Center for Healthcare Delivery Research and Innovations

HDRI Affiliates

HDRI 2023-2025 Advisory Board

  • J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN

    • Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research and Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

    Dr. J. Margo Brooks Carthon is the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research and Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her research and teaching focuses on addressing inequities in healthcare. Specifically, Dr. Brooks Carthon aims to determine the nursing care needs of vulnerable older adults and low-income individuals with multiple chronic conditions and recommend ways to change their outcomes. 

  • Elaine Fleck, MD, MPH

    • Vice President, Regional Executive Medical Director at New York-Presbyterian Hospital

    Dr. Elaine Fleck is Vice President, Regional Executive Medical Director at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a board-certified internist. Previously, Dr. Fleck was the Associate Chief Medical Officer of New York-Presbyterian’s Ambulatory Care Network, which provides culturally sensitive and community-focused clinical services to patients to ensure access to high-quality, affordable, friendly outpatient care in their neighborhoods. She received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and has practiced for over 20 years. 

  • Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP

    •  Senior Vice President of Performance Measurement and Improvement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

    Dr. Mark Friedberg is Senior Vice President of Performance Measurement and Improvement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and a national health policy expert. His research program has focused on measuring and improving the performance of individual clinicians and health care organizations. Dr. Friedberg is also a practicing general internist in primary care and a part-time Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

  • Ian Kronish, MD, MPH

    • Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center

    Dr. Ian Kronish is a general internist and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). He is also the Associate Director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health and Co-Director of the Hypertension Center at CUIMC. Dr. Kronish’s program of research has shown why patients at greatest risk for recurrent cardiovascular events are least likely to adhere to prescribed regimens and that patients’ distress about past and future cardiovascular events can undermine health behaviors. As Director of an NIA-funded Roybal Center, Dr. Kronish aims to foster the development of interventions that improve mental health, adherence to recommended health behaviors, and cardiovascular outcomes in patients who have experienced acute cardiovascular events. 

  • Robert Lucero, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

    • Inaugural Audrienne H. Moseley Endowed Chair in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the UCLA School of Nursing

    Dr. Robert Lucero is the Inaugural Audrienne H. Moseley Endowed Chair in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the UCLA School of Nursing and maintains a Courtesy Faculty Appointment at the University of Florida College of Nursing. His extensive program of research focuses on improving health outcomes of vulnerable populations using innovative health systems and informatics approaches. Two prominent themes of his work are enhancing the quality of care for hospitalized older adults and improving self-management of chronic health conditions among Hispanic, Black, and LGBTQ+ populations. 

  • Claudia Maier, DrPH, MSc, Dipl-Nursing

    • Professor of Nursing Science and Health Services Research at Bielefeld University in Germany

    Dr. Claudia B. Maier is a Professor of Nursing Science and Health Services Research at Bielefeld University in Germany. Dr. Maier is also a senior fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. She researches nursing, including advanced practice, work environment, skill mix, teams, quality, integrated care, and the international health workforce and systems. 

  • Grant R. Martsolf, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

    • Professor and UPMC Health Systems Chair in Nursing Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, a Faculty Fellow of the Beatrice Institute, and an Adjunct Researcher at RAND Corporation

    Dr. Grant Martsolf is a Professor and UPMC Health Systems Chair in Nursing Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, a Faculty Fellow of the Beatrice Institute, and an Adjunct Researcher at RAND Corporation. Dr. Martsolf is a nursing health services research and public policy expert. As a close collaborator of the Center for HDRI, Dr. Martsolf’s research has focused on primary care environments, innovation, and educational, organizational, and regulatory issues related to nurse practitioner practice. 

  • Tawandra L. Rowell-Cunsolo, PhD, MA

    • Assistant Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Dr. Tawandra L. Rowell-Cunsolo is an Assistant Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research examines the intersection of the criminal justice system and health outcomes. More specifically, her research examines ways in which incarceration affects the health of vulnerable communities, especially in the areas of HIV risk behaviors and substance use. 

  • Jing Wang, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

    • Dean and Professor of the Florida State University College of Nursing and Adjunct Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

    Dr. Jing Wang is Dean and Professor of the Florida State University College of Nursing and Adjunct Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and HCA Florida Capitol Hospital. As a researcher, educator, and policy expert, Dr. Wang is a nationally recognized leader in health equity and digital health. 

  • Ying Xue, DNSc, RN

    • Associate Professor and the Loretta C. Ford Endowed Professorship in Primary Care Nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing

    Dr. Ying Xue is an Associate Professor and the Loretta C. Ford Endowed Professorship in Primary Care Nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing. Dr. Xue’s research aims to develop empirical evidence to guide national policies to optimize the nursing workforce and improve health care delivery and outcomes, especially among historically marginalized and under-resourced communities. Her research has examined the pivotal role of nurses in health care delivery and outcomes, including evidence on the use of supplemental nurses and quality of care and cost-effectiveness. 

HDRI Affiliates – Columbia University

  • Julius Chen, PhD

    • Assistant Professor, Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health

  • Stephen Ferrara, DNP, FNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, FNAP, FNAM

    • Associate Dean of Artificial Intelligence, School of Nursing
    • Professor of Nursing at CUMC
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  • Maureen George, PhD, AE-C, RN, FAAN

    • Professor of Nursing at CUMC
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  • Jeff Goldsmith, PhD

    • Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health

  • Haomiao Jia, PhD, MS

    • Professor of Biostatistics (in Nursing) at CUMC
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  • Yuna Lee, PhD, MPH

    • Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health

  • Miriam J. Laugesen, PhD

    • Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health

  • Siqin Ye, MD, MS, FACC

    • General Cardiologist, Director of Cardiology Inpatient Consultation Service, the Heart Institute Inpatient Service, and the Ambulatory Cardiology Fellowship Program

HDRI Affiliates – External Collaborators

  • Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN

    • Professor of Nursing and Founding Director, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
    • Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences

    Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN is Professor of Nursing and Sociology, Founding Director of Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and Senior Fellow of Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Dr. Aiken is an NIH-funded investigator and author of more than 400 scientific papers. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former President of the American Academy of Nursing, and an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing. For her impactful research, Dr. Aiken received the Gustav O. Leinhard Award from the National Academy of Medicine, Individual Codman Award from the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospitals and Health Care Organizations, the Christiane Reimann Prize from the International Council of Nurses, and the Episteme and Researcher Hall of Fame awards from Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Aiken co-directs the European Union-funded Magnet4Europe initiative to redesign healthcare workplaces to improve clinician wellbeing and patient outcomes in 65 hospitals in 6 European countries.     

  • David Auerbach, PhD

    • Deputy Director, Senior Director for Research at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission

    David Auerbach is a health economist and has been studying the health care workforce for 25 years.  This collaboration has resulted in numerous journal articles, media appearances, conference presentations and a book published in 2009 on the nursing workforce which has been used in nursing schools nationwide. He has worked with Drs Staiger and Buerhaus continuously since 1997, while also introducing his knowledge and passion for nursing workforce issues into the numerous positions he has held, particularly those at RAND and the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, finding further avenues to advance research and influence policy. 
    After graduating with his PhD in Health Policy from Harvard University in 2002, where his dissertation focused on aging and long-term care policy, he was a Principal Analyst with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 2003-10 where he was a lead developer of CBO’s health insurance coverage micro-simulation model used in analysis of the Affordable Care Act. He then worked as a Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation from 2010-2014 where he expanded the scope of his workforce research as principle investigator on projects including an investigation of the adoption of the Doctor of Nursing Practice by nursing education programs in the US, a study of care utilization patterns of nurse practitioner/physician care teams compared to physician-led care in the Kaiser Health system in Georgia, and a study of primary care workforce implications of expanded adoption of patient centered medical homes and nurse-led clinics. Since 2014, he has been Deputy Director and now Senior Director for Research at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. At the HPC, he has led a research team tasked with seeking to understand how health care delivery and efficiency can be improved in Massachusetts and making recommendations to policymakers. As an example of this work, his team authored a brief describing the contribution of Nurse Practitioners to primary care in Massachusetts and recommending removal of state scope of practice restrictions for APRNs. These restrictions were removed in January, 2021 in Massachusetts. 
    Auerbach is a nationally-recognized expert on the nursing workforce in particular, and is frequently sought by the media for commentary, at conferences as a speaker, and as a research collaborator.  Above all, he seeks to improve health care and health care delivery both for patients and for care providers. 

  • Heather Brom, PhD, RN

    • Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

    Heather Brom, PhD, RN, is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and core faculty member of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. She is a health services researcher focused on improving the health outcomes for individuals with complex medical and social needs. She accomplishes this by (1) examining how variations in organizational factors and policies impacting nurses and nurse practitioners (such as scope of practice, and health system practices and policies) influence outcomes of care and (2) by collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to develop and implement multi-level solutions (such as system-level interventions and best practices of systems) to achieve health equity. She has conducted this research through multi-level, mixed methodologies that leverage data from a range of sources (e.g., large-scale surveys, interviews, electronic health records (EHR), clinical registry data, hospital discharge files, and ambulatory claims data). Dr. Brom completed a bachelor’s in psychology, masters in nursing, and PhD in nursing all from The Ohio State University. 

  • Kenrick Cato, PhD, RN, CPHIMS, FAAN, FACMI

    • Standing Faculty Clinician-Educator Track, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
    • Professor of Informatics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

    Kenrick Cato, PhD, RN, CPHIMS, FAAN, FACMI is a Professor of Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and a Nurse Scientist for Pediatric Data and Analytics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

    Dr. Cato is a respected creator and evaluator of decision-support tools. Dr. Cato is a clinical informatician whose research focuses on applying state-of-the-art data science methods to electronic patient data to support decision-making for clinicians, patients, and caregivers.  

    He is the author of over 100 publications, with a number of notable awards. He was awarded the Bronze Star from the United States Army in 2005, elected to the New York Academy of Medicine in 2015, the American Academy of Nursing in 2019, and the American College of Medical Informatics in 2023. 

  • Carolyn Clevenger, DNP, RN, GNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA

    • Professor (Clinical Track) and Integrated Memory Care Clinic Director, Emory University School of Nursing

    Dr. Carolyn Clevenger, gerontological nurse practitioner, is Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University.  She is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Academy of Nursing. Her research focuses the geriatric nurse practitioner workforce, psychoeducation programs for dementia family caregivers, and new models of care. 
    Clevenger is the Clinical Director and a practicing nurse practitioner at the Emory Integrated Memory Care Clinic. The Clinic is a nurse-led primary care practice for people living with dementia. The new model of care has been recognized as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, an Age Friendly Health System, and a Best Practice exemplar. The IMC has been featured in Health Affairs, ABC News, and Forbes this year. The comprehensive care model serves as the basis for the Center for Medicare Services’ proposed new payment reform. 
    Dr. Clevenger earned her BSN from West Virginia University, her MSN from Emory University, and her DNP from the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. 

  • Joshua Porat-Dahlerbruch, PhD, RN

    • Assistant Professor, Acute & Tertiary Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing

    Dr. Porat-Dahlerbruch is a registered nurse and health services researcher. He seeks to understand innovative policies and methods to better leverage the nursing workforce and improve healthcare service delivery. 
    Before joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Dr. Porat-Dahlerbruch was a Fulbright Scholar in Israel. He completed his PhD and BSN at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. He was a pre-doctoral fellow at Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. 
    Dr. Porat-Dahlerbruch has several interests in nursing health services research in both the U.S. and internationally. First, he researches policies and strategies for integrating nurse practitioners into health systems to enable maximal NP practice. Dr. Porat-Dahlerbruch is also interested in how national-level nursing education policies affect nursing care quality and patient outcomes. His work draws on traditional health services research methods, implementation science, and human capital theory. 
    Dr. Porat-Dahlerbruch teaches graduate-level health policy and lectures on international health policy topics. His approach to teaching aims to build critical thinking, leadership, and problem-solving abilities by promoting discourse and discussion in the classroom. 

  • Thomas D'Aunno, PhD

    • Professor of Management, New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

    Thomas D'Aunno, PhD, is Professor of Management at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. His research interests include institutional theory, organizational change, and the performance of healthcare organizations.  D’Aunno was previously a faculty member at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and INSEAD, where he held the Novartis Chair in Healthcare Management. He is published in leading management and health journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Annals of the Academy of Management, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Milbank Quarterly, and Health Affairs. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Medical Care Research and Review, 2014-2018.  He also is a past chair of the Academy of Management Division of Health Care Management, and a recipient of its Provan Award for distinguished career contributions to research in healthcare management and the Fottler Award for distinguished service to the field.  

  • Kristin Hittle Gigli, PhD, RN, CPNP-AC, CCRN

    • Assistant Professor, University of Texas in Arlington
    • Pediatric Nurse Practitioner

    Dr. Kristin Hittle Gigli is an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner and health services researcher.  She is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at Health Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington.  Her program of research examines the role of the advanced practice provider workforce in providing care to hospitalized children. In addition, she conducts health policy analysis, particularly those policies related to nurse practitioner scope-of-practice and pediatric mental health.  
    Dr. Gigli earned her nurse practitioner degree from the University of Pennsylvania in pediatric critical care. She earned her PhD in Nursing with a concentration in health services research from Vanderbilt University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to her research, Kristin has more than 15 years of experience work in pediatric critical care and holds a clinical appointment in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Health Dallas.   
    Dr. Gigli is a past board member of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and is the current liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Hospital Care and the Association of Medical Schools Pediatric Department Chairs (AMSPDC) Workforce Initiative. In addition, she was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on the Pediatric Subspecialty Workforce and Its Impact on Child Health and Well-Being. 

  • Jordan Harrison, PhD

    • Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation

    Jordan Harrison is a health policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She works across a range of program and policy areas in health care and social and economic wellbeing. Her research interests center around the health care workforce, aging, long-term care, and health care quality measurement. She currently leads a study funded by the National Institute on Aging to evaluate the outcomes of managed long-term services and supports programs for older adults with dementia. Prior to joining RAND, she was a research fellow in the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. 

  • Geraldine Lee, PhD, FESC, FHEA

    • Professor, University College Cork, Ireland

    Professor Gerry Lee has worked in advanced practice for over twenty-five years examining the role of nurse practitioner in relation to clinical outcomes, clinical supervision, patient satisfaction, staff knowledge on the roles, education and training needs. She has worked in Australia from 2002 to 2011 where she developed one of the first Masters programmes for Nurse Practitioners. She returned to the UK in 2012 to work at King's College London where she was the lead for the Advanced Clinical Practice programme up to 2023. Her other research expertise is in workforce development and optimising health in long-term conditions using shared-decision making and digital technology. In 2018, she established a nurse-led rapid access clinic at St Thomas’s Hospital, London for patients with suspected atrial fibrillation and ran this clinic for 5 years. 
    Professor Lee is a member of the advocacy committee for the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professionals and the Council of Cardio-oncology at the European Society of Cardiology. She has published over 130 peer reviewed publications and is a principal investigator on Horizon 2020 European Union EHRA-PATHS study: 'Addressing multimorbidity in elderly atrial fibrillation patients through interdisciplinary, tailored, patient-centered care pathways.'  (EHRA-PATHS). She was appointed as a Professor and Chair Nursing and Health Services Research at University College Cork, Ireland in November 2023. UCC Research Profiles: Gerry Lee, Nursing & Midwifery. 

  • Jared Magnani, MD, MSc

    • Associate Professor of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh
    • Cardiologist

    Jared W. Magnani, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in Cardiology. His research focuses on social determinants of health and cardiovascular disease and outcomes. He is PI on two NHLBI-funded projects that implement a smartphone-based relational agent to improve health care utilization and medication adherence in underserved patients with atrial fibrillation. He is conducting this study in urban and rural settings with the aim of improving patient-centered outcomes in vulnerable patients with limited social resources and health literacy. His team has plans to expand these activities to heart failure and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. He has also led investigations here at Pitt to combine the electronic health record to examine social determinants of cardiovascular diseases. These investigations leverage the extensive geography of UPMC and community-level data. Dr. Magnani chaired the American Heart Association (AHA) statement on health literacy and cardiovascular disease and serves on the AHA Social Determinants and Cardiovascular Health Committee. 

  • Ruth Martin-Misener

    • Professor and Director, School of Nursing, and Assistant Dean Research, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University

    Dr. Ruth Martin-Misener, PhD, NP, is a nurse practitioner and health services researcher. At Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Dr. Martin-Misener serves as Professor and Director at the School of Nursing and Assistant Dean Research, Faculty of Health. She is also the Co-Director of the Canadian Center for Advanced Practice Nursing Research (CCAPNR) at McMaster University. As a researcher, Dr. Martin-Misener uses mixed methods to evaluate implementation and outcomes of innovative interdisciplinary team-based models of care in primary health care and long-term care with a particular focus on nurse practitioner and other advanced and specialized nursing roles.  

  • John McHugh, PhD, MBA

    • Assistant Professor, Department of Health Administration, Virginia Commonwealth University College of Health Professions

    Dr. John McHugh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Administration, College of Health Professions. He has taught classes in strategic management and data analytics to MHA students. His research focuses on the ways that organizations respond to changing incentives. He combines organizational theory with health services research methods to better understand organizational changes and how they may affect patient outcomes. His primary area of focus is on transitions of Medicare beneficiaries between hospitals and post-acute providers. 

    Prior to joining VCU, Dr. McHugh was the faculty director of the management programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. McHugh holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a PhD from Brown University’s School of Public Health and spent more than 10 years at Navigant Consulting (now GuideHouse) conducting strategy consulting engagements with hospitals and health systems across the country. 

  • Erika Moen, PhD, MS

    • Associate Professor of Biomedical Data and The Dartmouth Institute, Dartmouth College

    Dr. Erika Moen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Data Science and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice with expertise in network analysis, biostatistics, and health services research. She is an NIH-funded investigator who leads a multidisciplinary research team seeking to leverage network analysis to optimize cancer care delivery and patient outcomes. She has developed novel network measures characterizing access to multidisciplinary cancer care, and my long-term goal is to improve equitable access to coordinated cancer care teams with a particular focus on rural-residing populations. 

  • Ulrike Muench, RN, PhD, FAAN

    • Associate Professor, Social Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing

    Dr. Muench is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco and a nurse and nurse practitioner by training. Her program of research focuses on the health care workforce, especially the roles and contributions of nurses and advanced practice clinicians and the care they provide to older adults. Populations of interest include individuals living with dementia, substance use disorder, or serious mental illness. She has expertise working with large Medicare administrative claims data, the electronic medical record, and numerous large survey data. Her research has been published in leading health care journals, including JAMA, NEJM, and Health Affairs. 

  • Apiradee Nantsupawat, PhD, RN

    • Associate Professor, Department of Nursing Administration, Chiang Mai University

    Apiradee Nantsupawat is an Assistant Professor in Nursing Administration at the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University. She has experience working as a nurse educator in the university setting, and as well as a registered nurse in a university hospital. She teaches undergraduate courses such as nursing leadership and management, nursing research, health promotion, and fundamentals of nursing. She also serves as an academic and research advisor for graduate students. Her areas of expertise and research includes: health care systems, nursing administration, nurse workforce, nurse and patient outcomes, work environment and classroom research. She is the Assistant Secretary of Research Ethics Committee at the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University (SIDCER Recognition Program), a committee member of Quality Development in Nursing Education and Innovation, and on the editorial board of the Nursing Journal of Chiang Mai University as well as the Assistant Chair for the Nursing Division. Previously, Dr. Nantsupawat was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Healthcare Delivery Research and Innovation at the Columbia University School of Nursing.  

  • Jacqueline Nikpour, PhD, RN

    • Assistant Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

    Jacqueline Nikpour, PhD, RN is an Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Dr. Nikpour’s work examines models of care delivery and payment reform in primary care, with an emphasis on team-based care and the roles of registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and other interdisciplinary team members in new care models. Her research bridges her clinical nursing background with her training in health policy and value-based care to answer key questions on nurses’ roles in achieving equitable, high-value health care. 

  • Jennifer Perloff, PhD

    • Senior Research Scientist II, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy and Research, Brandeis University

    Jennifer Perloff, PhD, is the Director at the Institute for Healthcare Systems at Brandeis University and Director of Research at the Institute for Accountable Care. With over twenty years of experience in health services research, Dr. Perloff does work on the financing and quality of primary care including the cost and quality of nurse practitioner delivered primary care, the quality of home-based primary care based on provider type and payment models to increase access to primary care. She is also part of a team that recently released an algorithm to identify primary care providers in Medicare claims data. Much of Dr. Perloff’s work looks at population health payment models, including assessment of effective care redesign activities within Accountable Care Organizations. Research in this area includes work on efficiency within surgical episodes of care, the effectiveness of case management and the impact of preferred skilled nursing facility networks on post-acute care costs. In addition to research, Dr. Perloff Chairs the health policy concentration in the Heller School Ph.D. program and sits on many dissertation committees.  

  • Joyce Pulcini, PhD, RN, FNP-C, FAAN

    • Professor Emerita, The George Washington University School of Nursing

    Dr. Pulcini, PhD, RN, FNP-C, FAAN, is an expert in the area of primary care practice and advanced practice nursing policy nationally and internationally. She and is a seasoned educator, nurse practitioner and author who directed Nurse Practitioner programs at several universities including Northeastern University, Boston University, and Boston College. She retired in January 2022 from George Washington University School of Nursing as an Emerita Professor.  She has a PhD from the Florence Heller Graduate School in Social Policy at Brandeis University, a unique interdisciplinary health policy program.  Her research focuses on the evolving nursing roles of the nurse practitioners nationally and internationally, nurse practitioner education, reimbursement and political advocacy and on removal of barriers to the practice of nurse practitioners. She was the inaugural Chair of the American Academy of Nursing’s Primary Care Expert Panel from 2014-15. She received the Towers Pinnacle Award at the AANP in 2019 and the AANP Legacy Award in 2023 for her lifetime achievements in NP policy, education and practice. She also received the NONPF Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. She had leadership positions in the International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network of the ICN, having been an active member for more than twenty years. Dr. Pulcini has authored more than 80 peer reviewed articles, chapters and policy papers, two editions of a well-known textbook on pediatric primary care and has participated in more than 150 scholarly presentations about topics ranging from health care financing and policy issues for nurse practitioners to postpartum depression, childhood asthma and allergy and improvements in nurse practitioner education. Her book with Dr. Susan Hassmiller, Advanced Practice Nursing Leadership: A Global Perspective was published in 2020 by Springer and will be published in French in 2024. 

  • Tatiana Sadak, PhD, MA, PMHNP, RN, FAAN, FGSA

    • Deputy Dean, Yale University School of Nursing

    Dr. Tatiana Sadak, PhD, MA, PMHNP, RN, FAAN, FGSA, is serving as a Professor, Deputy Dean, and Director ff the Dementia Palliative Education Network (DPEN) at the Yale School of Nursing. She is a Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner who specializes in Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurodegenerative Disorders. Dr. Sadak’s research and scholarship are centered around improving health care delivery for individuals living with dementia and their care partners. Her focus is on generating evidence, creating measurement tools, and developing interventions that support clinicians and caregivers alike in preventing avoidable health crises. Her work also aims to help care partners effectively manage the health of those they care for, without sacrificing their own well-being. Dr. Sadak’s contributions within her field have garnered recognition, including her selection as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America. Additionally, she has received awards as a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing, as a Top doctor/nurse practitioner in psychiatry, and has been acknowledged for an exceptional research manuscript addressing Gerontological Nursing. 

  • Edward Timmons, PhD

    • Service Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Regulatory Research Center, West Virginia University John Chambers School of Business and Economics

    Dr. Timmons is a Service Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Regulatory Research Center at the John Chambers School of Business and Economics at West Virginia University.  He completed his Ph.D. in Economics at Lehigh University.  His research has been published in scholarly journals including The Journal of Law and Economics, The Journal of Regulatory Economics, The Journal of Labor Research, The British Journal of Industrial Relations, Health Policy, Monthly Labor Review, and Nicotine and Tobacco Research.  His research has been heavily cited by the popular press, by the Federal Trade Commission, the Obama White House, and also in a Senate hearing entitled "License to Compete: Occupational Licensing and the State Action Doctrine." He is regularly asked to provide expert testimony in state legislatures across the US on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. He has also authored numerous articles in the popular press in publications including Harvard Business Review, the Philadelphia Inquirer, US News & World Report, The Hill, the Washington Examiner, the Tampa Bay Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Detroit News, the Virginian-Pilot, the Tennessean and the South Florida Sun Sentinel.  In May of 2014 he worked as a visiting research fellow at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncalieri, Italy.  He is also a Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center and a Senior Research Fellow with the Archbridge Institute. 

  • Barbara Todd, DNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN

    • Director, Practice & Education for Advanced Practice Senior Fellow in the Center for Health Outcomes & Policy, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

    Dr. Barbara Todd has practiced as a nurse practitioner in the Philadelphia region for over 30 years; she is certified in both family practice and acute care. She is an experienced clinician and administrator for advanced practice providers. She has been instrumental in developing NP models of care in several large academic medical centers. Her clinical interest has been in cardiovascular health, with a focus on valvular heart disease and role transition for nurse practitioners. She has published extensively on advanced practice clinical and administrative topics. Dr. Todd has served on the planning committee for the American Association of Nurse Practitioner international conference. She is a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Nursing. At the American Academy of Nursing, she served on the Primary Care Expert Panel. Dr. Todd received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Howard University, Master’s Degree from Medical College of Virginia, and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Thomas Jefferson University.