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Government Connections Plaza

Explore resources from top government agencies on health equity, patient identity, and public health strategies through sessions and discover innovative solutions.

Located within the Federal Health Pavilion, the Government Connections Plaza offers a platform to engage with top government agencies on pressing healthcare issues such as health equity and patient identity. Explore valuable resources, innovative products, and attend educational sessions that highlight best practices and strategies in public health.

Caesars Forum | Summit Ballroom
Booth C3832

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Public sector leaders collaborating at the HIMSS25 Government Connections Plaza to discuss healthcare policies and innovation.
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Thalia Sirjue

Chief of Staff
New Jersey Department of Health

Thalia Sirjue is a diehard public health nerd, passionate about using technology to engage people in improving their own health. She currently gets her fill of public health nerdiness by serving as Chief of Staff at the New Jersey Department of Health where she oversees more than 5,600 employees and a combined State/Federal budget of $2.8 billion and. In this role, she acts as a Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the foundational units of the Department – Human Resources, Fiscal/Management & Administration, Health Information Technology, Healthcare Quality and Informatics, Communications, Policy & Legislative Affairs, Ethics, EEO/AA and Equity Services, and Research Initiatives. She also leads enterprise-wide initiatives for strategic planning, public health accreditation, and health innovation.

Thalia previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff responsible for a myriad of special projects. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was appointed director of the statewide testing and contact tracing programs — this included the rapid scale-up of the contact tracing workforce, statewide rollout of a new contact tracing software, launch of the COVID Alert NJ app, managing the State’s K-12 screening testing and at-home testing programs, and managing testing inventory and distribution.

Prior to her tenure at NJDOH, Thalia managed development lifecycles for Veteran and clinician-focused mobile apps for the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) App Store and led the team that established VA’s Innovation Ecosystem to enable the discovery and diffusion of health care innovations across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). This included launching the Diffusion of Excellence initiative and expanding the VA Innovators Network.

Thalia earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Boston University and Master of Public Health degree from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. Thalia is a Jersey girl to her core. This mixed with her Jamaican and Cuban heritage means she drives fast, will eat a bacon or pork roll, egg, and cheese for any meal of the day, and lives for sun, sand, and saltwater. If she has free time, she spends it cooking, baking, reading romance novels and murder mysteries, watching anime, and going on walks with her husband and daughter.

Sakshika Dhingra

Medicaid Strategy Director Humana
Sakshika is a seasoned executive with over ten years of experience in the healthcare payer industry. As a visionary leader, she has consistently driven innovation in managed care, insurance solutions, and value-based care models. Sakshika specializes in optimizing operational efficiencies, enhancing member engagement, and fostering strategic partnerships with healthcare providers and regulatory agencies. Throughout her career, Sakshika has successfully led large-scale digital transformations, leveraging data analytics and technology to streamline member experience, improve health outcomes, and ensure regulatory compliance. She is passionate about advancing population health initiatives and creating sustainable & scalable healthcare solutions that prioritize quality care and equitable access for all. Currently serving as a Medicaid Strategy Director at Humana, Sakshika continues to be a driving force in the payer space, focused on addressing the evolving challenges of healthcare economics, payer-provider collaboration, and patient-centric care models. Sakshika holds a Masters from Michigan State and a Digital Transformation certification from Harvard Medical School. When not leading healthcare innovation, Sakshika enjoys spending time with her husband Vivesh and her beloved six year old son, Aveer Sharma.

Aric SHarp

Chief Executive Officer
Clover Health

Aric Sharp is a recognized national leader on the healthcare transition to value, innovation and physician practice management. Aric currently serves as the CEO of Value Based Care for Clover Health. In his previous role as Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at INTEGRIS Health, he led the journey to value-based care including launching the Direct Contracting Model, a Medicare Advantage Plan, and Oklahoma’s first virtual hospital.

As Vice President for Accountable Care at UnityPoint Health, he developed and led UnityPoint Accountable Care, one of the nation’s largest and most successful ACOs, with over 8,000 physicians, 40 hospitals, and over $2.0 Billion of medical spend under risk including the country’s largest Next Generation Model ACO. His nearly 30 years of healthcare experience included various executive level roles including CEO and COO for Quincy Medical Group and The Iowa Clinic respectively, two of the nation’s highest performing physician owned multi-specialty medical groups.

Aric is known for his ability to distill complexity into clear, actionable understanding through a collaborative results focused approach. He is frequently cited by national media on an array of healthcare topics and is called upon to speak and participate in panel discussions, provide briefings on Capitol Hill, and even testify to Congress. Aric has expertise in healthcare strategy and transformation, population health, physician leadership and governance development, growth, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, public policy, and operational turnarounds.

Aric serves as the Past Chair of AMGA (American Medical Group Association), as well as on numerous healthcare boards, advisory councils, start-up ventures and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. He is also the Past-Chair of the AMGA Public Policy Committee. Aric earned his Master’s in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Iowa State University. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Certified Medical Practice Executive.

Heather Lavoie

Chief Information Officer Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Heather Staples Lavoie is the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business and Technology Solutions and Chief Information Officer at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Ms. Lavoie joined Horizon in 2024 and is responsible for the Information Technology, Information Security, Enterprise Program Management Office and Analytics divisions. Ms. Lavoie previously spent over a decade building and serving as President and CEO of Geneia, a health care technology, AI and analytics subsidiary of Capital BlueCross, serving more than 8 million members across health plans, and provider and employer organizations. Ms. Lavoie has an extensive health care business and technology background, spanning more than three decades with national payers, providers and service organizations and founding start-up organizations. Ms. Lavoie has received numerous awards, including NH Union Leader 40 under 40, Business NH 40 Influential Leaders, NH Business Review NH 200, Presenting Faculty at TedxUNE, 3x Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania (2017, 2018, 2019) and was the 2019 University of New Hampshire Manchester Commencement Speaker. Ms. Lavoie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Notre Dame College and a Master of Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.

Francesca Rinaldo

CEO Chief Clinical Innovation Officer SCAN
Francesca Rinaldo, MD, PhD is SCAN’s Chief Clinical Innovation Officer. In her role she is responsible for driving innovation, strategic development, and operational excellence across all SCAN’s clinical initiatives, with a focus on enhancing member value and outcomes for both the SCAN health plans as well as SCAN Group diversified companies. In addition, Francesca leads teams in the integration of medical innovation, emerging technologies and creative solutions for continued growth and sustainability across SCAN programs, while spearheading a differentiation strategy to establish a new industry standard for innovation in senior care. Prior to joining SCAN, Francesca served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Product and Innovation and Chief Medical Officer at CareLinx by ShareCare, where she led strategic development and growth of programs leveraging a national network of in-home caregivers, driving innovation in home care delivery and serving as a pivotal industry thought leader. Francesca holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago, and MD/PhD from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship training in Healthcare Design at the Stanford Clinical Excellence Research Center under the mentorship of Dr. Arnie Milstein and others, and her clinical training in general surgery at Stanford University Hospitals and Clinics.

Tom Lawry

AI Transformation Advisor to Health and Medical Leaders
Tom Lawry is a leading AI transformation advisor to health and medical leaders around the world, a top keynote speaker, and best-selling author of Hacking Healthcare – How AI and the Intelligent Health Revolution Will Reboot an Ailing System. He’s the Managing Director of Second Century Tech and a former Microsoft exec who served as National Director for AI for Health and Life Sciences, Director of Worldwide Health, and Director of Organizational Performance for the company’s first health incubator. Prior to Microsoft, Tom was a Senior Director at GE Healthcare, the founder of two venture-backed healthcare software companies, a health system executive, and a board member. Tom’s work has been featured in Forbes, CEO Magazine, Harvard Business Review, CNET, Inside Precision Medicine, and numerous webcasts and podcasts. In a Harris Poll of 2023 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference attendees, Tom was named one of the most recognized leaders driving change and engagement in healthcare today. He has also been named one of the Top 2024 Influential Voices to Follow.

Gen. Paul M. Nakasone

Former Commander, U.S. Cyber Command & Former Director
A name synonymous with visionary leadership, retired four-star Army General Paul M. Nakasone is the longest-serving leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency/Central Security Service, and is regarded among an elite class of leaders whose strategic expertise at the nexus of cybersecurity, technology, and geopolitics has laid the groundwork for upholding our nation’s security in the modern age. General Nakasone’s career spans more than three decades of pivotal moments in modern warfare and digital defense and he draws upon his experiences constantly at the epicenter of conflict to share battle-tested lessons on transformational leadership, while also examining the challenges and opportunities organizations face in the ever-evolving tech and security landscape. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Nakasone is an engaging and dynamic speaker who leads audiences on a fascinating exploration into how our experiences today, paired with the advent of rapid and constant technological change, will shape the future — and what that means for how we approach the safety and security of our systems and society. Pointing to strategies that consistently led him and his teams to mission success in his own career, Nakasone shares recent examples of complex situations in which innovative ideas provided the catalyst for successful outcomes. As part of his talks, Nakasone emphasizes the skills that need to be sharpened in order to make a transformational impact as a leader, as well as the importance of purposefully recruiting, training, and retaining talent. He is of the belief that, ultimately, what shapes our future is fully dependent on the manner in which organizations invest leadership and talent. From the crucible of the Pentagon on 9/11 and spearheading the response to the most significant intrusion into the Defense Department’s classified networks, to the Wars in Iraq in Afghanistan, Nakasone has served as one of the most influential problem-solvers at the center of cyber and information operations and dedicated his career to being a steadfast guardian of our national security interests. He was also part of the select group of leaders that conceptualized and built U.S. Cyber Command from the ground up, and subsequently led their most elite forces before rising to command the entire organization, as well as the NSA/Central Security Service. In addition to his standing as a career Army officer who climbed the ranks to lead elite units battling the world’s top cyber hackers, Nakasone is widely recognized as an agent of innovation who championed new approaches to solving multifaceted challenges in rapidly changing landscape of cyber threats. His persistent approach to cyber defense against nation-state hackers has redefined the national and global security playbooks, while his emphasis on partnerships fostered a collaborative ecosystem transcending international, interagency, and private sector agencies. Under his stewardship, transparency became a cornerstone for his teams, elevating the confidence and trust of the American people in the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command. He retired as Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Director of the NSA, and Chief of the Central Security Service on February 1, 2024 — having served in those roles since May 2018. General Nakasone’s remarkable service has been recognized with innumerable awards and decorations. Among them are the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Defense Meritorious Service Medal — to name a few. Described as “a transformational leader who strengthened our national security, bolstered our deterrence, and defended our democracy,” Nakasone remains a vocal advocate for defending the nation and securing the best possible future through people and partnerships.

Edward (Ed) Marx

CEO Marx Advisory
The youngest child of Holocaust survivors, Ed moved to the United States at age 10. At 16, he served as a medical clinic janitor where he discovered his healthcare calling. Ed took successive positions as combat medic, anesthesia tech, strategic planner and technology manager. He quickly learned how the convergence of clinical, business and digital saved lives. His passion ignited, he jumped feet first into technology and operations in the C-Suite of Cleveland Clinic, NYC Health & Hospitals, Texas Health Resources and University Hospitals. Intermixed, Ed served the supplier side as well. He was CEO for consulting firm Divurgent, global CDO for Tech Mahindra Health & Life Sciences and CIO of the Advisory Board. Concurrently, he served 15 years as an Army combat engineer officer and combat medic. Today, Ed is focused on his own advisory practice. Ed does a fair amount of speaking, writing and podcasting. He authored healthcare bestsellers including “Voices of Innovation” and “Healthcare Digital Transformation”. He is currently writing a book for Mayo Clinic on “Patient Experience” and “Voices of Innovation – Payers”. His podcast “DGTL Voices” is “Top 3%” globally. His Blog, CEO Unplugged, surpassed 1M views. Ed recently started a YouTube channel to expand his audience. Most importantly, Ed is husband to Simran who holds a Doctor of Nursing (DNP). They love to dance and climb mountains. They have 5 grown children and 4 grandchildren. To stay fit, he is captain of TeamUSA Triathlon.

Seema Verma

Executive Vice President and General Manager Oracle Health & Life Sciences
Seema Verma is the Executive Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences, where she has responsibility of Oracle’s EHR, (former Cerner), which is the largest EHR in the world, as well as clinical trials and the health insurance portfolio. She also is a Director on the Board of Lifestance, a public company focused on behaviorial health. In addition, she serves on the Board for USC’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Before coming to Oracle, she served as a Senior Advisor to private equity firms TPG and Cressey & Co, serving on the Cressey Distinguished Executive Committee. She also served on the Board of Directors for Lumeris, Monogram, Wellsky, LYRIC, and ShiftKey. Additionally, she provided advisory services to a variety of early stage and large public health care companies, including national payers and technology companies focusing on strategy, value creation, and operations. Seema was the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the largest payer in the world, between 2017-2021. Confirmed by the Senate on a bi-partisan basis, she had one of the longest terms in modern CMS history. In this role, she oversaw a $1.4 trillion dollar budget and coverage for 145 million beneficiaries. She was responsible for federal policy and operations of Medicare, Medicaid, Health Insurance Exchanges, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), and all federal quality and safety regulations. In this role she developed and implemented the federal administration’s health care strategic plan across all programs to advance value-based care, innovation, interoperability, and price transparency while reducing drug prices, and regulations through her historic Patients over Paperwork initiative. CMS had numerous accomplishments during her tenure including delivering reduced premiums across Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, and individual insurance market as well as addressing the social determinants of health. Her pro-market policies advanced market competition, provided $35 insulin to seniors and advanced site neutral payments. Her leadership on the White House COVID Task Force led to the widespread adoption of telehealth, Hospital at Home, and no cost vaccines for the entire country. Prior to her role at CMS, she founded and sold a national consulting company and worked as a VP for Policy and Planning for a public hospital, public health department, and health system. In 2019, Seema was named as Modern Healthcare’s #1 Most Influential Person in Healthcare and was part of the Top 25 Women Leaders. Her healthcare articles have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Health Affairs, Modern Healthcare, Newsweek, CNN, USA Today , STAT, and others. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, and John’s Hopkins University School of Public Health.

Dr. Kaitlan Baston

Health Commisioner New Jersey Department of Health
Prior to becoming New Jersey’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Baston built and led the Cooper Center for Healing, an integrated pain, addiction, and behavioral health center and was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical school of Rowan University.

Dr. Baston began her career as a full spectrum family physician focused on underserved populations. Prior to coming to New Jersey, her work ranged from public health projects in Rwanda, to public maternity and trauma hospitals in the Dominican Republic, to providing full spectrum family planning services and working in a bilingual community health center in Seattle, Washington.

Her experiences in primary care highlighted that both patients and medical professionals suffer from the lack of addiction medicine training and integration into healthcare. Following her addiction medicine fellowship, she came to Camden in 2015 driven to improve community-centered health care delivery, population health, and behavioral health. In the following seven years she built an inpatient addiction consult service, multiple interdisciplinary outpatient clinics, a wrap-around perinatal substance use disorder program, a harm reduction based low-barrier walk-in clinic, and the first program for emergency medicine services (EMS) field initiation of medication for addiction treatment. She led both undergraduate and graduate addiction medical education and started a new addiction medicine fellowship. Her research team was responsible for bringing in and overseeing several million dollars in state and federal grant funding to support innovation, community-based care, and to address social determinants of health.

This work expanded to state and federal level health policy, and Dr. Baston became the Medical Director of Government Relations at Cooper University Health Care in 2019. She is nationally recognized for her work in perinatal substance use disorders and EMS delivery of addiction treatment. She has spoken to congress, the American Bar Association, and is a national educator for the organization Zero to Three. She has served on national level committees including the Infant Toddler Court Program Expert Advisory Group, the American Academy of Pediatrics Head Start National Expert Workgroup, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives Opioid Task Force, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Opioid Collaborative Workgroup. She has also served on the New Jersey DMHAS State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, the New Jersey ATLAS State Advisory Committee, the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force, and the Camden County Opioid Settlement Funds Board. In 2011, she was awarded the Savacool Prize in Medical Ethics. She has been recognized as a New Jersey Top Doctor or Top Female Doctor every year from 2017 to 2023, won the Golden Apple Teaching Award in 2021, the New Jersey Healthcare Innovation Hero award in 2022, and the New Jersey Hospital Association Healthy New Jersey Award in 2023.

Currently, Dr. Baston is focused on decreasing health disparities, improving maternal child health outcomes, and enhancing integrated care for behavioral health and substance use disorders. In her role as Health Commissioner, she strives to ensure that all people have access to resources that can keep them healthy and to compassionate, evidence-based medical care when needed. Dr. Baston is proud to work with an interdisciplinary team of like-minded, driven individuals at the Department of Health who are dedicated to improving the equity and health of New Jersey.

Dr. Baston is dual boarded in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine, obtained a master’s degree in Neuroscience from Kings College, London, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA.

Gabrielle (Gabby) Thomas

Olympic Track & Field Gold Medalist
Gabby Thomas is a top American sprinter renowned as a high achiever, both on and off the track. She sealed her status as an iconic Olympian after winning three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, including gold in her signature event, the 200m. She earned two more golds in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays and was the first American track athlete to win three golds in the same Olympics since Allyson Felix. She is the fourth fastest woman in history in the 200m, with a time of 21.60, which was earned in her breakout race at the 2021 Olympic Trials. In her debut Olympics in Tokyo, she came home with two medals, with a bronze in the 200m event and silver in the 4×100 relay. Thomas is a graduate of Harvard University where she majored in neurobiology and went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Texas. She works for the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic in Austin, TX that helps underserved communities, an area Thomas is passionate about. When not training or working, Thomas enjoys exploring her hometown of Austin and walking her pug, Rico.

Dr. Meong Hi Son

Chief Medical Information Officer
Samsung Medical Center
Meong Hi son is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and currently holds the role of Chief Medical Information Officer at Samsung Medical Center, South Korea. Trained as a pediatrician specializing in pediatric hemato-oncology and pediatric emergency medicine, and despite having no initial background in IT, she has become a pioneering force in the digital transformation of healthcare services as a junior faculty member at Samsung Medical Center. During her early clinical career as a clinical fellow, Dr. Son spearheaded the migration of pediatric cancer treatment protocols and monitoring sheets from paper-based systems to electronic medical records (EMR). Not only did she initiate this critical transition, but she also played a key role in the actual implementation of EMRs, which became the driving force behind her involvement in the hospital’s digital transformation efforts. Dr. Son believes that healthcare services involve complex processes managed by a diverse group of professionals. She emphasizes that making even small changes in this field requires continuous reflection on what can be improved through technological advancements and tireless communication. She finds it particularly meaningful to encourage more healthcare workers, especially in resource-limited and change-resistant environments, to participate in the digital transformation journey. By sharing her personal experiences and impactful hospital stories with various audiences both within and outside the hospital, she aims to inspire others to join this essential movement towards improving healthcare through IT. Consequently, she played a pivotal role as an intermediary, facilitating communication and participation among various departments for the hospital to achieve Stage 7 in the four areas of maturity model (INFRAM, EMRAM,DIAM and AMAM).

Dr. Seung-woo Park

President
Samsung Medical Center
Dr. Seung-woo Park, the President of Samsung Medical Center, is a respected specialist in cardiovascular diseases, particularly in areas such as heart valve disorders and myocardial infarction. He also plays a significant role in the hospital’s efforts towards digitalization. Dr. Park currently serves as the 12th President of Samsung Medical Center, leading the realization of an advanced intelligent hospital focused on severe and complex medical conditions. After graduating from Seoul National University College of Medicine, Dr. Park joined Samsung Medical Center as a founding member in 1994. Throughout his career, he has held key positions within the hospital, including Chief of the Information Strategy Office, Chief of Quality Improvement, and Chief of Strategic Planning. In 2002, he spent two years at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, where he gained advanced knowledge in cardiac treatment, which he brought back to Korea. He has also served as the Chairman of the Korean Society of Echocardiography from 2016 to 2018 and is highly regarded as an authority in the field of cardiology, with publications in renowned medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine in November 2019. Dr. Park’s contributions extend beyond his medical achievements, as he has also been recognized for his efforts in hospital digitalization and innovation in the healthcare process. He introduced electronic medical records (EMR) and achieved a “paperless hospital,” receiving the Samsung Information Innovation Award in 2009. He led the a “Dr. Smart” application development project, which allows healthcare professionals to use personal smart devices for medical purposes, and received the Minister of Knowledge Economy Award in 2010. In 2010, he opened the first electronic medical referral system in Korea and implemented various smartphone mobile support systems for patients and hospital staff, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Isabelle Kumar

Former News Anchor, Presenter
Isabelle is a former prime time news anchor and journalist with more than 20 years experience, she now moderates and MCs at leading forums and summits around the globe. Isabelle was the lead anchor for Euronews-NBC. She also criss-crossed the planet interviewing heads of state and government, CEOs and celebrities generating some 3 million views on YouTube. Isabelle has moderated at high level and large scale events throughout her career, including the first ever EU Presidential debate, deep dives at the Davos World Economic Forum and the European Commission. Now, this is her principal activity and works with corporates, international organisations and NGOs on subjects ranging from humanitarian, health, inclusion, economics, geopolitics, climate, sustainability, education and tech. Today her clients include the European Commission, the U.N., The Consumer Goods Forum, Proctor and Gamble, LEAP and Saatchi and Saatchi. She has been MC for award ceremonies for the UN, EU and chaired closed door discussions including with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European leaders. Her interviews include presidents and prime ministers from Russia, Iran, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Portugal as well as the heads of the UN and the European Commission. She has spoken to the King of Jordan, the Prince and Princess of Monaco, interviewed Richard Branson, Andrea Bocelli, Mike Tyson and Karl Lagerfeld to name but a few. Before heading to Euronews, Isabelle worked for CNN, APTN and Reuters. Isabelle is bilingual in French and English and holds British and German nationality. She is a disability activist, the President of a charity helping people with autism and does pro bono work with the charity Lake Aid helping unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers and homeless families in Annecy, France. Client feedback shows appreciation for Isabelle’s friendly, thorough and dynamic style of presentation.

Simone Biles

Athlete & Advocate
Simone Biles is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. The most decorated gymnast in history with 41 medals across World Championships and the Olympic Games, Biles holds the most World Championship medals (30) and gold medals (23) in gymnastics history. A three-time Olympian, her 11 Olympic medals and seven Olympic gold medals are the most by a U.S. gymnast. The three-time Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year and Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, she has earned the rare distinction of having five skills named in her honor – The Biles – in the beam, floor (two), and vault (two) disciplines. Biles’s extraordinary accomplishments have received widespread recognition, including the youngest recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Ebony Power 100, People’s Women Changing the World, USA Today’s 100 Women of the Century, and CNN Heroes, among others. Her autobiography, Courage to Soar, was a New York Times bestseller and developed into an award-winning TV special on Lifetime while her Snap Originals series, Daring Simone Biles, received an NAACP Image Award. An ambassador for Friends of the Children, Biles utilizes her platform to help advocate for change and support initiatives that provide education and assistance for children and young adults associated with adoption, foster care, and overall wellness.

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