Joelle Vlahakis, MD, FAAP, FAAHPM

Dr. Joelle Vlahakis is currently a Contractor Medical Director at Wisconsin Physician Services Government Health Administrators (WPS-GHA).  She is working on an Innovations Challenge Grant from CMS to increase the use of both depression screening and chronic care management for Medicare beneficiaries.  This project has a special emphasis on those who struggle with the inequities within the health care system. Her passion is to promote quality, high value, patient-centered medical care for all patients, regardless of the seriousness of their disease or ability to pay. 

Dr. Vlahakis is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a Diplomat in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology with concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior.  Dr. Vlahakis received her Doctor of Medicine in 1995 at the University of Miami School of Medicine.  Her residency was performed at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine where she received the Resident Teaching Excellence Award.  She is a member of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  She was previously the Medical Director of Supportive Care Services and founding Program Director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, located in Sarasota, Florida.   She has a special interest in bioethics. Dr. Vlahakis is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Florida State University College of Medicine, Sarasota Regional Campus and an Affiliate Physician at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.