VALUE CREATION

CareAbout

In order to support its portfolio companies, Ascend has built a management services organization, CareAbout, which employs a team of full-time operating executives with deep experience in improving healthcare delivery.

The CareAbout team is comprised of senior leaders with expertise across the healthcare services ecosystem, including quality improvement, multi-site practice management, data analytics, value-based care delivery, and population health management.

Team

Dr. Nedal Shami

Dr. Nedal Shami

President
William G. Nestor, III

William G. Nestor, III

COO & CAO
Dr. David Shih

Dr. David Shih

CMO
Claudia Honan, Esq.

Claudia Honan, Esq.

CLO
Dr. Munish Khaneja

Dr. Munish Khaneja

CSO
Rob Cho

Rob Cho

Chief Financial Officer and SVP of Finance
Scott Farnsworth

Scott Farnsworth

CMIO
Mohamed Humaidi

Mohamed Humaidi

SVP Data & Analytics
Afraz Haque

Afraz Haque

VP Business Development

Dr. Nedal Shami

President

Dr. Nedal Shami is the President of CareAbout. Prior to CareAbout, Nedal was a co-founder of CityMD. At CityMD, Nedal served as Chief Operating Officer followed by Chief Growth Officer and board member, where he led and was responsible for all aspects of growth inclusive of M&A, De Novo, Payer and Health System Strategies. Following CityMD, Nedal founded dntl bar, a dental focused platform with the goal of simplifying customer experience. Nedal completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was Chief Resident. He is a board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician who practices at The Valley Hospital, an institution in Northern New Jersey, as well as St.- Luke's Roosevelt in NYC, an academic affiliate of the Columbia School of Medicine. Nedal serves on several boards, including Upstream, the nation's largest Physical Therapy provider, the NYU Entrepreneur Institute, and Small Door Veterinary.Dr. Shami holds a B.S. in Biology from New York University and his MD from the UCD School of Medicine.

William G. Nestor, III

COO & CAO

Will Nestor is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Mr. Nestor served as the Chief Performance Officer and Corporate Counsel at Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc., where he helped turnaround, integrate, and operate hospitals, medical groups, and health systems across the country. Mr. Nestor was also the Senior Director of Operations at Mount Sinai Health System, where he served in various administrative, operational, and strategic leadership roles to grow and improve Mt. Sinai Health System’s size, profitability, and quality. In addition to his operational experience, Mr. Nestor was an Associate Attorney at Genova Burns and a Judicial Law Clerk for the State of New Jersey.Mr. Nestor received his J.D.from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he focused on Health Care Law, Commercial Transactions, and International Law. Mr. Nestor received his M.B.A. from Rutgers Business School, where he focused on Health Care Administration, Operations, and Finance. In addition, he holds credentials as a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional from Seton Hall University of Law.

Dr. David Shih

CMO

Dr. David Shih is the Chief Medical Officer of CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Dr. Shih was the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of CityMD, where he also operated as their Executive Vice President of Strategy Health & Innovation. At CityMD, Dr. Shih was responsible for hiring the first 100 physicians, the creation of CityMD’s Academy training services and Aftercare Services medical staff training, and the creation of systems and processes to help CityMD scale and retain care-quality. Dr. Shih is the founder of Master Clinicians, and presently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Rendr Care. Dr. Shih worked as an attending physician in Northwell Health’s emergency room at Huntington Hospital. He completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.Dr. Shih holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from Binghamton University. He holds his M.D. from the New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine.

Claudia Honan, Esq.

CLO

Claudia Honan, Esq. is the Chief Legal Officer of CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Ms. Honan served as the General Counsel of Health Plus Management, where she was responsible for all legal and compliance aspects of the Company and served as a key member of the C-Suite. Mrs. Honan was also the former General Counsel to CityMD, where she advised on a broad array of issues, including fraud and abuse, governance, corporate compliance, transactional arrangements, patient-related legal issues, and HIPAA compliance. Ms. Honan has been named as a "Super Lawyer” for each of the past ten consecutive years. She has also been named to "Best Lawyers in America" for 2022. Ms. Honan presently serves on the Business Advisory Council of SUNY Geneseo’s John W. Jones School of Business. She also serves on its Social Impact Committee.

Ms. Honan graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Business from SUNY Geneseo’s John W. Jones School of Business. She holds a J.D. with distinction from Hofstra University School of Law.

Dr. Munish Khaneja

CSO

Dr. Munish Khaneja is the Chief Strategy Officer of CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Dr. Khaneja served as the Chief Medical Officer of Altruista Health, Inc., where he oversaw clinical strategy and regulatory innovation across all products and services. Prior to Altruista, Dr. Khaneja served as Vice President of Clinical Effectiveness and Pharmacy at EmblemHealth, where he was also the Corporate Clinical Lead for Population Health and Value Based Purchasing. Dr. Khaneja has served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Affinity Health Plan and the Greater Hudson Valley Health Center. He was also a Hospitalist at Kings County Health Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Khaneja presently maintains academic affiliation as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. He is a board member and advisor to numerous national organizations and corporations, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Khaneja graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Chemistry from Brooklyn College. He holds his M.D. from the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Khaneja holds his M.S. in Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He is trained in Internal Medicine and General Pediatrics, is a board-certified internist, and is certified in Medical and Healthcare Informatics.

Rob Cho

Chief Financial Officer and SVP of Finance

Rob Cho is the Chief Financial Officer and SVP of Finance at CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Mr. Cho served as the Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting and Interim CFO at Commonwealth Care Alliance, where he oversaw all financial matters at the Medicare and Medicaid integrated payer and provider. Mr. Cho’s financial leadership experience also includes serving as the Medicaid Market CFO for Gateway Health, Finance Lead of Health Plan Operations at Highmark, and VP of FP&A at APS Healthcare. In addition to internally focused financial management, Mr. Cho has led M&A and capital raising projects with United Health and Universal American. Mr. Cho has also led healthcare M&A, strategy, and operations projects for Deloitte and PwC.
 
Mr. Cho holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. He also holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Scott Farnsworth

CMIO

Scott Farnsworth is the Chief Medical Information Officer at CareAbout. Prior to joining CareAbout, Mr. Farnsworth served as the Vice President of Clinical Systems & Solution Architecture at Kindred Healthcare, where he was responsible for the conceptualization, design, and development of enterprise-wide clinical solutions. Mr. Farnsworth was also the Vice President of Population Health Technology at Humana, and the CIO to their Managed Services Organization, Transcend MSO. In addition, Mr. Farnsworth worked as a nurse in hospital intensive care and critical care units, on MedSurg floors, in nursing homes, and home health/hospice settings.

Mr. Farnsworth holds a B.S. in Psychology and Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University. He also holds his M.S. in Integrative Health Science from Capital University of Integrative Medicine. In addition, he graduated from Platt College of Nursing and is a certified Project Management Professional from the Project Management Institute.

Mohamed Humaidi

SVP Data & Analytics

Mohamed Humaidi is the Senior Vice President of Data & Analytics at CareAbout. Prior to CareAbout, Mr. Humaidi was the Vice President of Healthcare Data & Analytics of Franciscan Alliance and the former Vice President of Accountable Care Analytics at Northwell Health, where he helped integrate delivery systems and move health plans to become data-driven decision organizations to achieve their strategic goals. Mr. Humaidi has also worked with large health plans such as HHC MetroPlus, Fidelis Care, Emblem Health, and Affinity Health Plan to build multiple end-to-end analytic solutions from data warehousing to data visualization.

Mr. Humaidi holds a B.S. in Information Systems and Mathematics from the College of Staten Island. He is also trained in Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Afraz Haque

VP Business Development

Afraz Haque is the Vice President of Business Development at CareAbout. Prior to CareAbout, Mr. Haque was the Senior Physician Account Executive at Quest Diagnostics, where he was responsible for the integration and day-to-day operations of commercial lab services for various medical groups, including CityMD, AFC Urgent Care, MD365, and Tia Clinic. Mr. Haque has also served in various business development roles at organizations including MasterClinicians and Rally.co.

Mr. Haque holds a B.S. as a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Sciences in Philadelphia. He also holds his Financial Planning and Services certification from Fordham University.