Leadership

Jose Ortiz, MD was an Orthopedic Hand Surgeon at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. He attended Medical School at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. He was trained in orthopedic surgery at New York University and did his hand surgical training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is a past chief of staff at Mayo Clinic Health system in Eau Claire, a position he held for 9 years. He also served on the Mayo Clinic Northwest Wisconsin Board of Directors, as well as on the Board of Chippewa Valley Free Clinic. He has served Board of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation, where he was chair of the Student Loan Task Force. He now serves as President of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation. He was chair of the Mayo Clinic Hospital Practice subcommittee where his team oversaw the clinical operations of the five area hospitals associated with Mayo Clinic. Additionally, he also served on the University of Wisconsin Business Council representing health care. He is the co-creator of the Medical Experience, a job shadowing program for High School and college students. Dr Ortiz is married with four sons, and he fully enjoys his family time.

Noel Deep, MD, FACP is a board-certified internist with additional certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and practices as a comprehensive internist with the Aspirus Antigo Clinic and Aspirus Langlade Hospital in Antigo, Wisconsin. He graduated medical school from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India and completed an Internal Medicine residency at the Chicago Medical School/ Rosalind Franklin University of Health Sciences, North Chicago, Illinois. He is the Chief Medical Officer for Aspirus Langlade Hospital, and Regional Medical Director for Aspirus Medical Group. Dr. Deep currently serves on the Aspirus Langlade Hospital Board of Trustees and served as Chief of Staff for several years.

He is a past Secretary and President of Langlade County Medical Society. He is a past President of the Wisconsin Medical Society and served on the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the Board, the Membership Committee, Nominating Committee, a member of the House of Delegates and chair of the Young Physicians Section of the Society. He currently serves as a member and current Vice- President of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation’s Board of Directors.

He is active on the American College of Physicians [ACP] at the state and national level serving as the Immediate Past Governor and member of the Executive Committee of the Wisconsin Chapter of the ACP. He was the Vice-Chair of the Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee, and Parliamentarian for the Board of Governors from 2019-2022. He is the past Secretary, Program Chair for the State Chapter’s Annual Scientific meeting, Chair of the state’s Young Physician section and has served on the American College of Physicians’ National Council of Young Physicians and was the chair of the council and has also served as a member of the Board of Governors and Board of Regents of the ACP. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He provided editorial review of the ACP’ s publications- Young Physicians Survival Handbook and Physicians Guide to Adult Preventive Services and was a speaker at the ACP’s national meeting. He is a member of the ACP Services PAC Board and has attended several of the ACP’s annual national Advocacy meetings in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Wisconsin Council on Immunization Practices representing the ACP. He serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Internal Medicine News.

He is also active in the American Medical Association [AMA] and has been a delegate to the AMA House of Delegates representing the ACP and is a member of the AMA Council on Science and Public Health. He has served as a member and chair of the AMA House of Delegates Reference Committees. He was a member of the AMA Young Physician Assembly and served as Reference Committee chair and Handbook Review Committee chair on several occasions and was a member of the AMA YPS task forces on Maintenance of Certification and Scope of Practice.

He is the recipient of several state and national awards including the prestigious Kenneth Viste, Jr., MD, Young Physician Leadership award from the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation, the American Medical Association Foundation’s Young Physician Leadership award, the Wisconsin Chapter of the American College of Physicians Young Internist of the Year award and the Addis Costello Internist of the Year award, The Richard Neubauer national Advocacy Award from the ACP, and is the 2022 Laureate Awardee of the Wisconsin Chapter of the ACP.

Tom O’Day is a partner at the law firm of Husch Blackwell, LLP, and is part of the Healthcare Strategic Business Unit at the firm. Tom provides measured counsel to hospitals, physician groups, health systems and individual providers regarding complex employment and medical staff matters. Clients value Tom’s experience and practical guidance on day-to-day operations, growing business and navigating what can feel like the volatility of litigation. Tom assists employers with a full range of human resource issues from day-to-day advising, litigation, and transactional work.

Mark Westover is an area resident with more than 30 years of business experience in delivering focused growth solutions, integrating people, processes, and technology to enable greater operational efficiencies in business.

Westover spent 14 years at Windsor, WI based Bell Laboratories, leading both global and domestic sales and concluded his tenure as Chief Operating Officer. He then started the Westover Group; a consulting company focused on strategic and project planning and business development. 4-years ago, he decided to make a transition to the non-profit world where he joined the YMCA of Dane County, Inc.

Westover currently serves as treasurer for two non-profit boards: the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation and RISE. In addition, he serves on the board of Suttle-Straus, a media and print company based in Waunakee. Mark has a history of volunteerism with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at UW-Madison, the Waunakee Area Soccer Club, and the Salvation Army. He has a marketing degree from UW-Oshkosh, is Lean Six Sigma certified and received an MBA from UW-Madison.

Mark lives in Waunakee with his wife Kristi. They have two grown children; the youngest is at UW-Madison majoring in nursing and the other is at the University of Utah in Dental School.

Doctor Latisha Smith-Chase Medical Director of Wound & Edema Center of Fort Health care in Johnson Creek, WI. She was born in Michigan, graduated from Michigan State University. She attended Hahnemann University in Philadelphia for medical school. She is a board certified in Internal Medicine and board certified in Undersea & Hyperbaric medicine. She has been both an academic physician and associate professor at University of Texas- Houston and private practice of wound care and hyperbaric medicine in Bellevue Washington and Redding, California. She has served on the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation since 2021.

Dr. Chou is Board Certified in Adult and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry. He is a Wisconsin native and did his medical school and graduate training here. He serves on the AMA Council on Long Range Planning and Development (Past Chair), has been on the Wisconsin delegation to the AMA for 25 years, is a Commissioner to the IMLCC, a committee member on the FSMB, a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, on the national Assemblies of the American Psychiatric Association (executive committee member) and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (also 3 AACAP committees). He is vice-chair of the APA PAC Board. He is a distinguished Life Fellow of both the APA and AACAP. He is the vice-chair of the Wisconsin Medical (Examining) Board, a member of the WISMed PAC Board, and a member of the WMS Council of Legislation (past chair). He has volunteered for local organizations for over 25 years, including NAMI and the United Way. He is a past president of WMS (also Board Chair), the AMA Foundation, MSMC, and past chair of the North Central Caucus of the AMA. He served on several AMA committees (including chair of a Reference Committee). He was a past member of the AACAP PAC Board. He was on the CME and Lifelong Learning (MOC) committees for AACAP for several years. He has spoken in different settings of the need and value for physicians to give back at all stages of their career, from being a medical student to being a retired physician and to employ the skill sets they have gained during their training and work to help their patients, colleagues, profession, and their communities.

Doctor David Falk is a Dermatologist who worked at Dean /SSM health care for over 30 years and is now retired. He has served on multiple professional Boards, including a long tenure on the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation Board and as past president. He was a recent regular volunteer at the Specialty Care Free Clinic, where he currently serves on the Finance Committee.

David Galbis-Reig, M.D, DFASAM, received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1999 and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2004. He is board certified and involved in Maintenance of Certification in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and in the sub-specialty of Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He is currently the Medical Director of Addiction Services at Ascension Wisconsin All Saints (where he has been employed for the past 18 years). He is also the current Immediate Past President of the Wisconsin Society of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Galbis-Reig led WISAM to partner with DHS to provide twelve buprenorphine trainings throughout Wisconsin between 2019-2021 that have added over 800 new buprenorphine-waived physicians to treat opioid use disorders in the state. He is an active member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) were he serves as the Chair of the Distinguished Fellows Committee and is the Chair for the BEST Study Tool Subcommittee. He has contributed to policy decisions in the state as a member of the Wisconsin Marijuana Prevention Ad-Hoc Committee of the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (SCAODA). He is a current Board Member of the HOPE Council on alcohol and other substance use in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is also an active member of the Wisconsin Medical Society where he has served on the opioid task force and on the Board of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation.

Caroline is a registered nurse who works and lives in Madison, WI. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated in 2018 with a degree in Community and Nonprofit Leadership. In 2020, she decided to pursue a nursing degree at the University of Miami in their Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program. In 2021, she became a nurse at UW Hospital in their Neurosciences ICU before moving to her current position in the Cardiac Cath Lab. Growing up she went to and worked at Camp Manito-wish YMCA and has been able to go back and work as the Camp Nurse. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys cooking, being outdoors, and traveling to spend time with her friends and family.

Erica Larson, DO is a double board-certified psychiatrist specializing in general psychiatry as well as child and adolescent psychiatry. She earned her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she also completed her general psychiatry residency and served as Chief Fellow during her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship.

Throughout her career, Dr. Larson has combined clinical work with leadership and community service. She previously served as Behavioral Health Service Line Medical Director at Marshfield Clinic Health System, where she led system-wide mental health initiatives, helped secure grant funding for trauma and disaster response projects, and supported specialty clinics focused on early intervention for ADHD. She continues to build and collaborate on programs that address wellness for healthcare professionals, recognizing the importance of mental health support for those who care for others.

 

She is the founder and president of CORE Choice S.C., where she provides personalized, in depth consultative mental health care for children, adolescents, and adults with a highly collaborative approach. She specializes in consultative psychiatry, corporate wellness and optimization, and mental health support for healthcare professionals. She currently practices in Wisconsin and across multiple other states through various telehealth and consulting roles. She works with Integrated Telehealth Partners as their outpatient services medical director. Dr. Larson is licensed in multiple states and remains committed to expanding access to quality psychiatric care for children, adolescents, and adults. Dr. Larson is active in organized medicine and holds leadership roles with the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association and the Wisconsin Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She serves on the executive boards of the La Crosse County Medical Society and the Wisconsin Medical Society, and has represented young physicians at the American Medical Association. She is also a member of the International Society of Sports Psychiatry and a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has served on the Wisconsin Medical Society membership and physician wellness committees and within the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association’s emergency psych task force and advocacy committee.

 

Beyond her leadership roles, Dr. Larson is actively engaged in education and outreach. She provides psychiatric evaluations and consultation services for national organizations, teaches and mentors medical students, residents, and fellows, and frequently presents at professional conferences. Her speaking topics include ADHD, depression, integrative and holistic psychiatry, psychopharmacology in pediatric patients, and strategies for performance and wellness optimization.

 

Dr. Larson’s work reflects her commitment to improving mental health access, advancing evidence-based care, and supporting the well-being of her patients and colleagues alike.

 

Doctor Morris is certified by the Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and American Epilepsy Society. He created The Epilepsy and Surgery Program at Froedtert Hospital/MCW and at Aurora St Luke's Medical Center and is currently director of the Epilepsy Clinic at Ascension Columbia-St Mary’s Medical Center in Milwaukee. He has provided over 1000 patients with a surgical treatment of epilepsy, designed trials and development plans for numerous seizure medications and devices, the development of functional mag¬netic resonance imaging in epilepsy, guidelines for the appropriate treatment of epilepsy and currently publishes in the field of public health. Doctor Morris is a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medicine Internship and Neurology Residency. He was a fellow in EEG and Epilepsy at the University of Cincinnati and remained a faculty member until joining the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received his MPH from The Imperial College London in 2021 with investigations in predicting COVID-19 deaths using large data sets. He is a Professor of Neurology, and an adjunct with Marquette University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. He has served on the Wisconsin Medical Society Board of Directors as well as its membership and executive committees and as chair of its Population Health Council and Opioid Task Force. He is a member of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation Board of Trustees, American Medical Association, American Academy of Neurology, American Epilepsy Society, American EEG Society and was president of the Milwaukee Neuropsychiatric Society, Central EEG and Epilepsy Society, Medical Society of Milwaukee County and Wisconsin Medical Society. He is an avid cyclist, woodworker, and married to Nancy with children Gillian Drummond and Spencer Morris.

Heather Schmidt, DO is a family medicine physician in Fond du Lac, WI. She trained at Midwestern University- Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her residency at Exempla/St. Joseph’s Hospital in 2005. She became the Medical Director of Health and Wellness at Agnesian HealthCare in 2013 and has transitioned into the role of System Medical Director of Healthy Work and Well-being for SSM Health in March of 2020. She has collaborated with a variety of organizational partners to infuse well-being into ongoing initiatives, including leadership development, continuous improvement and employee safety. She has been instrumental in the design and implementation of the SSM Health Care for Caregivers peer support system and system-wide Schwartz Rounds. She currently serves on the Healthy Fond du Lac County Steering Committee, the Fond du Lac County Board of Health and as the Medical Advisor for the Fond du Lac County Public Health department as well as the Catholic Healthcare Association Well-being Task Force. She is a passionate advocate for all things wellness, including improving the way we do our work to improve the health of our employees, clinicians and patients. She continues her medical practice by offering wellness consultations in the Integrative Health department with a special interest in behavioral health and weight management. Her hobbies include spending time with her husband Ryan and her two daughters (Solveig, 17 and Sadie, 14) mostly on the ski hill and boating the many lakes of Wisconsin.

Charlene Sealy, MD FACP is a Hospitalist at Marshfield Centre in Weston. She is originally from Barbados and graduated from the University of the West Indies. She completed residency in Internal Medicine at Harlem Hospital Center in New York. She’s currently a board member of the Marathon County Medical Society and the co-chair of the Membership Committee of the Wisconsin chapter of the American College of physicians. Finally, she serves as a member on several other committees of the Wisconsin chapter of the ACP.

Ayanna Vasquez, MD, MS, is an Advanced Women's Health Fellow at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital & Clinics; after recently completing her preventive medicine residency with UW Health/University of Wisconsin-Madison. Earlier, she earned a BA in Biology and Society from Cornell University, where she started to connect her interests in health and the study of populations and societies. She deepened her knowledge and skill set with an MS in Epidemiology from The University of Iowa, an MD from La Universidad Autόnoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), and two years at the Morehouse School of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency.

During her time with the Wisconsin Medical Society and the Foundation, Ayanna served as a Resident Member on the Foundation's Board of Trustees, an AMA Representative for the Resident and Fellows Section, and continues to serve as a member of the joint JEDI committee of the WMS and the Foundation. She is also serving as a Member-at-Large on the Dane County Medical Society's Board of Trustees, is a member of the American College of Preventive Medicine, the National Medical Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association, and the Wisconsin Public Health Association.

Megan Quamme, MD is a resident in General Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Affiliated Hospitals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Megan grew up in Deerfield, Wisconsin and attended the University of Minnesota for her Bachelor's degree in Biology. She worked for 4 years as a Nursing Assistant at the University of Wisconsin Hospital's Burn ICU where she found her love for procedural medicine. She attended Medical School at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During medical school, she held multiple leadership positions in the WMS Medical Student Section including Secretary and Chair of the section. She served as a Wisconsin representative to the AMA Medical Student Section and as a Medical Student Alternate Delegate to the AMA House of Delegates as a medical student. During residency, she has served as Secretary and Chair of the Resident and Fellows section and she is the current treasurer of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County.

Eric Elftmann is a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is currently the WMS-MSS MCW Board of Directors Representative. Eric has been on the board of Friends for Special Needs and the Public Health Interest Group at MCW. He is focused on getting people actively involved in their healthcare by promoting accessibility to healthcare resources. Eric is excited to help represent the medical student perspective on the board this year and play an active role in supporting the missions of the Wisconsin Medical Society and Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation.

Kylie Ruprecht is a third year MD student at UWSMPH, in the Path of Distinction in Public Health as well as Research. She is currently the WMS-MSS UWSMPH Board of Directors Representative, WMS-MSS Reproductive Health and Legislation Committee Member, AMA-MSS Region 2 Delegation Co-Chair, and has served in many different Wisconsin Medical Society, WMS-MSS, AMA-MSS, and other organizations over the past few years. Kylie is passionate about health care access, reproductive rights, medical organization outreach and membership, advocacy, and much more. She is excited to have the opportunity to represent medical students on the board this year, and plans to contribute to and support initiatives, as well as continue to proudly serve as a member of the WMS-MSS and Wisconsin Medical Society.

Doctor Graham is a market chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare division and is a board-certified family physician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She was instrumental in establishing the Medical Society of Milwaukee’s non-profit Foundation and served as its second President. She was the winner of the Erastus B. Wolcott physician of the year award and has been named as a Titan’s of Industry for Wisconsin, appearing as one of the 100 top CEOs and C-suite executives in the state. She has had a long-standing commitment to her community in numerous leadership and service roles including serving on the Boards for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin and historically, the Foundation for St. Francis and Franklin/Ascension. She has volunteered with Mr. Bob’s Under the Bridge, Habitat for Humanity, The Hunger Task Force, and Feeding Wisconsin and has served in multiple medical mission trips abroad. She previously practiced full spectrum family medicine at an FQHC/Siouxland Community Health Center in Iowa followed by serving as an assistant residency director for the University of Iowa where she specialized in teaching women’s health/obstetrics. She subsequently served as a VPMA for legacy Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare/Ascension before she began her career with UHC.

Doctor White is a semi-retired clinical dermatologist who started his career in the Navy, then Airforce. In the Air Force, he was Medical Director for TRICARE, Region IV, was on the faculty at Wright State University School of Medicine, and commanded the 8th Medical Group in Pusan, Korea. In the Navy, Dr. White served as the solo ship's doctor, deployed aboard USS Trenton to the Mediterranean, as part of the US 6th Fleet. He was dermatology residency program director at Wright State University for six years and Chairman of Dermatology. He transferred to Mayo Clinic in La Crosse and served as Chairman, Dermatology Department Community Practice Division for 10 years. He retired from Mayo at the end of 2020, managed the Covid Vaccination Clinics for La Crosse County in 2021, and has worked as a consultant at Neighborhood Family Clinics in Onalaska since July 2021. Currently, Doctor White works in a small clinic, providing accessible and affordable dermatological care for people of all ages and walks of life, who suffer from skin diseases. He served on the Wisconsin Medical Society Board of Directors for several years and is the Immediate Past President of La Crosse County Medical Society.

Richard A. Dart, MD is an Emeritus Research Clinician at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, a past Wisconsin Medical Society President and a current Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation Board member. He has been actively engaged in the research process to varying degrees throughout his nearly 50-year career as a physician. During special fellowship training in the Research Division of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, he engaged in a study of total body sodium under the tutelage of Harriet P. Dustan, MD. Upon entering clinical practice in the Department of Hypertension and Nephrology at Marshfield Clinic in 1973, he participated in clinical studies as well as collaborative research with basic scientist Duane Tewksbury, PhD, in the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation. Specifically, Dr. Tewksbury and he collaborated on a study exploring high molecular weight angiotensinogen in pregnancy-induced hypertension. Later collaborative work resulted in characterization of the placental location of an angiotensinogen receptor in the human placenta. In addition to this collaborative work, he has also participated in numerous clinical trials, including a phase three trial of Capoten, one of the first oral angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and the Membranous Glomeruonephritis/Nephrotic Syndrome-Prednisone trial. In addition, he has served as site PI for a number of multi-institutional initiatives, including the IgA Nephropathy/Fish Oil trial, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Antihypertensive, Lipid Lowering, Heart Attack Prevention Trial (ALLHAT), and the Focal Sclerosing Glomerulonephritis Genetics Trial. More recently, his efforts have been focused on genetic-based studies, including an investigation of the genetic variation in 25-hydroxyvitamin D 1 alpha hydroxylase (CYP27B1) in congestive heart failure patients with hypertension and additional studies related to the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms and high sensitivity C-reactive protein and other co-variables. Outside the clinical research environment, he has been involved in several educational and bioethical projects serving as a contributing member and co-author for several writing committees.

Doctor Claudia Reardon holds an MD degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where she also completed psychiatry residency training. She is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin and serves as consulting sports psychiatrist for University of Wisconsin collegiate athletes. Dr. Reardon has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation since 2013 (currently Emeritus, previously President from 2016-2021). She has served as Chair of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation Scholarship Committee since 2014. Dr. Reason also has served as Co-Chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Work Group on Mental Health in Elite Athletes and Co-Directs the IOC’s Diploma and Certificate Programs on Mental Health in Elite Sport. She serves on the IOC’s Olympic Refuge Foundation Think Tank. Dr. Reardon also has served on the International Society for Sports Psychiatry (ISSP) Board of Directors since 2010, currently serving as its Education Committee Chair, and on the National Football League’s Comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness Committee. She is Mental Health Consultant to the U.S. Open tennis tournament as well.

Elizabeth Ringle has been with the Foundation since 2013 and Executive Director since May 2022. She has over 30 years of nonprofit experience. Prior to coming to the Foundation, she was at the New Mexico Bar Association as Director of the Lawyers Care Program, a Community Director with United Way of Dane County, was a professional non-profit consultant, Executive Director of Theater Bus, and worked with Madison Metropolitan School District in special education.

Mike Flesher was named CEO of the Wisconsin Medical Society and Wisconsin Medical Society Holdings Corporation starting June 2022. He has served as the Executive Vice President and CEO of the Iowa Medical Society (IMS) since 2017, was Pfizer’s Director of Strategic Medical Alliances and the American Medical Association’s Director of Resident and Fellow Services.

Yoshie joined the Foundation in February 2025. She has previously worked as a Behavior Technician with the Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP). In her time at WEAP, she worked with young children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder to develop school readiness and effective communication skills. Some of her hobbies include crocheting, baking, taking long walks, and exploring new places.

Yessi joined the Foundation in February 2026 and brings over ten years of experience in municipal government, human resources, and public‑facing administrative work. She is certified in open records practices in Wisconsin and Illinois, is a Wisconsin Certified Municipal Clerk, and a Certified Parliamentarian. Outside of work, Yessi enjoys walking with her four‑year‑old Shih Tzu, Milo, and trying new foods.