Our Panelists

After graduating from college, Kitzhaber returned to Oregon to study medicine at the University of Oregon Medical School (now OHSU). In Roseburg, he practiced as an emergency room doctor from 1974 to 1988.

Kitzhaber was elected to the Oregon legislature in 1978. During his first session as a legislator, his peers chose him to lead as president of the Oregon State Senate. As senate president, Kitzhaber is remembered most notably for bringing legislators and interest groups together to pass the Oregon Health Plan. In 1994, he was elected governor and reelected in 1998. Following his term as governor, Kitzhaber led several organizations that work with doctors, hospital administrators, and Oregonians in communities across the state to reform the health care system. In 2010, Kitzhaber was elected to a third term as governor and was reelected in 2014. On February 18, 2015, Governor Kitzhaber resigned from office.

Kitzhaber earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and graduated from the University of Oregon Medical School.

Bruce Goldberg, MD led Oregon’s nationally recognized health reforms transforming Oregon’s Medicaid system to one based on a model of coordinated care.

In addition, he helped lead efforts to implement the Affordable Care Act, establish Oregon’s Healthy Kids program providing health coverage for all children, improve Oregon’s mental health system, and transform the delivery of public human services to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

His diverse experiences span time as an administrator of large complex organizations, a practicing clinician, teacher/academician, a county health officer, medical director for a Medicaid managed care organization, and Director of Community Health Services for the US Public Health Services in Zuni, New Mexico.

Dr. Antonio (Tony) Germann is the medical director of Salud and Pacific Pediatrics clinics of the Yakima Valley Farm Workers clinic system and serves as a clinical assistant professor and affiliate faculty at OHSU in the School of Medicine and Department of Family Medicine.

Dedicated to producing better health outcomes for Oregon’s most vulnerable communities, Dr. Germann specializes in rural primary health care, clinical health education and public health. He founded the Salud Rural Maternal Child Health Fellowship, which uses advanced training to prepare family physicians for practice in rural or underserved settings.

A dedicated physician advocate, Dr. Germann led efforts in support of SB 951, legislation that safeguards the patient-provider relationship by limiting corporate interference in the practice of medicine. Recent honors he received include Family Doctor of the Year from the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians, the Lewis and Ruth Carpenter Teaching Award from OHSU and Health Advocate of the Year from Project Access Now. 

Ben Bowman was elected to the legislature in 2022, representing House District 25 (Tigard, Metzger, and South Beaverton). In his first term, he was elected by his colleagues as House Majority Leader. 

Ben has secured millions of dollars for our community, including $3 million for safety improvements on Hall Boulevard. In 2023, he was a chief architect of Oregon’s landmark Early Literacy Success Initiative, with $150 million allocated to support school districts in teaching young children how to read. He was the champion for launching the Dolly Parton Imagination Library statewide in Oregon—ensuring every Oregon kid, from birth to 5-years-old, is eligible to receive one free book per month in the mail.

Ben is the co-chair of the Oregon Future Caucus and a member of the New DEAL Leaders Program. He was selected to attend the Emerging Legislative Leaders Program through the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, and he graduated from the Western Legislative Academy through the Council of State Governments.​

Dr. Steve Gordon is the president and CEO of St. Charles Health System. He completed his internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital and has a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.

Dr. Gordon served on the St. Charles Board of Directors from 2014 to 2022 before taking on the position of CEO. He also serves on the Hospital Association of Oregon Board. He has more than three decades of experience in health care as a former provider, educator and executive.

Dr. Gordon’s career has spanned clinical medicine, executive leadership, and health policy with a focus on improving health system performance and community health outcomes.