Laura Botwinick is the Director of GPHAP and a Lecturer at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Before joining the University of Chicago, Ms. Botwinick worked at The Joint Commission for over 20 years, most recently serving as Vice President for Innovation and New Product Development at Joint Commission Resources/Joint Commission International and as Co-Director of the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety. Before that, she was Director of Board and Committee Activities at The Joint Commission. Ms. Botwinick served as a Mentor for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Innovation Advisors Program, coaching several teams working on Triple Aim improvement projects. She was a Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2004-2005 and remains an active member of the IHI Fellowship Alumni. 

Ms. Botwinick holds a master’s degree in Management of Public Services from DePaul University in Chicago, a BA from Hampshire College, and is a Certified Improvement Advisor. She is a co-author of the IHI white paper, “Achieving Health Equity: A Guide for Health Care Organizations.”

Colleen M. Grogan is a Professor in the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. Her areas of research interest include health policy, health politics, participatory processes and the American welfare state. She has written several book chapters and articles on the political evolution and current politics of the US Medicaid program. She co-authored a book with Michael Gusmano titled Healthy Voices/Unhealthy Silence: Advocacy and Health Policy for the Poor (2007), which explores efforts to include representatives of the poor and disadvantaged in health policy decision-making. Professor Grogan is also the Co-Director of the Center for Health Administration Studies (CHAS) at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.