Ali Byro embarked on her career in the dynamic world of advertising, spending 11 formative years working in agencies in both Chicago and Baltimore. This experience provided a strong foundation in strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and effective communication. She worked with clients in a variety of industries, but healthcare was her passion.

Drawing on her advertising background and a natural affinity for teamwork, Ali seamlessly transitioned into healthcare administration. She has been with Johns Hopkins Care at Home for over seven years. As the Director of Administrative Services, Ali leads executive communications, marketing, and development of strategic initiatives, as well as serving as a liaison for government affairs and external stakeholder groups.

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Breakout Session 203 – Workforce Safety: Building an Industry-Leading Model

Rachel Gartner is the founder and CEO of Carework, where she helps home care agencies hire caregivers faster through a blend of human recruiting expertise and smart, AI-powered systems. Since founding Carework in 2018, Rachel and her team have helped agencies across the U.S. make over 30,000 caregiver hires, building stronger teams and empowering agency owners to scale with confidence. She believes technology should support, not replace, human connection, a principle that guides Carework’s people-first approach to innovation. Rachel is also an Army wife and mom to two young kids. 

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Breakout Session 101 – Human + AI: Building a Scalable, Caregiver-First Hiring Process

Welton Hong is the founder of Senior Care Marketing Max. Welton is a leading expert in helping home care agencies generate more clients from online directly to the phone line. He’s the author of the book “Home Care Marketing 2.0.”

Welton has a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to starting Ring Ring Marketing, he was a senior technologist at R&D facilities for Intel, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle. He regularly speaks at conferences and other events for people in the senior care and end-of-life industries.   

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Breakout Session 103 - What Will & Will Not Work in 2026 For Generating More Billable Hours & Clients

Danna Lubrani Kauffman, Esq. is the managing partner of Schwartz, Metz, Wise, & Kauffman, P.A., bringing decades of experience across state government and the private sector. Beginning in 1997, she served as Counsel to the Maryland House Environmental Matters Committee, where she worked on complex health care policy issues. She later spent three years as a senior legislative advisor to Governor Parris Glendening, advising on a broad range of issues including health, environmental policy, civil rights, and homeland security.

Prior to joining SMWK, Danna served as Senior Vice President of Public Policy for LifeSpan Network, Maryland’s leading senior care provider association. She began her legal career as a litigation attorney at Smith, Somerville and Case, P.A.

Raised in Howard County, Maryland, Danna earned her undergraduate degree in Economics, graduating cum laude from Towson University. She received her law degree with honors from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Maryland Law Review. Danna resides in Annapolis with her two children.

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State Legislative Update

Donald currently serves as the Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Public Safety for the Johns Hopkins Health System. Previously, as Director of Regional Safety Field Operations, he led safety and security initiatives for Johns Hopkins Care at Home and Johns Hopkins Community Physicians. Before joining Johns Hopkins, Don was the Director of Security for MedStar Harbor Hospital, where he managed the security plan, emergency preparedness program, and chaired the workplace violence committee.

His extensive career also includes 28 years of service with the United States Capitol Police, retiring as an Inspector in 2021, and 20 years in the Maryland Army National Guard, retiring as an Infantry First Sergeant in 2007. Don holds both a Bachelor’s and master's in science in Management from Johns Hopkins University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Senior Management Institute for Police. 

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Rama Abou-Seif is a dedicated Project Manager within the Project Management Office at Johns Hopkins Care at Home, with a passion for healthcare innovation and workforce safety. With four years of experience in the healthcare industry, Rama has supported the development and advancement of employee safety initiatives that protect home and community-based staff. She manages a range of cross-functional projects that improve care delivery and operational efficiency, contributing to the organization's mission to provide high-quality care in the home setting. Rama played a key role in shaping JHCH’s first comprehensive employee safety program. She also co-authored the Home Care Worker Safety Resource Guide, a nationally distributed tool offering recommendations for protecting mobile healthcare workers. 

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Breakout Session 203 – Workforce Safety: Building an Industry-Leading Model

Rohit Shetty is the Founder & CEO of AutoMynd, an AI-native “system of action” reimagining the legacy EMR for home-based care. Prior to AutoMynd, he led Bayada Home Health’s AI and Automation program, delivering process improvements that strengthened cash flow and reduced time spent across intake and frontline clinician workflows.

Based in Reston, VA (DMV area), Rohit brings deep expertise in process engineering, automation, and practical applications of AI in home health and hospice. His current focus is making AI accessible to operators and owners in a way that keeps financial performance, compliance, clinician satisfaction, and patient outcomes at the center.

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Breakout Session 201 – Cognitive Capacity: The Hidden Constraint Behind Agency Growth

Monika Virk, MD is Founder and CEO of an AI-powered SaaS platform (HOP) serving post discharge providers nationwide. She brings over 10 years of healthcare quality expertise, including service as Director of Quality at Inova VNA Home Health where she prevented over $1M in CMS readmission penalties and systematically connected quality data with frontline clinician education. Her evidence-based approach to microlearning and spaced repetition emerged from direct observation of the disconnect between quality teams, educators, and field clinicians. She authored this white paper synthesizing peer-reviewed learning science research and real-world healthcare implementations.

Monika holds an MD degree and specialized expertise in Medicare Star Ratings, Value-Based Purchasing, QAPI methodologies, and adult learning principles. Her work has demonstrated that targeted, mobile-first continuing education directly improves quality metrics while reducing training burden on busy professionals. She is passionate about translating learning science research into practical tools that deliver measurable clinical outcomes. 

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Fariborz Zarfeshan, RPh, is a veteran pharmacist with 38 years of experience and the CEO and co-founder of ALFA Specialty Pharmacy. His diverse career includes experience at acute care at institutions like Johns Hopkins Hospital, projects with medical faculty at George Washington Medical Center, and Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center, as well as home infusion services, long-term care, and disease management program development.

For the past 19 years, he has focused on delivering high-touch, pharmacist-led care to vulnerable populations—especially those with developmental disabilities and chronic conditions requiring complex medication regimens. A forward thinker and passionate mentor, Fariborz believes pharmacy must evolve into a more collaborative, patient-centered model. He encourages pharmacy students and professionals to embrace this shift, delivering care where it’s needed most—with empathy, innovation, and clinical excellence. 

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