The future of virtual health
Akos is a pioneer in virtual health, offering patient-centered solutions
that in turn benefit employers, physicians and healthcare centers.With a
device agnostic interface that lets you virtually consult with a board-
certified provider anywhere, anytime and care coordinators to ensure
your needs are always being met,Akos strives to provide the most
comprehensive telemedicine virtual care in the industry.
Meet the Akos Team
Our seasoned team of professionals brings decades of experience in
healthcare and business to the field of virtual medicine.
Kishlay Anand, MD MS
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Anand is a Cardiovascular Surgeon and is Board-Certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiac Electrophysiology.
Dr. Anand received his medical degree from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India, and his Master’s degree in Epidemiology from Columbia University. He completed his residency and fellowship of Internal Medicine at Creighton University, and his fellowship in the Division of Cardiology and the Division of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Creighton University. Dr. Anand’s entrepreneurial experience includes being the chairman and founding partner for Prayatna, a voluntary organization that works in the area of promoting health awareness and patient welfare. In January 2002 when Gujarat, India was hit by a massive earthquake, he raised funds for earthquake victims and organized an emergency medical relief team that delivered health care under extremely challenging conditions.
Swaraj Singh, MD
Founder & Chief Innovation Officer
Dr. Singh is a Neurologist by profession, and Technologist by passion. He merged those two interests together, and
co-founded AkosMD with Dr. Anand, He completed his neurology training at combining the latest in technology with the best practices of medicine. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and VA hospital, Little Rock AR, where he also served as chief resident. He did a fellowship in vascular neurology at University of Massachusetts. Dr. Singh has various publications during his training including co-authoring a textbook chapter. He has presented his research in various national and international conferences. He has been awarded many times including best resident of the year, Jeff Nicholas prize for dedication towards care of veterans and a prize for evidence-based improvement in practice. Dr. Singh speaks 4 languages, loves to play the Indian Classical Flute known as the Bansuri, and is married to a physician and has 2 lovely daughters.
Maria Shah, MD
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Shah has over 15 years of healthcare experience. After receiving her Doctorate in Medicine, she was a postdoctoral
research fellow in the pharmaceutical industry as a Clinical Investigator/Sub-Investigator and Clinical Rater for patient- centered clinical trials in diabetes and obesity, as well as diabetes and depression. Dr. Shah moved into Healthcare Administration and Medical Case Management and has over 10 years in managed care experience including Chronic Care Management, Remote Patient Monitoring, and Utilization Review in leading the development of policy and strategic programs to promote the continuity of care throughout the healthcare system. She is an outspoken advocate of finding ways to improve the delivery of care to serve patients’ needs in an evidence-based, cost-effective, and patient-centric manner. Dr. Shah has previously held executive level positions including as Medical Directorships and Chief Medical Officer for TPAs, health plans and PPO networks. Dr. Shah also serves on the boards of several non for profit organizations, and as well as Advisory Boards for various specialty pharmacies.
Dean Hoffman, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Dean Hoffman is a senior executive with over 25 years of diverse executive leadership. His financial, operational, and
entrepreneurial expertise has been the foundation of his working with both private and publicly traded companies throughout his career. He has extensive experience in the healthcare and technology sectors and has been a business consultant to companies in a wide range of industries. Dean lends his business expertise to various not for profit organizations primarily in the healthcare, social service, and education arenas by serving on their respective boards of directors. He has also been a guest lecturer in the business schools at both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. Dean holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration, cum laude, from Illinois State University and a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University.
Tom Henke
Senior Vice President-Growth Officer
Tom Henke is AkosMD’s Senior Vice President of Sales and is responsible for all growth initiatives. Tom is an experienced
health care executive with deep digital health, care management and managed care experience. Tom spent 20 years in managed care and spent 10 years as Senior Vice President, General Manager and Chief Innovation Officer at Medica Health Plans, and in 2010 Tom left Medica to launch QuickCheck Health, an early virtual care startup. Later, he led national sales at both Amplifon, a managed care approach to hearing health care and Medtronic Care Management Services, a leader in remote patient monitoring and chronic care management. In both organizations he was responsible for sales and account success in the payer, provider and employer markets. In both companies he also led the development of innovative, first-in-market, value-based offerings. Tom has a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Minnesota and is a frequent speaker on topics including consumer-based health care, digital health, care management, health care innovation and value-based care.
Scott Dlugos, MD
Medical Director, Virtual Primary Care
Dr. Dlugos was born in Detroit, and completed his undergraduate education at Harvard and Doctorate in Medicine from
the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He then completed his residency at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Dlugos moved to San Diego after completing residency in 1993 and became a “flying ER doctor” crisscrossing the southwestern US in his private plane until 2003. He has traveled around the world several times surfing and playing polo; he played polo semi-professionally until 2009.
Joann Damawand
Vice President of Clinical Operations
Joann Damawand has 30 + years of experience in healthcare. Her clinical journey began as a hospital staff nurse
managing pre- and post-operative patients in neurology and orthopedics. She discovered the business of healthcare, and switched over the administrative healthcare, with 20 years in the health care insurance industry working with multiple health plans including self-funded plans, stoploss insurers, and Taft-Hartley plans. Joann is an entrepreneur by passion, and this led her to start the Algonquin Company in 2000, an organization that provided managed health care services for the unique needs of American Indian membership and businesses across the Midwest.
Dewanzer Dawson
Director of Clinical Operations
Dewanzer – Dee, as she’s affectionately known as, is the Director of Clinical Operations at AkosMD with over 13 years
of experience in healthcare. Dee has worked in many settings from nursing homes to home health settings, and primary care offices to hospitals. She also was an instructor for medical assistance. Dee has strong operational experience which makes her a powerful force in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Dee is inspired daily by her husband and her one son. In her free time, Dee loves to volunteer to feed the homeless, assist ex-prisoners to learn to adjust in the community, go on walks, play Pokémon and enjoy time with her family and friends.
Kimberly Thomas
Director of Population Health Monitoring
Kim has been in the healthcare industry for over 30 years, in many sectors. Although her passion is in creating the perfect
patient experience; over time, she has gained an abundance of knowledge and skills. Progressively, her experience has come from laboratory processing,medical dispatching, multi-office management, serving as a director for dual-departments, and more. Kim is a dedicated servant leader who focuses on putting the well-being of the patients, team, providers, staff, colleagues, and organization first. She feels this gives her the best opportunity to have a hand in providing quality care and a warm experience to patients and their families.Kim is an Arizona native with 2 adult children and 5 beautiful grandchildren with whom she spends most of her free time. Family game night is her favorite. When the rest of the family is ready to call it a night, Kim is gearing up for the 2nd half. When asked what her friends and family say about her, Kim says she has always been told that she has a beautiful spirit and an inviting smile. Her response, “I owe it all to my faith and my desire to be the example and to always lift the spirits of others.”
Anjmun Sharma, MD, MS
Medical Director, Worker’s Compensation
Dr. Sharma is a Board Certified Family and Occupational Medicine Practitioner with over 15 years of experience.
He completed his bachelors at SUNY Geneseo, Masters in Pharmacology from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, and his Doctorate in Medicine from Ross University School of Medicine with three years of General Surgery Graduate Medical Education; ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) and ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) certifications. Dr has extensive experience in Clinical Case Management, providing expert testimony in administrative court, completing independent medical exams, determining causality, compensability, and managing catastrophic cases. Dr. Sharma currently lives in Colorado Springs, CO where he enjoys the Great Outdoors and Hiking, Skiing, and Boating.
Rick Sloan, MD
Medical Director, Akos Urgent Care
Dr. Rick Sloan grew up in rural Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado. Dr. Sloan spent 10 years serving
our country in the United States Navy and is now a disabled Veteran, due to an accident on his After serving in the Navy, Dr. Sloan went back to college and graduated from the University of Colorado Medical School in 2002. He then completed his residency in Family Medicine at Saint Joseph’s residency program in Phoenix, AZ, where he served as the Chief Resident. After residency Dr. Sloan started his career working on the reservation at Salt River and Gila River Indian Health Communities, where he rapidly gained experience in helping patients with their drug and alcohol problems. Dr. Sloan has helped several thousand patients and has been successful keeping his patients clean and sober. Dr. Sloan opened his own practice in 2010 and his addiction practice grew tremendously. Dr. Sloan continues to work in Family medicine, Addiction Medicine, and in the Urgent care. Dr. Sloan also does outpatient detoxes, and provides continuity of care with medically assisted treatment (MAT). Dr. Sloan’s clinic is the only one of its kind in Arizona, and in 2016 Dr. Sloan had the pleasure of serving on the Governor of Arizona’s Substance Abuse Task Force.
Kelly Haskins ..
Director of Clinical Services
My name is Kelly Haskins. I am the Director of Clinical Services with Akos MD. I have been with Akos MD since 2019.
I am originally from Oklahoma and have been living in Arizona for about 15 years. I have been a nurse for about 11 years. I have worked in multiple different specialties, Neuro/Trauma Med Surg, PCU, Obs/ER, Post Cath Lab and Pulmonary and Home Health. I have three children, three dogs and a desert tortoise. My hobbies are anything outdoors and being at the beach. I enjoy watching my kids play sports, horseback riding, fishing and being out at the lake riding sea doos or boating.
Matt McDonald
VPC Account Manager
Matt is an Account Manager with AkosMD. He has over 25 years of healthcare experience. Prior healthcare experience
includes account management, new client implementations and onboarding. Matt enjoys performing at local community theater’s, swinging away with his wife on the golf course and preparing new and exciting recipes. Matt is also the very proud father of his son who is currently serving his country in the Navy.
Nitin Gupta
Director of Finance
Finance leader with an excellent record of collaborating across various organizational levels, driving business growth and
shareholder value, and partnering with business leaders to lead flawless execution of objectives. Demonstrated career progression spanning management accounting and reporting, strategic financial planning & analysis in the largest bank of Canada and corporate finance leadership in an innovative health care organization.
Sydnie Lengyel
Business Development Executive
Sydnie Lengyel comes to AkosMd with 5 years of Healthcare experience. Her experience was focusing on the growth of
the business, contract initiation and negotiation, marketing the business, and onboarding new business. Sydnie graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Western Colorado University where she majored in Sports Science and Communications with an emphasis on Sales Development. She also competed as a D2 athlete playing basketball at Western Colorado. Sydnie enjoys spending her down time watching sports, traveling, and enjoying her time with her daughter and husband. Her drive comes from her sports background of working hard for everything you get. As well as paving the way of success and demonstrating a hard work ethic for her daughter
