DHDPS Faculty

Primary Appointment Faculty

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. 

Joint Appointment Faculty

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.

Secondary Appointment Faculty

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

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.

Adjunct Faculty 

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.