MPLI Speaker Bios

 

Brian K. Atchinson

Brian K. Atchinson is president and CEO of the MPL Association, the national association representing those members of the medical professional liability community who share a commitment to the quality delivery of healthcare and practice of medicine. MPL Association members insure two-thirds of America's practicing physicians and dentists, more than 2,000 hospitals and many of the nation's nurses and other allied health professionals.

Prior to joining MPL Association, Mr. Atchinson served in various leadership roles in industry and state government, including Maine Superintendent of Insurance and president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In Maine, he also served as legal counsel for Susan Collins, Commissioner of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.

Mr. Atchinson has authored numerous articles, testified before Congress and served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences-Institute of Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Milbank Memorial Fund, and the International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics. Earlier in his career, he worked in Europe where he was involved with the development of global marketing campaigns for the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, and the Commissioner's Office of Major League Baseball. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Syracuse University Law School.


Beth Atwell

Beth Atwell, JD, is vice president of Claims Operations for Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland. She has a BA in economics from Randolph College and a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law. Ms. Atwell manages claims professionals handling medical and dental liability claims in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Ms. Atwell began her career with Medical Mutual more than 25 years ago as a claim representative in the Washington, D.C.-area office.


Marian Dwyer

Marian Dwyer, RN, CPHRM is senior director of Patient Safety and Loss Prevention at MCIC. She is responsible for providing leadership, vision, and oversight for risk reduction and patient safety programs for MCIC hospitals and physicians. Ms. Dwyer is a certified healthcare risk manager and for the past 15 years has been primarily leading the implementation and advancement of patient safety initiatives at MCIC's insured academic medical centers, hospitals, and for large physician practices.

Prior to joining MCIC, she worked in a similar capacity with the Harvard Hospital Risk Management Foundation and with Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company. Before transitioning to the professional liability insurance industry, Ms. Dwyer enjoyed a successful career as a nursing and quality leader in both hospital and ambulatory settings. She is a registered nurse and earned her graduate degree from Columbia University in New York.


Susan J. Forray

Susan J. Forray, FCAS, MAAA is a principal and consulting actuary with the Milwaukee office of Milliman. Ms. Forray's area of expertise is property and casualty insurance, particularly ratemaking, loss reserving, and financial planning. She has extensive experience in commercial lines of business, especially medical professional liability. She is currently the chair of the Medical Professional Liability Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries.


Kristin L. Kenny

Kristin L. Kenny has been employed with Physicians Insurance since 1994. She is responsible for finance department leadership and management. She focuses on accounting, reporting, internal control, audits, tax, and budgeting. In addition, she focuses on the development and implementation of strategies that strengthen the company's long-established position as the premier choice for medical professional liability insurance in the Northwest. She is actively involved in industry associations such as the Medical Professional Liability Association and serves on the board of the Washington Physicians Health Program. She earned a CPA designation in 1994 and a BBA degree at Gonzaga University. ratemaking, loss reserving, and financial planning. She has extensive experience in commercial lines of business, especially medical professional liability. She is currently the chair of the Medical Professional Liability Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries.


Blake McLendon

Blake McLendon, RPLU is the director of Underwriting in the Northeast Region for The Doctors Company. Mr. McLendon joined The Doctors Company in 2003 as an underwriting technician and was soon promoted to underwriter with a strong focus in small physician practices seeking medical professional liability insurance. He later expanded his book of business to include large physician groups and eventually assumed a management role. Mr. McLendon currently dedicates his time to staff development, revenue management, and strategic planning. Mr. McLendon received his Bachelor's in business administration from Michigan State University and has earned his Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) designation.


Paul C. McNabb, II

Paul C. McNabb, II, MD graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and received his medical training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. After becoming boarded in both IM and ID, he served on the staff of The Mayo Clinic in the ambulatory and inpatient setting and teaching students and residents at Mayo School of Medicine. He then decided to return home to Tennessee where he has taught and practiced medicine in Nashville for 35 years. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UTHSC. Dr. McNabb has broad clinical interests, maintains a life-long interest in patient safety, practices medicine full-time, and is repeatedly listed in the Best Doctors in America data base. Dr. McNabb is the retired Chair at State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company. He has been one of the most active members of the MPL Association Board of Directors, having chaired the strategic planning committee, membership and bylaws committee, nominating committee, and having served as vice chair of the Board. He is the recipient of the 2018 Medical Professional Liability Association's Award of Excellence in Honor of Peter Sweetland.


Alison Milford

Alison Milford, ACAS, MAAA has more than 30 years of actuarial consulting experience, including almost 25 years of experience focused primarily on medical professional liability issues.

Ms. Milford provides actuarial services to a number of medical professional liability specialty insurers, self-insured hospitals and hospital groups, as well as captive insurers. In addition to standard ratemaking and reserving assignments, Ms. Milford has assisted clients with captive feasibility studies, allocation of funding among group members, analysis of classification relativities, and development of rating programs. She specializes in exposures faced by healthcare systems and their management such as physicians and surgeons professional liability, hospital professional liability, and other liability

Ms. Milford speaks on medical professional liability issues at industry and professional association meetings and seminars. She has also authored several articles on the subject

Ms. Milford holds a bachelor's degree in statistics with a minor in computer science from the University of Central Florida. She is an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA).


Brianna Nordaune

Brianna Nordaune, CPCU, ARe joined Lockton Re in March 2020 to assist in building out its North American broking team. Throughout her reinsurance career, Ms. Nordaune has focused on the production and placement of comprehensive reinsurance programs with a strong emphasis on being a trusted advisor to her clients. While she has extensive experience in all lines of property and casualty business, she has more recently specialized in the medical professional liability marketplace, including speaking engagements at a number of industry conferences and client forums.

Starting in 2005 with Guy Carpenter, Ms. Nordaune has held various broking positions in the industry, servicing a wide variety of accounts. After two years as a financial representative with the Principal Financial Group, she joined StoneHill Reinsurance Partners, a reinsurance intermediary primarily dedicated to professional liability.

She earned her Bachelor's degree in financial management from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also holds her CPCU and ARe professional designations.


P. Divya Parikh

P. Divya Parikh is vice president of research & education for the Medical Professional Liability Association (MPL Association), the national association representing those members of the medical professional liability community who share a commitment to the quality delivery of healthcare and practice of medicine. She joined the MPL Association (formerly PIAA) in August 2007 and provides leadership, management, and strategic direction to the Association in accordance with its mission and vision. As part of her role, Ms. Parikh leads the Association's efforts to maintain the Data Sharing Project (DSP), which is now the world’s largest independent ongoing MPL research database providing a rich resource for the investigation of the underlying causes pertaining to MPL claims. She has published numerous articles and presented topics discussing MPL claims trends in medical journals as well as industry-related publications.

Ms. Parikh came to the MPL Association with experience in the research and health fields, having served as the as clinical research coordinator at the National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and intramural training director at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She holds a Master of Public Health Degree from Johns Hopkins University and earned double Bachelor of Science degrees in zoology and psychology from the University of Maryland.


E. Dow Walker, Jr.

E. Dow Walker, Jr, CPCU, ARM, ARe joined Pro Assurance in October 2010 as program executive of the Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance. Prior to Joining Pro Assurance, Mr. Walker was practice leader for the Willis Re Healthcare Group and specialized in reinsurance for provider-owned primary insurance companies which offer both physician and hospital coverage.

Mr. Walker joined Willis in 1989 as a vice president with the National Account Services Division specializing in retail and reinsurance healthcare accounts. From 1994 until 2005, he served as chairman of both the retail and reinsurance healthcare practice groups. At Willis, Mr. Walker worked extensively in the London and domestic insurance and reinsurance markets primarily on behalf of captives and healthcare mutual insurance companies.

Prior to joining Willis, Mr. Walker spent 15 years as chief operating officer of a medical professional mutual insurance company. During that time, Mr. Walker specialized in physician and hospital professional liability underwriting and served as director of a statewide health plan.

Mr. Walker received his Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Alabama and his Master of Business Administration from Samford University. Mr. Walker also earned his Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Associate in Risk Management, and Associate in Reinsurance designations.

 

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