Our Scholars

Our Scholars

Nauzley Abedini, MD

Michigan

Improving access to quality medical care; enhancing transitions of care; improving inter-professional education and teamwork; building healthcare worker capacity in underserved settings and understanding factors that drive healthcare worker misdistribution and turnover.

Anish Agarwal, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Using digital and mobile health to create, develop, and test scalable solutions designed to improve emergency care and the patient experience.

Nnenaya Agochukwu, MD

Michigan

Investigating the impact of urological disease on quality of life in the elderly population, as well as comparing surgical quality outcomes in low and middle income countries to high income countries.

Etsemaye Agonafer, MD, MPH

UCLA

Exploring the impact of health care delivery systems on underserved communities' health outcomes and patients' perception of quality of care.

Sallie Allgood, PhD(c), RN

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Examining how the integration of community health workers into primary care systems affects patients’ health outcomes and primary care utilization as well as population level health disparities and chronic disease risks.

Shoshana Aronowitz, FNP-BC, MSN, RN

Penn

Investigating the intersection of criminal justice and healthcare, the health effects of incarceration, re-entry after incarceration, substance abuse, and the impacts of racism and bias on health and healthcare.

Colleen Bennett, MD

Penn

Improving healthcare delivery and care coordination for children in foster care; identifying trends in healthcare utilization for children in foster care; reducing child maltreatment through community prevention strategies.

Nicholas Berlin, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Improving decision-making and incentivizing value in surgical care with decision support tools, telemedicine, and health policy.

Amanda Bettencourt, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P

Michigan

Evaluating the factors influencing the research-to-practice gap in critical care settings, and testing implementation strategies targeting the interprofessional team to improve the uptake of evidence-based care. 

Ish Bhalla, MD

UCLA

Understanding the ways in which systems can address psychosocial and legal consequences of addiction and serious mental illness.

Jessica Billig, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating avenues to improve surgical outcomes for plastic surgery patients at lower costs and eliminating disparities. Finding drivers for healthcare variations to provide high-value healthcare.

Eric Brandt, MD

Yale

Improving identification of patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease and barriers to their treatment, evaluating cardiovascular risk of various lifestyle and nutrition choices, and exploring the implications of mortality and readmission measures

Liza Buchbinder, MD, PhD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Examining human trafficking within the United States, and exploring the grey California prison population and the experiences of released elderly prisoners as they navigate the safety net health system.

Dominique Bulgin, PhD(c), RN

Duke

Investigating the influence of stigma on sickle cell disease self-management and identifying interventions to improve the health and quality of life of individuals with sickle cell disease 

Jade Burns, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC

Michigan

Improving healthcare and outcomes among adolescents at community health centers using community based participatory research and technology.

Marcelo Cerullo, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Investigating lung cancer screening guidelines and surgical referrals, imaging in oncologic decision-making, and insurance market and expansion and consolidation.

Grace Chao, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating how policy affects disparities in bariatric and general surgery and identifying barriers to accessing obesity management and treatment in order to design effective change and to advocate for patients

Katherine Chen, MD

UCLA

Examining the effects of urban planning and public policy on population health; understanding how neighborhood development affects health disparities in populations vulnerable to displacement.

Kevin Chen, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating human-centered design and behavioral economics in healthcare delivery, community-participatory social entrepreneurship, and digital technology in medicine.

Karan R. Chhabra, MD

Michigan

Focusing on optimizing the quality and value of care health systems delivery to populations of surgical patients.  Pursuing the effects of healthcare changes on surgical access and quality.

Kristen Choi, RN, PhD

UCLA

Utilizing health services research, policy, and system interventions to address interpersonal violence, child maltreatment trauma, and trauma-related mental illness.

Rushina Cholera, MD, PhD

Duke

Improving health outcomes and access to care for children in Spanish speaking immigrant families through identifying and mitigating psychosocial barriers to healthcare engagement

Benjamin Cobb, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Evaluating peripartum initiatives to improve the quality of care and increase patient safety in labor and delivery units.

Christina Cutter, MD, MSc

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Analyzing the integration of decision systems, prescriptive analytics, and innovative delivery models to enhance capacity and achieve more efficient, higher-value care at lower cost across the acute care continuum.  

George Dalembert, MD

Penn

Analyzing how to leverage the patient-centered medical home as a vehicle for addressing social determinants of health and improving health equity, with a goal of redefining the narrative around the achievement potential of black male youth.

Elias Dayoub, MD, MPP

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating the effects innovations in cardiovascular medicine have on patient outcomes, health care utilization and costs, access to care, and health disparities.

Ana De Roo, MD

Michigan

Investigating enhanced recovery pathways in surgery for older adults and vulnerable patients to improve outcomes and care.

Adrian Diaz, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating the intersection of health, delivery systems, geography, and policy to optimize access, quality, and value to surgical patients

Mia Djulbegovic, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating comparative efficacy of oral anticoagulants for prevention of recurrent VTE, and also conducting research studies on ownership of patient care in trainees.

Molly Easterlin, MD

UCLA

Understanding adverse childhood experiences, how behaviors and activities established at young ages affect long-term health in adulthood, and how adverse social circumstances can be overcome.

Shelli Feder, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating factors associated with high-quality palliative and end-of-life care for individuals with non-cancer conditions and utilizing medical informatics techniques to capture palliative care delivery in large amounts of data.

David Flood, MD

Michigan

Addressing disparities in non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries, evaluating self-management interventions; and applying tools of implementation science 

Alex Friedman, MD

Michigan

Exploring new modalities of care delivery to improving outcomes and patient centeredness, increasing clinical consistency and efficiency in pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Cameron Gettel, MD

Yale

Evaluating healthcare delivery and care coordination of geriatric patients in the emergency department to improve system-wide quality, efficiency, and access to care.

Nichole Goodsmith, MD, PhD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Building, evaluating, and improving systems of care to disrupt the cycles of homelessness, trauma, and incarceration faced by many individuals with serious mental illness.

Calista Harbaugh, MD

Michigan

Improving access to surgical care for pediatric patients, optimizing quality of care in the preoperative period, identifying narcotic prescribing to children and adolescents in perioperative contributing to the national opioid epidemic.

Jordan Harrison, PhD, RN

Penn

Evaluating the impact of nursing and hospital organizational factors on patient outcomes and measuring quality, cost, and value of care.

Aliya Hines, MD, PhD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Using technology and health policy to improve access to dermatologic care. Providing tele-dermatology as a tool to increase access to underserved veteran and Medicaid insured patient populations.

Louisa Holaday, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Exploring how the concentration of poverty contributes to adverse health outcomes, and translating that research into concrete policy change.

Benjamin Howell, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Understanding how social and structural forces, such as criminal justice policy, create vulnerable populations and impact health in order to identify remedies and promote greater health equity in our society.

Ryan Huerto, MD, MPH

Michigan

Investigating the health impact of workforce diversity, examining the best practices of pipeline programs, and disaggregating the health outcomes of understudied racial and ethnic minorities.

Kimon Ioannides, MD

UCLA

Assessing the discriminatory impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and using "big data" tools to narrow health disparities and improve the quality of emergency department care for underserved populations.

David Johnson, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Implementing population-level measures to reduce mortality from prostate cancer, and redesigning the delivery system to better align patient values with treatment decisions.

Paul Joudrey, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating barriers to the utilization of evidence based addiction treatment within high risk populations and developing implementation strategies to improve treatment access and fidelity.

Jin Jun, PhD, RN

Michigan

Interested in occupational and environmental health, organizational management, and complementary and alternative methods of stress management.  Developing healthy and strong healthcare workforce in the US and globally.

Alan (Taylor) Kelley, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Evaluating plan behavior and care quality in Medicaid manage care, helping communities and the nation rethink how health care services are made available to immigrant, refugee, and other underserved US Populations, engaging leaders, insurers, and policy makers toward patient-centered and cost-effective solutions.

 

Tiffany Kenison, MD, MPH, MTS

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Exploring health policy, health disparities, and access to care, and pursuing research on social determinants of health for individuals with chronic diseases.

 

Utsha Khatri, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Improving the quality of medical care and social service delivery for vulnerable populations, with a focus on individuals with a history of incarceration and those with substance use disorder. 

Austin Kilaru, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Expanding the value of emergency care through better integration with ambulatory care and social services.

Rachel Kishton, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Designing novel models of health care provision which intergrate mental health and primary care for vulnerable populations both domestically and internationally.

Anna Krupp, PhD, MS, RN

Penn

Examining how nursing organizational factors influence hospital ICU utilization and identifying interventions that improve the value of critical care.

Cathryn Lapedis, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Bridging the fields of public health and pathology, studying the relationship between social disparities and chronic kidney disease, understanding how specific factors like race, minority status, income, and structural inequalities translate into physical manifestations of disease by studying the morphology of the kidney.

Natalie Lee, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating drivers of excessive health care costs, particularly among high utilizers, and designing interventions and policies to address them as a means of improving quality and access to care.  

Charles Liu, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Exploring surgical outcomes and disparities at safety-net hospitals, access to surgical care in underserved communities, and the impact of insurance expansion and payment reform on surgical care.

Leo Lopez III, MD

Yale

Investigating health disparities, access to healthcare for low-income families, indigent care programs, Medicaid, and the social determinants of health.

Margaret Lowenstein, MD, MPhil

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating the impact of policy and care delivery related to substance use disorders and identifying innovative interventions to improve outcomes for individuals and communities impacted by the opioid epidemic.

Kirstin Manges, PhD, RN

Penn

Developing interprofessional team-based interventions to ensure safe patient-centered care transitions.

Adrienne Martinez, MSN, RN, PHN

UCLA

Streamlining care delivery systems using a scope-sensitive, multidisciplinary model to improve treatment experiences among Latino and African American older adults living with co-occurring physical and mental illness.

Angela Martinez-Strengel, MD

Yale

Evaluating child welfare programs, domestic minor sex trafficking and how child victims interface with social and health services, healthcare workforce diversity, and racial inequities in health outcomes.

Elliott Miller, MD

Yale

Investigating clinical outcomes as well as the organization structure and delivery of care in the modern cardiac intensive care unit.

Kara Mizokami-Stout, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Exploring the gender-specific differences in diabetes mellitus complications, particularly the disproportionate cardiovascular mortality in women.  Focusing on how psychosocial factors impact diabetes care and outcomes.

Elizabeth Moore, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Improving access to mental health care through health system redesign and informatics initiatives; investigating care delivery for people who are homeless with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. 

Alicia Morehead-Gee, MD

UCLA

Examining the rates of PrEP use among at-risk populations to address issues impacting PrEP initiation and improve future prevention efforts within public health systems.

John Morgan, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Understanding behavioral, structural and social determinants of ambulatory care utilization in order to inform the design of delivery platforms that effecitvely allign payer, provider, patient and public interests.

Antonio Moya, MD, MPH

UCLA

Using quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand stroke and other neurological disease disparities, leveraging telehealth platforms to increase neurological care for immigrant, non-English speaking patients.

Priscilla Mpasi, MD

Penn

Investigating network adequacy of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) for effective care delivery and quality health outcomes for low-income and at-risk pediatric populations.

Katie Nash, MD

Yale

Developing and evaluating equity-oriented quality measures, evaluating the impact of racial justice education, implicit bias training and quality reporting on systems change, physician behavior and health equity.  

Shaw Natsui, MD, MPA

UCLA

Understanding variation in ED care and clinical decision making. Examining policy-sensitive health outcomes among resource-limited populations, including those facing housing insecurity.

Carlos Irwin Oronce, MD, MPH, MSc

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Understanding the effects of health reform on access to care, quality, and outcomes for marginalized populations and the impact of payment policy on safety net health systems. 

Robin Ortiz, MD

Penn

Identifying how childhood experiences and lifestyle factors influence health and chronic disease outcomes throughout the life course by studying biomarkers and epigentics and demonstrating how to mitigate risk by interventions that build resilience. 

Kathleen O’Neill, MD

Yale

Incorporating health services research and community advocacy alongside clinical work to improve healthcare delivery to medically underserved populations.

Akshay Pendyal, MD

Yale

Exploring the interaction between housing insecurity, neighborhood disadvantage, and cardiovascular health, both at an individual and a population level.

Katie Piwnica-Worms, MD

Yale

Investigating quality and disruptions to care within Medicaid and managed care and evaluating innovative health care delivery models for primary care.

Jaclyn Portanova, PhD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating ways to reduce pain and symptoms by developing aging-friendly technologies and uncovering how persistent pain is linked to the social determinants of health. 

Jacob Quinton, MD, MPH

UCLA

Improving the value of care delivery by exploring high needs high cost care and spreading innovation within Medicaid. 

Alisha Ranadive, MD

UCLA

Investigating disparities in the identification and management of developmental delays and the ensuing impact on school readiness.  

Angelico Razon, MD, MPH

Penn

Designing patient- and community-centered systems and policy interventions to promote patient self-efficacy and to address social determinants of health

David Richards, MD, MA

UCLA

Understanding school-based health centers, climate change and health, and adverse childhood experiences related to housing, lived environment, and neighborhood characteristics.

Ashley Z. Ritter, PhD, MSN, CRNP

Penn

Examining the interplay of the laws, economics, and care delivery models that shape the health of communities with a specific interest in nursing professionals and older adults.

Julia Rosenberg, MD

Yale

Performing research on immigrant and refugee health, access to healthcare for patients with low English proficiency, and the medical-legal issues affecting these populations.

Altaf Saadi, MD

UCLA

Understanding health effects of public policies, how effective policies and interventions can be formulated and implemented, with a focus on improving  access and health status among racial/ethnic minorities and immigrant communities, and how diversity, inclusion and equity strategies also apply to the healthcare workforce.

Michelle Salazar, MD

Yale

Analyzing current cancer care to find interventions that improve outcomes and quality; and to identify factors impacting disparities of care amongst minorities.

Christopher Scannell, MD, PhD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Examining Medicaid expansion, single payer healthcare systems, and emergency room utilization, and evaluating the cost and financial impact of targeted cancer therapies.

Hafifa Shabaik, PhD, MSN, RN

UCLA

Exploring resilience, long-term health outcomes and preventive health behaviors of resettled refugees and asylum seekers in the US and abroad; how health systems may utilize quality measures that capture social determinants of health in low-income and uninsured populations. 

Rivfka Shenoy, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Examining the use of narcotics used in the perioperative settings. Understanding how to decrease excess prescriptions through standardization and patient and physician education, and gaining a deeper perspective into the decision making processes used for prescribing habits. 

David Silvestri, MD, MBA

Yale

Bridging international and domestic health systems policy and innovation, with a particular interest in leveraging large data sets to strengthen acute care quality, efficiency, and equity.

Laura Sinko, PhD, RN, CCTS-I

Penn

Investigating socio-cultural influences of gender-based violence, the impact of trauma-informed care, and sexual violence healing and recovery.

Patricia Soderlund, MSN, PhD

UCLA

Focusing on the use of healthcare services and interventions for underserved individuals at risk for comorbid physical and mental illness, and improving the quality and appropriateness of care to affect systems to improve health care access and equity.

Rachel Solnick, MD, MSc

Michigan

Examining how Medicaid access and community resources impact health disparities in terms of women's reproductive health outcomes and utilization of emergency care.

Elizabeth (Liza) Sonnenberg, MD

Penn

Investigating ways to increase the potential donor pool in transplant surgery to better meet the critical need for organ transplants.

Daphna Stroumsa, MD, MPH

Michigan

Creating welcoming environments in which LGBTQ people receive knowledgeable and informed care, teaching, advocating, and affect policies relating to health and care of gender and sexual minorities. Conducting research on the health needs of LGBTQ people.

Sae Takada, MD, PhD, MHS

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Examining how health beliefs and behaviors are propagated through interpersonal relationships, and integrating quantitative methods with anthropological and historical perspectives to generate a complex understanding of social relationships and health.

Keitra Thompson, RN, MSN, FNP-BC

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Understanding the role of policy, structural violence, and adverse childhood experiences in shaping health disparities across the lifespan and exploring equitable interventions, particularly as it relates to incarceration and health.

Jasmine Travers, PhD, AGNP-C, RN CCRN

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Investigating aging, health policy, health disparities, and access and utilization of long-term services and supports for older adults related to financing, planning, and health outcomes.

Tarak Trivedi, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Understanding pressing problems faced by emergency room patients, including interpersonal violence, substance abuse and addiction, and the societal deficit of acute psychiatric care in the United States.

Mary Vance, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Leveraging a solid background in clinical experience and research methodology to advocate for mental health policy changes, with an interest in benefitting military service members and veterans suffering from trauma/PTSD, substance use disorders, and poor access to care.

Ashlee Vance, MA, RN, RNC-NIC

Michigan

Improving infant and parent outcomes by reducing health disparities and optimizing the care environment.

Aditi Vasan, MD

Penn

Developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative population-based strategies aimed at screening for and addressing social determinants of health across healthcare settings, in order to improve child health outcomes and reduce health disparities.

Jasmine Weiss, MD

Yale

Understanding the intersection between health and education for children from underrepresented communities. Exploring innovative strategies to increase diversity in the physician workforce.