• New York Times best-seller author Dr. Lisa Damour, The Ad Council’s Chief Campaign Development Officer Heidi Arthur, and the Institute for Exceptional Care’s co-founder & CEO Dr. Hoangmai (Mai) Pham are the keynote speakers for the premier mental health event
• The three-day event will feature over 80 panel discussions and breakout sessions featuring the brightest minds in behavioral health focused on innovations and policies to advance access to quality care for all

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Behavioral Health Tech, the leading community focused on expanding access to mental health, substance use, and autism/IDD care through technology, health equity, and innovation, today announced its keynote speaker lineup for its annual conference which will take place at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ, from November 5-7, 2024. The keynote lineup includes Dr. Lisa Damour, Heidi Arthur, and Dr. Hoangmai (Mai) Pham. The conference will highlight innovative thinking, models, and solutions that can increase access to and improve the quality of behavioral health care in the U.S.

“We’re incredibly thrilled to have a diverse group of visionary leaders as this year’s keynote speakers,” said Solome Tibebu, founder and CEO, Behavioral Health Tech. “Dr. Damour, Heidi Arthur, and Dr. Pham are spearheading transformational change in behavioral and mental health.

Their keynotes will be packed with unique and insightful perspectives on a wide range of topics, from teen mental health to the care of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. This year’s conference is THE event to attend for anyone who is serious about improving the state of mental healthcare in the U.S. thanks in part to this stacked roster of keynote speakers.”

This year’s highly esteemed keynote speakers are:

• Dr. Lisa Damour, a psychologist and author of three New York bestsellers on teen mental health issues. She has written numerous academic papers, chapters, and books related to education and child development. Dr. Damour serves as the Senior Advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University, is recognized as a thought leader by the American Psychological Association, and works in collaboration with UNICEF. Additionally, Dr. Damour is the co-host of the Ask Lisa podcast and was a consultant to Pixar on the film Inside Out 2.

Dr. Damour graduated with honors from Yale University and worked for the Yale Child Study Center before earning her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Michigan. She has been a fellow at Yale’s Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy and the University of Michigan’s Power Foundation.

• Heidi Arthur, the Ad Council’s Chief Campaign Development Officer. She brings together leading creative agencies, corporate brands, media and technology platforms, and nonprofit and government partners to drive public education, awareness, and action. She has more than 25 years of experience creating change around pressing social issues like diversity and inclusion, minority education, and hunger prevention; she currently leads the Ad Council’s mental health and racial justice efforts. To ensure continued creative innovation and excellence, Heidi also manages the Ad Council’s Creative Review Committees, comprising nearly 30 of the industry’s top agency leaders. The committees meet regularly to review, refine and raise the bar on the Ad Council’s social-good campaigns.

Heidi is a graduate of Union College and has a Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from Harvard Business School. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Baylor College School of Medicine, the steering committee for the National Response to COVID-19 (an initiative of the Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention), and the Board of Directors for AIMM (Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing).

• Hoangmai (Mai) Pham, MD, MPH, the co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Exceptional Care (IEC), a national nonprofit organization that works to improve healthcare for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). The IEC provides financial support and pays for expensive services that many people with IDD are burdened with, including hospitalizations and long-term support. The non-profit organization also trains healthcare professionals to deliver high-quality care confidently. She previously served as Chief Innovation Officer at the CMS Innovation Center, where she was a founding official and architect of foundational programs on accountable care organizations and primary care. Dr. Pham has published extensively on payment policy and its intersection with health disparities, care coordination, quality, provider behavior, and market trends.

She serves on the Boards of Atlantic Health System and the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, and the Board of Advisors for StationMD. Dr. Pham received her AB from Harvard, MD from Temple University, and MPH from Johns Hopkins, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

A portion of proceeds from all Behavioral Health Tech Conference registration fees will be donated to the IEC as this year’s non-profit grantee.

“I’m honored to be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Behavioral Health Tech Conference, an event that has been a true community and source of innovation and inspiration,” said Dr. Pham of the IEC. “I look forward to empowering and educating attendees on how to advance the care delivery for the millions of children and adults with IDD.”

The Behavioral Health Tech Conference launched in 2020 and convened behavioral health thought leaders, innovators, and policymakers virtually. This year’s in-person-only event spans three days. It spotlights over 200 speakers in over 80 panel discussions and sessions led by influential decision-makers from health plans, health systems, employers, benefits consultant groups, and more. The conference is the only public event where attendees can meet nearly all of the nation’s Blue Cross Blue Shield behavioral health leaders.

Learn more about the event, keynote speakers, and panel discussions here.
Register for the in-person-only event here.

About Behavioral Health Tech
Behavioral Health Tech is the leading community solely committed to expanding access to mental health, substance use, and IDD services through technology, health equity and innovation. Our community is made up of patients, health plans, employers, health systems, behavioral health providers, startups, investors, pharma and policymakers to connect for the purposes of advancing access to behavioral healthcare for ALL individuals.

Our commitment to health equity is central in the design of all we do. You’ll see it in our speakers, events, communications and more. By convening stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem – incumbents and new entrants alike – we facilitate the connections necessary for innovating culturally-sensitive, high-quality behavioral health for all.

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SOURCE Behavioral Health Tech