The Gravity Project, a national HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Accelerator focused on advancing interoperability for social determinants of health (SDOH) data, is pleased to announce the appointment of its’ Steering Committee co-chairs for the 2025–2026 term as well as two new Steering Committee members.
Alex Lipton, JD, chief legal officer at Unite Us, and Lauren Riplinger, JD, chief public policy and impact officer at AHIMA, will serve as the Gravity Project Steering Committee co-chairs for 2025–2026.
“Alex and Lauren are recognized leaders in healthcare and information policy and bring extensive experience and leadership to the Gravity Project at the governance level. Their consistent guidance on strategic planning and key initiatives on the Steering Committee has already made a significant impact, and I am confident their leadership will further advance the Gravity Project’s mission,” said Sarah DeSilvey, co-founder and director of terminology, Gravity Project.
Lipton added, “The Gravity Project accelerates our members’ efforts to standardize how we collect and exchange social care information to meet the needs of the people we serve. By advancing these critical standards, the Gravity Project supports accountability, efficiency, and improved health outcomes for communities nationwide. I am honored to serve as co-chair and look forward to championing this important work.”
Riplinger shared, “The Gravity Project plays a vital role in standardizing how we capture and exchange social care data across the country. I believe by continuing to engage our stakeholders, we will collectively advance our efforts to improve efficiency and the standardized collection, sharing, and use of social needs data with the goal of providing better care for our communities.”
In addition, Jessica Little, MS, RD, vice president of business development and programs at Civitas Networks for Health, and Tracy Wang, MPH, digital solutions director of enterprise data & analytics at Elevance Health, have joined the Gravity Project Steering Committee. Both bring deep cross-sector knowledge and commitment to bridging healthcare and social care data systems and have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to advancing implementation of Gravity standards during their tenure on the Gravity Project’s Operating Committee.
“Jessica and Tracy’s unique expertise in data strategy and community health networks will strengthen Gravity’s ability to align standards development with real-world implementation needs,” said Bogan.
The Gravity Project Steering Committee provides strategic direction to ensure the initiative’s standards and community engagement remain grounded in the evolving needs of healthcare, social care, and public health stakeholders.
About Gravity Project
Established in 2019, the Gravity Project is a nationally recognized multi-stakeholder public collaborative of 2,500+ participants from across the health and human services ecosystem focused on developing consensus-driven data standards to support the collection, use, and exchange of data to address the social determinants of health. As an HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7® FHIR®) Accelerator, the Gravity Project advances the use of data standards for social care in patient care, care coordination between health and human services sectors, population health management, public health, value-based payment, and clinical research. Gravity continues to advance its mission by leveraging its core standards to address national healthcare interoperability priorities related to social care delivery and quality reporting.
