Please follow the links to find publications and more information.
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Research interests: Econometric and statistical modeling, health equity, social determinants of health, Medicaid policy and reform Biographical statement: Sarah Aviña (she/her) is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a graduate student researcher at the Medicaid Research Center (MRC) working under the supervision of Dr. Julie Donohue. Aviña completed her bachelor's degree in finance and accounting and a master's degree in economics from the University of Toledo. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she worked as a data analyst at ProMedica Health System researching social determinants of health outcomes in the Midwest region. She also has experience working in the health insurance industry specializing in Medicaid research and policy. In her free time, Aviña enjoys traveling, running half-marathons and tending to houseplants. |
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Research interests: Rural health, health equity, access to care, opioid use disorder, health disparities Biographical statement: Rebecca Bilden is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program. She is a graduate student researcher at the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory working under the supervision of Dr. Mark Roberts. Bilden completed her undergraduate degree in Pure and Applied Mathematics at Boston University and her master’s degree in Applied Data Science and Statistics at the University of Exeter. Before moving to Pittsburgh, she worked for various startups as a data analyst and conducted research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the Division of Digital Psychiatry. In her free time, Bilden enjoys hiking, gardening, and practicing yoga. |
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Rachel Butler |
Research interests: Medical decision making in serious illness and at the end-of-life; organization, management, and utilization of palliative care and end-of-life care services; patient-provider communication; implementation science; and health policy communication. Biographical statement: Rachel Butler is a doctoral student in health services research and policy. She is a senior member of Dr. Douglas White’s Program on Ethics and Decision Making in Critical Illness within the Department of Critical Care Medicine’s CRISMA Center at the School of Medicine, where she manages research studies in the intensive care unit setting. Within HPM, Butler is working with Dr. Howard Degenholtz on examining the use of palliative care and hospice among dual-eligible beneficiaries in Pennsylvania. Butler grew up in Indiana where she obtained master’s degrees in health administration and in public health from the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and worked as a research assistant for serious illness and end-of-life decision making research. In her “free time,” Butler is an active volunteer in Pittsburgh’s end-of-life and deathcare community and flexes her creative muscles by playing with yarn. |
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Jackie Calhoun |
Research interests: Organization of health care delivery, supply and utilization of nurse practitioners, access to care, health economics Biographical statement: Jackie Calhoun is a PhD student in health services research and policy. Her research interests include policies that affect the supply and composition of the health care workforce, particularly with regard to the nurse practitioner. Calhoun completed her BS in materials science and engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, her undergraduate nursing education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her MS in nursing in the pediatric acute/chronic nurse practitioner program at Rush University, and her doctor of nursing practice in health systems executive leadership at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the coordinator of the Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at Pitt and works as a nurse practitioner in the Pediatric ICU at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. |
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Research interests: Pharmaceutical policy, drug supply chains, drug prices Biographical statement: Katherine Callaway Kim is a PhD student currently working with Dr. Katie Suda in the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing (CP3) group in the Department of Medicine. Katherine’s research interests include US and international pharmaceutical policy, especially for drugs used in the hospital. She has extensive experience working with several large national and international claims and drug purchasing datasets. Katherine received both her B.S. and an MPH in biostatistics at Boston University. Previously, she worked as a SAS programmer/analyst in the Division of Health Policy and Insurance Research at Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Institute in Boston. |
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Research interests: Medicare and Medicaid policies; social determinants of health; substance use disorders; politics of health policy making Biographical statement: Stuart Case is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program working as a graduate student researcher under Dr. Julie Donohue. Stuart earned both his bachelor’s degree in public health and master’s degree in public health, with a concentration in the social & behavioral sciences, from the University of Florida. Stuart has considerable experience using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyzing data. While at the University of Florida, Stuart worked on research projects investigating the application of wearable technology to address binge drinking in young people living with HIV and the impacts of substance use in Eastern Ethiopia. |
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Research interests: Genetic and genomic policy; carrier screening policies; genetic and genomic privacy; health equity; access to care; ethics |
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Research interests: Health equity, access to care, social determinants of health, public health ethics Biographical statement: Stephanie Doran Brubaker is a PhD student in health services research and policy. She is a graduate student researcher at the University of Pittsburgh’s Medicaid Research Center under the guidance of Dr. Julie Donohue. Prior to coming to Pitt, she worked as a research coordinator at Evidence Foundation and as a Human Research Specialist at the Mass General Brigham Institutional Review Board. Doran Brubaker holds an MPH from Yale University, as well as an MA in bioethics and a BA in psychology and cognitive science from Case Western Reserve University. |
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Research interests: Cost-effectiveness analysis, value of information analysis, game theory analysis of vaccination decisions, and health economics Biographical statement: Glenson France is a doctoral student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program. He is originally from the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As a graduate student researcher, he will be working under the supervision of Dr. Mark Roberts in the Dynamics Laboratory. Glenson earned a BSc. and a MSc. in Economics from the University of the West Indies (Mona), and a MA in Economics from The Ohio State University. Most recently, he completed a Certificate in Clinical Research at Pitt's Clinical Research department in 2018. Between 2010-2022, he taught economics at the University of Pittsburgh - Greensburg Campus, and joined the R01 flu modeling research group at Pitt Department of Family Medicine between 2016-2019. Outside of academics, France is an ardent fan of many sports, an avid wood worker, and enjoys watching movies. |
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Kristen Kamp |
Research interests: maternal health policy, service delivery and utilization, health economics, interdisciplinary approaches Biographical statement: Kristen Kamp (she/her) is a PhD student in Health Services Research and Policy. She has worked in reproductive and maternal health for over 10 years spanning hospital, research, and international and domestic public health settings. She manages the MOMI (Magee Obstetric Maternal and Infant) Biobank, a large-scale research resource that partners with thousands of birthing people through pregnancy and delivery to link biospecimens with a clinical database for unlimited scientific discoveries. Kamp received her MPH from Boston University, completing a Research Fellowship examining hospital investment in midwifery care and the effects on primary cesarean delivery rates. She seeks out interdisciplinary approaches that innovate, such as her collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University on a virtual reality-based program for health care providers around pregnancy decision-making. Her doctoral interests address the upstream alignment of policy and service delivery to impact health outcomes and address the real needs of birthing people. |
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Anna Lewis |
Research interests: Social determinants of health; healthcare service access and iniquities; Medicare and Medicaid policies; critical illness survivorship and outcomes. |
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Research interests: Digital health; predictive analysis and risk stratification; access to care; health equity; primary care delivery. Biographical statement: Auti Johnson is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Donohue and Dr. Evan Cole. Auti is interested in studying the nexus between healthcare digitization and addressing health disparities, focusing on the role of digital health solutions on access and primary care delivery, as well as the policy frameworks affecting their implementation. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Auti worked as a project manager in laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic. There she led projects focused on advancing applied digital technologies to enhance tissue-based research, patient care, education, and integrating disparate data sources. Auti earned her BAAS in business from Eastern New Mexico University. |
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Heather Mentch |
Research interests: health disparities, access to care, medical decision-making, organ transplantation Biographical statement: Heather Mentch is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program. She is a graduate student researcher at the University of Pittsburgh under Dr. Howard Degenholtz. Mentch received her BS in biology and her BA in religious studies at Susquehanna University and received her master of bioethics (MBE) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to Pitt, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania for four years working on various organ transplantation clinical trials which offered transplantation of organs (kidney and lung) from Hepatitis C+ deceased donors to Hepatitis C- recipients. |
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Research interests: Medicare/Medicaid policies and reform, health equity, financial toxicity, pharmaceutical policies, minority health Biographical statement: Sonia Persaud is a PhD student in health services research and policy under the advisership of Drs. Coleman Drake and Jacqueline Ellison. Before joining Pitt’s SPH, Sonia worked as a research data analyst at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in which she contributed to epidemiology and health outcomes research projects. Over the past two years, she has accumulated experience in exploring patient characteristics associated with guideline-concordant care. Under her previous investigators, she has also worked on exploring physician endorsements of pharmaceutical products, drug pricing, and patient experiences with prior authorization. Persaud completed her MPH with a concentration in health policy and management at the CUNY University School of Public Health in Spring 2022. She completed her fieldwork requirement through New York University Langone, in which she worked alongside the Center for the Study of Asian American Health. Sonia earned her bachelor’s degree from Stony Brook University. |
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Bill Wang |
Research interests: Delivery innovations, mental health, substance use disorders Biographical statement: Bill Wang is a PhD student in the Health Services Research and Policy Program working with Dr. Julie Donohue and Dr. Lindsay Sabik in looking at the effects of various policies on the treatment of substance use disorders. Previously, Wang worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Healthcare Policy at Harvard Medical School where his research focused on the impact of delivery innovations on healthcare access, cost, and quality outcomes. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto and his master's from the University of Chicago. |
 Victoria A. Wyant |
Research interests: Health economics and cost-effectiveness analysis, public health policy and interventions, health services delivery and management (VA health care services) Biographical statement: Victoria A. Wyant is currently pursuing a PhD in the Health Services Research and Policy Program under the guidance of Dr. Lindsay Sabik and Dr. Brittany Brown-Podgorski. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Miami, earning a BS in microbiology and immunology and a BA in Judaic studies. Additionally, she holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the same institution. Before joining Pitt, she contributed to the Framing the Future 2030 initiative at the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), focusing on transforming academic public health. She was also involved in the Firefighter Cancer Initiative and the Prevention Education and Research in Latin America (PERLA) projects at the University of Miami. Passionate about community service, Wyant has volunteered at the Greater Boston Food Bank, where she learned about some of the most pressing issues affecting families in Boston, MA. |
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Yuanbo Zhang |
Research interests: health equity, access to care, cost-effectiveness analysis, health services research Biographical statement: Yuanbo Zhang is a PhD student in the Department of Health Services Research and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health under the academic mentorship of Dr. Lindsay Sabik. Zhang completed her undergraduate degree in mathematics and philosophy at Wheaton College and her master's degree in applied statistics at the University of Michigan. Prior to Pittsburgh, she was a research assistant at the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety helping OB/GYN physicians to simulate prenatal care processes and provide recommendations to improve prenatal care guidelines. She also likes photography and hiking. |
Rebecca Bilden
Katherine Callaway Kim
Haley Director
Stephanie Doran Brubaker
Glenson France
