Judy Faulkner -- October 21, 2024

Locator: 48616QUAKERS.

Bio: if you have time to read only one wiki-bio today, this is the one to read. Judy Faulkner. 

Forbes, October 19, 2024:

From wiki with edits:

Judith R. Faulkner (born August 11, 1943) is an American billionaire businesswoman who is the CEO and founder of Epic Systems, a healthcare software company located in Verona, Wisconsin. 

Faulkner founded Epic Systems in 1979, with the original name of Human Services Computing. In 2013, Forbes called her "the most powerful woman in healthcare", and as of July 2024, estimated her net worth at US$7.8 billion.

Faulkner's parents inspired her early interest in healthcare; her father, Louis, was a pharmacist, and her mother, Del, was the director of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. She was raised in the Erlton neighborhood of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and graduated from Moorestown Friends School (Quaker school) in 1961. 

She received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Dickinson College (major Quaker influence) and a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In 1979, shortly after receiving her master's degree, Faulkner co-founded Human Services Computing, with Dr. John Greist (psychiatrist), Human Services Computing, which later became Epic Systems, began in a basement at 2020 University Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin.

The company was started with a $70,000 investment from friends and family but has never taken investment from venture capital or private equity and remains a privately held company.

In fact, Faulkner prides herself in the fact that Epic is homegrown; they have never acquired another company, and Faulkner has stated they will never go public. Epic Systems now holds the medical records of over 325 million people. Faulkner and her family currently own 43 percent of Epic Systems.

It would have been fascinating to see her business plan in 1979 -- starting with that $70,000.

One wonders if Faulkner's path crossed that of Dr James F. Crow, a highly influential physician with ties to the Quakers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Link here. He received his undergraduate degree from Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, 1937. From wiki:

James Franklin Crow (January 18, 1916 – January 4, 2012) was Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a prominent population geneticist whose career spanned from the modern synthesis to the genomic era.

He was president of both the Genetics Society of America and the American Society of Human Genetics. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, The American Philosophical Society, the World Academy of Art and Science, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS).

All this would have caught my attention regardless, but about two weeks ago, after reading about President US Grant, I became interested in the Quakers. I ordered, from Amazon, The Quakers In America, and found it absolutely fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Then, coincidentally and pure serendipity, I come across this article on Judy Faulkner.

Personal note for the grandchildren: perhaps one of the first, if not the first really big electronic medical record systems was with/through the military: CHCS I and CHCS II. From November 21, 2005, this link.

Incredibly phenomenal systems. Again, Lt Gen Charles H Roadman, II, link here, played a huge role in the success of that system.

I was the commander of the USAF hospital at  Langley AFB, VA, and General Roadman tasked us with beta-testing the CHCS II modules as they were delivered to the Air Force.

It's my recollection our hospital was the only Air Force medical facility so tasked but I could certainly be wrong. It was an incredible endeavor for the physicians and nurses to beta test these modules but they did and they came through with flying colors, as they say. It was truly amazing what these medics -- support staff, nurses, physicians, administrators -- accomplished -- including multiple deployments to the Middle East to support troops there. It was an exciting and rewarding period of my life.