Since 1998, SGA has assisted private and public health and hospital systems, governmental entities, managed care organizations, and federally funded community health centers. Whether large or small, public or private, urban or rural, SGA is proud of our client base.
Susan Greene, MBA
Susan Greene has consulted to over 80 organizations in the last ten years ranging from large publicly operated health care systems to the small community based health centers. She has built SGA’s solid reputation by working in a variety of neighborhoods, both urban and rural, while always focusing on the most medically vulnerable populations. Susan’s direct style with clients that has been characterized as “telling it like it is”. She has assembled a team of project associates as well as an experienced team of senior consultants that are called upon when needed.
Previously, Susan served as the Chief Operating Officer for Managed Care at the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, a public health system serving over 400,000 poor and uninsured Chicago residents. She was responsible for the strategic development of system wide programs and the implementation of all managed care activities, including a County sponsored health plan for Medicaid recipients. On behalf of Advocate Health Care, she designed a health plan and physician network to serve the Medicaid population at Advocate’s nine hospitals in partnership with the University of Illinois. Before her involvement in health systems, Susan served as the Executive Director of Erie Family Health Center in Chicago, a federally funded community health center providing over 100,000 patient visits per year. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois where she received her MBA and completed all course work for a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis. Her Bachelor’s degree is from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH where she majored in Political Science and Communication Studies.
Azmina Lakhani, Project Associate:
Azmina Lakhani joined SGA in the summer of 2011. She has completed three years of medical and public health training at Northwestern University and is taking a year off of her training to add her expertise to the consultant mix at SGA. During her MD/MPH program, Azmina has found time to work with underserved populations: organizing health fairs in Chicago’s Cabrini Green community and creating educational materials for patients in Chicago and abroad in Nicaragua and Jamaica. As the public health chair for the Northwestern University Alliance for International Development, she has led and participated in two week-long medical trips to Nicaragua focused on prevention, health education, and sustainability.
With SGA, Azmina will work on health systems projects, health reform policy, and particularly the implications for FQHCs and safety net hospitals. She will also be working as a researcher for the Chicago Department of Public Health as part of her MPH studies.
A native of Chicago’s western suburbs, Azmina received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern in psychology and global health.
Rebecca Duerst, Project Associate:
Rebecca Duerst is in her second year with SGA and conducts community needs assessments, assists with research, grant proposals, and accounting. She is a second-year M.P.H. student at the University of Illinois School of Public Health. Prior to beginning her studies at UIC, she earned a B.A. in Biology, Chemistry, and Art from St. Olaf College, a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from St. Louis University, and an M.A. in Teaching from Bethel University. She also served for two years as a volunteer in sub-Saharan Africa, where she taught science in a village in Namibia.
This year, Rebecca received the Passaro Global Horizons Scholarship, and she traveled to India this summer (2011), where she worked with local people to investigate local knowledge and beliefs about diphtheria vaccination. She has a continuing interest in working with minority groups, refugees, and other underserved populations.
Karen Cronin, Senior Project Associate:
Karen Cronin has worked as a consultant for over sixteen years and has worked on variety of projects for SGA ranging from strategic planning to federal grant development. Her consulting practice started at Cook County Hospital (now John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County) in the managed care department. Since that time she as continued her work with the Cook County Health & Hospital System to improve operations, meet accreditation requirements, and foster relationships with affiliates. She prepared for and participated in accreditation surveys by the Joint Commission as well as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Ms. Cronin has also worked for Health Management Associates, a midsize, healthcare consulting firm. While working with HMA consultants, Ms. Cronin evaluated the costs and benefits of downsizing a residency program, evaluated and recommended changes in medical staff and graduate medical education programs, and assisted the State of Indiana in implementing a federal grant. After departing HMA, Ms. Cronin relocated to Seattle where she was responsible for overseeing graduate medical education for a non-profit hospital where she has implemented many operational improvements in medical education contracting, resident rotation tracking, and data collection for Medicare reimbursement.