About Dr. Heather Jelonek
Dr. Heather Jelonek completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the University of Illinois – Chicago before beginning her healthcare career at First Health Group Corporation, where her passion for integrating healthcare began. As she rose within the ranks of the health insurance industry, she earned her Master Degree in Clinical Psychology at Benedictine University in Lisle Illinois. Heather holds professional licenses in the States of Illinois and Arizona as a Counselor specializing in childhood and adolescent behavioral health. Throughout her career, Dr. Jelonek struggled with closing the mental health gap with the healthcare industry and viewed this obstacle as the primary threat to the spiraling costs of healthcare. Her current role as the Director of Value Based Programs at Health Current has opened new opportunities to improve healthcare integration, improve outcomes and reduce costs from a trauma informed approach.
During her studies at Cummings Graduate Institute, Dr. Jelonek was introduced to the ground breaking CDC/Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences study and the connection between the long-term medical costs associated and unaddressed childhood trauma, which led to the focus of her culminating project. For her culminating project, Dr. Jelonek developed a model for the health insurance industry to incentivize healthcare providers to screen for ACE’s, thus reducing the financial burden on patient premiums, lowering the long term cost of care for insurance companies, and improving patient care outcomes.
Learn more about Dr. Jelonek’s culminating project research by listening to her recent interview on the Disruptors at Work: an Integrated Care podcast.
Get to know Dr. Jelonek and learn about her experience in the DBH program by watching any of the videos below.
