April 23, 2009 – OMG, Health Level Seven (HL7), Open Health Tools and the SOA Consortium today announced that The Honorable James B. Peake, M.D., Lieutenant General, USA (Ret), will be the keynote speaker at the Second Annual “SOA in Healthcare: Value in a Time of Change,” conference, held June 2-4, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago, IL.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) adoption is viewed as a key enabler for the 21st century enterprise due to increased opportunity for productivity and integration, and requires significant changes for both business and IT executives. The focus of the SOA in Healthcare conference is to convey real-world experiences, assembling a community of peers to exchange ideas and discuss what has worked, what did not work, and review best practices for attendees to benefit from lessons learned faced in real implementations. The conference will highlight the challenges unique to healthcare organizations and emphasize cross-industry solutions that are viable within the healthcare domain.
Dr. Peake will give the keynote address at the SOA in Healthcare conference on “Who Defines the ‘Service’ in SOA?” Peake advocated the vital role of IT to directly and effectively support the VA’s medical care program. Recognized for his support of the use of the EHR to support productivity, healthcare quality, and patient safety, he provided the leadership and funding within the VA and the Federal Health community to develop secure, interoperable health IT solutions.
In his role as the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Peake oversaw the leadership and operations of a USD$90B federal agency containing a national USD$40B healthcare delivery organization. The Veterans Health Administration contains approximately 150 hospitals, operating over 1400 points of care with a staff of almost 250,000.
Dr. Peake is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the American College of Cardiology. He has been honored with the Order of Military Merit; the “A” Professional Designator; and the Medallion, Surgeon General of the United States.
For more information: www.omg.org/soa-healthcare
December 01, 2025 
