any info about the team?
Hello BitPotus,
Hope you are well. Thank you for the question.
We have included a very detailed section around the team, which I have included here, for your convenience. We are proud to say that we have a very seasoned team including an advisory board that is well-renowned with numerous global awards. For example, Dr. Jeffrey Pfeifer is the 2017 Recipient of the Global Corrections Research Award and Mr. Philip Fasano was inducted in 2017 into the CIO Hall of Fame, which only includes 100 CIOs from around the world.
Additional detail are provided here below:
Dr. Raji WahidyFounder & CEO
Dr. Raji Wahidy has over 15 years of experience along with a proven record of achievement and excellence with the world’s most renowned organizations (Vodafone and Ericsson).
Visionary with a strong business acumen resulting in driving global initiatives, strategic business plans, global transformation programs, standardized operations, customer satisfaction, revenue generation, and cost cutting.
In October 2009, he launched his first venture; Amalana, a one-stop shop platform delivering Global Networking Services to its users. Services included social networking, beauty and health consultation, news reporting, dating services, gaming, job bank, along with an educational portal to enhance communication among students, professors, and parents. Amalana successfully exited in August 2012.
Dr. Wahidy holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications), a master’s degree in Quality Systems Engineering and Business Administration (Procurement & Supply Chain Management), and a doctorate degree in Management (Organizational Leadership).
Dr. Wahidy is a registered UN and UNICEF volunteer and is recognized with over 15 global enterprise achievement awards. He has also been actively involved within the blockchain industry since 2013.
Mrs. Amal AzzehCo-Founder & CFO
Mrs. Amal Azzeh leads Virtual Rehab’s finance operations.
She brings along 40+ years of experience in finance along with a proven record of achievement and excellence in the financial sector.
Mrs. Azzeh co-founded My Recruiting Team, a platform better known for its first-to-market Recruitment Helpdesk Support Services, which focuses on delivering a stellar candidate and organizational recruitment experience. Other services include End-to-End Recruitment, Employee Onboarding, and Consultation Services.
Mrs. Azzeh’s experience spans well beyond the balance sheet and the P&L. With a well-rounded experience and a charismatic personality along with the ability to see through business and clients’ needs, Amal contributes to the overall strategy and operational direction of Virtual Rehab.
Mr. Donald CoxVP & Chief Information Security Officer @ MEDNAX
Mr. Donald Cox is a member of Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board.
Mr. Cox is currently the Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer at MEDNAX. Previously, he was selected as Chief Information Officer for Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
At the SAMHSA, Mr. Cox, oversees IT strategy, operations, human resources, and financial management of a Health and Human Services (HHS) Operational Division’s IT program, consisting of enterprise IT systems, data center, cloud computing, and software development contracts. Additionally, he directly coordinates with the HHS CIO Office, HHS Operational Divisions, and SAMHSA Program offices to advance the behavioral health of the nation through health IT while reducing total cost of ownership.
Don has 20 years of technology and cyber security related experience. Don has served as the Chief Information Officer and other executive roles architecting, managing, and securing geographically dispersed technology systems for the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of State, Department of Labor, Homeland Security, Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. In the role of President for Innava Data Solutions, he led the construction of a large multi-tenant commercial data center.
Don currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the 4th fastest growing Managed Security Services Provider, Netswitch.
Don holds a master’s degree with a focus on the Management of Information Technology, a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration on Information Technology; Chief Information Officer Certification, and Project Management certification. He has been recognized and received numerous accolades for his ability to identify and implement bleeding edge technology. Don is sought after to speak at conferences, be interviewed, write and peer review the work and technology of other technology professionals.
Mrs. Karen HurstFuturist & Lead Arch @ Kaiser Permanente
Mrs. Karen Hurst is a member of Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board.
Mrs. Karen Hurst is a 20-year experienced technologist whose work has disrupted industries and changed the world as well as lives. She is currently assuming the role of a futurist and lead arch in TRO’s Innovation & Transformation (Healthcare, Research, and Medical Devices) at Kaiser Permanente.
Early in her career, Mrs. Hurst worked at the US Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL) in Oak Ridge TN. In addition, Mrs. Hurst was one of the youngest and few female US Department of Energy’s Computer Scientists Level 3. While working at ORNL, Mrs. Hurst and her team developed and continued to enhance some of the US government’s most sophisticated laboratory systems. Much of her work required close partnerships with many of the physicists and chemists at ORNL; and some of these same physicists were even the interns of some of the world’s most iconic physicists of the 40s and 50s. These same scientists relied heavily on the laboratory systems, Mrs. Hurst and her team developed to prove theories, conduct research, and analyze field samples from all over the world.
Since many of these laboratory systems were leveraged as the foundation for much of the US Department of Energy’s experiments; the systems often were secured by cryptology code and often written in complex physic related algorithms. Mrs. Hurst’s work at ORNL provided exposure and development opportunities with the world-wide-web (prior to its release to the public) and to the X-10 Supercomputer research.
Upon leaving ORNL, Mrs. Hurst was provided opportunities to architect and deliver some of the world’s largest digital transformations in companies such as Coca-Cola, Great American Financial Group, NCR Teradata, NDCHealth, Warner Brothers, Clorox, HP, Allergan, BMS, and Stewart Title. In parallel to these large-scale transformations, Mrs. Hurst delivered AVL-Scientific’s first Mobile Blood Gas Analyzers that was later acquired by Roche, and she delivered one of the first mobile P&C mobile architectures and applications. In 2010, Mrs. Hurst’s team and organization (Stewart Title) won InformationWeek’s Best In Industry Award for their organizational and digital transformation work.
In 2010, Mrs. Hurst joined Microsoft Corporation where she became part of the leadership in the Office of the CTO that reported to Tony Scott (Microsoft’s CIO) at the time. Mrs. Hurst and her team’s primary responsibilities to Microsoft was to transform Microsoft IT into Services, Devices, Cloud and Mobility 1st, “real-time” IT organization. Mrs. Hurst’s second key responsibility was to define a 10-year future state strategy and roadmap for Microsoft’s key Business Platforms that defined which platforms would be in the cloud as well as mobile; and what did the next generation platforms and services looked like beyond cloud and mobility. Mrs. Hurst’s next major task was to onboard Microsoft internally onto cloud and mobility which her team did successfully through services such as the Enterprise Portfolio Management and Connected CRM.
Three and a half years later, Mrs. Hurst’s team changed the corporate wide IT operating model through rationalizing and standardizing the corporate core capabilities, processes, and technology investments. Her team restructured and aligned all corporate functions to be aligned first by business then by product lines to promote scale and real time responsiveness. Finally, with Mrs. Hurst and her team’s achievements in their work on the 10-platform future state strategy and roadmap work; Mrs. Hurst was able to provide enriched technical insights to the various product teams and IT on where the commercial products and services needed to transform as well as insights on the types of technologies that Microsoft should consider investing in to remain relevant or change the industry. Today, Microsoft is in the top 3 in the world for Cloud; and in the top 2 for product innovation. During Mrs. Hurst’s time at Microsoft, she has won numerous awards for her work including Innovation Excellence Award, Connect the Dots Award, User Experience Award, Security and Innovation Award, etc.
As a result of her innovation and delivery work over the years, Mrs. Hurst was asked to join NextGen Moonshot Programs which was a joint venture company focused on experimental and cutting edge technologies that disrupts and enables tech companies a competitive edge on some of the world’s most challenging and experimental technologies such as an Openstack Security interface for enterprise security traceability and monitoring of IoT; Quantum Computing and Security, and BCI research and technologies.
Not only has Mrs. Hurst led many of the efforts listed above; but she has also dedicated her free time to numerous medical research efforts and foundations by helping them to locate new technologies to assist them in their efforts to identify cures or new treatments to assist patients. Some of the foundations that Mrs. Hurst has been involved in include DMRF, ECAA, PHG International, and the Colon Cancer Network. In addition, Mrs. Hurst and her family have been engaged in many cancer research studies including those at UCLA, Vanderbilt, Duke, OH State, University of NY, and Oak Ridge Associates Universities.
Mr. Philip FasanoHealthcare Industry C-Level Executive
Mr. Philip Fasano is a member of Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board.
Mr. Fasano is an award-winning chief information officer with 30+ years’ experience in the technology, healthcare, and financial services industries. He has created IT strategies, products, investments, and security methods that have developed into industry standards. Mr. Fasano was also inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame, which includes the top 100 CIOs worldwide.
During his professional career, Mr. Fasano has served as CIO for AIG (2014-2017), Kaiser Permanente (2007-2014), Capital One (2003-2004), J.P. Morgan Chase (2001-2003), American Financial Group (1999-2001), and Deutsche Financial Services (1996-1999). He is also the founder of Capital Sourcing Group where he provided strategic consulting services to the Department of Homeland Security and Fortune 500 CEO’s, focusing on emerging technology, cybersecurity, and financial oversight.
He has received numerous accolades for his forward-thinking and innovation, including the ACORD Case Study Award, CIO 100 Award, HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 Award & Davies Award, and the Uptime Institute’s Continuous Availability Award. He has also received recognition from Computerworld for leading Kaiser Permanente to serve as one of the “Top 12 Green-IT Organizations” and one of the “100 Best Places to Work in IT”.
Mr. Fasano has served on a multitude of nonprofit and corporate boards of directors including NCIRE: The Veterans Health Research Institute (2010-Present), New York Academy of Medicine (2015-Present), New York Institute of Technology (2015-Present), and Infoblox (2014-2016).
Additionally, he has served on various Advisory Boards (Sierra Ventures beginning in 2009, Cisco Systems from 2010-2014, Hewlett-Packard Company from 2009-2014, Oracle Corporation from 2008-2014, and the Sprint Corporation from 2010-2014).
He currently contributes to numerous Peer Boards with leading CIO’s, sharing perspectives on industry trends, challenges, and growth opportunities, including the CIO Strategy Exchange (beginning in 2013), Diamond Management & Technology Consultants (2008), and The Research Board (2008), while formerly serving on the McKinsey & Company Peer Board (2013-2014).
Mr. Fasano has established a history of building and developing leadership teams, advising on industry trends, and collaborating across the scientific and academic communities, as well as with government officials to address a broad spectrum of issues including integrating technology into the study of veteran’s health, worldwide public health and wellness issues, and creating long-term strategies that build value.
Mr. Fasano is a graduate of Long Island University where he received his MBA and New York Institute of Technology, earning a BS in Computer Science.
Dr. Larry WrayPrincipal @ Wray Consulting
Dr. Larry Wray is a member of Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board.
Dr. Wray has over 30 years of experience in healthcare. He is currently consulting early stage and established companies, universities and non-profit organizations on commercializing new technologies as clinical diagnostic products or research tools.
Prior to his current practice, Dr. Wray most recently was VP, Development at Nanomix, a nanotechnology-based point of care diagnostic company and immediately prior to that was VP, R&D for the diagnostics business at PerkinElmer, where he was responsible for a global organization with sites in the U.S., China, and Europe. He has also held leadership positions in R&D, program management, business development, and manufacturing at BayPoint Biosystems (an oncology diagnostic company), Celera (a molecular diagnostic company, now part of Quest), Ventana (a tissue diagnostics company, now part of Roche) and Abbott Diagnostics.
Dr. Wray has been responsible for the launch of products spanning a wide range of technologies and applications, including infectious diseases, oncology, metabolic diseases, prenatal testing and newborn screening. These have involved world-wide launches, requiring approvals by domestic and international regulatory organizations. He has a broad knowledge of established and emerging technologies and products and their integration into health care delivery. In his various roles, he has been a leader in the development of strategies and programs for novel products making a positive impact on improving the care of patients and in preventative medicine.
Dr. Wray was a postdoctoral fellow in human genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He holds a PhD in genetics from the University of Texas at Austin, a MS in genetics counseling from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in chemistry from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Dr. Jeffrey PfeiferAssociate Professor of Forensic Psychology @ Swinburne University of Technology
Dr. Jeffrey Pfeifer is a member of Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board.
Dr. Pfeifer is an Associate Professor of Forensic Psychology at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. He has been teaching and researching in the area of social psychology, policing, and correctional psychology for over 20 years.
Dr. Pfeifer has published over 35 peer-reviewed and has testified in several trials as an expert witness in both Canada and the US. The Supreme Court of Canada have cited his research as well as the Appellate Courts in Ontario and British Columbia and he has had reports tabled by the State Parliament of Western Australia and the Provincial Parliament of Saskatchewan.
Dr. Pfeifer is the recipient of the 2004 International Corrections and Prisons Association Research Award as well as a former member of the Canadian National Committee for Police Mental Health.
He has also conducted numerous program evaluations and training workshops for a variety of organizations including the Corrections Victoria, G4S Australasia, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police, Western Australia Department of Corrections, Russian Ministry of Corrections, Namibian Correctional Service, Anti-Corruption Commission of Zambia, Singapore Airport Security Service, and the Durban (South Africa) Police Service.
Most recently Dr. Pfeifer has been conducting a program of research on the use of technology and gaming as a platform for positively impacting the well-being and rehabilitation of offenders.
Dr. Bobbie TicknorAssociate Professor @ Valdosta State University & CEO of Correctional Training Solutions
Dr. Bobbie Ticknor joins Virtual Rehab’s Advisory Board to offer her expertise in both correctional rehabilitation and technology.
Dr. Ticknor is an Assistant Professor at Valdosta State University in Georgia and CEO of Correctional Training Solutions. She received her doctorate from the University of Cincinnati with a concentration on correctional rehabilitation. Her research interests include offender classification and assessment, correctional rehabilitation, technology in criminal justice, sex offender policy and practices, and biosocial criminology. She is a certified trainer in cognitive behavior therapy, aggression replacement training, and motivational interviewing. She is also a certified IBM Lotus Professional and SQL Certified Developer. Dr. Ticknor has over fifteen years of software development and consulting experience and over a decade’s worth of experience working with various offender populations and criminal justice agencies across the United States and Canada.
Dr. Ticknor has been involved on various projects and grants focused on correctional rehabilitation. She is currently working with Lowndes County, GA to establish a reentry center focused on evidence-based practices for successful reintegration. Dr. Ticknor is also on the advisory board for the National Incarceration Association and has worked with the leadership to develop a Family Guidance Curriculum focused on assisting family members of those who are incarcerated. She was project manager on the Ohio Reentry Grant Project focused on evaluating the 13 counties that make up the Ohio Reentry Coalition. Dr. Ticknor was also involved with the Ohio Prison Study and in the development of a cognitive-based sexual offending curriculum and training program now being used in three states. Additionally, Dr. Ticknor has conducted numerous program evaluations and trainings for correctional agencies across the country.
In 2013, Dr. Ticknor led the pilot for the first treatment group with offenders using a virtual environment. The Virtual Environment for the Treatment of Offenders (VETO) was piloted at a residential juvenile treatment facility in Ohio and was a feasibility study to explore if and how group facilitation could be done in a virtual environment. Additionally, she explored whether traditional CBT could be enhanced with the use of virtual reality. As a result of this study, Dr. Ticknor has proposed nine principles for effective group facilitation using VR and is currently working on a curriculum for group facilitation.
*** Note that the extended Virtual Rehab team includes 1 operations manager, 1 project manager, 1 blockchain engineer, 1 front-end engineer, 1 back-end engineer, 2 virtual reality programmers, 1 artificial intelligence engineer, who work along with Virtual Rehab on a contractual basis. We look forward to onboard some of those engineers along with other highly qualified and professional team members across various functions upon completion of our token sale event.Kindly also refer to the list of awards included in the main post, which is if anything, is a reflection of our team's efforts.
