HL7 honored three members with the 28th annual W. Edward Hammond, Ph.D. Volunteer of the Year Award. Established in 1997, the award is named after Dr. Ed Hammond, one of HL7’s most active volunteers and a founding member and past board chair. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to HL7’s success. The 2025 recipients include:
- Jeff Brown, Principal Healthcare Standards Advisor, Lantana Consulting Group
- Gay Dolin, M.S.N., Principal, Namaste Informatics
- Linda Michaelsen, Director, Healthcare Interoperability Standards, Optum
About the Volunteers
Jeff Brown is a long-time volunteer for HL7, serving in various capacities throughout the organization. He currently sits on the Technical Steering Committee as an implementer representative, is a co-chair of the Implementable Technology Specifications Work Group and is a member of the FHIR Management Group. In addition, he serves as the lead for HL7 DaVinci FHIR Accelerator Burden Reduction group, is a track lead at the FHIR Connectathons and co-authored the Da Vinci – Documentation Templates and Rules FHIR Implementation Guide. Brown also promotes the adoption of HL7 standards by serving on the HL7 Education Advisory Council and is a certified HL7 Educator.
Gay Dolin, M.S.N., has been active in HL7 for twenty years, serving as a driving force behind the development of the most impactful standards in health IT interoperability. As a key designer of the HL7 FHIR US Core Implementation Guide—the foundational guide for all HL7 US Realm guides—and the widely adopted Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture (C-CDA) Implementation Guide, Dolin has played an essential role in enabling the successful exchange of the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI). She has served as co-chair of the HL7 Structured Documents Work Group for over a decade and is a member of the HL7 FHIR Management Group (FMG). Furthermore, Dolin has authored and contributed to numerous other HL7 standards, including the Multiple Chronic Conditions Care Plan and At-Home Result Report FHIR Implementation Guides, the Child Health Functional Profile, Neonatal Care Report and Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA), among others.
Linda Michaelsen,has been active in HL7 since 2015 and has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the advancement of HL7 and its standards. She serves in several influential roles within HL7, including leadership in the CDA Management Group (CMG), membership on the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), and active participation in the Structured Documents Work Group. Through these roles, she has demonstrated deep technical insight, strong collaboration skills, and a strategic mindset that have made a lasting impact on the HL7 community. Michaelsen maintains the three-year roadmap for HL7’s Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) specification and contributes to the C-CDA Implemenation-a-thons and FHIR Connectathons. In addition to her technical contributions, she is a gifted educator and mentor. Michaelsen teaches a class on how to read FHIR Implementation Guides, helping new community members build confidence and competence as they begin their HL7 journeys.
