Brand Newland
CEO and Co-founder
Brand has over 15 years of experience in bringing new healthcare solutions to payers, employers and patients. Brand joined OutcomesMTM, a pharmacy Medication Therapy company, as the firm’s fourth employee. He served OutcomesMTM in business development and operations leadership roles, seeing the company through rapid growth and eventually its acquisition by Cardinal Health in 2015. Brand received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
John Greenwood
COO and Co-founder
John has over a decade of experience in surgery, training and advising on thousands of advanced procedures. He has spent 15 years working with physicians and brings expertise in pain management, surgical techniques and clinical program implementation. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from the University of Iowa.
Kate Emerson
Nurse Navigator
Kate has 15-plus years of nursing experience, including critical and post-anesthesia care as well as senior nurse executive roles. She is focused on developing, enhancing and fostering collaborative, multi-discipline patient care models with a patient and family-centered approach. Kate received the “Patient advocate award recognition” during her time practicing in Arizona. A certified critical care Registered Nurse, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Iowa.
“At the heart of my nursing practice is providing support through the healing processes and advocating for patients and their families as an active member of their health care team.”
Mario Leyba, MD, is a board-certified surgeon who performs a wide variety of surgical procedures, including robotic-assisted and minimally-invasive surgery. Dr. Leyba specializes in complex robotic surgical procedures and has done many of the first robotic procedures in New Mexico. He earned his medical degree from the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine and completed his surgical residency at Good Samaritan Hospital Level 1 Trauma Center in Phoenix.
Bulent Cetindag, MD, FACS, is a board-certified and nationally-recognized surgeon and Vice Chair of Surgery at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dr. Cetindag is a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)Hernia Task Force National Committee. He earned his medical degree from the Ege University School of Medicine in Izmir, Turkey, and completed his surgical residency at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois.
Karen Emery, RN, is a Certified Case Manager with over 30 years of experience with surgical patients. She works extensively in the field of program development with Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Surgical Home Initiatives.
Karen Gagnon, RN, is a Certified Case Manager with over 30 years experience in developing and implementing care management programs in payer, provider, and vendor settings, integrating predictive analytics to optimize clinical and qualitative outcomes. She is a recipient of the CMSA Case Manager of the Year Award and contributed to the initial case management Standards of Practice.
Andrea Powers, RN, has over 30 years of experience in direct patient care nursing, patient engagement programs, patient shared decision making, and patient reported outcomes measures. She has served in senior roles at Silverlink Communication, Lumeris and Health Dialog.
Evan Rakowski is a seasoned entrepreneur with deep subject matter expertise in healthcare. He is Founder & Principal of Radical Spark, a firm focused on developing, launching and partnering with organizations transforming healthcare. Past roles include COO and co-founder of TripleCare, a large telehealth provider, and Director of Operations for Clinically Home.
Elliott Smith has a multi-decade track record of leadership in convening business leaders for the sharing of best practices and policy setting. Elliott served as chief executive for the Iowa Business Council for over a decade.
StartUp Health
In 2019, Goldfinch Health proudly joined StartUp Health’s global network of Health Transformers. For more information on StartUp Health, visit www.startuphealth.com.