ABOUT US

Paul Taheri, MD, MBA, earned his Bachelor of Science degree from St. Lawrence University and graduated from the New York University School of Medicine. After completing surgical residency training at Tulane University Medical Center in 1994, he joined the University of Michigan, where he received a Master of Business Administration degree in 1999. After serving as Division Chief of the trauma burn service at the University of Michigan for more than 10 years, he was appointed Vice Chair of Surgery, where he served for four years.

In his role as Associate Dean for Academic Business Development at UM's School of Medicine, one of his primary responsibilities was to develop a comprehensive 10-day leadership development course for physicians, nurses, and administrators. He was also responsible for the oversight of technology transfer and intellectual property management at UM, a role that involved working with the University and physicians to help develop policies that fostered entrepreneurial activities between the business community and the faculty. He also was responsible for shaping the School of Medicine's relationships with commercial vendors.

Dr. Taheri joined Fletcher Allen Health Care in March 2007 as President of the Faculty Practice, and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine. He is a practicing general/trauma surgeon. As the practice president, he has responsibility for the finances and operations of the 500-member physician practice with over $200 million in annual clinical revenue. In his role as Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, he oversees the Office of Clinical Trials Research and Graduate Medical Education for approximately 300 residents.

Dr. Taheri's professional and academic activities include leadership roles in the American College of Surgeons, American Burn Association, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the Eastern Association for Trauma; and the publication of more than 60 peer-reviewed papers in national and international journals. He participated in numerous healthcare projects, including projects focused on optimizing operating room scheduling, enhancing Emergency Department throughput, international health, technology transfer optimization, and many other areas of interest.

David Butz received his PhD in Economics in 1986 from Northwestern University. He served on the faculty of the Economics Department at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1987 - 1994, the University of Michigan Business School from 1994 - 2002, and the University of Michigan Medical School from 2002 - 2005. At the Business School, he taught core Applied Microeconomics and Operations Management to first-year MBAs, and a second-year MBA elective on supply chains. He earned various teaching awards at Northwestern, UCLA, and Michigan, and in 1995 the UMBS MBA students voted him professor of the year. Business Week's Guide to the Best Business Schools has identified him as one of Michigan's best teachers.

Dr. Butz has participated in a wide variety of executive education programs and distance learning projects. Together with Paul Taheri, he is the founder and co-director of the Center for Health Care Economics. David has managed a UM Health System strategic pricing initiative, performed an economic analysis of Medical School NIH funding, and continues to develop course content for UMHS/UMBS leadership development programs.

Dr. Butz's other research expertise lies in outcomes research, industrial organization, law and economics, antitrust, and supply chain contracting, where he has published numerous peer-reviewed articles.

Deborah Harkins RN, MBA

Deborah Harkins received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan. She is a Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) and her positions at the University of Michigan Health System include 7 years as Education Nurse Coordinator and 8 years as Trauma Systems Manager. She received her MBA from Michigan's Ross School of Business in 2004. She has been instrumental in hospital-wide projects ranging from implementation of a critical care documentation system, creating an in-house acute care transport team, managing a trauma and burn database with over 25,000 patients, to authoring a comprehensive state-wide trauma marketing and business plan.

Deborah frequently lectures on critical care and management topics and has orchestrated the trauma performance improvement program for over 7 years. Deborah is an executive board member for the Society of Trauma Nurses and has had extensive experience with Level 1 Trauma and Burn Verification site reviews. Additionally she has been adjunct faculty at the UM Business School, UM Nursing School and Eastern Michigan University.

After 18 years in nursing, Deborah joined MDContent as General Manager and Senior Consultant. Her other areas of expertise include education, learning management systems, and marketing. Deborah is active in professional societies and also continues clinical practice at the University of Michigan Health System.