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Honoree Headshot

Michael Popovich

CEO
STChealth, LLC

Location: Phoenix, AZ
Founded: 1988
Industry: Health IT

When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit, it was new territory for most of the world. For STChealth, though, it was just the latest public health crisis it was called to tackle.

“Whether it was a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, smallpox as a bioterrorism event after 9/11, or an emerging disease such as Zika, we were the first to call our public health and clinical partners and help,” the company said. “And now the world has a global pandemic. But this is not new to us. It is just the next challenge in a long line of public health disease challenges over 34 years, albeit on a larger scale. Our IT solutions, our professional services, and our clients we serve put us all on the front lines once again just in time.”

Aside from its employees, data is STChealth’s most valuable tool, CEO Michael Popovich said, and data was essential for public health entities working through the pandemic.

“Having run a national data exchange network that connected U.S. pharmacies to public health and supported the exchange of one billion patient vaccine events in 2021, we were called upon to provide situational real-time analysis specific to the COVID-19 vaccine efforts across the U.S.,” Popovich said. “Calls came from individuals in states who wanted to travel, to the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House Covid Task Force. All required insight from data and information. Fortunately, working with our partners, we were able to provide this information in a time frame that mattered.”

STChealth is a leader in the immunization and tech arenas, using vaccine intelligence to monitor, manage and mobilize data for a healthier future.

In the next five years, STChealth plans to use the lessons from the pandemic as a springboard to transform the immunization landscape. STChealth will expand its health information solutions further to create data systems that combine patient information across health systems and state boundaries and between disconnected public health data reporting systems.

Thanks to the systems Popovich developed, there is now a connected network of over 54,000 vaccine provider locations to all 58 state and territorial immunization information systems. The network was essential to the preparedness and response during both the H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemics. More than 47% of the U.S.-administered COVID-19 doses have gone through STChealth’s network.

Popovich has been working with Qatar in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which Qatar will host. Popovich is leading the immunization efforts there and overseeing proof of COVID-19 vaccination to ensure a safe global event.

Presented by:

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Did you know?

Mike Popovich’s father moved from Croatia to the U.S. with nothing and had to start from scratch. This instilled in Mike at a young age the value of hard work and entrepreneurship.

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