Dr. Jessica Whitfield

Program Director

Jessica Whitfield, MD, MPH, has served as the Director of Education for the Virtual Care Implementation ECHO since its launch in 2021. In this role, she tailors the speaker schedule in response to audience feedback to bring the VCI community up to date information on telehealth models, implementation strategies and new directions. She brings to this role several years of experience as a practicing psychiatrist using telehealth across a variety of settings, from outpatient specialty health to integrated primary care. She also has expertise in implementation science, having graduated from the Integrated Care Training Program Fellowship at the University of Washington, and currently serves as a Psychiatric Consultant coach at the Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center. She is an Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and received her medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and her Master of Public Health from Columbia University. She completed her residency in General Adult Psychiatry at Brown University.

Dr. Justin Iwasaki

Program Coordinator, Program Director

Dr. Justin Iwasaki, MD, MPH, serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Tribal Health Connections. He has worked in multiple communities around the world developing innovative solutions to complex health problems. Dr. Iwasaki worked for the Lummi Nation for eight years in multiple executive level roles, and as a primary care physician, leading the Lummi health programs through significant organizational change. He completed a family medicine residency at the University of Washington with concentrations in bioinformatics and global health, where he continues to hold a clinical faculty position. Prior to that he graduated from the University of Utah’s combined MD/MPH program, where he was involved in the start-up and impact investing community. He has designed and led projects with funding from the CDC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation among others. His work in international development and, most recently, the opioid epidemic has been developed into case studies by Harvard Business School and the Stanford Design School (d.school) respectively. 

Dr. George ‘Bud’ Vana

Faculty

George ‘Bud’ Vana, MD, is a general pediatrician, adult psychiatrist, and child psychiatrist practicing at the Lummi Tribal Health Center in Bellingham, Washington. He and his psychiatric team are integrated into the medical clinic, substance use disorder treatment program, pediatrics department, school-based health clinic and behavioral health department. Bud is a graduate of Harvard University, and he completed medical school at the University of Vermont and his residency training at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He has worked to develop a telehealth infrastructure at the Lummi Tribal Health Center, as well as a child psychiatry consultation service for other tribal health clinics. His other professional interests include family-based psychiatry, acceptance and commitment therapy, treatment of co-occurring disorders, treatment of developmental disabilities, and integrated medical and behavioral healthcare. Outside of work Bud enjoys canoeing, hiking, and curling with his family.

Dr. Angad Singh

Angad Singh, MD, is a clinical assistant professor, practicing family physician, and informatics leader at the University of Washington. He has expertise in electronic health records, telehealth, digital health tools, and health equity. In 2020, he was part of the team that rapidly implemented telemedicine at UW Medicine in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also the creator of The Telehealth Toolkit and volunteered with the Washington Healthcare Access Alliance to help free & charitable clinics across the state of Washington implement telehealth. Outside of his professional work, Angad established the Punjabi Health Board and serves as a mentor for underrepresented students in medicine.