Desereé Johnston

Desereé Johnston was the Director of Communications for the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating innovation in electronic health record software and related technology. 

She served as the principal coordinator of the OSEHRA 2014 Open Source Summit: Global Collaboration in Health IT and has represented OSEHRA at the National Veterans Small Business Engagement and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) events.  Her experiences at OSEHRA have demonstrated the power of open source collaboration to address Veteran, domestic, and international healthcare issues.

Prior to joining OSEHRA, Desereé strengthened relationships between international military partners and JIEDDO, the U.S. Department of Defense's lead counter-improvised explosive device (IED) organization. She became versed in interagency coordination as a Harry S. Truman Fellow at the U.S. Department of State where she implemented the U.S. government position on humanitarian and military policy in Sri Lanka. Her background in healthcare began as a Conference Specialist at the National Institutes of Health, and her support of military and Veteran legislation expanded during her time serving in the office of then-Senator Chuck Hagel.  

Desereé is currently on the Board of Matters on Tomorrow, a nonprofit committed to philanthropic ventures in Nebraska and beyond.