s not at her desk she’s flying, driving or hiking somewhere!
Dave Saxon, MDMedical Director
Dave is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Prior to joining The Care Collaborative he was Endocrine Section Chief at the Rocky Mountain VAMC. Dave is a general endocrinologist with specific clinical and academic interests in diabetes, obesity and lipid disorders. He joined The Care Collaborative because he is passionate about exploring innovative forms of healthcare delivery. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor in anthropology, he received his MD from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He did his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan, and completed a fellowship in endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes at the University of Colorado. Dave completed a VA Advanced Health Services Research Fellowship and has published book chapters and journal articles on a variety of endocrine topics. Outside of work he enjoys live music, drinking lots of coffee, and hiking and skiing with his wife and three children.
Faculty
Rodger Kessler, PhDAssociate Professor, Data Informed Care Transformation and Training
Rodger leads special projects and develops and manages strategic initiatives for The Care Collaborative, and he leads research teams and collaborations with partners. He is a clinical health psychologist and has been a national leader in integrating behavioral and medical care. Currently his focus is on using multiple data sources to identify and intervene with high-risk patients and evaluating the organizational, clinical and cost effectiveness of eConsults. His personal passions include musical performing, living on an island, raising bonsai trees and golden retrievers.
Kyle Leggott, MDPrimary Care Liaison
Dr. Leggott is a family physician with health politics experience whose expertise includes policy development and translation, the intersection of policy with state-based health care legislation, and innovative approaches to addressing health care reform. He seeks progressive and innovative approaches to address health inequities by promoting systems-based and policy-level interventions. Dr. Leggott is an assistant professor of family medicine in the CU Anschutz School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, where he completed a fellowship in health policy and politics. He has helped lead multiple public health and COVID-related ECHO series for primary care providers since the start of the COVID pandemic. Dr. Leggott is a health policy scholar at the Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center. He also serves as a board member for the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP). He provides patient care in the clinic and hospital while teaching family medicine residents and medical students at the University of Colorado.
Donald E. Nease, Jr., MDPrimary Care Lead
Dr. Nease is a professor of family medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz where he serves as the director of community engagement and health equity for the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. He completed his undergraduate degree and medical school at the University of Kansas, his residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a faculty development fellowship at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Dr. Nease’s passion is to improve health in partnership with communities, patients, clinicians and health care. He works this territory from the level of individual interactions to community- and population-based interventions.
Linda Oberst-Walsh, MDPrimary Care eConsult Lead
Dr. Oberst-Walsh is a graduate of the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine and Family Medicine residency program. She serves the CU Anschutz community as the adult primary care lead for the eConsults program in a collaborative partnership with CU Anschutz and 26 other academic medical centers across the country. Dr. Oberst-Walsh’s medical experience includes serving as a medical and program director for the University of Oklahoma Tulsa Department of Family Medicine, and developing a satellite primary care clinic for CU Anschutz. She also has experience as co-owner and practitioner in a full service family medicine private practice. She is committed to innovation and transformation in pursuit of advancing medical knowledge and access to medical care across the state. In her spare time, Dr. Oberst-Walsh likes to play with her grandsons, hike and read.
Development & Implementation
Lizzie Arvidson, MPHProject Manager
Lizzie has been a part of the The Care Collaborative team since 2022. In her role Lizzie strives to combine her extensive experience in public health program coordination with her passion for health access and equity to deliver high quality programming to underserved populations. She received her bachelor degree in health promotion and human physiology from the University of Iowa and her master of public health from the CU Anschutz School of Public Health. In her free time, Lizzie enjoys spending time with her family, exploring the Colorado outdoors and trying new recipes.
Ashley Clark, MPHDevelopment & Implementation Project Coordinator
Ashley joined the team as a development and implementation project coordinator in March 2022. In her role, she provides technical support and beginning-to-end project coordination for multiple concurrent ECHO series. She aims to use her background, knowledge and skills to develop and manage public health and clinical learning opportunities to ultimately improve access to care in Colorado and beyond. She has enjoyed building relationships with ECHO partners and seeing the impact of the Project ECHO approach, "all teach all learn," in action. She received her bachelor of science in kinesiology and health promotion from the University of Wyoming and her master of public health from the Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University. Outside of work, Ashley enjoys reading, exploring new coffee shops and going on hikes in the Colorado sunshine with her partner and rescue dog Tonks.
Kyle MattinsonDevelopment & Implementation Project Coordinator
Kyle joined The Care Collaborative team in 2022 with the goal of improving patient care in Colorado through the facilitation of professional development for health care professionals. Since then this has expanded to projects that also touch on many other professions and walks of life. He strives to provide support and remove as many barriers to excellent care as possible for people around the state of Colorado. He received his bachelor of arts in political science and his master of public administration from the University of Wyoming. In his spare time, Kyle loves to enjoy reading, keeping up on public events, watching movies and television, and spending time with his friends, family and his three cats.
Will Payne, MSDevelopment & Implementation Coordinator
Will joined The Care Collaborative team in 2025, bringing experience in public health operations, data analysis and health systems research. He is passionate about enhancing knowledge dissemination for critical medical and public health topics and improving access to care for underserved populations. Prior to joining The Care Collaborative, Will helped to lead legislative affairs and program evaluation initiatives for Medicaid programs at the Maryland Department of Health. He holds a master of health science in social factors in health, and a graduate certificate in public health informatics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Outside of work, Will enjoys hiking, skiing, landscape photography and exploring new coffee shops.
AD SanchezProgram Engagement Specialist
AD joined The Care Collaborative as the continuing education and implementation coordinator in 2022 and he now serves as the program engagement specialist, responsible for implementing engagement strategies for ECHO and eConsults to reach rural and frontier providers. With a background in healthcare operations and project management, he is passionate about healthcare access, operational efficiency and education. AD is currently pursuing a master of public administration and a master of public health at the University of Colorado Anschutz. He holds a bachelor of business administration in marketing and a bachelor of arts in biology from Texas Lutheran University. In his free time AD enjoys traveling, hiking, photography, vinyl collecting and concertgoing.
BreAnna Teeters, MPHECHO-eConsults Development & Implementation Project Manager
BreAnna joined The Care Collaborative in 2022 to support the provision of informational and educational opportunities to health professionals across clinical and non-clinical practices. Her goal is to apply her background and knowledge in equity, access and the intersectionality of health, to inform series partners in the development of learning opportunities that have a whole-patient approach. BreAnna received her bachelor of science in public health from the University of Arizona and her master of public health from the Colorado School of Public Health in health systems, management and policy. Rather than sleeping–or “in her free time”–BreAnna enjoys reading and finding books that make her cry, going outside no matter the weather, getting lost in videogames and trying new cooking and baking recipes.
Crystal VarelaDevelopment & Implementation Manager
Crystal started with The Care Collaborative team in June 2020 as a development and implementation project coordinator, during which time her work focused on autism and adolescent reproductive health. Today she serves as development and implementation manager responsible for overseeing five project coordinators and supporting new and continuing ECHO projects. Previously she worked at the Dean’s Office in the Colorado School of Public Health and the CU Anschutz School of Medicine’s Center for Advancing Professional Education (CAPE). Crystal is a proud Colorado native, has a beautiful son and is the youngest of seven children. She enjoys traveling, cooking, fitness and spending time with her family and friends.
Instructional Design
Ben Clark, MSSenior Instructional Designer
Since joining the instructional design team in early 2024, Ben has been applying his background in health care-focused learning and development and organizational development consulting to maximize the success of our ECHO series. With a master of science from the University of Denver and another in progress from Boise State University, Ben can usually be found with his head down in a book. When he’s not indulging his nerdy side, he’s either paying homage to his New England roots by watching his beloved Red Sox or hiking with his partner and their dog in the wilderness near their home in Portland, Oregon.
Garrett Ruzicka, MAInstructional Design Program Manager
Garrett joined The Care Collaborative in 2022. He taught communication courses in higher education before entering the instructional design field in 2018. Garrett has experience developing continuing education for medical professionals, including his previous work as a learning strategist with the American Academy of Family Physicians. He received his master of arts in communication from Missouri State University.
Operations
Justin Linder, BAOperations Manager
Justin joined The Care Collaborative as operations manager early in 2025. With a background in operationalizing virtual care initiatives, enhancing clinical workflows and leveraging technology to drive change in healthcare, he is motivated by improving the delivery of quality care for all. Utilizing collaborative and project management strategies with a white-glove customer service approach, he has contributed to robust process improvements while navigating complex technical challenges. At The Care Collaborative, Justin strives to streamline day-to-day operations while advancing key strategic initiatives in Colorado and beyond. Justin holds a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Texas. When away from his desk, he can be found traveling, anticipating his next delicious snack, or floating in a refreshing body of water around his hometown of Austin, Texas.
Kathryn Michel, MSFinance & Administration Program Manager
Kat joined The Care Collaborative after 20 years as a research administrator on the CU Boulder Campus. She has been the program manager of finance and administration since 2019, with the goal of managing and expanding our funding portfolio so that more interdisciplinary and interagency work can deliver improved health outcomes to underserved populations in Colorado. Kat received her bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a master of science in research administration from Johns Hopkins University. In her spare time she engages in project management for an educational nonprofit organization, historical clothing research and re-enactment, sewing, playing with her cats and doing Middle Eastern dance.
Sue Stoveall, MBAMarketing & Outreach Program Manager
Sue joined the marketing team in 2018 with the goal of supporting and enhancing efforts to reach out to health care practitioners in Colorado with The Care Collaborative message about health equity. She strives to apply her background and knowledge about marketing strategies and practices to growing the department's constituent base and thereby reducing health care inequities across the state and beyond. She received her bachelor of art in international relations from Cornell College and her master of business administration from Loyola University Chicago Graduate School of Business. In her spare time, Sue enjoys graphic design, reading, walking, music, movies and geeking out about marketing trends and business disrupters.
Tiera Vaughns, MBAProgram Support Specialist
Tiera joined The Care Collaborative in 2024 as the program support specialist. She manages schedules for several staff members, works with procurement on contracts and coordinates logistics for meetings and staff across multiple time zones. Prior to joining The Care Collaborative Tiera was a business services professional for the CUSOM Department of Medicine. She also worked for several years as a claims adjuster for national insurance firms. Tiera holds a bachelor of business administration from the University of Colorado, and a master of business administration with an emphasis in health care management from University of Phoenix. She joined The Care Collaborative due to her interest in the different methods of healthcare provision. Tiera spends her free time with friends and family, including her 8-month-old son Prince.
Evaluation
Rachel Kollin, MAEvaluation Specialist
Rachel joined The Care Collaborative as an evaluation specialist in 2023. She appreciates the opportunity to apply her research and evaluation experience to the work of ECHO Colorado and the goal of reducing health care inequities. She brings with her experience evaluating initiatives in health care education, substance use and sexual violence prevention. Rachel earned a master of arts in community social psychology from the University of Massachusetts and a graduate certificate in research and evaluation from Wayne State University. In her spare time, she enjoys painting-by-number, cycling, reading and spending time with family.
Shuyuan Tan, MAEvaluation Specialist
Shuyuan joined the evaluation team in 2023. Prior to that she was an external evaluator at University of Colorado Denver. Throughout her career Shuyuan has focused on evaluating public health and higher education initiatives, particularly in medical education training programs at CU Anschutz. In her role at ECHO Colorado, Shuyuan provides comprehensive evaluation services across various ECHO series. Her responsibilities include developing evaluation plans, conducting data collection and analysis, and delivering evaluation and research outcomes. Shuyuan is dedicated to employing equitable evaluation and participatory approaches to foster robust evaluations for ECHO programs. Her vision is to promote health equity through data-driven and evidence-based evaluation outcomes. She is also passionate about the story behind the data. Shuyuan obtained her bachelor's degree in applied psychology from Guangxi Teachers Education University, China. She came to the U.S. in 2014 to pursue graduate studies and obtained a master's degree in educational psychology with a focus on evaluation and research from University of Colorado Denver. Outside of work Shuyuan enjoys books, movies and exploring the breathtaking scenery of Colorado.
Kristen Young, MPHEvaluation Manager
Kristen joined the development and implementation team as a project coordinator in 2021 with the goal of supporting the demand for virtual learning and increased health needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She later joined the evaluation team and became the evaluation manager in 2023. Kristen strives to apply her project management experience and public health training toward expanding ECHO Colorado’s program evaluation to measure and disseminate its impact on improving access to care and reducing health disparities. Kristen received her bachelor of arts in ecology and evolutionary biology from University of Colorado Boulder and her master of public health in population mental health and wellbeing from the Colorado School of Public Health. In her spare time she enjoys athletic and outdoor endeavors including running, cycling, yoga, skiing and spending time with her husband and pup at local craft breweries.
eCONSULTS
Stephanie Grim, MS, MPHHealth Informatics Researcher
Stephanie leads strategic efforts and management of The Care Collaborative's research program. Her primary responsibilities revolve around study design and statistical analysis. She holds graduate degrees in statistics and analytics with a specialization in machine learning and big data techniques. Stephanie is interested in the design and implementation of predictive algorithms to inform solutions to modern-day health care problems. In her free time, she enjoys trail running, mountain biking, snowboarding, playing chess and fostering rescue puppies.
Nate Koller, BS eConsults Manager
Nate Joined The Care Collaborative in early 2025, taking on a key role in the implementation, management and growth of the eConsults program. Nate holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Brigham Young University Idaho. Throughout his career, he has developed a passion for optimizing healthcare workflows and improving health outcomes through process and quality improvement and the implementation of evidence-based best practices. Nate has worked as a practice transformation coach and a clinic manager in both primary care and specialty clinics. His experience spans various healthcare settings, including hospitals, clinics and healthcare support organizations. In his free time Nate supports his kids in their sports and hobbies, including snowboarding. He enjoys playing guitar, volunteering with his church, watching documentaries and camping in the mountains with his family.
Mayra LoeraeConsults Program Manager
Mayra joined The Care Collaborative team in 2021. In her role, she provides essential support to the administrative functions of the department, which involves various tasks and processes that ensure smooth operations. Mayra manages schedules, organizes meetings, coordinates logistics and assists with procurement. She also contributes to the success of the eConsults program by assisting with coordination, communicating with key stakeholders and ensuring the smooth flow of operations. Her efforts help connect community providers to specialists at CU Anschutz to help improve access to care and reduce health disparities. Mayra graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver where she earned a bachelor of science degree in health care management. She is a first generation graduate and is fluent in Spanish and English. After graduating, she worked at the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance as a programs assistant, where she helped support women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In her free time, Mayra enjoys spending time with family and friends, going to concerts and shopping!
Shweta SawaiSenior Data Analyst
Shweta joined The Care Collaborative in 2024 as a senior data analyst, bringing extensive expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics and data management. She holds a master’s in public health (epidemiology and biostatistics) from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a bachelor of dental surgery from the University of Health Sciences. After working as a general dentist in Pune, India, Shweta discovered her passion for public health and research, leading her to pursue further education in the field. Prior to joining The Care Collaborative, she worked in the US with child welfare agencies, federally qualified health centers, and an organization known for its successful nationwide health center collaborations. She utilizes her data analysis expertise to support reporting, data visualization and strategic planning. Outside of work, Shweta enjoys yoga, meditation, music, walking on the beach, volunteering and spending time with family and friends.