Connecticut Children’s Care Network is led by several pediatric experts, including primary care pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Care Network leadership team is comprised of the Care Network Officers, the Governance Board and three subcommittees: Membership, Quality and Finance & Contracting.
Care Network Officers
David Krol, MD, MPH, FAAP
Medical Director, Connecticut Children's Care Network
Cheryl Lescarbeau, MBA
Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Care Network Administration
Governance Board
Julie Schiff, MD, FAAP
Chair, Governing Board
Bruce Cohen, MD, FAAP
Chair, Membership Committee
Sophia Grant, MD, FAAP
Chair, Quality Committee
Richard Segool, MD, FAAP
Chair, Finance & Contracting Committee
Katie Baker, DO, FAAP
Mel Collins, MD
Bob Duncan, MBA
Katie Kavanagh, MD
James Moore, MD, PhD
Jenny Schwab, MD, FAAP
Lori Storch Smith, MD, FAAP
Haviva Veler, MD
Biographies
David Krol, MD, MPH, FAAP
Medical Director
David Krol, MD, MPH, FAAP, a pediatrician, serves as Medical Director of Connecticut Children’s Care Network. Dr. Krol brings over 20 years of experience and leadership in clinical practice, policy, research, education, administration, and advocacy. Dr. Krol came to Connecticut Children’s from Rutgers University where he was the Medical Director for the New Jersey Healthy Kids Initiative.
Cheryl Lescarbeau, MBA
Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Care Network Administration
Cheryl Lescarbeau develops and implements the Care Network’s value-based care strategy, including managed care negotiations, payor/provider relations, episodes-of-care program, budgeting and forecasting, and, ultimately, performance. She oversees a team of quality improvement consultants, an operations analyst, and a program coordinator focus on enabling Care Network providers to deliver high-quality cost-effective care that improves patient and provider satisfaction.
Lescarbeau’s experience includes more than two decades of primary care transformation related to generating value. She was most recently the Vice President for Clinical Integration for the state’s largest primary care organization where, over the course of her tenure, she was responsible for managed care contracting, care coordination, marketing, as well as developing and implementing the group’s specialty, ambulatory care and value-based strategies. She spent seven years in the role of Accountable Care Organization Executive, assuming full responsibility for all aspects of participating in the federal Medicare Shared Savings Program. She has presented at several ACO conferences throughout the country.
Lescarbeau earned a BS degree in Business Education from Salem State College and an MBA in Healthcare Management from the University of Connecticut, where she was a graduate assistant in the School of Business Dean’s office.
Julie Schiff, MD, FAAP
Julie Schiff, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician at Pediatric Associates in Bristol, CT. Dr. Schiff is the Chair of the Care Network’s Governance Board. She is proud of the network’s mission to help all Connecticut children have access to great healthcare.
Bruce Cohen, MD, FAAP
Bruce Cohen, MD, FAAP, is a general pediatrician in Danbury, Connecticut. He serves as Chair of the Care Network’s Membership Committee. He is currently Co-Chair of the Northern Fairfield Provider Advisory Board for Connecticut Children’s.
Sophia Grant, MD, FAAP
Sophia Grant, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician practicing at Litchfield County Pediatrics. Her medical interests include child development and school difficulties. As a member of the Care Network’s Governing Board, Dr. Grant will continue to provide a primary care perspective that she believes represents other pediatricians across the State of Connecticut. Dr. Grant also serves as Chair of the Care Network’s Quality Committee.
Richard Segool, MD, FAAP
Richard Segool, MD, FAAP, has been the managing partner of Pioneer Valley Pediatrics for the past 35 years, as it has grown from a three- to ten-pediatrician practice. They have two offices, one in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and the other in Enfield, Connecticut. He has been on the Connecticut Children’s Clinically Integrated Network Steering Committee from its inception, and is now on the Board of Directors, serving as its Vice Chairman. He also chairs the Finance and Contract Committee.
Katie Baker, DO, FAAP
Katie Baker, DO, FAAP has had her own practice, Baker Pediatrics, in Trumbull since 2005. Dr. Baker joined the Connecticut Children’s Care Network in 2020. She currently sits on the Care Network’s Membership Committee.
Bob Duncan, MBA
Connecticut Children’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Bob Duncan is a member of the Care Network’s Governing Board. Duncan joined Connecticut Children’s in 2022 with over two decades of leadership experience in strategic planning, performance improvement and business development at large healthcare systems. At Connecticut Children’s, he helps execute the health system’s new five-year strategic plan which includes the ground breaking and construction of a new 225,000 square foot inpatient hospital tower.
Duncan last led operation efforts at Children’s Wisconsin, where he served as the executive vice president of the hospital and president of Children’s Community Health Plan, a $450+ million insurance company that provides Medicaid, private market health plans and special population health plans to children in Wisconsin. Prior to this role, he served as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Children’s Care Coordination for the State of Tennessee. At this time he also was the Director for CoverKids, Tennessee’s children’s health insurance program that provides free, comprehensive health coverage for qualifying children 18 and younger.
Duncan received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Memphis and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Martin. He also completed the Johnson & Johnson/UCLA Health Care Executive Program at UCLA.
Katie Kavanagh, MD
Katie Kavanagh, MD, is a pediatric otolaryngologist at Connecticut Children’s. Dr. Kavanagh serves on the Referring Provider Advisory Board and the Care Network’s Governing Board. She also enjoys serving on the Care Network’s Membership Committee and partnering to increase access, quality, and communication.
James Moore, MD, PhD
James Moore, MD, PhD, is the President of Connecticut Children’s Specialty Group. Dr. Moore is a member of the Care Network Governing Board and serves on the Finance & Contracting Committee.
Dr. Moore received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Syracuse University and earned his Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, and Medical Degree from Emory University. He completed his pediatric residency at UT Southwestern Medical School and a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. He completed his research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Jenny Schwab, MD, FAAP
Jenny Schwab, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician at Rocky Hill Pediatrics in Rocky Hill, CT. A proud partner at Rocky Hill Pediatrics, Dr. Schwab has worked to create a practice that welcomes families, provides excellent, compassionate care, while remaining a thriving, independent private practice. She serves as Chair of the Care Network’s Governing Board, sits on the Care Network’s Finance and Contracting Committee, and is honored to be a part of an organization dedicated to improving the health of children and their families in Connecticut and the region.
Mel Collins, MD
Mel Collins, MD, is the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Program and Cardiopulmonary Testing Laboratory at Connecticut Children’s. Dr. Collins became Medical Director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine in July 2021 and was named Co-Director of the Asthma Center that October. Sher and her co-director revised the Easy Breathing Program guidelines to reflect the new national (NHLBI) asthma guidelines and have made multiple presentations on “SMART” asthma therapy to primary care providers to help them embrace these guidelines.
Lori Storch Smith, MD, FAAP
Lori Storch Smith, MD, FAAP led the creation of and now acts as the CEO of a supergroup, Connecticut Pediatric Partnership, that brings together three practices with four separate locations in Fairfield County. She currently serves on the Care Network’s Finance and Contracting Committee.
Haviva Veler, MD
Haviva Veler, MD, is the Division Head of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine and the Sleep Center at Connecticut Children’s. Dr. Veler specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Pulmonology, and Sleep Medicine, and she brings together the three disciplines to benefit her patients.
Dr. Veler was the Pediatric Sleep Center Director at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York before coming to Connecticut Children’s, and is a strong supporter of sleep health – providing sleep education to families as well as addressing any sleep issues, so children can grow healthy, and reach their potential. She has been treating children with behavioral sleep issues, such as insomnia, as well as children with sleep apnea, snoring, restless leg syndrome, sleep walking/talking, daytime sleepiness, and many other sleep conditions. She has published on topics related to the different diagnostic modalities and potential therapies for children with sleep-disordered breathing. She is also looking at the role and function of a new baby monitor device that includes a smart camera.
Dr. Veler also has wide experience in caring for children who are technology dependent; children who require mechanical ventilation (breathing machine), non-invasive ventilation (CPAP or BPAP), supplemental oxygen, or airway clearance devices that assist with breathing, coughing, and clearing secretions.
Dr. Veler has extensive experience treating children with other respiratory problems, such as chronic cough, asthma, chest pain, chronic lung disease, and lung disease of prematurity.