Hope, Health & Heart Program

As CEO of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF), Kris provides strategic direction to advance the organization’s mission, strategy, goals and objectives. She believes strongly in its legacy of innovation and collaboration, and the vision of creating a world without heart and vascular disease guides her work every day.

Before joining MHIF, Kris served as director of global engagement at Medtronic Philanthropy, where she led significant growth and impact in health-focused community development and social investment around the world. Under her leadership, 86,000 employees were mobilized to channel their time and resources into improving community health.

Kris has a proven track record in building effective teams, leading strategic initiatives, engaging diverse stakeholders and translating complex science into meaningful stories. This experience spans her work building a research portfolio at HealthPartners Research Foundation, leading a team of scientists at Medtronic and her most recent leadership at Medtronic Philanthropy. In both her professional and personal life, she is a passionate advocate for improving community health and currently serves on the board of the Minnesota Region of the American Red Cross and as an ex officio member of the Abbott Northwestern Hospital Foundation board.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Benedict and holds an interdisciplinary PhD focused on health communication from Washington State University. She was also a policy fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Kris lives in White Bear Lake with her husband and three sons.

Dr. Nadira Hamid is scientific director of the Echocardiography Core Lab at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and director of interventional echocardiography at the Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute. She is board certified in both echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography.

Dr. Hamid earned her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin and holds postgraduate qualifications from the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom. She completed her residencies in Dublin, followed by a cardiology fellowship at the National Heart Centre Singapore. She later received research training and a Master of Clinical Investigation from the National University of Singapore, then completed an advanced echocardiography and interventional echocardiography fellowship focused on structural heart interventions at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.

Her research contributions include work on multiple clinical trials such as the TRILUMINATE, JenaValve and Ancora trials. Dr. Hamid is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography, the European Society of Cardiology and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

Indy Lane, MD, MBA, FACOG, MSCP, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist with more than 20 years of clinical experience in women’s health. In addition to her physician leadership roles, Dr. Lane is a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner and a member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Wellness (ISSWSH). Her clinical practice centers on gynecology and midlife wellness. She has previously served as Physician Executive of the Women and Newborns Product Line at Community Health Network in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 2024, assumed the role of Vice President of the Women’s Health Service Line at Allina Health in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Dr. Lane advocates for a comprehensive approach to women's health that extends beyond reproductive care, emphasizing the importance of expert, compassionate, and accessible healthcare throughout every stage of life. She is dedicated to empowering women to advocate for their own health and sexual wellness during midlife and underscores that perimenopause and menopause do not mark the end a woman’s best years. An expert care team and support can ensure women thrive well beyond the menopause transition.

Dr. Joshua Buckler is a senior consulting cardiologist at Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and director of the TeleHeart service. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School and is board certified in cardiology, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology.

As a member of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation board of directors, Dr. Buckler is passionate about the foundation’s mission. He describes MHIF as a one-of-a-kind organization whose research and education touch countless lives and says he is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to its continued success.

Omaur Bliss is a "Master of Ceremonies" in all aspects. Whether DJing a high-energy dance party, leading a relaxed yoga event, or hosting an elegant gala, Omaur has emerged as a dj and performer who can connect, energize, and move crowds of any demographic and age. He is an open format DJ and producer who fuses Old School, EDM, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Funk, Country, and Pop to create an infectious dance party. When Omaur isn’t rockin the crowds he runs a full service talent production company called RhodeyStark.