Our quality people make the difference
Every member of the PinnacleCare team has the skill, passion and integrity needed to provide your employees with the support they need to successfully navigate the increasingly challenging health care system.
Our Advocates
Our Advocate team includes highly trained professionals who help your people manage the often daunting health care process.
Meet some of our Advocates
Deniz Ozkok, VP Member Services
In May 2002, Deniz Ozkok joined PinnacleCare. She formerly worked at Johns Hopkins International (JHI) with John Hutchins (managing director and founder of PinnacleCare). As the International Relations Manager at JHI, Deniz significantly increased patient volumes and was responsible for marketing and business development for the European region. Her patient relations work during her tenure at Johns Hopkins gave her an innate understanding of patient needs and expectations. Deniz is very adept at building strong relationships with key hospital staff who are in a position to facilitate medical access, provide discrete personal service and ensure our Members’ security.
Throughout her career, Deniz assisted many high profile foreign government officials including Heads of State and some of the world’s top business leaders. The needs and demands of these clients have given Deniz the experience to anticipate the needs of PinnacleCare Members and to proactively find solutions for them. She ensures customer satisfaction by providing personalized assistance at the stellar level that PinnacleCare Members demand and deserve.
Nuran Saydam, VP Member Services
Nuran Saydam has dedicated her professional career to providing nurturing and attentive services to busy, high-profile individuals. Previous to joining PinnacleCare, Nuran served as a Senior Patient Coordinator for 9 years at Johns Hopkins International (JHI), where she worked with PinnacleCare's Managing Director, John Hutchins and Vice President, Member Services PinnacleCare Advocate Deniz Ozkok.
Nuran’s attention to detail, discretionary nature and warmth helped to create a comfortable and trusting environment for Johns Hopkins patients. As a patient coordinator at JHI, Nuran coordinated special care and arrangements for the hospital’s top VIP international patients, including prime ministers, heads of state and members of parliament. She enjoyed building relationships with these individuals, and was responsible for their high rate of return to the program when the need arose. Nuran served as a mentor for other patient coordinators, who utilized her extensive knowledge in navigating the often confusing healthcare maze.
Joanna Werner, Regional Director, Members Services
Joanna joined PinnacleCare in 2003, and has spent two years developing her advocacy skills and gaining valuable experience navigating the complex healthcare system on her Members’ behalf. Joanna earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from University of Maryland.
Prior to joining PinnacleCare, Joanna worked as a Mental Health Associate at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. In this position, Joanna coordinated care for children and their families, acting as a liaison between the family, doctors and social workers to ensure the needs of her patients were met, typically in crisis situations. Joanna’s key to success in this position was to build strong relationships within her department and throughout the hospital to gain expedited access to appropriate treatment, therefore reducing stress for both the patient and their family.
Joanna now brings her passion for service and excellence to her new role as Regional Director, Member services. She is busy helping her Advocate Team in PinnacleCare's Baltimore office develop new skills, systems and approaches to enable them to provide PinnacleCare's Members with effective and efficient healthcare experiences.
Teresa Lepore, Regional Director, Members Services
Teresa Lepore is a Regional Director, Member Services in PinnacleCare's office in New York, New York. Teresa’s diverse experiences in crisis counseling, non-profit administration, community development, and disease management program development all contribute to her role as a PinnacleCare Team Leader.
Early in her career, Teresa founded Sojourner House in Youngstown, Ohio, a domestic violence shelter facility for families in crisis. In addition to providing crisis invention counseling and managing intake, Teresa supervised and trained staff and planned and organized fundraisers. From there, Teresa went on to serve as a Resource and Capitalization Coordinator for Common Wealth, Inc., where she was responsible for resource development activities, grant writing, fundraising, and marketing. She also provided training and consulting services to community and grassroots groups in community organizing, grant writing, marketing, project planning and resource development.
Most recently, Teresa developed innovative, award-winning disease management programs for WellPoint Health Networks in California. She designed and implemented an asthma management program, which received the 2004 “Best of Blue” Best Practice in Quality Improvement award.
Our research team
Headed by world-renown researcher Dr. Benjamin Yang, PinnacleCare’s research team provides Members with in-depth, objective information on any health topic—from leading edge treatment options and clinical trials to the complete spectrum of health concerns and medical conditions.
