Advanced ICU Care Leadership Team

Advanced ICU Care is committed to improving access to critical care expertise and delivering best practices to hospital ICU patients. The company has attracted respected leaders in the healthcare industry ― including experienced critical care physicians, nurse practitioners and seasoned critical care nurses, as well as healthcare managers and information technology specialists ― to bring critical care expertise to hospitals, improving patient and financial outcomes. Please read on to find out more about our founding partners, medical leadership and operational leadership.

Mary Jo Gorman, M.D., MBA - Chief Executive Officer

Throughout Dr. Gorman's career, she has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to transforming healthcare and improving the delivery of patient care and safety. Dr. Gorman has more than 20 years experience in solving patient care, management and efficiency issues in hospitals, and brings extensive expertise as both a practicing hospitalist and intensivist.

Dr. Gorman co-founded Advanced ICU Care to transform care in the ICU by bringing scarce medical expertise and a quality improvement program to hospital ICUs across the United States via telemedicine. Dr. Gorman's work in optimizing care in the ICU began at the bedside at DePaul Health Center in St. Louis. From there, she founded Critical Care Services in 1991 to provide hospital-based intensivist services to St. Louis area hospitals. A strong advocate for hospital patients, Dr. Gorman also led the hospitalist movement in St. Louis by founding Inpatient Care Group in 1996, the area's first hospitalist practice. The company later merged with IPC-The Hospitalist Company where Dr. Gorman helped grow IPC into one of the leading hospitalist service providers.

Dr. Gorman is a distinguished healthcare professional, recognized nationally as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine. A popular speaker at industry conferences, Dr. Gorman serves as a leading voice on improving healthcare for hospital patients as well as improving efficiencies and management. She is the past president of the Society of Hospital Medicine and is a member of the American College of Physician Executives, the Society of Hospital Medicine and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. She obtained board certifications in Critical Care Medicine and Internal Medicine.

Toby Thomas - President

With over 20 years finance, development and operations experience in the healthcare and technology sectors, Mr. Thomas is responsible for Advanced ICU Care's sales and marketing, finance, human resources, and development, in addition to overall strategic direction and operations support.

He was previously a member of Advanced ICU Care's board of directors and served as chief executive officer of Autism Spectrum Therapies, a provider of comprehensive services for individuals with autism. Before his work at Autism Spectrum Therapies, Mr. Thomas was chief financial officer for Cogent Healthcare, Inc., a leading provider of inpatient management services with operations in 17 states. Earlier in his career, he served as vice president of finance for Vivra Specialty Partners, a private healthcare company and held business planning and product development roles at AST Research, Inc, a fortune 500 computer manufacturing company.

Mr. Thomas began his career at Ernst & Young. Mr. Thomas graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Andrea Clegg, MBA - Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Clegg has more than 20 years of financial experience with extensive work in successfully managing rapid corporate growth. As chief financial officer, Ms. Clegg will lead all aspects of financial management for Advanced ICU Care. Most recently, Ms. Clegg spent eight years as vice president of finance and corporate treasurer for NightHawk Radiology Services. At NightHawk, she played a key role in negotiating and integrating four acquisitions totaling $151 million and was integral to the company's $116 million initial public offering.

Ms. Clegg holds a master's degree in business administration from Loyola Marymount University and bachelor's degrees in economics and geography from the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Isabelle C. Kopec, M.D., FACP, FCCP - Vice President of Medical Affairs

Dr. Kopec has had a long career managing physician performance and quality in hospital ICUs. As a practicing intensivist and co-founder of Advanced ICU Care, she is a respected leader in critical care medicine and a true healthcare innovator.

In addition to her role at Advanced ICU Care, Dr. Kopec is chair of the department of Critical Care Medicine and past president of the medical staff at SSM - DePaul Health Center in St. Louis, MO. She has led a number of quality improvement initiatives and cost-savings projects in the ICU setting that have led to award-winning performance at her facility. Under her leadership, DePaul has received SSM Healthcare's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and a five-star rating two years running from Health Grades for cardiac surgery outcomes. Dr. Kopec helped implement DePaul's Medical Emergency Team to improve patient outcomes and lower mortality rates, and she chaired the Institutional Review Board committee, implemented to review clinical studies and ensure patient safety.

Dr. Kopec has been asked to speak on the patient safety and quality outcomes of the tele-ICU program at various national venues, including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 2009 National Forum. She has also been recognized for her contributions to healthcare and was selected as one of St. Louis' "Healthcare Heros" in 2006. She is a member of the American College of Physician Executives and Mid-America Transplant Service's physician advisory board. Dr. Kopec is board certified in Critical Care Medicine and Internal Medicine.

Brad Green - Vice President of Sales

Mr. Green oversees all sales activities for Advanced ICU Care. With his 20-plus years of sales and management experience within the healthcare services marketplace, Mr. Green brings a rich history of success in leading high-functioning sales teams.

Mr. Green comes to Advanced ICU Care from The Broadlane Group, a supply chain and cost-management company which served acute and non-acute healthcare clients. Prior to this, Green spent more than 12 years in progressive sales and sales leadership positions with GE Healthcare. Other career highlights include director of outsourcing services for VHA, Inc.

Mr. Green holds an MBA from Houston Baptist University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas A&M University. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. He is also Six Sigma certified.

Gian Cavallini, MBA - Vice President - Strategy and Development

Mr. Cavallini oversees the development and execution of Advanced ICU Care's medical staffing growth strategy, and will lead the implementation of various initiatives to position the company for continued growth. Mr. Cavallini comes to Advanced ICU Care after serving as president and owner of Foot Healers Holdings, a leading multi-office podiatry practice management company serving the metropolitan St. Louis region, where he oversaw corporate strategy, finance and expansion initiatives. Prior to this role, Cavallini served as director with the Health Care Investment Banking group of A.G. Edwards & Sons, where his clients included medical device, biotech and health care services companies. Cavallini also worked with A.G. Edwards Capital, Inc., the firm's private equity investing group.

He received his masters of business administration from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a bachelors of science degree in finance from the Olin Business School at Washington University.

Gary Anderson, MHA, RN, FACHE - Vice President of Operations

Mr. Anderson has extensive experience in managing complex health care projects ranging from hospitalist services to neuroscience and orthopedic services. Mr. Anderson serves as a project manager on program implementation, along with hospital and VISICU project managers. Most recently, he was vice president of hospitalist practice operations for Inpatient Management, Inc., a private hospitalist company. Before that, Anderson served as interim chief nursing executive and director of neurosciences, orthopedic and rehabilitation services for St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis. Other career highlights include executive director of the Sutter East Bay Neuroscience Center and director of patient care and program director for neuroscience at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Anderson holds a master's of health administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia; a bachelor's degree in nursing from Webster University in St. Louis; and a nursing diploma from St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. He is a registered nurse in Missouri and a Board Certified Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Sandi Aubuchon, BSN, RN - Director of Operations

With more than 30 years experience in the healthcare industry and a strong background in critical care, Ms. Aubuchon is an experienced leader. At Advanced ICU Care, Ms. Aubuchon serves on the program implementation team as the clinical lead, working closely with the hospital's clinical leaders. Previously, Aubuchon held leadership and clinical research positions at Stereotaxis, Inc., a St. Louis company providing magnetic navigation technology to hospitals. Ms. Aubuchon has nearly 20 years nursing experience in intensive care and cardiac rehabilitation as a manager, clinical specialist and staff nurse. She also spent 10 years in cardiology research, having developed and led cardiology clinical research organizations for both St. Louis University School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine.

Aubuchon holds a bachelor's degree in nursing from St. Louis University and a nursing diploma from DePaul Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis. She is a registered nurse in Missouri.

Stephen Gebhart, MHA, CMPE, MBA
Director, Advanced ICU Care Medical Group

Mr. Gebhart brings extensive medical practice management and human resources experience to his role as practice director for the Advanced ICU Care Medical Group, the physician group of Advanced ICU Care which provides ICU patient management to hospitals both locally through our bedside intensivist staffing program and nationwide through the use of cutting-edge telemedicine technology. Prior to joining Advanced ICU Care, Mr. Gebhart led the Planning and Business Development department for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He also has experience from Missouri Baptist Medical Center; Metro Heart Group of Saint Louis, Inc.; and Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Mr. Gebhart received his master's of business administration from Webster University in St. Louis, as well as a master's of health administration and a bachelor's of science-health information management from Saint Louis University. He is a board certified medical practice executive in the American College of Medical Practice Executives.

Medical Leadership

Francis Ntimba, M.D., FCCP - Associate Medical Director

Dr. Ntimba leads the physician team at Advanced ICU Care, along with Isabelle Kopec, M.D., and is a practicing intensivist. He also serves as the hospital physician lead throughout the Advanced ICU Care program implementation process, working closely with hospitals' physician and management teams.

Dr. Ntimba is an experienced physician educator and served as an instructor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Before joining Advanced ICU Care, Dr. Ntimba worked as an attending in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Beth Israel Medicine Center. He is a member of the American College of Physician Executives, the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American College of Chest Physicians.

Dr. Ntimba completed his internal medicine residency at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in 1997 and his critical care medicine fellowship at Beth Israel Medicine Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York in 2000. He received his medical degree from Makerere University Medical School in Kampala, Uganda in 1991. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Our Founding Partners

Advanced ICU Care was founded by Mary Jo Gorman, M.D.; Isabelle Kopec, M.D.; and David Schopp.

David N. Schopp, MHA

Mr. Schopp holds more than 30 years of experience working with physicians, hospitals, multi-hospital systems and insurers. Before joining with Dr. Gorman and Dr. Kopec in founding Advanced ICU Care, he served in executive roles with Ascension Health, one of the largest multi-hospital systems in the country.

He has conducted extensive healthcare consulting on performance improvement, revenue enhancement, management and board development and education, and new business initiatives. Mr. Schopp also led the national development and acquisition program, which included managing multiple start-up businesses, of a Fortune 500 health care company.

Mr. Schopp brings expertise in shaping and directing corporate strategy as well as financial and operations support, and he has been a strong driver of Advanced ICU Care's strategic vision and growth. Mr. Schopp is a respected leader in the healthcare industry and currently holds memberships in the American Telemedicine Association and the Board of Vincentian Service Corps.