IFHIMA Leadership

Ms. Lorraine Fernandes

Ex-Officio, Marketing and Communication Chair

Lorraine Fernandes is an international and domestic thought leader, accomplished author and respected public speaker on topics related to the role of technology and data in healthcare transformation. Lorraine is co-author of two IFHIMA whitepapers addressing governance and privacy. Lorraine is the recipient of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Lorraine is the recipeint of the 2024 AHIMA Leadership Award, 2013 Pioneer Award and 1998 Discovery Award, and California Health Information Association (CHIA) 2002 Distinguished Member Award.

Ms. Cassandra (Cassie) Rupnik

Regional Director, Western Pacific

Cassie Rupnik is a highly skilled Health Information Manager, lecturer, and consultant specialising in funding, data analytics, privacy, and performance improvement, and she has held major national roles. As HIMAA Vice President and IFHIMA Director Western Pacific, she is committed to strengthening the global HIM workforce through collaboration, education, and innovation.

Mr. Mujeeb Kandy, RHIA, CPHQ

Regional Director, South-East Asia

As IFHIMA Regional Director for South-East Asia, Mr. Kandy leverages extensive HIM leadership to strengthen regional capacity. A founding Vice President and Director of Strategy of IHIIMA, he contributes to IFHIMA’s ETR initiatives and champions data standards, digital transformation, and the thoughtful integration of emerging AI innovations in HIM.

Ms. Mandy Burns, FHRIM, LFEDIP

President Elect

Ms. Mandy Burns, is a Fellow and CEO of IHRIM UK, serves as UK National Director for IFHIMA and as a Director for FEDIP (Federation of Informatics Professionals) in the United Kingdom.

Mandy’s current role is as Head of Patient Services (Digital) in Manchester Foundation Trust. Mandy has over 37yrs experience within National Health Service within Health Informatics and its various components. Mandy has worked in a variety of Health Organisations throughout her career.

Vicki Bennett, CHIM, FAIDH, CHIA

President

Vicki is the Head of the Metadata, Information Management and Classifications Unit at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, where she has held a number of different roles over the past 15 years. She is on the Board of the Health Information Management Association of Australia.

Vicki has a degree in Health Information Management, and a Master’s in Health Informatics, and has had a diverse career both domestically and internationally. She has worked extensively across the Pacific over the past 20 years and has been appointed as an Advisor to the Pacific Health Information Network Board.

She has also lectured at a range of Australian universities and is passionate about ensuring that good health information is used to improve health outcomes for all.

Marci MacDonald, CHIM

Ex-Officio, Membership Chair

Marci is a Health Information Management Professional, whose career has involved working in the provinces of Alberta and Ontario, Canada, – employed in management positions in corrections, community and teaching hospitals. She has served on the Boards of and has worked with many health information management and related groups. Namely the Utilization Managers of Ontario, the Ontario Health Information Management Association, the Board of the Canadian Health Information Management Association, the Council on Education for CHIMA.

Ms. Mercy Kahare

Regional Director, Africa

Ms. Kahare is an accomplished Health Information Management (HIM) professional with over 25 years of progressive leadership in health information governance, digital health transformation, health data governance and standards implementation. She has contributed to capacity building for HIM professionals in Kenya and beyond and is passionate about strengthening the profession through leadership.

Deneice Springer, B.S., M.S., Dip.Ed, RHIA

President

Ms. Springer is a Health Information Management (HIM) educator and consultant. She leads programs at Barbados Community College and the University of the West Indies, advises regional health initiatives, and drives digital transformation across the Caribbean. She is also the co-founder of the Barbados Health Information Management Association. Her research focuses on HIM and information technology education challenges in developing countries.

Guillermo Paluzie, MD, PhD

Regional Director, Europe

Dr Paluzie is the Director of the Master of Medical Documentation (Autonomous University of Barcelona), and member of the Technical Commission on Clinical Documentation of the Department of Health (Autonomous Government of Catalonia).Previously Dr Paluzie Guillermo worked for the Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva (CSMS), Calella (Spain) as CMIO. He is a medical doctor and has a PhD in Public Health.

Sharon Campbell

Regional Director, Western Pacific

Sharon has a broad range of experience in the health, business and education sectors for over 25 years which has provided extensive knowledge and skills to undertake many different roles.  These skills and knowledge include management, quality, risk, clinical classification, Casemix, administrative and hospital management and change management. Sharon has a good working knowledge of health systems and how they function in Australia and internationally, having consulted at an international level.

Sharon currently works within private health insurance and also sessionally lectures at Curtin University into the Masters of Health Administration. Sharon has course coordinated across two universities in the Health Information Management program being Curtin University and La Trobe University.

She has an undergraduate degree in Health Information Management (Curtin University) and a Masters of Management of Health Services (Curtin University) and additionally a Graduate certificate in Health Data Auditing and Integrity (La Trobe University). Sharon is looking to enroll in a PhD in 2023 with the department of Health Economics and Data Analytics (Curtin University). Certified Health Information Management (CHIM) status is also held (HIMAA).

Sharon has contributed to international publications through IFHIMA and other publications within Australia, including consultations at an industry level. Sharon has participated in and run a number of committees, two current ones being the HIMAA Accreditation Council and as Convenor of the Privacy and Security Community of Practice. Sharon also participates in the HIMAA HIM-Interchange Journal Committee. Other activities that Sharon has participated in includes the delivery of industry relevant podcasts through HIMAA. Delivery of presentations has occurred at a number of conferences over the last few years and also authoring of papers.

Sharon has a passion for the Health Information Management industry and mentoring and helping others to achieve good outcomes in their careers.

Hozisah Markam, Dr, M, KM

Regional Director, Southeast Asia

Associate Professor in Health Information Management, Faculty of Health Science, Universitas Esa Unggul, Indonesia.

Hosizah is the Head of HIM Study Program Faculty of Health Science Universitas Esa Unggul Indonesia. She was one of the founders and the first chairman of Indonesian Higher Education for Health Information Management Association (APTIRMIKI) in 2011-2016. Previously, she was also on the board of The Indonesian Professional on Medical Records and Health Information Association (PORMIKI) in 1999-2011 and has participated in developing policy and curriculum for HIM education in Indonesia.

Hosizah has a baccalaureate degree in HIM, a master degree in public health major in Health Informatics, and a doctorate degree in Health Science, major in Health Information. She was recipient of AHIMA Foundation “The Jimmy Gamble Endowed Student Merit Scholarship” in 2014.

Currently, she is the Advisor Board of APTIRMIKI and a Team Assessor of the Indonesian Accreditation Agency for Higher Education in Health (IAAHEH). She has been invited as speaker in some seminars and also is a reviewer for several journals and research proposal at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research and Technology RI. Her research covered a range of topics, including the development, testing and publication regarding Electronic Integrated Antenatal Care (e-iANC), digital health, public policy implications of computing systems and information governance.

Ms. Lynette Czarkowski, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA

Regional Director, the Americas, and Treasurer

Ms. Czarkowski is IFHIMA’s National Director representing AHIMA and serves on the IFHIMA Board as Regional Director of the Americas and as the IFHIMA Treasurer.

Her career highlights include executive level positions in consulting, association management, product development, and HIM leadership.She holds a Master’s Degree in Information Systems from the George Washington University and a B.S. in HIM from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ahmed Alhatlan

Regional Director, Eastern Mediterranean

Ahmed is an experienced expert in HIM, digital health and health data governance, with over 20 years of work across government, private, and non-profit sectors. He is Vice President of SHIMA. His focus is promoting interoperable, ethical, and secure health data systems while managing complex PEARLS considerations. Ahmed has participated in global policy discussions, authored academic publications, and helped develop regional digital health strategies.