Dietmar Grellmann is Senior Vice-President for the California Hospital Association (CHA). As a member of the CHA executive management team, Mr. Grellmann is responsible for developing legislative, regulatory and legal strategy for a variety of issues related to hospital operations. Mr. Grellmann works closely with the California Legislature and regulatory agencies such as the Department of Managed Health Care and Department of Health Care Services.
CHA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to representing the interests of hospitals and health systems in California. CHA has more than 400 hospital and health system members, including general acute care hospitals, children’s hospitals, rural hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, academic medical centers, county hospitals, investor-owned hospitals, and multi-hospital health systems. These hospitals furnish vital health care services to millions of our states’ citizens. CHA also represents more than 100 affiliate, associate, and personal members. CHA provides its members with state and federal representation in the legislative, judicial, and regulatory arenas, in an effort to improve health care quality, access and coverage; promote health care reform and integration; achieve adequate health care funding; improve and update laws and regulations; and maintain public trust in health care.
Deb Sheehan, Healthcare Strategy Leader at DPR Construction, has more than 35 years of experience aligning capital investments with clinical operations. With a background spanning business management, engineering, architecture, and construction, she develops strategies that anticipate next-generation healthcare solutions. Before joining DPR, Deb guided national health systems through the pandemic as Managing Director of BDO’s Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation and helped grow CannonDesign’s healthcare practice by more than 55 percent during her two-decade tenure. Nationally recognized for advancing organizational change, financial value, and operational performance, she launched DPR’s healthcare core market strategy team in 2021, embedding real estate decisions into early capital planning. Through her Future Cast visioning process, she helps executives use data-driven forecasts of clinical workflows, growth trajectories, and reimbursement trends to align facility investments with long-term organizational goals, integrating clinical input with engineered solutions to create scalable, patient-centered environments.
Beyond her work with clients, Deb is a leading voice in the healthcare industry, teaching at forums including Joint Commission Resources and the Strategic Research Institute and contributing to publications such as Modern Healthcare, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. She also contributes to DPR’s Healthcare Insights series and hosts the Constructing with Care podcast, leading conversations on provider burnout, capital access, care model shifts, cost certainty, facility readiness, and portfolio-wide planning. Deb has been recognized with Building Design & Construction’s inaugural 40 Under 40 award and Healthcare Design’s Top Twenty Making a Difference in Healthcare. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives, serves on the AIA National Academy for Architecture for Health, has chaired the Health Executives Forum and the Women Health Executives Network, and currently serves on the national board of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA).
Rebekka Morrison is the Manager of Architecture & Design at San Diego Family Health Centers (FHCSD), where she has spent nearly eight years leading multidisciplinary teams through complex tenant improvement projects—from early concept through construction. She collaborates closely with FHCSD stakeholders, clinical leaders, and consultant teams to deliver environments that directly support the organization’s mission and the communities it serves.
During her tenure, Rebekka has contributed to more than 50 healthcare projects across Behavioral Health, Family and Youth Counseling, Physical Therapy, Urgent Care, and Family Medicine. A notable recent project includes the El Cerrito Permanent Supportive Housing & Family Counseling Center, delivered in partnership with LPA Design Studios. Rebekka holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Architecture and is currently pursuing architectural licensure in California.
Her work focuses on integrating innovative, programdriven design solutions with practical execution, ensuring each project balances aesthetics, functionality, and operational efficiency. She is also passionate about developing emerging professionals, serving as a Thesis Advisor at Newschool of Architecture & Design and participating in design studio critiques.
Carlos Amato, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, LEED AP, is a Principal in CannonDesign’s Health Practice and a recognized leader in healthcare planning and design. With 39 years of experience, he focuses on integrating planning, design, technology, and emerging care models to create future-ready clinical environments. He is serving as Planning Lead for Mayo Clinic’s “Bold. Forward. Unbound.” project in Rochester, MN, and is a member of the CARS (Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery) International Think Tank on Model Guided Medicine and the OR of the Future. At CannonDesign, Amato leads the firm’s Subject Matter Expert initiative for surgical, interventional, and imaging platforms and supports the development of emerging designers through the Healthcare Fellowship Program. He is also an invited faculty member for the RSNA Associated Sciences Consortium and a frequent speaker at global clinical and design conferences. His work includes transformative projects for Mayo Clinic, MSK, the University of Illinois Chicago’s Surgical Innovation and Training Laboratory, and leading academic medical centers across North America.
Dr. Fong is the Chairman of Surgery at the City of Hope Medical Center.
He is an elected member of the American Institute of Medical and Biologic Engineering, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the National Academy of Medicine.
He is best known clinically for work in laparoscopic, robotic and ablative treatments for liver cancers. He helped prove liver resection to be potentially curative for stage IV colorectal liver metastases. He has helped design many new surgical tools and facilities to enhance delivery of cancer treatment.
Dr. Fong has also been active in laboratory investigation. He was part of the group that discovered tumor necrosis factor and helped establish the field of innate immunity. His focus over the last 25 years has been in the field of gene therapy, designing and studying the use of genetically modified viruses and immune cells for the killing of cancer.
He has co-authored over 1000 articles and 25 textbooks, which have been cited over 100,000 times.
He has received many academic awards, including the Layton F. Rikkers Master Clinician Award from the Society of Surgery for the Alimentary Tract, the Stanley Dudrick Award from the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the Shipley Award from the Southern Surgical Association, and the Flance-Karl Award from the American Surgical Association.
Annette Morgan, MBA is Chief Operating Officer of City of Hope Orange County, one of the nation’s leading cancer research and treatment organizations. In this role, she oversees clinical operations, patient access, support services, business development, project management, and performance improvement across the Orange County network.
Morgan has played a key leadership role in the development and growth of City of Hope Orange County’s academic cancer campus in Irvine, bringing advanced cancer care, research, and innovation closer to home for Orange County residents. She has been instrumental in the organization’s expansion and in building community partnerships that improve access to leading-edge care.
An Orange County native, Morgan joined City of Hope Orange County in 2018 and previously served as Chief Administrative Officer. Before joining City of Hope, she held strategy, business development and operations leadership roles at Providence, one of the nation’s largest health systems. Morgan serves on the boards of Orange County Business Council and Hope Builders and has been recognized by both the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce and Becker’s Hospital Review for her leadership and contributions to healthcare.
Ashley Umana is a healthcare facilities executive with extensive experience leading the planning, design, and delivery of complex healthcare capital programs. Her portfolio includes projects ranging from pioneering proton therapy facilities to the strategic development of large-scale academic medical and healthcare campuses.
Ashley began her career at The Design Partnership, supporting master planning and facility development initiatives for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. She later joined Aditazz, where she helped advance data-driven approaches to healthcare planning and innovative facility design solutions for Kaiser Permanente.
Since joining Stanford Health Care in 2014, Ashley has led multidisciplinary teams and enterprise-wide initiatives focused on master planning and capital program delivery. Today, Ashley serves as Vice President of Cancer Center Facilities Planning and Design, leading the planning, design, and development of Stanford Medicine’s new 1.75 million-square-foot Cancer Center in Redwood City, California. This transformative campus will integrate inpatient care, outpatient services, and research to advance the future of cancer care and cure.
Recognized for her ability to bridge strategy and execution, Ashley is passionate about developing high-performing teams and creating innovative, adaptable healthcare environments that enhance the patient and staff experience while supporting long-term organizational success in an evolving healthcare landscape.
Tom Van Pelt is the Executive Director of Planning for Facilities Planning and Development at UC Davis Health, where he leads the planning, capital strategy and early project development functions for a multi-billion-dollar healthcare capital program. In this role, Tom oversees hospital and ambulatory planning, capital prioritization and capital project scoping and development, partnering closely with executive leadership, clinical stakeholders and project delivery teams to translate organizational vision into actionable, well-sequenced capital investments. He is deeply involved in advancing UC Davis Health’s Vision 2030 program and ensuring alignment across planning, finance, operations and delivery.
Prior to joining UC Davis Health, Tom served as Director of Facility Planning, Design and Construction at California State University Maritime Academy, as the leader of the University’s Capital Program. Tom previously worked as a campus planning consultant, where he developed a deep understanding of institutional planning challenges and solutions.
Tom is a veteran of the United States Navy and holds advanced degrees in urban design from UC Berkeley and city and regional planning from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
