Rebuilding Beyond COVID-19

Steven Collens is the CEO of MATTER, a healthcare technology incubator and innovation center. MATTER opened in February 2015 and nurtures entrepreneurs and innovators building next-generation health IT, medical device, diagnostic, and biopharma technologies. MATTER works with more than 200 healthcare technology ventures and partners with dozens of industry-leading companies, health systems, and universities. Steven is also senior advisor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital.

Prior to assuming his current role, Steven was senior vice president at Pritzker Group, the investment firm led by Tony and J.B. Pritzker. In that capacity, he led the team that created 1871, Chicago’s center for digital startups that now houses more than 400 early-stage companies. He previously worked at Abbott in a variety of domestic and international functions, including product management, policy, and public affairs. In 2005, Steven helped found ConstantWellness.com to give patients control over their health data and allow health providers to coordinate care of their patients. Prior to Abbott, Steven served as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun.

Steven holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. He serves on the boards of 1871, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the Chicago High School for the Arts and is a member of ChicagoNEXT, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s council on technology and innovation. He is also a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Carlos Urrea, MD, MPH, is the Vice President of Medical Affairs & Informatics at Hillrom, a leading global medical device and technology company based in Chicago. Hillrom employs more than 10,000 people worldwide who work toward connecting people to better care inside and outside the hospital. In his current role, Carlos provides clinical expertise, generates evidence of clinical outcomes across care categories, and provides guidance in product development and pipeline strategy.

Prior to Hillrom, Carlos was the director of patient safety at the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. He also served as the co-chair of the network’s Patient Safety and Anticoagulation committees as well as chair of the Hand Hygiene Task Force.

Carlos earned his medical degree from the National University of Colombia as well as an MPH in Patient Safety, Quality, and Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University and an MHSA in Healthcare Management from Barry University.

Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, is a tenured professor of Public Health Sciences and founding dean for the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health at Loyola University Chicago. Trained in epidemiology and board-certified in public health, her health services research and educational interest focuses on accelerating the translation of health innovation into practice. Her 15-year tenure in Proctor & Gamble's healthcare research and development division launching new drugs and indications informs her implementation science research and practice. 

Elaine continues to be active in the NIH Clinical & Translational Sciences Award program where she is the Loyola affiliate PI in the University of Chicago-Rush Institute for Translational Medicine. She is also contributing to the national expansion of the Innovation-Corps (I-Corps™) training program for clinical and translational scientists seeking scalable and sustainable business models for increasing societal impacct of their innovation and discovery. 

She has advised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on issues of drug safety and the dissemination and implementation of pharmaceutical risk management in over 50 advisory committee meetings and expert panels. Elaine is currently a collaborating scientist with the FDA's Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology in the Division of Risk Management.