AHIMA Announces 2023 Board President/Chair, New Board Members
CHICAGO – January 31, 2023 – Members of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) elected Jennifer Mueller, MBA, RHIA, SHIMSS, FACHE, FAHIMA, as president/chair of the 2023 Board of Directors. Her one-year term began on January 1.
Mueller is the vice president and privacy officer at the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center in Madison, WI. She was previously the vice president and chief information officer at Watertown Regional Medical Center in Watertown, WI. As an active member of the Wisconsin Health Information Management Association (WHIMA), Mueller has previously served as president of the WHIMA Board of Directors and has received several of the chapter’s awards recognizing excellence in the health information (HI) profession and service to the chapter. Those awards include the WHIMA Rising Star Award, Motivator Award, and Distinguished Member Award. Additionally, she is an active member of the Wisconsin chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the HIPAA Collaborative of Wisconsin.
“I am honored to lead AHIMA at this time of breathtaking evolution in healthcare,” said Mueller. “Health information professionals are uniquely positioned to balance technology and data's tremendous power and potential with our responsibility to every patient as stewards of their health information.”
AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, said, “I’m thrilled to work closely with this dynamic and dedicated group of servant leaders who are committed to advancing the AHIMA mission and the health information profession to improve the health and wellbeing of society.”
In addition to Mueller’s appointment, AHIMA members selected a president/chair-elect, three new members of the Board of Directors (each of whom will serve a three-year term), and a speaker-elect of the House of Delegates.
President/Chair-Elect
Mona Calhoun, PhD, MS, Med, RHIA, FAHIMA, has 35 years of experience in the HI profession. Currently, she is chair of the Health Information Management Program at Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD. Previously, she led HI departments in behavioral health, rehabilitation, and acute care settings and worked in the outsourcing industry. She is an active member of the Maryland Health Information Management Association, where she has served on the Board in various capacities since 2004, and with AHIMA, where she has served as a member and chair of several committees since 2010.
Speaker-Elect of the House of Delegates
Debra Boppre, MSM, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, is the Health Information and CDI Director at Trinity Health in Minot, ND. She has served two terms as president of the Board of Directors for the North Dakota Health Information Management Association and has been a chapter delegate. As an active member of AHIMA, she has chaired the Commission on Certification of Health Informatics and Information Management and the Apprenticeship Advisory Committee. She has also served as an item writer for AHIMA examinations.
Board Members
Aurae Beidler, MHA, RHIA, CHPS, CHC, is currently an online program director and assistant professor at George Fox University. Before that, she was the compliance and privacy officer at the Linn County Department of Health Services, where she oversaw the compliance and privacy program. Her experience includes auditing and monitoring coordination, investigations, training, and HIPAA Privacy Officer duties, as well as teaching courses in HIM and healthcare management. She has published several articles in the Journal of AHIMA. She is a past president of the Oregon Health Information Management Association. She served as the AHIMA Speaker of the House of Delegates in 2021.
Rachel Podczervinski, MS, RHIA, has worked in HI for the past 20 years, focusing on patient matching and patient identity. She is vice president of professional services for Harris Data Integrity Solutions and works with HI departments across the country.
Dasantila (Tila) Sherifi, PhD, MBA, RHIA, has more than 20 years of experience in higher education. She is currently serving as Assistant Professor and HIM Program Director at Rutgers School of Health Professions. She has volunteered in various capacities for AHIMA, the Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association.
The AHIMA Board of Directors is responsible for setting long-term strategy and direction, governing the association’s activities, and fulfilling the organization’s fiduciary responsibility. There are 13 elected members, including the president/chair, president/chair-elect, past president/chair, speaker of the house, and nine at-large directors; and the CEO serves ex officio.
The newly elected members join the current AHIMA Board members:
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About AHIMA
AHIMA is a global nonprofit association of health information (HI) professionals with more than 71,000 members and more than 100,000 credentials in the field. The AHIMA mission of empowering people to impact health® drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business and are found in data integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.