Lisa Estrada
Indiana native and Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate Lisa Estrada, a nationally recognized healthcare executive, risk and compliance leader, attorney, and strategic advisor, has joined IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine team as an executive in residence.
Estrada, a 1988 IUP journalism and political science graduate, has more than 25 years of experience guiding hospitals, health care providers, and nonprofit organizations through complex regulatory and operational challenges. Estrada was general counsel and compliance officer for some of the largest hospital and healthcare networks in the country, including LifePoint Health and ScionHealth.
In her volunteer position with the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine, she contributes her expertise to the development of mission-driven leadership models, compliant operations, and innovative health care to educate the next generation of physicians.
“Executive in Residence Estrada brings an incredible wealth of experience to our work and critically important perspectives as an attorney and as a leader in health care administration,” IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Dean Miko Rose said. “We are very fortunate to have her expertise and advice. We continue to lean heavily on her, especially in our strategic planning for our next steps. She has a heart of gold and is a true visionary,” Rose said.
Executive in Residence Estrada joins Consultant and Executive Mentor Jack Brose as volunteers on the proposed college of osteopathic medicine administrative team. Brose is executive dean emeritus, professor of family medicine, and former vice provost for health affairs at Ohio University. He formally joined the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine team in 2022.
“IUP is unbelievably fortunate to have these professionals on the team—not just because of the experience and career expertise they bring, but because they truly share our vision for how IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine will change the landscape of medical education and address the crisis in rural healthcare,” Rose said.
“This work truly requires a team, and we are very grateful for Ms. Estrada, Dr. Brose, and every member of the advisory board,” Rose said.
After graduating from IUP in 1988, Estrada spent a decade working in campaign politics at the state and federal levels. She took a professional break after her daughters were born before enrolling in law school.
She earned her juris doctor magna cum laude from George Mason University School of Law in 1999 and joined the law firm Arent Fox in Washington, DC as a healthcare associate. During her 14 years of law firm practice, she focused on counseling healthcare providers on compliance and government enforcement matters. She rose to partner and leader of the healthcare practice at Arent Fox and later as partner at the law firm Foley and Lardner in New York City.
She left her law firm practice to serve as senior vice president and chief compliance officer at Fresenius Medical Care North America in Boston. She then served as senior vice president and chief compliance officer at Lifepoint Health in Nashville and as executive vice president, general counsel, and chief administrative officer of ScionHealth, based in Louisville, Kentucky.
In mid-2024, Estrada launched a consulting firm with her daughter, Julia. The firm, AlloImpact, provides strategic guidance and interim executive services to clients in the healthcare, arts, and nonprofit sectors.
In addition to her work with IUP, Estrada teaches compliance law at George Mason University School of Law; she previously taught a class on healthcare compliance at Seattle University School of Law.
She is a seasoned nonprofit board leader, having served as chairman of the board of Street Sense Media in Washington, DC (a street newspaper supporting individuals experiencing homelessness) and on the executive committee of Safe Haven Family Homeless Shelter in Nashville. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to community impact, equity, and service.
“I was drawn to healthcare law because of the nexus to caring for people,” Estrada said. “And the compliance aspects of healthcare were particularly appealing to me because it allowed me to empower people to do the right thing while also giving me opportunities to really understand how this huge sector of our economy works or, too often, doesn’t work.”
“I continued to work with a number of healthcare clients while working at Foley & Lardner LLP and Arent Fox LLP, but I realized that while I was helping them, because I was on the outside, I really didn’t have a full understanding of the day-to-day work, and I wanted to be more involved. When I got the opportunity to join Fresenius Medical Care North America in an in-house compliance role, I jumped at it,” Estrada said.
According to Estrada, it’s this close-up view of health care operations that she hopes will make her a valuable contributor to IUP’s effort.
Estrada’s father, Fred Wegener, was a respected professor of criminology at IUP from 1969 until his passing in 1996, including serving as chairman of the department and as the founder of the IUP Criminal Justice Training Center.
A walk in IUP’s Oak Grove was a pivotal step in Estrada’s journey to IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine.
“During summer of 2024, we were on a family vacation and ended up in Indiana for a family wedding. I went for a walk on campus, and literally, in the middle of the Oak Grove, looking at where my dad’s office used to be, I kept thinking: what do I want to do next, where can I have the most impact?
“As I looked up, I realized how beautiful Indiana is, and how connected the town is to the university. It struck me how much I cared about the town and about the university. So, it came to me that IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine might provide that opportunity for impact for which I was searching: to create an impact on the town I grew up in, for the university I went to, for the region and rural areas around the state, and for the county,” she said.
“While I’m not a physician or involved in medical education, I realized that I could use my long history of knowledge and understanding of the industry perspective to help in the work, because the solution can’t be just about producing doctors—it must be about the entire industry and thinking differently about the doctors we educate.”
“The medical education model has been the same for the last 50 years; it needs to change. Health care has become so complex, and it’s no longer about just the physician making decisions; it’s about working as a team.”
Estrada is “all in” for IUP’s approach to physician education and its potential to change the status quo of healthcare education.
“The IUP model is not just about educating students differently, but about treating them with compassion and respect, so that they will have that compassion and respect for others when they complete their experience at IUP’s college of osteopathic medicine. This is revolutionary for medical education.
“In talking with Dean Rose, I got very excited about what IUP’s proposed college can do. I love innovation and disrupting old ways of doing things. IUP’s proposed college can, and should, become a national model for how to do medical education differently. When we talked, and when I realized she has this vision of a new way of educating doctors, that’s when I realized I wanted to be part of the project,” Estrada said.
“In my role as executive in residence and with my industry experience, I want to take all of the wonderful things being done—new thinking and innovative approaches—and help to connect IUP’s program with industry, to highlight how IUP’s education model can better serve not only hospitals and health care providers, but patients and communities. It’s critically important work because when a community doesn’t have access to health care, its survival is at stake.
“I truly believe that what IUP is doing goes beyond training physicians who will choose rural practice,” she said. “It’s about more than creating jobs and positive economic impact in Indiana. And it’s more than creating a new model for medical education. Those are all absolutely worthy endeavors. But ultimately, this effort is about creating hope for people who live in our rural communities—hope that they and their communities will have a chance to thrive and prosper. I believe our success depends on staying focused on that ultimate aim of bringing hope to people,” she said.
Estrada has been married for more than 30 years to fellow IUP alumnus Louie Estrada, a journalism major who spent many years as a reporter at The Washington Post and is now working in elementary education. Together, they have three children: Eva, who works in climate politics in Washington, DC; Julia, a Broadway actress who has performed in Hamilton on Broadway and the national tour; and Fredy, a freshman at the University of Louisville. Her mother, Cheryl Wegener, of Indiana, is celebrating her fiftieth year as an IUP basketball season ticket holder. As a student at IUP, Estrada was a member of the gymnastics team from 1984 to 1987.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025 and through the Impact 150 comprehensive campaign, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking to its next 150 years of student success, innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.