Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences

Peter K. Lindenauer, MD, MSc, MHM

Peter Lindenauer is the Chair of the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, Professor of Medicine, and Assistant Dean of Population Health at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, Professor of Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Adjunct Professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine. A board-certified internist and practicing hospitalist, and founding Board member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, Dr. Lindenauer's research focuses on measuring the quality and outcomes of care for patients with common medical conditions, evaluating the effectiveness of acute treatments and care strategies, and the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to improve care delivery.

His research is supported by grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH. He is the author of over 280 peer reviewed papers, which have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, Medical Care, and leading general internal medicine and subspecialty journals.

In 2008, he received the excellence in research award from the Society of Hospital Medicine, and in 2012 he was named a Master in Hospital Medicine. In 2013, he received Baystate’s Weinberg Family Award for academic excellence. In 2018, he received UMass Chan-Baystate's Award for Excellence in Research Mentoring. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety, and Perioperative Medicine, and has served on multiple NIH study sections focused on health services research, dissemination and implementation, and career development awards. Dr Lindenauer is a graduate of the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

Kimberley Geissler, PhD

Kimberley Geissler is the Chief of the Division of Health Equity and Health Services Research in the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences. Dr. Geissler is a health economist and health services researcher with research interests in policies and systems that impact access to and quality of healthcare for vulnerable populations, including people covered by Medicaid. Her work particularly focuses on measuring and assessing coordination of care in a highly fragmented system, and on evaluating insurance and organizational factors influencing access to care.

Her research is currently supported by grants from the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute; the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; and the National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation. She has published peer-reviewed papers in journals including JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA Network Open, Medical Care, and Health Services Research.

Dr. Geissler is a graduate of Williams College and the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. She completed her postdoctoral training in health economics and computer science at the Boston University Questrom School of Business.

Elizabeth Peacock-Chambers, MD, MSc

Lili Peacock-Chambers is the Chief of the Division of Health and Behavior in the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, a board-certified pediatrician, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate. Dr. Peacock-Chambers’ research focuses the study of behavioral interventions using qualitative, implementation, and community-engaged research methodologies. As a pediatrician, her clinical and research interests pertain to the promotion of optimal early childhood health and development among families facing adversity and marginalization, particularly among families affected by substance use disorders.

Her research has been supported by grants from the Tufts CTSI (KL-2 and Pilot Awards) and is currently supported by NIDA (K23 award), PCORI, and SAMHSA. She has published peer reviewed papers in journals including Pediatrics, Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Infant Mental Health Journal, Journal of Substance Abuse, and Implementation Research & Practice.

In 2020, she was inducted into the UMass Chan Medical School Gold Humanism Honor Society. She received Baystate’s Young Investigator Award in 2019. In 2017 and 2018, she received the Baystate Pediatric Residency Teaching Award. In 2015, she received the Academic Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award. She completed her pediatric training at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. She then completed a fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center where she earned a degree in epidemiology. She also completed the UMass Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health postgraduate program and is a current fellow in the NIH-funded “Implementation Research Institute” that seeks to advance the field of implementation science in mental health.

Penelope S. Pekow, PhD

Penny Pekow is the Supervisor of Biostatistics and Research Support for the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate, as well as a Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Her recent work has focused on application of analytic methods for comparative effectiveness studies and studies of variation in delivery of care utilizing large observational databases with multi-level hierarchical data structures.

Benjamin Bovell-Ammon, MD, MPH

Ben Bovell-Ammon is a general internist and health services researcher in the Departments of Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Ben completed a combined residency program in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine at Boston Medical Center/Boston University and a hybrid research fellowship at Boston Medical Center and The Miriam Hospital (Lifespan) in Providence, RI.

With a passion to address health disparities related to mass incarceration, Ben's research interests include post-incarceration transitions of care, addiction medicine, and how value-based payment reforms might improve services for patients involved with the criminal legal system. As a clinician in the Division of General Medicine and Community Health, he will be a primary care and addiction medicine provider at Baystate's community health centers and the Hampden County House of Correction.

Jill McCormick, MBA

Jill McCormick is the Director of Design and Innovation at Baystate Health and TechSpring. With a focus on digital transformation and experience design, she applies human-centered design (HCD) methodologies to problem analysis, solution design, and rapid prototyping. She has successfully launched commercial products using this methodology. Jill holds an M.B.A. from the Babson F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Southern Maine. She is passionate about the consumer perspective in healthcare and actively leads and engages in research, workshops, and educational sessions to promote innovation and design thinking.

Jill's research interests include improving access to care and advancing health equity. She collaborates with clinical researchers, applying a consumer lens and human-centered approach, ensuring that the needs and perspectives of patients and staff are considered. For example, one of her research projects applied human-centered design (HCD) principles to understanding the patient experience when using noninvasive ventilation (NIV), with the goal of creating better strategies to improve NIV comfort and tolerance.

Eduardo Núñez, MD, MS

Eduardo Núñez is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at Baystate Health, a health services researcher and Assistant Professor of Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate. After attending medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, he completed residency in Internal Medicine at Brown University. He recently finished Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Boston University and Boston Medical Center where he worked with Dr. Renda Wiener to improve healthcare delivery of lung cancer screening.

Dr. Núñez’s research interests include addressing disparities in lung cancer screening uptake and subsequent receipt of the recommended follow-up to improve mortality from lung cancer overall, and among underserved populations. He also has interests in improving communication with patients through shared decision-making in lung cancer screening and in end-of-life conversations. Dr. Núñez’s efforts to address barriers to accessing screening and the health of underserved populations has been recognized through several awards including the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Minority Trainee Development Scholarship and ATS Behavioral Sciences and Health Services Research Abstract Scholarships. Dr. Núñez has also received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (F32) and LUNGevity Foundation (Health Equity and Inclusiveness Research Fellow). He plans to continue his research work to address barriers in screening uptake and eliminate disparities in lung cancer.

Quinn Pack, MD, MSc

Quinn Pack is a non-invasive cardiologist, the Medical Director of cardiac rehabilitation at Baystate Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate. His clinical and research interests center on cardiovascular prevention and education. He has published in smoking cessation, preventive cardiology education, obesity and weight loss, and over the past several years focused his research efforts in cardiac rehabilitation.

He has a growing involvement in national organizations and is a member of both the Research and Quality committee’s for the American Association of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation and Prevention (AACVPR). He was recently awarded two R01 grants, one from NHLBI focused on in-patient smoking cessation and one from NIA focused on exercise prescription in cardiac rehab.

Elizabeth Schoenfeld, MD, MS

Elizabeth Schoenfeld is board-certified in Emergency Medicine, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate, and is the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Prior to her arrival at Baystate, she attended the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University and completed residency in Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University Hospital and fellowship in Emergency Ultrasound at the University of Maryland. She completed a Masters in Clinical and Translational Science from the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.

Dr. Schoenfeld, along with Dr. Lindenauer and Dr. Goff, received an R03 from AHRQ to study physicians’ perspectives and attitudes regarding the use of shared decision-making in the emergency department. Dr. Schoenfeld received the New Investigator of the Year Award from UMass Chan-Baystate in 2017 for her work on the R03. In 2018, she received a 5-year career development K08 from AHRQ, for her project entitled "Shared Decision-Making for the promotion of patient-centered imaging in the Emergency Department: Suspected kidney stones.” Her other areas of interest include improving the ability of Emergency Departments to address patients’ social needs, addressing Opioid Use Disorder in the ED, decreasing unnecessary advanced imaging, and improving the patient experience.

William Soares, MD, MS

Bill Soares is board-certified in Emergency and Addiction Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He attended Harvard Medical School and completed residency training at Alameda Health System in Oakland, CA. He joined Baystate in 2013 as an Emergency Medicine Research Fellow, earning a Master’s Degree in Clinical and Translational Science at the Tufts Sackler School of Biomedical Science.

Bill's research focuses on clinical decision-making and substance use disorder in the emergency department. He is completing a NIDA K08 project evaluating provider decisions to prescribe discharge opioid medications to patients presenting with an acutely painful condition. Additionally, Bill is a site PI of a UG3/UH3 prospective cluster randomized trial evaluating the implementation of an enhanced electronic ordering system on buprenorphine prescribing.

Lauren Westafer, DO, MPH, MS

Lauren Westafer is a board-certified emergency physician and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. Prior to her arrival at Baystate as an Emergency Medicine resident, she attended Nova Southeastern University where she earned her medical degree and a Master of Public Health. Lauren continued on at Baystate to complete an Emergency Medicine Research fellowship, earning a Masters in Clinical and Translational Science from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.

Lauren’s research focuses on implementation science and pulmonary embolism. She completed a K12 through the Massachusetts Consortium for Cardiopulmonary Implementation Science Scholars, and in 2021 she was awarded a K23 from NHLBI for her project “De-implementation of Low-Value Evaluation of Pulmonary Embolism (DELVE-PE).” Her research interests are complemented by significant experience using social media to disseminate original research and evidence-based practices, including an award-winning podcast, FOAMcast, and projects with Annals of Emergency Medicine and Academic Emergency Medicine.

Mustafa Barbhuiya, PhD

Mustafa Barbhuiya is currently the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry and Point of Care Testing at the Department of Pathology, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA. He is Assistant Professor of Pathology at UMass Chan Medical School – Baystate. At the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, he serves as Assistant Professor with a secondary faculty appointment. His basic and translational research interests include liver and biliary tract cancer biomarkers. His thematic research interest at DHDPS is to conduct research on the role of essential diagnostics list in health care delivery and population health. He completed the Clinical Chemistry Fellowship (2018-2020) at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey. Dr. Barbhuiya earned a Doctorate in Biochemistry (2013) from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India and subsequently completed postdoctoral studies (2013-2018) from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. He is broadly trained in clinical biochemistry, clinical laboratory management, medical laboratory sciences, cancer epidemiology, cancer biomarkers, next generation sequencing and mass spectrometry. He is board certified as a clinical chemist and CMS approved high complexity clinical laboratory director. He is also American Society of Clinical Pathology board certified in Molecular Biology and Medical Laboratory Sciences.

He was selected as one of the American Society for Clinical Pathologists’ (ASCP’s) 40 Under Forty 2019. The ‘ASCP 40 under forty’ program recognizes members under the age of 40 for their achievements and leadership qualities that are making an impact on pathology and laboratory medicine. He won several other national awards, serves in the committees of professional bodies like Association of Clinical Scientists, American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute. He was elected Fellow of Association of Clinical Scientists and Associate Fellow of AACC Academy (formerly National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry).

Dr. Barbhuiya set up a global non-profit organization called the Foundation for Advancement of Essential Diagnostics (FAED) in India (2018) and subsequently in USA (2020). The overall goal of this foundation is to promote and further augment the ‘essential diagnostics list’ published by World Health Organization in context to global public health. FAED aims to provide framework for a strong and functional evidence-based laboratory medicine regulatory system in to maintain and sustain the quality assurance and continuous improvement in the practice of laboratory medicine in low-resource settings in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Maura Jo Brennan, MD

Maura Brennan came to Baystate Medical Center as an intern in 1989 and has been here since. She received a B.A. from Barnard College, graduated from Yale University School of Medicine, did her residency in internal medicine at Baystate, and trained in geriatric medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Dr. Brennan is certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine and hospice and palliative care. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Geriatrics Society, and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She served 8 years as the Baystate Hospice Medical Director, is a clinician educator with a particular interest in the training of residents and fellows, and serves as the Program Director for the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship. She is a Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate.

She has published in the fields of geriatrics and palliative medicine and frequently speaks at national meetings, particularly the American Geriatrics Society. She has served in many national leadership roles including as President of the National Association for Geriatrics Education. She also currently is a member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council for Research and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. Her clinical work in recent years has focused on geriatrics consultation in the hospital. She has received multiple scholarships and awards. These include: The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, Teacher of the Year Award from the Baystate internal medicine residents, Baystate’s “Excellence in Teaching" Award and a the Jahnigen Award for a senior clinician educator from the American Geriatrics Society.

She led a Hartford Foundation grant supporting chief resident immersion training in geriatrics at Baystate and in 2015 she became the Project Director for Baystate’s “Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program” grant from HRSA (Human Resources Services Administration.) This award was successfully renewed and will run through 2024. It makes Baystate one of only 48 nationally supported geriatric education centers. The grant has enhanced educational and clinical programming in geriatrics and palliative care throughout the system with an emphasis on the community health centers, a pilot home care program and Baystate Medical Center’s Acute Care for Elders Program. She is a graduate of Intermountain Healthcare’s Program for Health Care Delivery Improvement and is particularly interested in applying improvement science and innovation to redesign team-based care for high-risk populations.

Stephen Bonasera, MD, PhD

Stephen Bonasera is the chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, and the medical director for Baystate’s Memory Assessment and Care Clinic and Community Palliative Care Clinic. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience through Emory University’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). He completed internship and residency in the Categorical Internal Medicine program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). At UCSF he also finished a fellowship in Geriatrics and a postdoctoral research program in Behavioral Neuroscience. He was recruited to study normal aging in mice and translational research models by the Division of Geriatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). In 2022, he was recruited by UMass Baystate as Division Chief. Dr. Bonasera is a Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate.

Dr. Bonasera’s clinical practice is focused on memory care and home-based care for at-risk older adults. He has been recognized as an outstanding clinical instructor at both UCSF and UNMC. He has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications and 2 book chapters covering normal brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease management, Alzheimer’s disease care delivery systems, and assessment of functional behaviors in community-dwelling populations. He has received past grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIA, NIMH), Alzheimer’s Association, and CMS.

Christine Bryson, DO

Christine Bryson is a graduate of Nova Southeastern Medical School and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Palliative Care. She is the Medical Director, Teaching Services for the Division of Hospital Medicine at Baystate Medical Center and an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency. Clinically she practices as an academic hospitalist Associate Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. Her interests include patient safety, quality improvement, diagnostic error and improving communication with patients. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Senior Fellow in Hospital Medicine. She is currently completing her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts.

Daniel T. Engelman, MD, FACS

Dr. Daniel Engelman is the Medical Director of the Heart, Vascular and Critical Care Units at Baystate Medical Center and Professor of Surgery, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, and an Associate Professor-Adjunct at Tufts University School of Medicine. He recently started the Enhanced Recovery After Cardiac Surgery (ERACS) Collaborative to nationally standardize best practices. He was tasked with organizing a full day symposium at the 2018 American Association of Thoracic Surgeons meeting on the topic. He is leading a group of international experts to publish the first consensus guidelines for best practices in enhanced recovery following cardiac surgery. He is presenting this work in Stockholm at the ERAS Society World Congress in May, 2018.

He is the President of the Massachusetts Society of Thoracic Surgeons and also serves on multiple Statewide Oversight committees. Dr. Engelman participates on two national workforces for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and was the Past President of the 21st Century Cardiothoracic Surgical Society. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Baycare PPO and ACO and is Vice President of the local Independent Physician Organization.

Dr. Engelman is the principal investigator on multiple research projects, has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications, and participates on two international taskforces (ADQI and KDIGO) standardizing approaches for the prevention of postoperative acute kidney injury. In 2017, He has reviewed over 30 manuscripts for publication in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He was recently asked to lead a steering committee of international physicians designing a new study to evaluate a medication to prevent postoperative AKI. He travels extensively lecturing on advances in critical care medicine, healthcare informatics and finance, multimodal analgesia, and fast-track recovery after cardiac surgery. He serves as a consultant and independent medical reviewer for Mallinckrodt pharmaceuticals, Edwards Lifescience, Zimmer-Biomet, and Astute Medical. He was named the National ACS/STS Health Policy Scholar in 2016.

Dr. Engelman is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program in Health Policy and Management at The Heller School of Brandeis University. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his Cardiothoracic Surgical training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. He received his B.A. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and M.D. from New York University School of Medicine.

Peter D. Friedmann, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM

Peter Friedmann is Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, Chief Research Officer and Endowed Chair for Clinical Research at Baystate Health, and Professor of Quantitative Health Sciences, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate.

He is an internal medicine and addiction medicine physician, and an established addiction health services researcher. His interests include the organization, process and outcomes of addiction treatment; implementation of evidence-based practices across the addiction treatment, medical and criminal justice systems; and the role of physicians in the identification and care of patients with substance use disorders.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, a past president of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA), former Internal Medicine Specialty Director on the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Carolyn Garcia, MD

Carolyn Garcia is a board-certified pulmonary and critical care physician at Baystate Health and holds a faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor in the departments of Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate. Dr. Garcia received her B.A. with distinction from Boston University and received her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in internal medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Garcia then completed a clinical and research fellowship program in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. During her fellowship, Dr. Garcia was a recipient of institutional research training grant support (T32) from the NHLBI, during which time she conducted basic science research studying the immunology and neurobiology of asthma in murine models. She has received multiple awards for academic achievement during her clinical training, including induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. She is a recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award and is also a member of the Gold Humanism Society.

Dr. Garcia has clinical expertise in obstructive lung disease and is committed to improving health-related quality of life and goal-concordant medical care for patients living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She is a medical director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services at Baystate Medical Center and an integral member of the study team for a randomized controlled trial at Baystate Health aimed at improving participation in pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with COPD through peer support and storytelling. Her current research interests include using narrative communication to facilitate the early integration of palliative medicine in COPD management.

Mathew Goebel, MD

Mat Goebel is an emergency medicine physician and former paramedic, EKG tech, and sound engineer. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he graduated from medical school at the University of California at San Diego. He went on to complete emergency medicine residency at UMass Chan Baystate Medical Center, where he is currently a research fellow. He is an Instructor of Emergency Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. His clinical and research interests include EMS, STEMI, cardiac arrest, EKGs, cybersecurity, natural language processing, data visualization, and applications of machine learning.

Sarah Haessler, MD

Sarah Haessler is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Baystate Health and the Hospital Epidemiologist in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Baystate Medical Center. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. Her research interests include healthcare-associated infections and the treatment and outcomes of pneumonia.

Dr. Haessler received her MD degree from George Washington University School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Dartmouth Hitchcock in New Hampshire. She joined Baystate Health in 2005 and since that time, has held progressive leadership roles, including as the Hospital Epidemiologist for the health system, Vice Chair, Dept. of Medicine, and interim Chair, Dept. of Medicine.

Karin Johnson, MD

Karin Johnson is the Medical Director of Baystate Health Regional Sleep Program and Associate Professor of Neurology, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs of the Department of Neurology at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. She attended University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine, Neurology residency at Rhode Island Hospital and Sleep Medicine Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She then joined Baystate Medical Center in 2008 with primarily a clinical and then administrative focus tripling the size of the sleep program. She has an interest in health care policy serving on the Baycare Accountable Care Organization Clinical Integration Advisory Council and has served on the MassHealth Drug Review board the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Payer Policy Review Committee.

Her research has focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment and understanding of clinical implications of sleep disordered breathing. In 2005, she published one of the first descriptions of complex sleep apnea. In 2010, she reported a widely cited meta-analysis of the prevalence of sleep apnea in stroke patients. She has expanded the knowledge of how positive airway pressure technology works through publications and directing courses at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Annual SLEEP Meeting and other regional and national lectures. She more recently increased her focus on research as the first class of UMass Chan-Baystate Research Pilot Award program recipients. Her current research focuses on improving the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea utilizing home sleep apnea testing with a focus on novel gender stratified methods for defining sleep apnea physiology.

Tovy Haber Kamine, MD

Tovy Haber Kamine is a Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon and Director of Emergency Surgery Services at Baystate Medical Center. He is an Assistant Professor of Surgery, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He did his General Surgery residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and his fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

His research interests include improving the care of trauma and emergency general surgical patients in austere environments and in non trauma centers. He is the past president of the Space Surgery Association and has published on trauma and telemedicine.

Timothy J. Mader, MD

Tim Mader is a Professor Emeritus of Emergency Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He attended the University of Wisconsin Medical School, completed his residency training in 1990, is board-certified in Emergency Medicine, and he was in clinical practice, taught residents and students, and conducted research at Baystate his entire career. He completed fellowships in clinical and basic science research, and studied statistics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Before retirement he was the Associate Director of Emergency Medicine Research and the Emergency Medicine Research Fellowship Program Director.

He has a longstanding interest in cardiac arrest and served as the Director of Resuscitation Research within the Department of Emergency Medicine. He has a particular interest in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation and post-arrest critical care. He recently collaborated with Dr. Bryan McNally at Emory University and Dr. Brian Nathanson, the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of OptiStatim, LLC, to examine resuscitation outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among a large cohort of adults in the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) archives. Dr. Mader has published more than 80 papers and been Principle Investigator or Co-Investigator on over 20 institutional, foundation, and federal grants, including several R- level grants from NHLBI and AHRQ.

Kathleen Mazor, EdD

Kathy Mazor is a Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, and Associate Director of the Meyers Primary Care Institute. An experienced researcher, a major focus of her work has been understanding patients' perspectives on health and healthcare. Her research on patients' perceptions of care has helped to amplify the voices of patients and their family members, and has provided important insights into what matters most to patients. She has led and collaborated on numerous studies investigating the impact of various strategies for communicating with patients about sensitive and complex health-related topics.

She is a nationally recognized leader in health literacy where she has drawn attention to the need to focus on patient understanding of spoken health information as well as written information. Trained in psychometrics, she has developed numerous instruments for assessing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of patients and providers. Her current research interests include physician-patient communication, patient-perceived breakdowns in care, health literacy, disclosure of medical errors, and decision-making.

Barry D. Sarvet, MD

Barry Sarvet is Professor of Psychiatry, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. A graduate of Northwestern University Medical School, he completed his residency training in both general and child and adolescent psychiatry at Yale University. Dr. Sarvet’s career has focused on the development and operation of models for promoting the integration of child psychiatry in primary care, and the dissemination of best practices in children’s mental health treatment. With pediatrician colleagues in MA, he helped to develop the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (MCPAP), an innovative public system for improving access to care for children with mental health needs throughout the state. Since 2004, he has served as the statewide medical director for MCPAP which has become a national model for helping pediatric primary care providers address mental health needs for children. Dr. Sarvet has written numerous articles regarding integrated child psychiatry practice and has provided technical assistance for programs throughout the US striving to develop systems of collaboration between child psychiatry and primary care. He helped found the National Network of Child Psychiatry Access Programs, which currently includes members from 32 states.

Dr. Sarvet’s work has also focused on addressing the needs of children who have been impacted by traumatic stress. He has provided leadership for the Baystate Children’s Hospital Family Advocacy Center, a clinical and research program for children who have been victims of child abuse, domestic violence, and other forms of trauma. In this setting, he has led several federally funded projects for the dissemination and adaptation of evidence-based trauma-focused psychotherapy models within community mental health settings.

Dr. Sarvet currently serves as Chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Healthcare Access and Economics Committee. He also serves on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Integrated Care Committee and the APA Scientific Program Committee. Dr. Sarvet also serves as a national trainer in the Collaborative Care Model within APA’s Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative funded by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Adrianne C. Seiler, MD

Addie Seiler is a graduate of the University of Connecticut Medical School and is board certified in Internal Medicine. She is a practicing hospitalist at Baystate Medical Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. In addition, Dr. Seiler has completed a Fellowship in Healthcare Quality and Safety at Baystate Medical Center and has received Certification in Healthcare Quality and Safety through the Jefferson School of Population Health. Her previous roles have included Associate Medical Director of Hospital Quality at Baystate Medical Center, as well as the Hospital Medicine Integration Chief for Baystate Health across the five hospital system. In 2013, she joined Baycare Health Partners/Pioneer Valley Accountable Care, which is the IPA/PHO/ACO affiliated with Baystate Health where she now serves as the Chief Medical Officer.

Sundeep M. Shukla, MD MBA

Sundeep M. Shukla is a board-certified Emergency Physician and Chief of the Emergency Department at Baystate Noble Hospital. He is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan-Baystate.

His clinical and research interests are Geriatric Emergency Medicine, Health Equity, Clinical Operations, Patient Experience, Quality, and Patient Safety. He has published about operations, geriatric emergency processes, patient satisfaction, and improving hospital metrics. He has a passion for enhancing patient outcomes, reducing costs, and efficient operations.

He has received grants for his work on a Geriatric Emergency Department and has lectured on this topic nationally. He has been actively involved, and has held leadership positions in state (MACEP) and national (ACEP) emergency medicine advocacy organizations. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Dr. Shukla initially completed two years of General Surgery Residency at Baystate Medical Center. Subsequently, he completed an Emergency Medicine Residency at Baystate Medical Center and a two year Administrative Fellowship. During his fellowship he also completed an MBA through the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management.

Jay S. Steingrub, MD, FACP, FCCP

Jay Steingrub is a Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at the UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate and Professor of Medicine at Tufts CTSI. Dr. Steingrub has distinguished himself as an outstanding clinician, educator, and clinical investigator. As Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Steingrub has built a nationally recognized program in clinical research devoted to sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

He has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on 42 extramurally funded clinical trials and has been funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study Acute Lung Injury as part of an ARDS network consortium. He is also one of 11 national recipients of the new NHLBI PETAL Network Research Grant, working with 3 other New England sites to create a clinical center for this project. Dr. Steingrub’s work continues to focus on optimal strategies to deliver clinical care in the ICU setting for patients with sepsis and ARDS and currently is examining the utility of novel compounds in the treatment of sepsis and ARDS.

Kathleen Szegda, PhD, MPH, MS

Kathleen Szegda is the Director of Community Research and Evaluation at the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, formerly Partners for a Healthier Community, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. She completed her doctorate in Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship focused on women's health.

Her research interests are in maternal and child health, mental health, and health disparities. She is also interested in research aimed at identifying effective community-level systems, policy and environmental changes to improve health equity, which is informed by her experience working to promote policy and systems change at the national level at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at a local level as the Director of the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition. Her prior research has focused on perinatal mental health and impacts on birth outcomes among Latina women, as well as the impacts of adiposity over the life course on early menopause. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences where she teaches a course on Health Impact Assessment. She was the Co-PI on a PCORI Eugene Washington Award to build community engaged research capacity in Springfield through the Project ACCCES network, which she continues to co-lead.

Paul F. Visintainer, PhD

Paul Visintainer is currently the Director of Scientific Integrity and Analysis, as well as the Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Research Core (EBRC), at Baystate Health where he has worked for more than ten years. He is a Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He holds a secondary appointment as Professor in the Tufts Public Health CTSI. Previously, he was Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practice. He has more than 35 years of experience collaborating with clinical researchers, providing expertise in study design, data analysis, and manuscript development. Through his collaborations with clinicians and research faculty, he has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles.

David Chin, PhD

David Chin is an Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. Dr. Chin’s research focuses on health care quality measurement to inform national health policy, health care systems, and clinical practice. He completed his doctorate in epidemiology at the University of California, Davis and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Quality, Safety, and Comparative Effectiveness Research Training Program, in the Center for Health Policy and Research at the UC Davis Health System.

Most recently, Dr. Chin has focused on the development of data science and computational methods – natural language processing, quantum computing machine learning algorithms, and health informatics – to quantify social determinants of health and reduce health disparities. His research interests also include hospital and physician performance measures, patient safety, and the impact of public reporting on health outcomes.

Elizabeth Evans, PhD, MA

Liz Evans is a Professor of Health Promotion and Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. Dr. Evans researches how health care systems and public policies can better promote health and wellness among individuals with opioid and other substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and infectious diseases. She completed her doctorate in public health at the University of California Los Angeles and a health services research and development postdoctoral fellowship at the Veterans Affairs Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, and Policy. Much of her research has originated from community-partnered multi-site longitudinal cohort study designs and mining of linked administrative data provided by health care delivery systems, social services institutions, and criminal justice sources. Her current research focuses on how the criminal justice system can impact health outcomes. She is mPI of the Massachusetts Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (MassJCOIN) and she leads several other federal and foundation-funded projects.

Sarah L. Goff, MD, PhD

Sarah Goff is a board-certified pediatrician and internist and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. She is a graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale, the 2011 recipient of the Tufts University School of Medicine KL-2 Mentored Career Development Award, and a K23 Career Development Award from NICHD.

Her research interests include maternal-child health care quality and safety with a particular interest in public reporting of quality measures. Additional interests include qualitative methodology, palliative care research, impact of health care delivery systems on patient outcomes, and how communication impacts health outcomes.

Samuel Headley, PhD, FACSM, ACSM-RCEP

Sam Headley is a professor in the Exercise Science & Athletic Training Department at Springfield College and an Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and an ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist. He is also a former president of the Clinical Exercise Physiology Association (CEPA) and the current Program Director of the Exercise Physiology program at Springfield College. The Clinical Exercise Physiology program at Springfield College is one of the few CAAHEP accredited clinical exercise physiology programs in the country. Dr. Headley’s research interest include the effects of lifestyle interventions (i.e., diet and exercise training) in persons with chronic kidney disease and the effect of exercise training on blood pressure in persons with hypertension, with a special interest in hypertension in Black individuals.

Tara Lagu, MD, MPH

Tara Lagu is a pharmacist, hospitalist, and health services researcher with a focus on using innovative methods to improve quality of care, access to care, and coordination of care for vulnerable patients, including patients with heart failure and patients with disabilities. With expertise in measurement of healthcare delivery quality, observational comparative effectiveness, implementation science, qualitative, and mixed methods, she has conducted studies that aim to increase implementation of evidence-based practice, advance health equity, improve population health, and eliminate health disparities.

After completing a degree in Pharmacy from Purdue University, an MD/MPH at the Yale University School of Medicine, and General Internal Medicine Residency at Rhode Island Hospital/Warren Alpert Medical School/Brown University, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania from 2005-2008. Dr. Lagu was faculty at Baystate in Department of Medicine and in DHDPS from 2008-2020. She has been continuously funded by NHBLI for more than a decade (including a career development award and R01 grants) and has published hundreds of original peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-impact journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), JAMA, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and The Journal of Hospital Medicine. Her work has included evaluations of health care delivery methods, observational studies of treatment effectiveness, research in dissemination and implementation of health care interventions, and descriptions of disparities in health and health care for vulnerable and minority populations.

Jing Qian, PhD

Jing Qian is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at University of Massachusetts Amherst and an Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. He received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Emory University and completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Qian’s methodology research interests include analysis of time-to-event outcomes under complex sampling, quantile regression, treatment of censored and truncated covariates in regression analysis, and biomarker evaluation and risk prediction. Dr. Qian's collaborative research focuses on Alzheimer's disease studies and cancer epidemiology. His research is supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Cancer Institute.

Natalia G. Shcherbakova, PhD

Natalia Shcherbakova is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences at Western New England University College of Pharmacy and an Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate. She is also a health services researcher with a local health plan, Health New England. Her research interests include pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes studies, managed care program evaluation, as well as assessment of the impact of mobile technology and social media on health care and education.

Astha Bista, MPH

Astha Bista is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Department. She graduated with a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in 2023. Her educational journey also includes a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) from Nepal Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal. While at SIUE, she conducted multiple research projects focused on oral health. She delved into the complex world of a caregiver's oral health literacy, dental anxiety, and its influence on their child's oral health status. Her responsibilities included comprehensive literature reviews, survey development, grant proposal creation, participant recruitment, data analysis, and meticulous record-keeping. Her research findings were presented to academic audiences at SIUE and featured in a project poster presentation at the Graduate Research Symposium. She also participated in an Applied Public Health experience at SIUE, collaborating with an Assistant Professor at SIUE School of Dental Medicine on a research paper. Together, they focused on assessing the influence of oral health education during pregnancy, promoting oral health hygiene practices, and raising awareness about the importance of oral health throughout pregnancy and infancy. Her background as a dentist provides her with a deep insight into the clinical aspects of health, enabling her to navigate complex research projects with a practical understanding of medical procedures and patient interactions.

Outside of work, she enjoys exploring new places and food and binge-watching Netflix shows. Overall, she is passionate about improving healthcare through scientific research and community engagement.

Justine Budhram, MA

Justine Budhram is the Executive Assistant for the Department. She has a BA and MA in vocal performance. In addition to her work for DHDPS, she has been teaching yoga for 13 years. In her spare time, she enjoys singing and playing keyboard with her rock band, riding her motorcycle, reading, and traveling with her husband and son.

Naomi Diaz, MPH

Naomi Diaz is a Research Ambulation Orderly at the Department. She graduated from the University of New England with a Master of Public Health and was the 2021-2022 president of the American Public Health Association-Student Assembly at UNE. As president, she created social media content to raise awareness of public health issues and helped organize a World AIDS Day event on campus. During the same year, she was a research and communications intern for the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts. There, she aided their 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment. Naomi recently gained her first publication working under Dr. Keisha Jones on a retrospective cohort study reporting perioperative outcomes of colpocleisis.

Naomi is currently working at the DHDPS on a research project studying ambulation and its effects on improving mobility and health outcomes in older adults. She will also be assisting projects regarding smoking cessation and cardiac rehabilitation improvements. Outside of work, Naomi enjoys baking, traveling, and reading.

Aubri A. Drake, MSW, MLS

Aubri Drake is the Research Manager for the Department. They graduated summa cum laude from Southern Connecticut State University with a BA in Psychology, and earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Library Science degree from Southern Connecticut State University.

Aubri has a background in social-behavioral research, and they manage all aspects of projects and administration within DHDPS—such as federal grant submissions, grant management, budgets, IRB, data requests, and project management. Outside of work, Aubri is an ardent ultrarunner, backpacker, and thru-hiker.

Julianna Eve, PhD, MS

Juli Eve is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Department. She has a PhD in Kinesiology from UMass Amherst where she specialized in balance and movement training to improve quality of life in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). During her time at UMass she worked as a graduate researcher on a number of different MS studies ranging from: measuring the balance and walking changes that occur due to MS; assessing the dual task impact on standing balance while texting in MS; analyzing possible measures for earlier detection of MS progression; and evaluating the use of mindfulness training (Tai Chi or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) to improve well-being and standing balance in people with MS. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing martial arts (Tae Kwon Do and Yang style Tai Chi), reading, and going on adventures with her family.

M. Kamal Faridi, MPH

Kamal Faridi is a biostatistician at the Department. Kamal has a master’s degree in Public Health in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health. He has previously worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Kamal has experience with creating and managing large databases, including diverse study designs and statistical analyses. His work includes using large administrative data sets such as Medicare, the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) family of databases as well as survey data including Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registries, the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).

Abigail Grimm

Abigail "Abby" Grimm is a Research Ambulation Orderly at the Department. She graduates in May 2024 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with her Bachelor of Science in Public Health and will continue on to pursue a Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice Nursing at Yale University in the fall. Prior to their time at UMass, Abby worked as a licensed nursing assistant both at the bedside and in out-patient settings, a role which sparked their love of nursing and patient care and has helped inform their work in research, health policy, and public health. At UMass, they became involved in research and are currently completing their undergraduate thesis, which examines relationships between school experiences and mental health outcomes in gender-diverse adolescents.

Abby is working at the DHDPS on a research project studying ambulation and its effects on improving mobility and health outcomes in older adults. Originally from Vermont, she enjoys reading, riding bikes, being outside, and spending time with her cat in her free time.

Kobe Haizel

Kobe Haizel is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Department. He graduated from Skidmore College in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience. While at Skidmore College Kobe worked in the Neuroscience lab researching the link between iron deficiency and disturbances in circadian rhythms in mice, and the effect of light intensity on sleep lost or gained in fruit flies.

Outside of work, he enjoys thrifting, photography, and playing squash. He is passionate about utilizing neuroscience to improve people’s day to day lives.

Briana Jurkowski

Briana Jurkowski is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Department. She graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Pre-Medical Studies. While studying at UMass, Briana participated in Baystate’s Summer Scholars Program, worked as an intern to Dr. Peacock-Chambers, and completed a student practicum with her. During that time at Baystate, she worked on several research projects, focusing on interventions to promote early childhood development among families with history of substance use.

Briana is currently working for the Department on multiple grants implementing a program for mothers in recovery from substance use disorders, 'Mothering from the Inside Out,' into existing home-visiting services such as Early Intervention. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family and her cat Lilo, watching ice hockey (UMass and the Colorado Avalanche), and reading.

Rajashree Kotejoshyer, ScD, MS

Raj Kotejoshyer is a Research Project Manager at the Department. She has a background in Physical Therapy, with a master’s degree in Allied Health Sciences/Health Promotion from UConn Storrs. Her doctoral work at UMass Lowell and post-doctoral fellowship work at UConn Health focused on occupational injury, epidemiology, and occupational health interventions for healthcare and correctional workplaces. Raj is a mixed methods researcher with experience in intervention evaluation and has published numerous scientific journal articles. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, photography, and adventures with her family.

Isabel Linfield

Isabel Linfield is a Research Ambulation Orderly at the Department. She graduated from Tufts University in 2023 where she majored in Biology and premedical studies, with a special interest in community health and sign language. While at Tufts, Isabel became an EMT and subsequently began working at Tufts Medical Center in the ER as a Clinical Care Technician. When not at work, she enjoys all sorts of adventure sports including Eventing, Mountain Biking and Climbing. Isabel is currently working at the DHDPS on a research project studying ambulation and its effects on improving mobility and health outcomes in older adults.

Kyle McAnally

Kyle McAnally is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Department. He has a BS in Geographic Information Systems from the University of North Alabama and is working towards his MPH at the University of Arizona. Kyle previously spent 5 years working on multiple Urologic quality of life and biomarker research studies for prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He enjoys oddly complicated board games, most racket/paddle sports, and checking out live music in new places.

Kyle is currently working at the DHDPS on a grant focused on improving the physical activity of hospitalized older adults through assisted ambulation, in addition to assisting with projects looking at tobacco cessation and cardiac rehabilitation improvements.

Kye Poronsky, CCRP, MS

Kye Poronsky is a Senior Clinical Research Coordinator at the Department. She has an MS in Public Health with a focus in Epidemiology from UMass Amherst. Her previous education includes a BA in Psychology from Hofstra University and an MA in General Psychology from the University of Hartford. She spent almost a decade working in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Baystate Medical Center, starting out as a Clinical Research Assistant II and ultimately reaching Senior Clinical Research Coordinator before pursuing an experience with Turtle Health, a start-up online fertility clinic, from 2022 to 2023, where she was the Director of Clinical Trial Operations. Her time in both the ED and at Turtle Health have given her an abundance of experience across many different types of trials and also providing a wealth of knowledge across the health spectrum. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, exploring the outdoors with her family (dogs included!), and stretching her creative muscles through various forms of crafting.

Aruna Priya, PhD(c), MA, MSc

Aruna Priya has been a biostatistician with the department since 2009. She is currently a PhD candidate in Biostatistics, working on her dissertation, at UMass Amherst aiming to graduate in Summer of 2024. Prior to this, she brings extensive and deep academic training at top universities with a Masters in Statistics and Operations Research (from HCU) as well as Masters in Biostatistics (from UB).

Aruna also has been contributing to major areas of analytics, delivering on statistical solutions for several years. These span areas of RCTs, RWE, HEOR, Observational Research, Health Services improvement and more using databases that could be developed in-house, large administrative databases (CMS, Premier Perspective, Cerner Health facts, NHANES, FARS/NHTSA, NIS). This journey took her through individual physician researchers, physician research groups, academic centers, non-profit, hospital research and the consulting world. As a consultant, she has contributed heavily to grant proposals, study designs, statistical appropriateness, evaluations, and manuscripts while also mentoring interns, junior colleagues, onboarding team members via increasing responsibilities over time.

She has been working closely with several investigators at the department and over time has been an author, coauthor, mentor, peer reviewer for various journals of significance. While her work aims to solve a variety of challenges, Aruna’s interests include statistical modeling, multivariate statistics, experimental design, causal inference, AI/ML and emerging analytic technologies and research areas.

Karen L. Riska, PhD, MS

Karen Riska is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Department. She holds a PhD in Kinesiology from UMass Amherst where she received a grant from the American College of Sports Medicine to examine AKT1 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with body composition. She received a Master’s of Science in Exercise Science from St. Cloud State University in MN.

Prior to her arrival at DHDPS, she was teaching classes in Anatomy, Motor Learning, and Kinesiology at Smith College. While there, she also advised graduate and undergraduate research projects; the most recent was focused on examining the validity and reliability of a wireless EEG system during eccentric exercise and as an outcome measure of delayed onset muscle soreness. When not at work, she enjoys volunteering with Girls on the Run and being active with her family.

Meng-Shiou Shieh, PhD

Meng-Shiou Shieh is a biostatistician with the Department. She received her PhD in statistics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before coming to DHDPS, she worked as a statistical consultant, where she proofread and verified formulas for the study "Measurement Error: Models, Methods and Applications,” published March 4, 2010 by John Buonaccorsi. She is also a coauthor with Charles M. Schweik and Robert English for Chapters 9 and 10 of “The Success and Abandonment of Open Source Commons,” MIT Press, Spring 2012.

She has worked on many projects with external collaborators and is adept at performing data analysis on remote systems managed by these collaborators using VPNs (virtual private networks) and other technology. Her recent work focuses on the application of analytic methods appropriate for use with large observational databases like the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, Premier, Inc.’s Perspective, HCA-HealthCare, and All-Payer Claims Databases.

Sumsen Thapa, MS

Sumsen Thapa is an Exercise Physiologist with a strong background in Kinesiology and a focus on research. He completed his undergraduate studies in Physical Therapy from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India, 2017. He recently graduated with a Master of Science in Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2023. He also worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he utilized 3D Slicer software to trace and label cardiac MRI scans of study participants and worked on the methodology and technique for the physical measurement of the cardiac fat.

He is currently working as a Research Exercise Physiologist at the Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at Baystate Health. His work involves collaborating on diverse projects, which focus on improving outcomes from cardiac rehabilitation among older adults, smoking cessation, and studying ambulation and its effect in improving mobility and outcomes in older adults. With a deep passion for research and exercise physiology, he is thrilled to be a part of these projects and to contribute to enhancing patients' quality of life through evidence-based practices.

Besides his academic pursuits, he has a passion for exploring the world through traveling and immersing himself in different cultures and experiences. During his graduate and undergraduate studies, he found joy in staying active and engaged in sports, particularly football and cricket.

Chisom Unegbu

Chisom Unegbu is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Department. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2022 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. While at UMass Dartmouth, Chisom worked in a plant Biology lab researching plant foraging habits and plants’ responses to their soil microbial community. During her last year of college, Chisom participated in Dana-Farber/Harvard CURE summer program where she worked in a Thyroid cancer lab researching on CREBBP/EP300 deficient anaplastic thyroid cancer. Chisom is also a certified nursing assistant and does a lot of direct patient care in nursing facilities part time.

Outside of work, she enjoys watching supernatural drama series and spending time with family. Chisom is passionate about community and using science to improve health care.