Our Team
Chris Hanna, MBA
CEO – Walnut Hill Medical
20 Years of Medical Device Commercialization Experience
Chris Hanna is the founder and CEO of Walnut Hill Medical. Walnut Hill Medical is a medical device professional services organization and a proven leader in healthcare policy.
With 20+ years of significant commercial and health policy leadership, He has commercialized multiple Class II and III external and active implantable neurostimulation devices.
He developed the commercial, operational infrastructure, health policy, reimbursement, and prior authorization strategies for Spark Biomedical, an auricular transcutaneous stimulator treating opioid withdrawal.
Prior to Spark Biomedical, He was a company founder and principal commercial leader at Nuvectra Medical, a spinal cord stimulation company, where he effectively built the business’ operational infrastructure, reimbursement, and prior authorization teams.
Before joining Nuvectra, He was the Director of Health Policy and Reimbursement at St. Jude Neuromodulation, leading a team of 25 case managers that processed over 22,000 prior authorizations annually for spinal cord stimulators. Additionally, he oversaw the Field Reimbursement team that educated 1,000+ customers on proper procedure billing and coding. He successfully led St. Jude’s Congressional lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, in removing the medical device tax from the Affordable Care Act.
His expertise and opinions on commercial and health policy are nationally recognized and respected. He is a former Adjunct Professor of US Health Policy at Southern Methodist University, where he earned his MBA. He received his Bachelor of Finance degree from Clemson University.
Chris Jordan
President – Walnut Hill Medical
Chris Jordan brings over 20 years of expertise in the medical device industry to his role
as President of Walnut Hill Medical. Chris has leadership experience driving sustained
and profitable growth across a diverse array of device companies, ranging from startups
to global leaders.
Chris began his career in the pain management sector with Neuro Resource Group,
where he developed proficiency in clinical knowledge and sales. He then joined St. Jude
Medical, where he advanced through increasingly senior roles in Healthcare
Economics, Corporate Accounts, Health Policy, and Enterprise Accounts. Following
Abbott's acquisition of St. Jude Medical, Chris continued his successful trajectory,
ultimately leading the $500 million Cardiology Enterprise Accounts Area. In this role, he
played a pivotal part in formulating and executing regional and national strategies for
long-term growth.
Passionate about building high-performing teams and fostering a winning culture, Chris
is dedicated to creating environments where innovation thrives, and individuals excel.
He has built a reputation for leading successful teams, driving innovation, and
effectively introducing new technologies and therapies to the market.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the University of North Texas and his MS in
Healthcare Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Kathy O'Neill, MBA
Director, Health Policy & Reimbursement
Kathy has been working in the medical device industry for more than 20 years. Her
years of experience and leadership continue to drive her work as a consultant to
medical device companies today.
As Senior Manager of Healthcare Economics for AngioDynamics, Inc., she developed
the AMA/CPT coding submission for a unique, critical care vascular device. She also
created the reimbursement strategy and infrastructure for the Vascular Interventions
Division.
Prior to that, Kathy was Senior Manager of Reimbursement, Health Policy & Prior
Authorization for Nuvectra Medical, where she worked with leadership and external
stakeholders to affect both government and commercial health policy in the US
neuromodulation market.
Kathy also spent 10 years working for Medtronic, Inc. in the Cardiac Rhythm
Management, then Neuromodulation Division. As Senior Manager, Health Economics,
she was the field reimbursement liaison for 45 sales representatives in 7 states,
regularly providing hospitals, physicians and facilities with economics and policy
analysis and coding, billing and reimbursement education. During her tenure, she
educated over 100 physicians, residents and fellows on reimbursement for
neuromodulation therapies.
Kathy spent 6 years working in advanced wound management, most notably with
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. and Smith & Nephew, Inc., obtaining government and
commercial coverage, ensuring appropriate coding and reimbursement for novel
biologics considered medical devices. She started her medical device journey working
in dialysis care management for 5 years.
Kathy has an MBA in Health & Medical Services Administration from Widener University
and is an AAPC-Certified Outpatient Coder (COC).
Publication: O'Neill K. Spinal Cord Stimulation Leads: A Coding Perspective. AAPC
Healthcare Business Monthly July 2019, pp. 44-45. URL:
https://www.aapc.com/blog/47629-spinal-cord-stimulation-leads-a-coding-perspective/
Grace Cuillier
Director of Strategy
Grace earned a BS in microbiology at Washington State University where she studied
the innate immune response to West Nile Virus. She later obtained Master of Microbial
Biotechnology and MBA degrees from North Carolina State University where she
focused heavily on entrepreneurship and the challenges associated with bringing new
technologies to market. She worked closely with the technology transfer office and
cutting-edge innovations.
Grace has worked with a number of innovative companies in the biotechnology space
including United Therapeutics and Grifols. During her tenure at United Therapeutics,
she was a member of both the marketing and medical affairs teams where she helped
implement their patient education program in rare diseases and contributed to the
presentation of new clinical data. At Grifols she was heavily involved with sales
analytics with the immunology and neurology therapy teams.
She then focused on supporting innovation for multiple technologies and moved to
Proxima Clinical Research where she was a member of the business development and
regulatory affairs teams. She specialized in assisting emerging medtech companies
navigate the nuanced pathways to obtain regulatory approval.
At Walnut Hill Medical, she has built on her cross-disciplinary background to guide
medtech companies through the reimbursement, prior authorization, and DME
processes. Grace is committed to the success of biotech and medtech companies and
is ready to help innovators and founders navigate the “valley of death” from ideation to
commercialization.
Kenneth R. Callahan III
Vice President, Business Development
Kenneth R. Callahan III was the Chief of Staff for Deputy Secretary Hargan in the
Immediate Office of the Secretary (IOS) at the US Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
In this role, Ken was responsible for department-wide strategic initiatives including but
not limited to healthcare regulatory reform, innovation, and healthcare finance. He
directly supported the HHS Secretary on policy development and execution for the
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Office of the Chief Information
Officer, the Office of Administration, and the Office of Finance. Ken supported the
Deputy Secretary on executing the HHS/CMS regulatory agenda, allocation and
distribution of $175 billion from the Provider Relief Fund.
He played major roles in cross-departmental initiatives such as telehealth expansion,
Stark and Anti-kickback reform, the Rural Health Action Plan and launching LymeX –
the largest public-private partnership to combat Lyme disease in history.
As part of his inter-agency responsibilities, he regularly interfaced with the White House
Domestic Policy Council, Council of Economic Advisors, National Security Council,
Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S.
Department of State on these initiatives.
He began his career on Capitol Hill working for Congressman David Joyce (R-OH). Ken
received his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and his Masters in Health
Administration (MHA) from Cornell University. Ken is also a member of OhioX’s public
policy committee, a mentor at Nucleate an activator for next-generation
bioentrepreneurs through Johns Hopkins University, is a mentor at Case Western
Reserve University’s venture program for bioentrepreneur and is on the advisory board
of Sovrintri which is an at home monitoring system used to promote independence at
home.