Ellen-Marie Whelan (CMS) Ellen-Marie Whelan, NP, PhD, leads state delivery system reform and Value-Based Transformation activities at CMCS, supporting staff and states to design, implement, and test innovative care delivery and alternative payment models and, as the chief clinical officer, coordinates clinical issues across CMS, especially on maternal and child health. Previously, Dr. Whelan was the Associate Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress during the development and passage of the Affordable Care Act and started her policy career in the U.S Senate as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and served as Staff Director of the Aging Subcommittee to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). Before coming to Capitol Hill, Dr. Whelan was a health services researcher and faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University and practiced as nurse practitioner for over a decade. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in primary care policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.