Medical Advisory Board

To help support our mission, TotalWellness has assembled a Medical Advisory Board, bringing together thought leaders in the health and wellness industry. This board provides leadership and guidance to shape medical procedures and policies at TotalWellness, including overseeing all education and training provided to our contractors.

Dr. Thomas Safranek

Dr. Thomas Safranek serves as the TotalWellness Medical Director.  Dr. Tom Safranek is the also state epidemiologist for the Nebraska Department of
Health and Human Services. He calls his office in downtown Lincoln, the “ground zero” for flu monitoring, Safranek and his staff track the number of reported flu cases, and make recommendations based on the data collected. Dr. Safranek specializes in internal medicine and infectious disease. His experience includes training at the National Institute of Health and he currently works closely with the CDC assisting the deputy director. Dr. Safranek graduated from Georgetown University Medical School and has over 27 years of experience.

Harriet Aaronson Consultant, Corporate Health and Wellness

Harriet Aaronson is the former AVP of Corporate Health and Wellness for The Hartford. Ms. Aaronson holds a BA in Psychology, an MSN in Nursing Administration, and a MS in Computer Information Science. She has been employed in Corporate Health and Wellness for over 20 years. In her role at The Hartford she developed and expanded employee health centers, EAP, wellness, international travel programs, ergonomics, onsite physical therapy and prevention, and was an integral part of the workplace violence, safety and business resilience programs. She has applied her knowledge to help structure health insurance benefits for employees including pharmacy, mental health, prevention, cost transparency, telemedicine and others. Ms. Aaronson has introduced and expanded a variety of programs for employees and their families including health advocacy, lifestyle change to reverse metabolic risk syndrome, physical activity, a wellness portal offering all levels of intervention including coaching and disease management and an enterprise-wide biometric screening and flu vaccination program. Before leaving the Hartford she was responsible for the development of a primary care program model that would treat employees, their families and contractors at the onsite health centers as well as establish lines of communication with patients’ primary care physicians in the community. This model included the addition of onsite specialists and proposed the possibility of onsite pharmacy. As a consultant, she continued to advise The Hartford in the implementation of the primary care health centers as well as on recently recommended programs to address sleep disorders and a comprehensive user portal that would help employees and their families access all programs and be directed to services appropriate for their needs. She has also spoken at many national conferences on a variety of health and wellness topics and how to maximize the value of implementing these programs. Prior to her role in corporate health, she held a position as Vice President of Information Systems for an HMO and early on in her career practiced as a Psychiatric Nurse Therapist.

Rachel Thies, MD, MPH

Dr. Thies is a graduate of University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine with both a Doctorate of Medicine and Master of Public Health degree. She trained as an Internal Medicine Preliminary Resident at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, NE and is pursuing Occupational and Environmental Medicine training at the University of Iowa. She is also a University of Iowa Master of Health Administration candidate. Dr. Thies is a member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the American College of Preventive Medicine. She looks forward to being a leader in the field of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.