Name: 

Jackie Sifuentes, MBA

Board Role:

President

Professional Title:

Manager, Patient Capacity - Ambulatory Services

Organization:

Children's Health - Dallas, Texas

Bio:

Jackie Sifuentes serves as Manager of Patient Capacity in Ambulatory Services at Children’s Health in Dallas, Texas. She works with ambulatory department leadership and frontline service representatives to improve and streamline patient appointment request scheduling, provider appointment utilization, patient experience, and increase patient access to ambulatory care.

Jackie is a graduate of the UT Southwestern Aspiring Leaders program, is EPIC Cadence and Lean Six Sigma certified. She earned her master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from Texas Woman’s University in Dallas, Texas and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Southern Methodist University also in Dallas, Texas.

Prior to joining Children’s Health, Mrs. Sifuentes was with UT Southwestern for over nine years and has an array of experience in the laboratory, clinical and business administrative setting. She started out exploring her Chemistry degree from SMU in a lab setting in the Touchstone Diabetes Lab. Later, she felt the need to build on her people skills which lead to becoming a Clinical Staff Assistant in the Internal Medicine Subspecialty Clinic. With that experience she then transitioned to the Central Registration role verifying insurance for outpatient clinics & learning more about managed care. Her Aspiring Leaders project led her to discover process improvement & project management skills within EPIC which she then further developed in her role as a scheduling capacity analyst II. She aims to leverage this experience in the ambulatory access strategy & capacity team growth as these two organization's partner through the Joint Pediatric Enterprise.

Outside of work, she pours into the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives (NALHE) DFW Chapter by serving as President, has served as president-elect, and spearheaded the founding of the National La Mesa Emerging Leaders mentorship program. She also serves on the Hispanic Alumni of SMU board. As a leader of several organizations, Ms. Sifuentes's hope is to inspire other Latinos to pursue health care leadership positions to help provide access and representation in underserved communities.

Originally born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas, nothing fills Jackie more than watching a West Texas sunrise.

Name: 

Imma Lugtu, MHA, MBA, LSSGB

Board Role:

President-Elect

Professional Title:

Project Coordinator of Performance Improvement, Clinical Effectiveness & Patient Safety

Organization:

Methodist Health System

Bio:

Imma Lugtu serves as a Project Coordinator of Performance Improvement within the Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety team for Methodist Health System. She collaborates with leaders to advance clinical and operational performance, and also serves as the Mayo Clinic Consult Coordinator where she handles the provider-to-provider consult order that ultimately results in high quality care for the system's patients.

Her NALHE journey started as one of the members of the first cohort of La Mesa Emerging Leaders program that eventually led to her involvement in the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter as the 2022 co-chairs of two committees - education and marketing. At the start of her co-chair roles, she was the editor-in-chief for two NALHE magazines - La Mesa and the DFW second annual magazine. NALHE's La Mesa magazine was created to showcase the first cohort experience and journey after the 6-month long mentorship program while the chapter's second annual magazine showcased its culture and mission in providing health equity, diversity, and inclusion in the DFW community. Further, as the education co-chair, she has facilitated one of the chapter's most successful events: Health Disparities Among Latino Communities of DFW. Meanwhile, as the marketing co-chair, she was responsible for the promotion of events and social media engagement.

In addition to her involvement in NALHE, Imma is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and its North Texas' chapter of the Asian Healthcare Leaders Community - in which she facilitated its inaugural event: Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling to tell the stories of many Asians breaking barriers in the healthcare community. Moreover, she is an active member for the National Association of Health Service Executives (NAHSE) DFW chapter's student relations committee.

Imma graduated with her Master of Healthcare Administration and Master of Business Administration from Texas Woman's University. She received her Bachelors in Healthcare Management from the University of Texas at Dallas, and she currently holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification. She has worked in a variety of healthcare settings - from credentialing to clinics.

Imma has a passion to help others, and her interests include discussions in policy, law, and healthcare improvement. She’s inspired to help people have a voice & stand up for what is right, ensure that everyone is fairly represented, and create a safe space to let everyone around her share their ideas and concerns. In her free time, she likes to try new things (whether that's food from different cultures or going for a new hobby), traveling, running, exercise, visiting art and history museums, and karaoke. Besides all of her extracurricular activities, her world revolves around her family and friends.

 

Name: 

Nick Prince

Board Role:

Secretary

Professional Title:

Physician Recruitment Manager

Organization:

CHRISTUS Health

Bio:

Nick Prince is a DFW native who graduated from Texas State University. Nick has been in Talent Acquisition for nearly six years and is currently a Physician Recruitment Manager at CHRISTUS Health.

He has experience recruiting in both environments of the trade, 3rd Party Agency & Corporate. No matter the setting, Nick has placed healthcare professionals in a wide variety of positions, from Entry-Level to Executive Leadership. In addition to recruiting, he routinely leads trainings/seminars on best practices for interviewing from both the hiring manager and candidate perspective. The full-rounded experience has allowed him to be instrumental in building new recruitment teams for his current organization and has even allowed him to provide consultation services outside his organization.

Of all things he has ever experienced in his short career - the number one thing that brings him the most joy is whenever he can help grow another professional. Nick joins NALHE with this same passion and eagerness to help grow our members by assisting them in conquering any hiring obstacles that may come their way.

Name: 

Alejandro Patino, MHA, LSSYB

Board Role:

Treasurer

Professional Title:

Administrative Fellow

Organization:

JPS Health Network

Bio:

Alejandro Patino is an Administrative Fellow for JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas. He works with executive leadership across the organization to advance access to care for the health network.

Although he was born in Monteria, Colombia, Alejandro was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Alejandro has a variety of past experiences at other healthcare organizations including CHI, University of Iowa Healthcare, SmartScripts, and CyncHealth. He has served as a Data Science Intern, Student Consultant, and Administrative Intern in various departments. These diverse opportunities have allowed him to develop professionally, ask challenging questions, and advance the delivery of care.

Alejandro earned his Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa and a BS in Health Administration from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He will be completing his Administrative Fellowship at JPS Health Network in May, 2023.

He is driven to advance Latino health equity and drive innovative thinking. Alejandro is eager to give back to the Latino community in the DFW area and across the nation. His interests lie in access to care, DEI, and care transformation. Most recently, he attended the NALHE Conference in Milwaukee and connected with others who are transforming healthcare across the country. The conference inspired him to further involve himself in NALHE and apply for the upcoming La Mesa cohort. As a board member, he aims to advance NALHE, refine his leadership skills, and give back to the Latino community.

In his free time, Alejandro enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, paddle-boarding, and off-roading. When he is not enjoying outdoors you can likely find him watching a movie.

 

 

Name: 

George B. Avila, MURP, MAHCM

Board Role:

Immediate Past-President

Professional Title:

System Vice President Mission Integration

Organization:

CHRISTUS Health

Bio:

George Avila is the System Vice President of Mission Integration for CHRISTUS Health, Irving Texas.  In his system leadership role, George is responsible for the strategic implementation and evaluation of programs and initiatives designed to advance and integrate the CHRISTUS Health Mission, Core Values and identity throughout its healthcare operations in the United States, Mexico, Chile and Colombia.  George has served at CHRISTUS Health since 2016.

Prior to joining CHRISTUS Health, George served in both acute care and system level leadership within St. Joseph Health, Irvine California.  During his 16-year tenure, George helped to increase access to care for the poor and vulnerable throughout California and Texas and led system-wide initiatives to strengthen organizational identity throughout the organization. George also worked at the grassroots level with Latino Heath Access, Santa Ana California, to mobilize community residents and key stakeholders to improve the overall health of their community through active participation.

George has a Master’s degree in Health Care Mission from the Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Community Health Planning from the University of California, Irvine.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish with an emphasis on bilingual education at the University of California, Irvine.

Name: 

Chris Burciaga

Board Role:

Advisor

Professional Title:

President - Healthcare (Capital Group)

Organization:

HHS, LLC

Bio:

Chris Burciaga joined HHS in 2018 and currently serves as President of Environmental Services, Capital Division, in HHS’ healthcare division. His extensive operational experience and knowledge about HHS’ systems enable him to provide remarkable leadership that results in exceptional outcomes.

Prior to joining HHS, Burciaga held healthcare positions such as chief operating officer, director of hospital operations, director of wound care, and adjunct faculty. He also served in the United States Army as a medical service corps officer in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Burciaga earned his Bachelor of Arts in Pre Law and Military Science from University of Texas at El Paso, his Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University, and his Master of Science in Healthcare Management from Touro University California.

Name: 

Lorie Thibodeaux, MHA, ITILv3, HACP, CPHQ

Board Role:

Founder & Advisor

Professional Title:

Senior, Performance Improvement Manager (System Level)

Organization:

Parkland Hospital

Bio:

Lorie Thibodeaux, MHA, ITILv3, HACP, CPHQ is a Quality Improvement Leader who has demonstrated extensive experience in healthcare quality, research, process improvement, and program development. She has shown exceptional leadership in various healthcare settings and management of high complex projects. She joined Parkland during the Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) and led enterprise-wide projects, executive project meetings with board of managers, leadership, department heads, physicians, providers, and other clinicians to discuss strategic goals, and work on process improvements and successfully closed the CIA.  Building a safety culture and teamwork in high-risk environments is no easy task.  During this time, Lorie was instrumental on critical projects to the success and sustainability required through the journey towards building trust, eliminating fear, and examining close calls, unsafe conditions, and examining errors.  An example of projects that received high recognition includes the enterprise-wide mislabeled specimen project: She worked to construct an outstanding turnaround plan to decrease labeling errors by more than 50%.  As a Performance Improvement Manager, Lorie shows strong motivation and leadership to help drive our organization into being a safer place.

In the fall of 2018, Parkland received the Triennial Hospital Accreditation from the Joint Commission.

Lorie holds an MHA from University of Missouri-Columbia and hold certifications in Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Health Accreditation Certification Program and Certified in Professional Health Quality.

In Lorie’s free time she enjoys making an impact to the Dallas community. She works actively with several charity organizations including the Young Texans against Cancer (YTAC) and serves as the Sponsorship Committee for the Junior Conservancy, Vice President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, volunteer, and mentors others in her free time.  She is also an active member of ACHE (on Diversity and WHEN committee), NAHSE, and founding member the local DFW chapter of NALHE and serves as President.   In addition to the committee and active roles that she plays in developing the Dallas and Parkland Community, she has developed an Employee Resource Group for Women at Parkland Health & Hospital System.