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Nabil
Abujuma, B.S.
Information Technology Manager
Nabil Abujuma
has over five years of experience in supporting management information
systems and network administration for Novell and Microsoft networks.
He is responsible for all aspects of Health Systems Research's information
technology systems, including local and wide area network maintenance
and administration. He also is responsible for troubleshooting and supporting
software and hardware installation, equipment sourcing and purchasing,
and miscellaneous technology-intensive initiatives.
Prior to
joining HSR, Mr. Abujuma worked as a Network Administrator for Prince
George's Community College, where he gained network administration experience.
He has a bachelor's degree in Information Systems Management.
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Jodi
Anthony, M.P.H.
Policy Associate II
Jodi Anthony
serves as a Policy Associate for HSR’s contract with MCHB to
provide technical assistance in systems building and related areas
to over 60 Early Childhood Comprehensive System grantees. Her other
area of work includes the evaluation of the Food Stamp Nutrition
Education program. Ms. Anthony provides expertise in the areas of program
development, evaluation and technical assistance.
Ms. Anthony’s
experience includes work in sexual and reproductive health and rights,
nutritional epidemiology and food security, and perinatal and early
childhood health. Ms. Anthony had the opportunity to work throughout
South Asia and Latin America, where she facilitated trainings and provided
technical assistance in creating effective programs for young people
and participatory learning for action. Furthermore, she has experience
in both qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Prior to joining HSR,
Ms. Anthony managed Maternal Child Health home visiting programs for
the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she provided technical
assistance and management oversight to approximately 40 perinatal health
partner agencies. She worked closely with providers, coalitions and
families to develop and manage programs. Ms. Anthony holds a master’s
of public health in nutritional epidemiology and food security from
Tulane University.
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Maureen
Ball, B.A.
Senior Meetings Manager
Maureen Ball
is responsible for providing logistical and meetings management services
under HSR's contract with the User Liaison Program within the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality. In this capacity, Ms. Ball coordinates
all logistical arrangements for approximately 30 meetings or workshops
per year.
Prior
to joining HSR, she was a meetings planner for a 5,000-member trade association
and was responsible for the coordination of 12 conferences for 200-2000
attendees each year. She received her bachelor's degree in political science.
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Lawrence Bartlett, Ph.D.
President of Health Systems Research, Inc.
Lawrence Bartlett, Ph.D., Director of Health Systems Research,
Inc. (HSR), is an economist who has more than 25 years' experience in
health care research, evaluation, and policy analysis and in the provision
of hands-on technical assistance to public policymakers and program administrators.
Dr. Bartlett is a highly regarded advisor on state and local health policy
whose knowledge of health care financing and delivery issues is noteworthy
both for its breadth and depth. His detailed knowledge of many issues,
such as Medicaid policies and survival strategies for local health departments,
enables him to design specific and effective program recommendations for
many of HSR's clients. His technical expertise is complemented by outstanding
facilitation and training skills. He is often called on to facilitate
the deliberations of governors' blue-ribbon commissions and legislative
task forces. He also develops and conducts workshops and conferences for
high-level policymakers.
In addition to his work with government organizations, Dr. Bartlett has
assisted a variety of national organizations and foundations. Before forming
HSR, he was the staff director of the State Medicaid Directors' Association
and the director of the National Governors' Associations' State Medicaid
Information Center. He holds a doctorate in economics and a master's degree
in health services administration.
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Loren
Bell, B.A.
Senior Associate
Loren Bell is a nationally known expert in food assistance
program policy and program operations. He has more than 25 years experience
working with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Food Stamp Programs
at the state and national levels. It was because of the outstanding performance
of Mr. Bell's project team that HSR received the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Small Business Contractor of the Year award in 1997.
National welfare reform has had a strong impact on the operation of the
WIC and Food Stamp Programs. Under Mr. Bell's leadership, HSR has emerged
as a leading provider of technical assistance and evaluation services
in this area. Mr. Bell has managed a number of projects, including an
examination of the food purchasing patterns of WIC clients, three food
stamp nutrition education technical assistance and evaluation projects,
the national study of WIC vendor management practices, a needs assessment
of adolescents participating in the WIC program, and a national study
of how states have re-engineered their Food Stamp Programs as a result
of welfare reform.
For
11 years, Mr. Bell directed the Washington State WIC Program. He received
three national awards from the USDA for this work. Mr. Bell also held
senior management positions in the California Department of Health. He
holds a bachelor's degree in communications and has completed graduate
studies in business and organizational communications.
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Christopher
Botsko, M.A.
Senior Policy Associate
Christopher Botsko's research specialties are survey
development and implementation and qualitative research methods. Because
his theoretical knowledge is complemented by interviewing experience in
the field, he is able to design instruments and study protocols that are
noteworthy for their utility as well as scientific rigor.
Mr. Botsko's work at HSR has focused on food and nutrition and maternal
and child health. He was one of the team leaders on a project that examined
the impact of welfare reform on the Federal Food Stamp Program and contributed
to a study of the management practices of Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) vendors. He has conducted focus groups with State Children's Health
Insurance Program participants, worked on a project that examined coordination
between WIC services and those offered by community health centers, and
a best practice study of programs that coordinate mental and physical
health services for children with special health care needs.
As a research associate at Child Trends, he developed protocols for site
visits and interviewed state and local officials on issues relating to
welfare reform, food stamps, health policy, employment and training, child
care, and child welfare. Mr. Botsko holds a bachelor's and master's degrees
in sociology.
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Bernard
L. Brookes, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Senior Associate
Dr. Brookes is a Senior Associate at Health Systems
Research, Inc. He is a clinical psychologist trained in business administration,
who has developed extensive skills and experience in program development
and management of health care and other human services, policy and program
analysis, grants and contract management, technical writing and document
production, organizational governance, technology, financial assessment,
and proposal writing. Prior to joining HSR, Dr. Brookes was co-founder
and president of BHM International, Inc., a management consulting firm
providing technical assistance and training in human and social services,
health care, and technology for government and non-profit organizations.
He served for seven years as Executive Director of the Center for Health
and Development, an organization that provides clinical, psychosocial
rehabilitation, and residential services to people with mental illness.
Dr. Brookes was also a Director of Clinical Services for the Massachusetts
Department of Mental Health.
Dr. Brookes is a former treasurer of the Massachusetts Psychological Association
and a member of the American Psychological Association. He earned his Master
and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical and Community Psychology at Boston University,
and a Master of Business Administration Degree also at Boston University. He
also earned a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music and studied Theology
at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Brookes is the author of the book,
God, Self, & Community.
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Lisa
M. Creatura, M.P.A.
Senior Policy Associate
Lisa Creatura has fifteen years of experience directing, managing,
and coordinating research and program support activities for Federal, State,
and community-based organizations on a wide range of management and health
policy issues. Ms. Creatura currently serves as Senior Policy Associate on
the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's (CSAT) Health Care Reform Technical
Assistance Project, which provides technical assistance in health care reform
and behavioral managed care to Single State Agencies. The project involves
the dissemination of information by means of training, publications, and on-site
consultation. Her area of expertise focuses on alcohol and other substance
abuse prevention and treatment for populations including at-risk youth, homeless,
and those diagnosed with a co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorder.
Prior to
joining HSR, Ms. Creatura served as Manager of Program Administration
for CSAT’s Knowledge Development and Application (KDA) project
where she was responsible for monitoring all systems and procedures
in the implementation of project activities; served as Task Order Manager
for a contract to provide editorial, publication, research, and communications
support to the Office of the Director of the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; and served as a member of the evaluation
team for the Center for Mental Health Services’s six-year national
formative/process and outcome evaluation of the Access to Community
Care and Effective Supports and Services (ACCESS) demonstration program.
Ms. Creatura has a master of public administration degree from The
Ohio State University.
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Carolyn
Davis, B.A.
Senior Writer
For 30 years, Carolyn Davis has written technical assistance
publications, with a “how-to” emphasis, for front-line service providers
in human service programs funded by a variety of Federal agencies, including
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department
of Health and Human Services, and agencies of the Departments of Education,
Labor, and Justice. She also provides revisionary editing to increase
the readability of documents from various sources and target them to specific
audiences and purposes.
At HSR, she
applies critical writing skills to produce documents for the Recovery
Community Support Program of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
(CSAT), which aims to develop a consumer voice to help improve addiction
treatment and remove societal stigmas about addiction and treatment. Typical
assignments for Ms. Davis before she joined HSR have included editing
and preparing for publication a practice guide on the treatment of juveniles
with alcohol and other drug problems, managing the consensus panel revision
of a CSAT Treatment Improvement Protocol on the treatment of adolescents
with alcohol and other drug problems, and summarizing public testimonies
on improving substance abuse treatment systems. Ms. Davis was also the
managing editor of 23 of the first CSAT Treatment Improvement Protocols
for practitioners in alcohol and other drug treatment programs.
For
10 years, Ms. Davis was publications director for a large national training
organization producing materials for numerous Federal agencies. She managed
writers, editors, designers, and photographers assigned to develop curricula,
manuals, and technical assistance bulletins. Ms. Davis began her career
with the Ross Division of Abbott Laboratories and earned her bachelor's
degree in journalism; she also received specialized training in medical
writing.
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Ann
Elderkin, P.A.
Project Director/Managing Editor
Ann Elderkin serves as Project Director
and Managing Editor of HSR's contract to produce the Surgeon General's
Report on Osteoporosis and Bone Health for the Office of the Surgeon General
(OSG). She is a health policy expert and advisor who has extensive experience
working on initiatives for the OSG. She was the lead staff person for
the Surgeon General's Initiative on Mental Health and Primary Care and
was the staff advisor for the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Address
Overweight and Obesity. Ms. Elderkin was also a senior health policy fellow
at the OSG, where she participated in Surgeon General and Congressional
briefings, press conferences, and satellite media tours, and promoted
close collaboration between government and providers on prevention initiatives.
Prior to working on Surgeon General initiatives, Ms. Elderkin was the
Director of the City of Portland (Maine) Public Health Division, where
she supervised
80 employees and a $3 million annual budget, including State, Federal,
and private grants. During her tenure in Portland, she helped to achieve
passage of the State's first city ordinance for smoke-free restaurants,
which increased support for passage of a statewide law a year later.
With experience in public health administration and policy, and clinical
experience practicing medicine as a Physician Assistant, Ms. Elderkin
has received numerous awards for her public health leadership and prevention
efforts, including the
Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Award in 2002.
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William
E. Ford, Ph.D.
Director of Substance Abuse and Mental Health
William Ford has nearly 25 years experience
in the development and management of human services systems. Long respected
in the field for his expertise in substance abuse needs assessment and
treatment, he has become equally well known for his leadership in behavioral
managed care.
At HSR, he directs a project that provides technical assistance in health
care reform and behavioral managed care to Single State Agencies (SSAs).
The project involves the dissemination of information by means of training,
publications, and on-site consultation. Dr. Ford's most extensive professional
experience is at the state level. He has been director of an SSA, deputy
director of a state human services agency, and superintendent of a state
psychiatric facility. Among his major accomplishments is the development
of an integrated planning and funding system for substance abuse services
for the state of Nebraska. He also worked for several managed behavioral
health organizations. He oversaw such activities as startup managed care
operations, development of a national utilization review program, and
preparation for statewide implementation of Medicaid managed care.
Dr. Ford holds undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology and a
doctorate in clinical psychology. He has published extensively in his
field and is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National
Technical Center for Substance Abuse Needs Assessment.
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Vivian
Gabor, M.P.H.
Senior Policy Associate
Vivian Gabor, Senior Policy Associate for HSR's Health Policy
Practice Area, has 20 years' experience conducting and managing policy analysis,
qualitative research and needs assessment projects on public health and human
service issues. A focus of her work has been the application of research and
data analysis to help State and local program managers, and community groups
assess needs and craft innovative program strategies to improve the quality
of services for vulnerable populations.
Ms.
Gabor is currently the senior researcher for a qualitative evaluation
of State Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessments. After the implementation
of welfare reform, she directed and authored six national and state
studies, and served as a senior advisor to several other projects,
assessing the impact of welfare reform on State policy decisions
and on implementation of human services at the community level. Ms.
Gabor designed and directed the first nationally representative survey
of local human service office staff to document the prevalence of
practices influencing Food Stamp Program participation.
Before
joining HSR, Ms. Gabor was a federal policy analyst for both governmental
agencies and private, non-profit organizations advocating on behalf
of children and families. In these positions, she conducted policy
analysis research, organized Congressional hearings and briefings,
and lead coalitions of public and private organizations to educate
policy makers on health and human services issues. Prior to her national
policy work, Ms. Gabor was Associate Director of the Division of
Nutrition at a local health department in North Carolina, where she
provided direct services, analyzed nutrition surveillance data reports
, and managed needs assessments and strategic planning. Ms. Gabor
holds a master's degree in public health from the University of North
Carolina.
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Judith
Gallagher, R.N., Ed.M., M.P.A.
Director of Maternal, Child and Community Health
During a career that spans three decades, HSR Senior Associate
Judith Gallagher has earned wide recognition for leadership in planning
and implementing community maternal and child health policies and programs.
Her accomplishments as a program administrator at the state, regional,
and local levels are complemented by hands-on experience as a community
health practitioner, educator, and chief executive officer of several
not-for-profit organizations.
Ms. Gallagher currently directs a project under which HSR provides technical
assistance in services integration and systems development to more than
100 Community Integrated Services Systems (CISS) grantees nationwide.
She is also Director of the new 50-state State Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP)/CompCare Initiative, in addition to being involved in
HSR projects focused on children with special health needs, social marketing,
and the redesign of state public health programs.
Before joining HSR, Ms. Gallagher was director of maternal and child
health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where she supervised programs
in
prenatal care, child and adolescent health, school health, and family
planning, among others. She is a founder and former executive director
of The Bronx Perinatal Consortium Inc. Ms. Gallagher holds master's degrees
in education and public administration.
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Eric
P. Gelman, M.B.A., M.A.
Senior Associate
Eric P. Gelman, M.B.A., M.A. has extensive experience involving
the assessment, development, and evaluation of substance abuse treatment/behavioral
health programs throughout the country. Mr. Gelman currently serves as
a senior policy associate on the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's
(CSAT) Health Care Reform Technical Assistance Project, which provides
technical assistance in health care reform and behavioral managed care
to Single State Agencies. Previously, he served as the project director
and/or deputy project director on a number of other CSAT projects, including:
the Opioid Accreditation Technical Assistance Project, the National Leadership
Institute, and the State AOD Technical Reviews Project.
Mr. Gelman has evaluated numerous local treatment providers and State
substance abuse service systems, identifying and recommending strategies
for improving service delivery and management. He has also evaluated the
issues and costs associated with opioid treatment programs achieving accreditation.
He has extensive knowledge of publicly funded treatment systems; the Substance
Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant requirements; the organizational
challenges faced by State and local treatment agencies; the impact of
managed care on both State policy and local service providers; and the
issues and challenges local treatment providers face in improving the
quality and management of services.
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June
Gertig, J.D.
Senior Associate, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
June Gertig is HSR's project director for the Technical
Assistance Project for CSAT's Recovery Community Support Program. She
comes to technical assistance in the behavioral health field from a background
of community activism on issues related to the delivery of substance abuse
services. An advocate for effective, accessible, and accountable addiction
treatment, she has spoken on the topic of constituency development in
numerous forums. Ms. Gertig served on a council that developed "Partners
in Planning: Consumer's Role in Contracting for Public-Sector Managed
Mental Health and Addiction Services," commissioned by the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Additionally, she has
spoken at numerous conferences on consumer and family perspectives on
managed care contracting issues. Prior to joining HSR, Ms. Gertig was
a law partner at one of the nation's leading law firms.
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Stacy
Gleason, M.P.H.
Policy
Associate
Stacy
Gleason is a Policy Associate at HSR in the Research and Evaluation
practice area. She provides support on a number of projects related
to food and nutrition assistance programs, needs assessments for the
Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, and the Women’s Health
USA Chartbook. Ms. Gleason primarily assists with qualitative and
quantitative data collection, including the development of data collection
instruments, analysis, and interpretation. She has significant experience
using several statistical analysis software packages, including SAS,
STATA, and SPSS.
Prior to
her employment at HSR, Ms. Gleason was the Research Coordinator for
a Violence Intervention Project at the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia and for a longitudinal study on respiratory function and
illness in spinal cord injury at Harvard Medical School. As a student
at the University of Washington’s Graduate School of Public Health
and Community Medicine, she worked for the National Alzheimer’s
Coordinating Center and completed a thesis on Alzheimer’s Disease
and Hormone Replacement Therapy. Ms. Gleason has an M.P.H. with a concentration
in epidemiology from the University of Washington and a B.S. in biology
from Boston College.
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Scott
L. Green, Ph.D.
Senior
Associate
Scott
L. Green, Ph.D. serves as a Senior Associate within the Behavioral
Health Promotion, Treatment, and Recovery Practice Area of HSR. He
has extensive experience in the development, assessment, and evaluation
of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs as well as other
behavioral health programs. Dr. Green currently coordinates an Evaluability
Assessment on the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant
Program for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)
Prior to
joining HSR, Dr. Green served as the Project Manager for the National
Institute of Mental Health’s Outreach Partnership Program, a
research dissemination project focusing on nationwide mental health
outreach and education. He was also the Senior Evaluator for CSAT’s
Knowledge, Development, and Application Project. In addition, Dr. Green
is a co-developer of a comprehensive alcohol/substance abuse/STD prevention
program entitled Smart Moves which is being implemented at high schools
and universities across the nation. Dr. Green is a licensed psychologist
in Maryland and has significant experience as a provider of mental
health services in a variety of settings. Dr.
Green earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth
University, and has been an instructor of psychology, as well as a
presenter at various academic and scientific conferences. In addition,
he has conducted scientific investigations and published papers in
peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Green has conducted research
on topics such as emotional reactions to illness and injury, social
support and health, and cancer prevention.
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Valerie
Gwinner, M.P.P, M.A.
Senior Writer
Valerie
Gwinner has fifteen years of writing and program management experience
on issues affecting the health and wellbeing of women, children, and
families. At HSR, Ms. Gwinner writes, reviews, and edits reports, proposals,
and other documents on a broad range of topics. She also coordinates
communications and outreach for the company and supports new business
development. Ms. Gwinner manages the communications team for HSR and
promotes staff development in writing and editing.
Prior to
joining HSR, Ms. Gwinner served as Senior Program Analyst at the DHHS
Office on Women’s Health (OWH) and as a Project Director at Georgetown
University’s National Center for Education in Maternal and Child
Health. She has managed multiple programs and written award-winning
public education pieces, speeches for high level health officials,
journal articles, and many other materials. Ms. Gwinner has written
for the Urban Institute, National Cancer Institute, and the Rockefeller
Foundation. She co-authored The World’s Women: 1970-1990 for
the United Nations and A Century of Women's Health: 1900-2000 for OWH.
She has an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago, an M.A. in Social
History from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris,
France, and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She is the author of two
travel books, Paris With Kids and London With Kids (Open Road Publishing).
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Jamie
Hart, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Director of Intercultural Health and HIV, and Infectious Disease
Jamie Hart,
Ph.D., M.P.H., serves as the Deputy Project Director of “Substance
Abuse and Infectious Disease: Cross-Training for Collaborative Systems
of Prevention, Treatment and Care,” a CSAT, HRSA, CDC-funded collaborative
project that provides resources for training and technical assistance
to state substance abuse and public health practitioners. She is involved
in administering training and technical assistance, curriculum design,
recruiting and contracting with expert trainers, and designing and conducting
evaluation and follow-up data reporting functions.
Dr. Hart
is a certified HIV/AIDS trainer who, prior to joining HSR, designed and
facilitated workshops at the University of Michigan’s Center for
Research on Learning and Teaching in Ann Arbor. Here, the instructional
design process included designing and facilitating focus groups, curriculum
design, and instructional evaluation design. Her past experience also
includes evaluation related to training outcomes, collection and analysis
of quantitative and qualitative data, and development of publications
related to her findings. Dr. Hart holds a doctorate in American history,
and a master’s degree in public health.
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Stephanie
Hauser, B.A.
Research Analyst
Stephanie
Hauser currently serves as Project Coordinator for the State Health
Care Reform Project for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, coordinating
administrative, logistical, production, and meetings management activities.
She provides administrative organization for project team efforts,
management of the production of reports and SAMHSA publications, and
coordination of logistical arrangements for technical assistance site
visits and conference participation by team members and consultants.
Ms. Hauser also serves as the Project Coordinator of the Center for
Mental Health Services Consumer Scholarship Program, which produces
policy guidance documents from the mental health consumer perspective.
She is responsible for collecting, processing, reading, and evaluating
mental health consumer applications for scholarships to numerous national
mental health conferences, as well as arranging logistics for approved
scholarship recipients and summarizing participant reports. She is
fluent in Spanish and holds a B.A. in psychology and Spanish.
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Michael
Hess, B.S.
Project Coordinator
Mike Hess,
a project coordinator in the Conference and Project Management Practice
Area, serves as the lead coordinator of administrative and logistical
tasks associated with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Abstinence
Education Grant Workshops, and for a series of Policy Academies on homelessness
sponsored by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and
Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Hess is
also responsible for Web page development, creation and maintenance of
databases, which include data entry and quality control of all meetings/conference
participants/contacts, meetings/conference registration, vendor contacts
and other information associated with HSR's meeting/conference activities,
and the generation of database reports. He also coordinates direct mailings,
provides administrative support on special project activities, answers
routing correspondence and assembles meeting-related information, assists
in the development of other meetings/conference materials, and creates
PowerPoint presentations.
Mr. Hess
holds a bachelor's degree in management information systems and marketing
management.
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Tom
Hill, M.S.W.
Senior Policy Associate
Tom Hill is HSR's Technical Assistance Manager for the Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment's Recovery Community Support Program Technical Assistance
Project. He is currently involved in the redesign of technical assistance
strategies to assist grantees in shifting the focus of their projects
toward peer-driven recovery support services. Prior to his current position
at HSR, Mr. Hill was the Project Director of SpeakOUT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender (LGBT) Voices for Recovery. As such, he brings a "peer
perspective" not only to the technical assistance needs, but also
the emerging technical assistance capacities within the addiction recovery
community, as well as in the emerging linkages between the addiction and
mental health recovery-oriented consumer, survivor, and family constituencies.
The former Director of SAGE/Queens, a senior center for LGBT adults in
New York City that provides peer-driven social supports and advocacy in
a clubhouse model setting, Mr. Hill has extensive training experience
in cultural competency, HIV/AIDS, sexuality and sexual orientation, community
organizing and advocacy, and aging, and is a skilled facilitator.
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Anne
Hopewell, M.S.W.
Senior Policy Associate
Anne Hopewell
has over ten years of experience providing training and technical assistance
to national, state, and local contracts. Currently, Ms. Hopewell serves
as the Project Manager for a national Oral Health and Head Start Partnership
Project. In this role, she manages a team of oral health professionals
and advocates working to improve access to dental care for underserved
populations. She also coordinates regional Leadership Forums, facilitates
a Training Advisory Group, and prioritizes state and local training
and technical assistance requests. In addition, Ms. Hopewell is the
Project Manager for an HSR contract with the Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) that supports Homeless
Policy Academy State Teams throughout the country and an interagency
team of Federal Planning Committee advisors as they develop action
plans to help the chronically homeless access mainstream services.
Previously,
Ms. Hopewell managed HSR's project to provide technical assistance
to MCHB's Community Integrated Services System (CISS) Phase II grantees.
In this capacity, she oversaw the provision of technical assistance
to State and local grantees and their partners across the country to
support their efforts to develop more comprehensive systems of health
care for women, children and families. Her previous work experience
in the independent sector included service as the Executive Director
of United Way of Virginia, Manager of Community Relations for Kaiser
Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, and work as a state level lobbyist
at the Virginia General Assembly. Throughout her career, Ms. Hopewell
has focused on the issues of Medicaid, children’s health insurance,
health care access, and the creation collaborative public-private partnerships
to meet community level health and human service needs.
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Kathy
Hudson,
M.P.A.
Senior Policy Associate
Kathy
Hudson has over 10 years of experience in project management, training,
and technical assistance. Ms. Hudson currently serves as a Senior
Policy Associate for HSR’s contract with the Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to provide technical assistance in health
care reform and behavioral managed care to substance abuse Single
State Agencies.
Prior to joining HSR, Ms. Hudson was a Training
Manager for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Breast and
Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, where she managed the design,
delivery, and evaluation of training programs for State, tribe, and territory
grantees. She oversaw the development of facilitator and participant
materials, including conducting needs assessments, preparing agendas,
curriculum writing, and designing evaluation instruments. Ms. Hudson
has served in project management roles for the Food and Drug Administration
and the American College of Rheumatology, where she trained numerous
groups ranging from senior government managers to physicians and provided
technical assistance in educational workshops and one-on-one sessions.
She also has extensive experience in policy analysis and program evaluation,
government relations, media relations, grassroots advocacy, and coalition
building. Ms. Hudson holds a master’s degree in public administration.
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Rebecca
Ledsky, M.B.A.
Director of Evaluation
Rebecca Ledsky, M.B.A., leader of HSR’s Evaluation Practice Area, has
more than 15 years of experience on projects that involve conducting and/or
providing technical assistance in how to conduct policy assessments and analysis;
program assessment; evaluation design and data collection; performance measurement;
and data analysis of both large national and smaller datasets. She currently
is managing a national evaluation, funded by the Maternal and Child Health
Bureau, of the nutrition and physical activities within the Bright Futures
for Women Health and Wellness Initiative. Ms. Ledsky’s project work has
predominantly focused on the evaluation of healthcare program development and
delivery - particularly those that address HIV/STDs. They have addressed access,
cultural competency and appropriateness to many populations, including immigrants,
gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth, children with
special education needs, and persons at particular health risks. Prior to coming
to HSR, Ms. Ledsky was responsible for statistical design, analysis, data and
site management for a highly quantitative, eight-site, multi-year, multi-million
dollar project for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate
public school HIV/AIDS education and Comprehensive School Health Programs.
The evaluations focused on combinations of policy, staff development, curriculum
implementation, and student status, and attempted to evaluate the impact of
the programs on vulnerable youth.
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Elizabeth
A. Lowe,
M.P.H.
Project Manager II
Elizabeth A. Lowe is Project Manager for an HSR project to provide technical
and logistical support to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s
(AHRQ) User Liaison Program (ULP). The ULP serves as a bridge between researchers
and State and local policymakers, bringing research-based information to better
inform policymaking at the State and local level and sharing State and local
questions and priorities with members of AHRQ’s researcher community.
As Project Manager, Ms. Lowe manages the day-to-day activities of the ULP project,
develops comprehensive program budgets, coordinates post-conference workshop
reports and evaluations, and serves as the primary liaison to the ULP staff
at AHRQ.
Ms. Lowe
has over ten years of experience in project management addressing a
variety of health policy issues, including access to care, health outcomes,
organizational change, program evaluation, primary care, technology
assessment, quality and innovation, etc. Prior to joining HSR, she
served as Deputy Director of The Commonwealth Fund’s international
fellowship programs, overseeing the planning and implementation of
fellowship seminars, monitoring research projects and budget, devising
market strategies and developing promotional material. She was Assistant
Director of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-sponsored project
at the Association for Health Services Research (now AcademyHealth),
where she designed and implemented invitational lectures and conferences;
coordinated the writing, review, production, and dissemination of commissioned
papers; and outlined the contents of primers on complex health care
delivery strategies and management tools. Ms. Lowe also was a Program
Analyst in the Office of Planning, Budget, and Legislation at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health
Statistics.
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Priscilla
Mark-Wilson, M.S.N., M.P.H., R.N.
Senior
Policy Associate
Priscilla
Mark-Wilson currently provides training and technical assistance in
systems building and related areas to over 60 Community Integrated
Service Systems grantees across the United States, Puerto Rico, and
Virgin Islands. Ms. Mark-Wilson uses her previous hands-on management
and practical expertise in community and maternal and child health
(MCH) to help manage the complex process of identifying and addressing
the grantees’ TA needs.
Prior to
joining HSR, Ms. Mark-Wilson served as the assistant program chief/acting
program chief for the Maternal Health and Family Planning Program in
Maryland’s Prince George’s County Health Department. In that
role, she provided daily direction to the program and technical assistance
to 45 professional and paraprofessional staff; managed a $2 million
budget; wrote policies, protocols, and procedures; and facilitated
meetings. She also worked closely with other MCH programs, private
hospitals, and community services to address their shared goal of providing
continuous and seamless care to the county’s MCH population.
Ms. Mark-Wilson
is a registered nurse with expertise in the delivery of care to children
with special health care needs (CSHCN). She has coordinated interdisciplinary
health care services for her patients and provided case management
services to ensure that their diverse service needs are met. She has
also worked with patients, their families, and community agencies,
including child care providers, to transition children from acute care
settings to being cared for in community-based settings.
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Sheryl
Anderson Mathis, M.S.W., M.P.H.
Senior Policy Associate
Sheryl
Anderson Mathis currently manages a 50-State technical assistance project
to facilitate strengthening of systems of quality care to assure the effective
implementation of State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and
Medicaid. Previously at HSR, Ms. Anderson Mathis provided technical assistance
in systems building and related areas to Community Integrated Service
Systems grantees as part of the Health Resources and Services Administration-funded
Community Integrated Service System Technical Assistance Project. She
has also contributed to several qualitative research projects on topics
such as Medicaid family planning services, SCHIP outreach, SCHIP services
for children with special health care needs, and State nutrition education
networks, wherein she assisted in developing data collection instruments,
collecting data and writing technical reports.
Before
joining HSR, Ms. Anderson Mathis was involved in health promotion and
prevention activities in North Carolina. She developed mail surveys and
key informant interviews for a 16-county maternal and infant mortality
reduction study. For a university-based breast cancer screening program,
she developed a counseling curriculum and training manual for community
nurse advisors and assisted in the development of an evaluation of the
nurse advisor program. She has developed curricula and conducted evaluations
for the Columbia University Head Start program in New York. Ms. Anderson
Mathis has master's degrees in public health and social work.
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Jessica
McDuff, M.A.
Senior Policy Associate
Jessica McDuff serves as a Policy Associate for HSR’s
contract with the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to provide
technical
assistance in health care reform and behavioral managed care to substance
abuse Single State Agencies. Ms. McDuff provides expertise in the areas
of program evaluation, product development, and technical assistance
provision. Her experience includes work with substance abuse treatment
programs that serve women affected by trauma, individuals with co-occurring
substance abuse and mental health issues, and homeless persons.
Prior
to joining HSR, Ms. McDuff was a Technical Assistance Coordinator
and Research Analyst for CSAT’s Knowledge, Development, and
Application project, where her work included program needs assessments,
conference management, research and evaluation, and technical assistance
coordination for a variety of clinical issues. She worked closely
with treatment providers, community coalitions, and field researchers
to plan, deliver, and evaluate substance abuse treatment services.
Ms. McDuff received a master’s degree in sociology from the
University of Michigan, where her work focused on the analysis of
health and social welfare policies.
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Jennifer
McIntosh, B.B.A.
Director, Conference and Project Management
As Director of the firm's Conference and Project Management
Practice Area, Jennifer McIntosh manages the majority of meetings that
come under HSR's various contract mechanisms. She coordinates logistical
arrangements including, but not limited to, site selection, meeting logistics,
travel arrangements, development of meeting materials, and on-site support
for approximately 50 meetings and workshops per year. Her responsibilities
include coordinating logistics for 50-750 participants; arranging travel
and hotel reservations for out-of-town participants; working with hotel
staff to ensure appropriate room set-up, audio-visual equipment, and food
functions; and processing travel reimbursements in accordance with Federal
regulations. Ms. McIntosh has many years of experience with special events
management and the coordination of concerts, plays, lectures, trade shows,
and meetings.
Prior
to working at HSR, she was a meeting planner with Prospect Associates,
where she provided conference planning and management services, logistics
coordination, and meeting support services for dozens of meetings each
year. She also served as an exhibit manager for several NIH Institutes,
including the National Eye Institute and National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute.
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Rilla
A. Murray,
M.S., Dr.P.H.
Senior Associate
Rilla
Murray’s substantial experience in the health field spans the public,
private, and non-profit sectors and includes functions that range from
policy development and executive management to resource and program development,
advocacy, training and development, and direct service in communities
and health care settings. As a former State health official and consultant
to States and provider systems on health policy, she has developed expertise
in brokering effective working relationships and in the use and application
of knowledge and information in policymaking. Earlier she worked with
states and health provider systems in the use of technology to improve
workforce development and organizational efficiency.
Dr. Murray
has worked in a wide variety of areas, including improving access to
health care
and prescription drugs, oral health, maternal and child health, information
infrastructure, and workforce development. She is a highly skilled
project manager who leads the HSR team on the Agency for Healthcare
Research
and Quality (AHRQ). She is responsible for fostering exchange between
policy makers and health service researchers. Dr. Murray holds a master’s
degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University and a doctor
of public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
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Gretchen
Noonan,
M.S.
Policy Associate I
Gretchen
Noonan serves as a policy associate in HSR’s Policy and Evaluation
practice area. She assists in the oversight of the production of the
Women’s Health USA and the Child Health USA data books, a responsibility
that includes compiling data and writing synopses of current health issues.
She also assists on several projects to evaluate aspects of food and
nutrition assistance programs.
Before
joining the staff of HSR, Ms. Noonan worked in community programming for
both the
American Heart Association and the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society. As a graduate student in healthcare management at Springfield
College, she worked as an associate in the Research and Statistics Department,
where she tutored other graduate students in statistics. She also edited
masters’ degrees in a variety of subject areas.
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John
O'Donnell, M.A.
Senior Policy Associate
As a member of the HSR team that provides technical assistance to state
substance abuse agencies in the areas of health care reform and managed
care, John O'Donnell is responsible for qualitative and quantitative policy
analysis. Drawing on his expertise in managed care issues and public policy,
Mr. O'Donnell has helped to develop technical assistance resources including
projects related to management information systems and opportunities for
coordination in substance abuse treatment.
Mr. O'Donnell has also participated in planning and technical assistance
related to managed behavioral health care for Colorado, Connecticut, Florida,
Kansas, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. He also played
a key role in the development of a highly successful series of regional
seminars for state substance abuse, mental health and Medicaid agencies
on managed care contracting. Mr. O'Donnell is currently managing the development
of a proposed Internet-based electronic publication on managed care contracting.
He is also supervising a collaborative project with the National Association
of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors focusing on States with multiple
substance abuse treatment systems.
Mr. O'Donnell
is an experienced writer and editor whose recent publications include
an article on legal trends regarding managed care liability. Before joining
HSR, he worked as a research analyst at the American Association of Health
Plans. He holds his master's degree in government.
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Darmendra
Ramcharran,
M.P.H.
Policy Associate II
Darmendra Ramcharran is a Policy Associate in the Evaluation
Practice Area who works on a number of projects related to food and nutrition
assistance programs and maternal and child health. In addition to formulating
reports, Mr. Ramcharran works with HSR staff to collect, analyze, and interpret
both quantitative and qualitative data. He has significant experience in data
management and data analysis and is proficient at Statistical Analysis Software
and Survey Data Analysis computer programming.
Mr. Ramcharran’s past experience includes work at the University of Rochester's
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, where he conducted community-based
interviews regarding knowledge of Shaken Baby Syndrome and positive parenting
behaviors. He also worked in the university’s Infectious Disease Unit,
where he developed and implement an assay for an evaluation of a Human Papilloma
Virus (HPV) vaccine. More recently, Mr. Ramcharran completed a project at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics,
which analyzed nine years of National Health Interview Survey data to estimate
diabetes mellitus prevalence among Asians, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific
Islanders in the United States. Mr. Ramcharran holds a master's degree in public
health with a concentration in epidemiology/biostatistics, and a bachelor's
of science degree in biology.
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Renee
Schwalberg, M.P.H.
Director of Health Policy and Policy Analysis
As Director of Health Policy at HSR, Ms. Schwalberg couples
solid qualitative and quantitative analytic skills with the ability to
present research findings in a format that is readily understood by professional
and lay readers alike. Her project work focuses on maternal and child
health, children with special needs, and managed care.
Ms. Schwalberg is the project director for HSR's Maternal and Child Health
(MCH) Information Resource Center, which was established to strengthen
the ability of MCH policymakers at all levels to gather, analyze, and
use data for effective decisionmaking. She also directs the development
of chartbooks to display key findings of major child health surveys,
such as the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs
and the National Survey of Children's Health. As a staff member of HSR's
National Policy Center for Children with Special Health Care Needs, she
conducted research on how to improve systems of care for these children
in a managed care environment. She has also conducted numerous studies
of state Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
to provide health insurance to low-income children, and served as the
associate director of a project to conduct focus groups on SCHIP and
Medicaid in nine states as part of the national evaluation of SCHIP.
Ms. Schwalberg has a bachelor's degree in sociology and history and a
master's degree in public health.
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Sandra
Silva,
M.A.
Policy Associate II
Sandra Silva is a policy associate in HSR’s Evaluation
Practice Area responsible for conducting a variety of qualitative and quantitative
analyses, policy research, and program evaluations. She also contributes to
the writing and editing of reports. She is currently working on a project for
the Economic Research Service at the USDA, assessing the impact of Medicaid
managed care on WIC program coordination with primary care services.
Beginning her career in the social services field, Ms. Silva acquired considerable
knowledge of the Food Stamp, Medicaid, and TANF programs. She also has years
of field research experience, having worked on several research projects relating
to maternal and child health. Most recently, she worked on a Federal demonstration
program that studied the effects of providing integrated behavioral health
services to new mothers at risk for substance abuse and mental health problems.
Ms. Silva holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s
degree in management with a focus on child, youth, and family policy.
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Laura
Sternesky, M.P.A.
Policy Associate II
Laura Sternesky serves as a Policy Associate in the Evaluation
and Research Methods Practice Area, where she assists in a number of projects
related to food and nutrition assistance programs and maternal and child health.
She provides expertise in program evaluation and policy research, as well as
qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Ms. Sternesky’s previous work includes maternal and child health policy
analysis for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and
all aspects of health care business development for the Greater New York Hospital
Association. While completing her master’s degree at New York University,
Ms. Sternesky participated in a competitive analysis and the creation of a
strategic plan for configuring services for a health network. Her work included
researching a number of policy issues, such as Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement,
immigration, and welfare; conducting site visits and focus groups; and analyzing
utilization and vital statistics data. Ms. Sternesky holds a bachelor’s
degree in biology and a master’s degree in public administration.
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Christian
Weaver, B.A.
Web/Database Administrator
Christian Weaver serves as HSR's Web/Database Administrator.
He is primarily responsible for the design, development, and administration
of HSR's corporate Web site as well as all project-sponsored Web sites.
He is additionally responsible for the design and development of numerous
short-term Web sites as well, geared towards achieving specific project-related
goals, such as: Web conferencing (live and on-demand), meeting/conference
registration, survey data collection and analysis, communication enhancement,
information dissemination, and e-commerce. Under government contract standards,
HSR ensures that all Web-related content is fully in compliance with all
current section 508 accessibility regulation standards. Mr. Weaver is
also responsible for the design, development and administration of HSR's
corporate database as well as numerous project-specific databases.
Mr.
Weaver holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and human resource management.
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Beth
Zimmerman, M.H.S.
Director of Health Promotion
Beth Zimmerman assists HSR clients with technical assistance, evaluation,
and policy development activities to promote the health of individuals
and populations, with a particular focus on women and children. An articulate
facilitator, she serves as the coordinator and moderator of an ongoing
series of Internet audioconferences on timely maternal and child health
data and policy issues. At the Federal, State and local levels, Ms. Zimmerman
provides technical assistance to help build comprehensive systems of
health care for children and their families. Recently, her efforts have
focused on systems to improve children’s oral health She works
closely with her clients to plan and execute workshops and expert meetings,
surveys, policy briefs, presentations, evaluation plans, and other strategic
tools and products.
A member of HSR’s team of dedicated professionals since 1993, Ms.
Zimmerman possesses in-depth expertise in the conduct of process evaluations
for programs serving vulnerable populations. She directed the first national
evaluation of the Bright Futures for Infants, Children, and Adolescents
Initiative for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She has also led
studies of service delivery systems for children with special health
care needs, including a study exploring barriers to and strategies for
improving integration between physical and mental health services. She
also participated in a national study exploring access to family planning
and perinatal services for pregnant women, and an evaluation of a national
project designed to reduce infant mortality, among others.
Before joining HSR, Ms. Zimmerman worked for the Center for Health Policy
Studies of the National Governors' Association. In that post, she collected
and analyzed information on strategies used by states to improve Medicaid
programs for pregnant women and children. She has a master's degree in
maternal and child health.
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