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Appointed Faculty
The Weitzman Institute has a growing national network of appointed faculty members with a range of experience in clinical care, research and education. Their demonstrated work and leadership is aligned with Weitzman’s mission to transform primary care delivery for the most vulnerable populations. Our faculty members are instrumental in informing the direction and vision of our work.
Senior Faculty
Daren Anderson, MD
Chief Quality Officer, CHC Inc. and General Internist, Former Director of Weitzman Institute
Daren Anderson, MD
Chief Quality Officer, CHC Inc. and General Internist, Former Director of Weitzman Institute
Dr. Anderson is general internist and healthcare innovator who has devoted his career to improving primary care for vulnerable, medically underserved patients. He currently serves as VP/Chief Quality Officer for Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI) and President of ConferMED, CHCI’s eConsult telehealth subsidiary. Dr. Anderson began his career as a primary care provider and later assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer for Community Health Center, Inc. With a strong interest in health services research and quality improvement, Dr. Anderson assumed the role of Director of the Weitzman Institute in 2013. There he helped develop and grow the organization into a nationally known center of excellence in research, education, and policy, dedicated to improving healthcare in the medical safety net. At Weitzman, Dr. Anderson led a diverse team of researchers studying ways to improve quality and efficiency in primary care and was instrumental in developing and implementing Weitzman Project ECHO, a telehealth education platform which now reaches hundreds of health centers from all 50 states.
Dr. Anderson’s own research has focused on two major areas of critical importance to primary care, the management of chronic pain and the use of telehealth to improve access to specialty care. He has spoken widely on these two topics and published extensively in top tier medical journals including Health Affairs and the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Anderson’s research in eConsults provided the foundation for the development of CHCI’s subsidiary telehealth company, ConferMED. Under his leadership ConferMED has grown into a nationally known, non-profit company providing over 1.5 million patients with access to high quality, educational consults from specialists across the country. Dr. Anderson obtained his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and his MD from Columbia University. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital and is a board certified general internist.
Dr. Anderson’s own research has focused on two major areas of critical importance to primary care, the management of chronic pain and the use of telehealth to improve access to specialty care. He has spoken widely on these two topics and published extensively in top tier medical journals including Health Affairs and the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Anderson’s research in eConsults provided the foundation for the development of CHCI’s subsidiary telehealth company, ConferMED. Under his leadership ConferMED has grown into a nationally known, non-profit company providing over 1.5 million patients with access to high quality, educational consults from specialists across the country. Dr. Anderson obtained his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and his MD from Columbia University. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital and is a board certified general internist.
Tichianaa Armah, MD
Chief Psychiatry Officer, CHC,Inc.
Tichianaa Armah, MD
Chief Psychiatry Officer, CHC,Inc.
Dr. Tichianaa Armah, a Bronx, NY native, graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in psychology and received her Medical Degree from the University of Rochester, the home of the Biopsychosocial model of health care. In her final year of residency at the Yale School of Medicine, she was the American Psychiatric Association Minority Fellow while serving as the chief resident of the Hispanic Clinic at the Community Mental Health Center. Dr. Armah is the Chief Psychiatry Officer at Community Health Center Inc. She is driven to increase access to quality mental health care for our most vulnerable populations. To achieve these goals Dr. Armah's mission is twofold: community engagement and training the next generation in the mental health field with an integrated approach in primary care settings. Wellness and mental health in all communities has been an important element of her work since the early years of her training. Concern for particularly disadvantaged communities bearing the greater burden of disease, including African Americans and Latino populations, led her to be one of the early organizers of the Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry's Social Justice and Health Equity curriculum. She remains an Assistant Clinical Professor in the department. Beginning in medical school, she facilitated workshops incorporating physical and mental well-being through approaching lifestyle change, with lectures, exercise, and cooking lessons at a local church for the members. She continues to approach her local communities and patients with her fundamental value of overall well-being as key to mental health, believing strongly that medication alone is rarely the solution. She can frequently be found in schools and churches talking about the mental health field to encourage more underrepresented minorities to enter the field. Her most recent efforts also includes increasing access to psychiatry through tele-psychiatry services from experienced mental health professionals.
She was recently honored by the Connecticut Psychiatric Society with the Roger Coleman Memorial Award for her exemplary devotion to patients and commitment to quality care.
She was recently honored by the Connecticut Psychiatric Society with the Roger Coleman Memorial Award for her exemplary devotion to patients and commitment to quality care.
Mary Blankson DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAAN
Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), CHC,Inc.
Mary Blankson DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAAN
Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), CHC,Inc.
Mary Blankson DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAAN is the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Community Health Center, Inc., overseeing diverse nursing services across the CHC network, including primary care, health care for the homeless, and school based health services. As CNO she ensures the quality and expansion of nursing services, the development of nursing policy, and continuing nurse education. Mary also works collaboratively to ensure Joint Commission and Patient Centered Medical Home compliance throughout CHC.
Building upon her service in various mission organizations, Mary continued to develop her passion for meeting the needs of the underserved by earning her MSN at Yale University in 2005. Mary joined CHC as a family nurse practitioner shortly after graduation. While at CHC, Mary has served as the On-Site Medical Director of the New London County Sites, the Vice President of the Medical Staff, the Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and has served as a preceptor for CHC’s Nurse Practitioner Residency Program. She completed her DNP education at Johns Hopkins University in 2015 with her capstone focusing on “Increasing Identification and Treatment Referral of Individuals with Hepatitis C (HCV) in the Primary Care Setting Through Clinical Dashboards.” Mary is certified and holds professional membership in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She continues to support various quality improvement projects throughout the agency to increase the visibility of nursing’s contribution to the Medical Home. In 2017, Dr. Blankson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Quinnipiac University School of Nursing for her contribution to nursing and for helping meet the health care needs of the underserved.
Building upon her service in various mission organizations, Mary continued to develop her passion for meeting the needs of the underserved by earning her MSN at Yale University in 2005. Mary joined CHC as a family nurse practitioner shortly after graduation. While at CHC, Mary has served as the On-Site Medical Director of the New London County Sites, the Vice President of the Medical Staff, the Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and has served as a preceptor for CHC’s Nurse Practitioner Residency Program. She completed her DNP education at Johns Hopkins University in 2015 with her capstone focusing on “Increasing Identification and Treatment Referral of Individuals with Hepatitis C (HCV) in the Primary Care Setting Through Clinical Dashboards.” Mary is certified and holds professional membership in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She continues to support various quality improvement projects throughout the agency to increase the visibility of nursing’s contribution to the Medical Home. In 2017, Dr. Blankson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Quinnipiac University School of Nursing for her contribution to nursing and for helping meet the health care needs of the underserved.
Ho-Choong Chang, MD
Chief of Pediatrics, CHC,Inc.
Ho-Choong Chang, MD
Chief of Pediatrics, CHC,Inc.
Dr. Ho-Choong Chang is the Chief of Pediatrics of Community Health Center, Inc., the state’s largest Federally Qualified Health center providing care to over 145,000 medically underserved patients, of which approximately one third are children. In this role, Dr. Chang oversees the delivery of high quality, evidence-based health care to our pediatric population. With an emphasis on integrated, team-based care, Dr. Chang collaborates closely with the Chief Medical Officer and the chiefs of Behavioral Health, Dentistry, and Nursing to coordinate multi-disciplinary pediatric focused care. Dr. Chang also serves as the On Site Medical Director of Connecticut Pediatrics @ CHC in Hartford as well as a clinical preceptor in our pediatric nurse practitioner residency training program.
Dr. Chang earned a Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, in psychobiology at Yale College. Prior to entering medical school, Dr. Chang served in the first Teach For America corps and taught science to eighth graders in Brooklyn, NY, where he was awarded the school’s Teacher of the Year Award in his first year. He received his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Chang has cared for children in a number of roles including pediatric hospitalist, urgent care physician, and primary care provider.
Dr. Chang earned a Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, in psychobiology at Yale College. Prior to entering medical school, Dr. Chang served in the first Teach For America corps and taught science to eighth graders in Brooklyn, NY, where he was awarded the school’s Teacher of the Year Award in his first year. He received his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Chang has cared for children in a number of roles including pediatric hospitalist, urgent care physician, and primary care provider.
Veena Channamsetty, MD
Chief Medical Officer, CHC,Inc.
Veena Channamsetty, MD
Chief Medical Officer, CHC,Inc.
Dr. Veena Channamsetty is the Chief Medical Officer of Community Health Center, Inc. In this role, she is responsible for the clinical leadership of a large staff of medical providers and caregivers for Connecticut’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center. She is responsible for the delivery of evidence-based medical standards, the medical staff recruitment and retention, and provider affairs. Dr. Channamsetty oversees the clinical and non-clinical training, orientation, and onboarding for all new CHC medical providers. With the vision of a stable and solid medical staff, Dr. Channamsetty coordinates clinical care with provider professional interests, promoting provider well-being and work-life balance, overseeing clinical and non-clinical affairs of Physicians, APRNs, and Physician Assistants. Dr. Channamsetty is the President of the Medical Staff and the Chair of the Medical Quality Improvement Committee. She is a clinical preceptor for the APRN residency. Dr. Channamsetty works closely with the chiefs of Behavior Health, Dentistry, and Nursing to promote interprofessional and team based care. She is responsible for ensuring Joint Commission and Patient Centered Medical Home compliance throughout CHC.
Rob Dudley, MD, MEd, FAAP
Pediatrician, CHC,Inc.
Rob Dudley, MD, MEd, FAAP
Pediatrician, CHC,Inc.
Rob Dudley, MD, MEd, FAAP joined the Community Health Center of New Britain, CT as a National Public Health Scholar in the summer of 1996 after completing his residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been involved in the New Britain community as the school district’s medical advisor for the past twenty five years. He has held multiple rolls at the state and national level with the American Academy of Pediatrics, currently as the Connecticut Chapter’s Immediate Past President and as the Chair of the Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) grant program. He is a member of the national and state AAP School Health Committees. Dr. Dudley has championed quality improvement initiatives in the areas of substance abuse screening, developmental screening, depression screening, immunizations, asthma, and STD screening. He has been actively involved in pediatric obesity and community based participatory research projects for the past thirteen years, with presentations of Healthy Tomorrows, RWJF Salud America, and Invest Health grant program data at the AAP Future of Pediatrics, Weight of the Nation, and NICHQ conferences, where he was honored with NICHQ’s 2010 Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award. He serves as the medical advisor for Klingberg Family Center’s Webster House, which serves medically and behaviorally complex teens from across Connecticut. He is as an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Marwan Haddad, MD, MPH
Medical Director, CHC,Inc.
Marwan Haddad, MD, MPH
Medical Director, CHC,Inc.
Marwan Haddad is currently the Medical Director of the Center for Key Populations at Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC), the first center of its kind focused on engaging populations who traditionally experience barriers to comprehensive and respectful care. The Center recognizes five key groups who carry the highest burden of and risk for HIV infection and brings together under one roof healthcare and advocacy for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning) community, people who use drugs, the homeless and those experiencing housing instability, the recently incarcerated, and sex workers. Dr. Haddad joined CHC, the largest federally qualified health center in New England, in July 2006.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from McGill University. He completed his family medicine residency at University of Toronto and obtained his Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. He is board certified in Family Medicine. He is certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine as an HIV specialist. He was also the recipient of the 2011 Primary Care Leadership Award presented by the Connecticut Center for Primary Care. Dr. Haddad is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Quinnipiac University.
Since January 2012, Dr. Haddad has led the CHC Project ECHO HIV, Hepatitis C, and Buprenorphine programs which expand the integration of these programs not only within CHC but nationwide. This model of care utilizes didactic and case-based learning via weekly video conferences with medical providers, offering ongoing support, consultation and guidance to aid in delivering care to the HIV, Hepatitis C, and opioid dependent populations. Moreover, Dr. Haddad has taught and lectured at state and national conferences on HIV, HCV, buprenorphine and integrated care. He has published research on the integration of buprenorphine in community health centers examining both substance abuse as well as primary care outcomes.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from McGill University. He completed his family medicine residency at University of Toronto and obtained his Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. He is board certified in Family Medicine. He is certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine as an HIV specialist. He was also the recipient of the 2011 Primary Care Leadership Award presented by the Connecticut Center for Primary Care. Dr. Haddad is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Quinnipiac University.
Since January 2012, Dr. Haddad has led the CHC Project ECHO HIV, Hepatitis C, and Buprenorphine programs which expand the integration of these programs not only within CHC but nationwide. This model of care utilizes didactic and case-based learning via weekly video conferences with medical providers, offering ongoing support, consultation and guidance to aid in delivering care to the HIV, Hepatitis C, and opioid dependent populations. Moreover, Dr. Haddad has taught and lectured at state and national conferences on HIV, HCV, buprenorphine and integrated care. He has published research on the integration of buprenorphine in community health centers examining both substance abuse as well as primary care outcomes.
Matthew Huddleston, MD, AAHIVS
Family Medicine Physician
Matthew Huddleston, MD, AAHIVS
Family Medicine Physician
Matthew Huddleston, MD, AAHIVS has worked as a Family Medicine Physician with a focus on HIV, Hepatitis C, and substance use disorders at Community Health Center, Inc. since 2001. Dr. Huddleston received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Huddleston has served as co-lead faculty member on Project ECHO Hepatitis C/HIV since the program’s development in 2012. Dr. Huddleston also serves as a preceptor for Community Health Center, Inc.’s Nurse Practitioner Residency Program.
Tim Kearney, PhD
Chief Behavioral Health Officer, CHC, Inc.
Tim Kearney, PhD
Chief Behavioral Health Officer, CHC, Inc.
Dr. Kearney earned his BA at Yale University with a combined major in Psychology and Spanish Literature and pursued graduate work at Fuller Theological Seminary where he earned his MA (Theology) from the Graduate School of Theology and his Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) from the Graduate School of Psychology. He has also completed the postgraduate Primary Care Behavioral Health training program at the University Of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester. A licensed psychologist in Connecticut, he was presented the 2019 “Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest” award by the Connecticut Psychological Association.
He joined the Community Health Center behavioral health staff in 1998. Dr. Kearney is Principal Investigator on a Graduate Professional Education grant focusing on the training of psychology students and on an Integrated Primary Care grant focusing on providing primary care behavioral health as part of the integrated care team. He is the author of Caring for Sexually Abused Children: A Handbook for Families and Churches (Intervarsity Press, 2001
In addition to administrative and clinical leadership of the Behavioral Health programs at CHC, Dr. Kearney also supervises and trains postdoctoral psychology residents. He serves as faculty with the Weitzman Institute, and provides direct client care to children and adolescents and their families, especially those impacted by medical illness, trauma, and abuse.
He joined the Community Health Center behavioral health staff in 1998. Dr. Kearney is Principal Investigator on a Graduate Professional Education grant focusing on the training of psychology students and on an Integrated Primary Care grant focusing on providing primary care behavioral health as part of the integrated care team. He is the author of Caring for Sexually Abused Children: A Handbook for Families and Churches (Intervarsity Press, 2001
In addition to administrative and clinical leadership of the Behavioral Health programs at CHC, Dr. Kearney also supervises and trains postdoctoral psychology residents. He serves as faculty with the Weitzman Institute, and provides direct client care to children and adolescents and their families, especially those impacted by medical illness, trauma, and abuse.
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP
President & CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP
President & CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)
Dr. Kyu ("Q") Rhee is a purpose-driven physician executive, scientist, teacher, and entrepreneur who has led and developed diverse, transdisciplinary teams across and within the nonprofit, public, and private sectors to make the health system better, especially for underserved and health disparity populations.
Dr. Rhee serves as the President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). Since the nation's first community health centers opened in 1965, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) have become the best part of our health system, delivering high quality, affordable, patient-governed primary care and health equity for communities across our nation. With over 300K employed serving 30 million people in over 14K locations, FQHCs provide values-based care to patients, regardless of ability to pay in every state, U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia.
Prior to joining NACHC, Dr. Rhee held the position of Senior Vice President & Aetna Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health, where he led a team of over 1,500 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals in the integration and delivery of clinical and population health solutions to improve health for up to 65 million people. Before CVS Health, Dr. Rhee was the Chief Health Officer of IBM for a decade, where he had global responsibilities for IBM’s efforts to transform health through the use of data, analytics, artificial intelligence, services, and research for providers, health plans, employers, governments, and life science companies across the world.
During the exciting time of the Affordable Care and Recovery Acts, Dr. Rhee served in the public sector at HHS as Chief Public Health Officer of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable, and the Director of the Office of Innovation and Program Coordination at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the primary federal agency for research.
Before his public service, Dr. Rhee worked in the nonprofit sector as a National Health Service Corps physician and Chief Medical Officer for FQHCs in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area. He served as Chief Resident and did his medical residency training in both internal medicine and pediatrics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with dual-board certification. He earned his MD from USC, a Master's in Health Policy from Harvard, and a Bachelor’s in Science in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale.
Sheela Tummala, DDS, MPH
Chief Dental Officer, CHC,Inc.
Sheela Tummala, DDS, MPH
Chief Dental Officer, CHC,Inc.
Sheela Tummala, DDS, MPH is the Chief Dental Officer for the Community Health Center, Inc. Prior to joining CHC in 2006, Dr. Tummala worked as a general dentist at Meri Care Dental in Meriden and also served as an onsite dental director since 2006. Dr. Tummala also worked in her own private practice in Woodbury until 2015.
In her role at CHC, Dr. Tummala treats patients, supervises staff, and maintains the goals and needs of the staff. Dr. Tummala also serves as the Dental Quality Improvement Chairman for CHC, where she is responsible for conducting meetings, writing policies, maintaining quality improvement, and assessing the needs for quality improvement from the patient and staff perspective.
Dr. Tummala has served on a number of committees such as the Electronic Dental Records Committee where she was responsible for the creation of templates in open dental and consent forms. Dr. Tummala, who has a passion for research, was involved in the research study “Side effects of Triazolam in Children” published in American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry 21:1, 1999. She is also involved in organizing many events such as the Mission of Mercy events at CHC.
Dr. Tummala completed her DDS degree at New York University and her General Practice Residency at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, N.Y. She also completed her MPH at Western Kentucky University.
She says her favorite part of providing dental services to CHC patients is “Patients appreciating the work you do for them, changing their smiles, and helping to take them out of pain.” Dr. Tummala also loves to sing, dance, hike and cook!
In her role at CHC, Dr. Tummala treats patients, supervises staff, and maintains the goals and needs of the staff. Dr. Tummala also serves as the Dental Quality Improvement Chairman for CHC, where she is responsible for conducting meetings, writing policies, maintaining quality improvement, and assessing the needs for quality improvement from the patient and staff perspective.
Dr. Tummala has served on a number of committees such as the Electronic Dental Records Committee where she was responsible for the creation of templates in open dental and consent forms. Dr. Tummala, who has a passion for research, was involved in the research study “Side effects of Triazolam in Children” published in American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry 21:1, 1999. She is also involved in organizing many events such as the Mission of Mercy events at CHC.
Dr. Tummala completed her DDS degree at New York University and her General Practice Residency at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, N.Y. She also completed her MPH at Western Kentucky University.
She says her favorite part of providing dental services to CHC patients is “Patients appreciating the work you do for them, changing their smiles, and helping to take them out of pain.” Dr. Tummala also loves to sing, dance, hike and cook!
Jessica Welt, PsyD
CEO & Clinical Director of the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut
Jessica Welt, PsyD
CEO & Clinical Director of the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut
Dr. Welt is the CEO & Clinical Director of the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut (CGC) and joined Community Health Center Inc.’s leadership team when CGC became an affiliate in January 2020. She continues to provide administrative and clinical leadership to CGC’s programs that provide mental and behavioral health services to children, adolescents and families in Lower Fairfield County. Dr. Welt is also a clinical supervisor in the APA Accredited pre-doctoral psychology internship program, specializing in training interns and staff in risk assessment and crisis management, grief, trauma-informed care and group psychotherapy.
For over 20 years, Dr. Welt’s career has focused on crisis intervention and the treatment of trauma, beginning as FEMA Crisis Counselor in New Jersey providing in-home therapy for children and families impacted by the events at the World Trade Center on 9/11. She has since been trained in several trauma specific evidenced based models of treatment, including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC). Prior to her work with CGC, Dr. Welt worked as a staff psychologist in a variety of clinical settings, including hospitals, school based mental health and college counseling centers, and in private practice, conducting diagnostic assessments and providing psychotherapy to children, adolescents and adults with a wide range of mental health problems and families experiencing significant challenges.
Dr. Welt graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in Child Development and earned her doctoral degree from The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She is a licensed psychologist in Connecticut and New York.
For over 20 years, Dr. Welt’s career has focused on crisis intervention and the treatment of trauma, beginning as FEMA Crisis Counselor in New Jersey providing in-home therapy for children and families impacted by the events at the World Trade Center on 9/11. She has since been trained in several trauma specific evidenced based models of treatment, including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC). Prior to her work with CGC, Dr. Welt worked as a staff psychologist in a variety of clinical settings, including hospitals, school based mental health and college counseling centers, and in private practice, conducting diagnostic assessments and providing psychotherapy to children, adolescents and adults with a wide range of mental health problems and families experiencing significant challenges.
Dr. Welt graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in Child Development and earned her doctoral degree from The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She is a licensed psychologist in Connecticut and New York.
Dan Wilensky, MD
Family Physician, CHC,Inc.
Dan Wilensky, MD
Family Physician, CHC,Inc.
Dan Wilensky MD is a Family Physician who has been with Community Health Center, Inc. for 18 years. He obtained his MD from University of Virginia Medical School in 1992 and completed the UConn Family Medicine Residency in 1995. In addition to providing direct patient care to his patients in CHC’s Meriden site, Dr. Wilensky serves several roles in the Weitzman Institute focused on educating the next generation of health care providers and expanding their scope of practice. He is the Chief Preceptor and Medical Consultant to CHC’s APRN Residency Program, and provides the same support for remotely hosted residency programs. He is the medical faculty for Project ECHO – complex cases, the first ECHO for nurses. He has a support role for CHC’s Project ECHO-Pain. He is the Medical Director of ConferMED. Dr. Wilensky is also a Clinical Instructor for U.Conn, having taught their Medical Students for over 20 years, and a Community Preceptor with Middlesex Family Medicine Residency, providing supervision to MDs of four different training years. He likes yoga, movies, triathlon training, spending time with family, and advocating for a plant-based diet, health care as a right not a privilege, and environmental issues.”
Sheldon D. Fields PhD, RN, CRNP, FNP-BC, AACRN, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN
Sheldon is a nursing educator, practitioner, researcher, policy analyst, administrator, and entrepreneur. He graduated from Binghamton University with a BS in nursing in 1991, and a MS in Family Nursing in 1995 becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner. He completed his PhD in nursing science at the University of Pennsylvania and post-doctoral work in the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California San Francisco. He is a well-known HIV prevention research scientist who has maintained a primary focus on HIV prevention and treatment among underserved people of color populations. Dr. Fields holds certification as an Advanced AIDS Certified Registered Nurse, and board certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner. He is lifetime member of the National Black Nurses Association and currently serves as the association’s 14th national President (2023 – 2025). In 2020 he was appointed to be the inaugural Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion | Research Professor in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at Penn State University. He was the first ever male Registered Nurse selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship Program in which he served as a policy adviser to then Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) on the Senate HELP committee during the historic healthcare reform debates and passage of the Affordable Care Act. He owns the S.D.F. Group LLC, a health innovations consultant company. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners honored him with the Towers Pinnacle Award in 2020. A former academic nursing dean he holds fellowship status in the National Academies of Practice, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the American Academy of Nursing.
Associate Faculty
Deirdre Brannin, MSN/MHA, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner, CHC, Inc.
Deirdre Brannin, MSN/MHA, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner, CHC, Inc.
Deirdre completed her undergraduate BSN and post-graduate Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate at Boston College. Her primary role is a school-based nurse practitioner at Community Health Center, Inc. working in both elementary and high school settings. She also maintains a practice serving adult and elderly patients and an all-ages integrative practice. She is pursuing certification though the Institute for Functional Medicine.
Daniel Bryant, MSEd, LPC, CCTP
Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorder Services, CHC, Inc.
Daniel Bryant, MSEd, LPC, CCTP
Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorder Services, CHC, Inc.
Daniel Bryant, MSEd, LPC, CCTP is CHC’s Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorder Services and an Associate Faculty member at the Weitzman Institute. Mr. Bryant also serves as CHC’s Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Chair and is a member of the agency’s Performance Improvement Committee. Mr. Bryant specializes in treating trauma and substance use disorders and has leverage his clinical areas of expertise into research in Adverse Childhood Experiences, substance use disorders, depression and suicidality, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Bryant will be co-authoring a chapter on ACEs and the COVID-19 Pandemic is the upcoming edited volume Handbook of Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Framework for Collaborative Health Promotion. Mr. Bryant has an extensive portfolio of training and education at local and national conferences as well as continuing education for internal and external partners. He has provided education on the opioid crisis, harm reduction, motivational interviewing, addiction treatment, Adverse Childhood Experiences, chronic pain, trauma and PTSD, and developed the Weitzman Institute’s four-part Addiction 101 curriculum. He currently serves as a faculty member on the Weitzman ECHO Medication Assisted Treatment and Complex Care Nursing ECHO and has been faculty on the joint National Council for Mental Well Being and Weitzman Alcohol & Smoking ECHO.
Stacy Hankey-Mangini, DSW, LCSW
Behavioral Health Clinician, CHC, Inc.
Stacy Hankey-Mangini, DSW, LCSW
Behavioral Health Clinician, CHC, Inc.
Dr. Stacy Hankey-Mangini, DSW LCSW earned her BSW at Western New England University, her MSW from Springfield College and her DSW from Capella University. She is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Connecticut.
She joined the Community Health Center’s School Based Heath Center staff in 2010 as a Behavioral Health Clinician in an elementary school and has been one of the Regional Directors of School Based Behavioral Health since 2018. Dr. Hankey-Mangini’s clinical work focuses on using play therapy and mindfulness intervention with children, adolescents, and families and has experience working in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, residential facilities, and juvenile detention centers.
Kathleen (Kasey) Harding, MPH
Director, Center for Key Populations, CHC, Inc.
Kathleen (Kasey) Harding, MPH
Director, Center for Key Populations, CHC, Inc.
Kasey began her career at CHC as the Director of the HIV Ryan White Program. Since then, she has taken administrative and programmatic responsibility for programs like the Healthcare for the Homeless (WYA), Hepatitis C, and Migrant Farm Programs. She was responsible for the development & implementation of CHC’s HIV prevention and PrEP programs, providing health care services for vulnerable populations. Most recently Kasey took on the role of Director of CHC’s New Horizon’s Domestic Violence Services including oversight of the New Horizons Shelter. Kasey is a Dartmouth trained Quality Improvement Coach who works with programs nationally and internationally to train teams to improve care for key populations that experience health disparities along the continuum of care.
Yvette Highsmith-Francis, MM
Regional Vice President, CHC,Inc.
Yvette Highsmith-Francis, MM
Regional Vice President, CHC,Inc.
Yvette is the Vice President of Community Health Center, Inc.’s Eastern Region. Yvette has worked with CHCI for 27 years in a variety of capacities. In her current role, she oversees eight CHCI locations in New Britain, Enfield, Hartford, Middletown, Clinton, Old Saybrook, New London and Groton as well as the School Based Health services across the state.
Yvette has been instrumental in the openings of the CHCI locations in Enfield, Waterbury and Bristol. In the early phases of her career, Yvette worked directly with countless individuals and families providing support to address the social determinants of health and to improve the quality of life for those she worked with.
Committed to the elimination of racial/ethnic health care disparities; Yvette works diligently to ensure that the community’s most vulnerable residents continue to have access to quality medical, dental, mental health and school-based services and that those services are delivered with dignity and respect. Yvette is actively engaged in the communities she serves and is committed to public and civic service in her personal time as well. Yvette currently oversees Community Advisory committees in six communities and is the co-chair of CHCI’s PCMH+ Oversight Committee. Yvette is an associate faculty member of the Weitzman Institute.
Yvette is a graduate of the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive program as well as the Connecticut Health Foundation’s 2009 Health Leadership Fellows Program.
Yvette was a Martin Luther King Scholar at Long Island University and received her Master’s Degree in Management from Cambridge College. She has received recognition on the local, state and national level for her work with individuals living with HIV and AIDS. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work within CHCI and in the community at large.”
Yvette has been instrumental in the openings of the CHCI locations in Enfield, Waterbury and Bristol. In the early phases of her career, Yvette worked directly with countless individuals and families providing support to address the social determinants of health and to improve the quality of life for those she worked with.
Committed to the elimination of racial/ethnic health care disparities; Yvette works diligently to ensure that the community’s most vulnerable residents continue to have access to quality medical, dental, mental health and school-based services and that those services are delivered with dignity and respect. Yvette is actively engaged in the communities she serves and is committed to public and civic service in her personal time as well. Yvette currently oversees Community Advisory committees in six communities and is the co-chair of CHCI’s PCMH+ Oversight Committee. Yvette is an associate faculty member of the Weitzman Institute.
Yvette is a graduate of the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive program as well as the Connecticut Health Foundation’s 2009 Health Leadership Fellows Program.
Yvette was a Martin Luther King Scholar at Long Island University and received her Master’s Degree in Management from Cambridge College. She has received recognition on the local, state and national level for her work with individuals living with HIV and AIDS. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work within CHCI and in the community at large.”
Nicole Seagriff, DNP, APRN
Clinical Program Director, CHC,Inc.
Nicole Seagriff, DNP, APRN
Clinical Program Director, CHC,Inc.
Nicole Seagriff is a Family Nurse Practitioner and the Clinical Program Director for the Postgraduate Nurse Practitioner Residency Program. Previously, she was the On-Site Medical Director of the Norwalk and Stamford sites of The Community Health Center (CHC). She started at CHC in 2011 in the Family Nurse Practitioner Residency Program at the Meriden site. Nicole completed her Doctor of Nurse Practice degree at Duke University in 2016 with a focus on screening for BRCA mutations among underserved populations. She graduated from Boston College with her BSN and Yale University with her MSN. Outside of her work for CHC, she is committed to fundraising for breast cancer research as well as spreading awareness and education about breast cancer risk through various speaking engagements.
Affiliate Faculty
Cela M Archambault, PhD
clinical psychologist
Cela M Archambault, PhD
clinical psychologist
Cela Marie Archambault, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with specialty training in Health Psychology. She has worked with patients with pain for 25 years. She is currently a Behavioral Health Consultant at El Rio Health, one of the largest community health centers in the United States. In addition to providing direct care to patients, she is teaching other behavioral health providers how to help patients with chronic pain live a fuller and more functional life. She is also on the faculty of the Weisman Institute’s Project Echo Pain. Dr. Archambault received her doctoral degree from the University of Houston in Houston, TX. She is fellowship trained in pain care. Previously she co-founded and was the health psychologist for Integrative Pain Center of Arizona, the only adult pain treatment center in Arizona nationally recognized as a Center of Excellence by the American Pain Society. Prior to that, she was Assistant Professor with a duel appointment in Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. She started her career at Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey where she became Program Manager for two nationally accredited Pain Management Programs. There she received a special commendation for “innovative programing” by the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
Her goal is to help people with pain maximize their function and live as fulfilling a life as possible. She does this through providing the direct services of evaluation and treatment for patients with pain. She also does this through educating other health professionals about the impact that psychosocial factors have on the experience of pain and how to treat that aspect of the problem.
Brian J. Biroscak, PhD, MS, MA
Assistant Professor, Center for Community Health Integration, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University
Brian J. Biroscak, PhD, MS, MA
Assistant Professor, Center for Community Health Integration, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University
In December 2021, Dr. Biroscak moved to Cleveland, Ohio and joined Case Western Reserve University as an Assistant Professor. Prior to joining the Center for Community Health Integration,
Dr. Biroscak was the first-ever Senior Research Scientist at Weitzman Institute within Community Health Center, Inc. As Weitzman’s Managing Director of Research and Evaluation, he was responsible for providing direct project management for individual research projects; working with internal researchers and outside collaborators to expand Weitzman Institute’s research program through collaboration with academic entities; and providing support and mentoring to students and trainees to help in developing their research interests and capabilities.
Previously, Dr. Biroscak worked as an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine. Prior to pursuing his doctoral degree, Dr. Biroscak worked as an Epidemiologist—first at a state health department and then at a local health department. Dr. Biroscak obtained his undergraduate degree in Applied Biology. He holds Master’s degrees in Epidemiology as well as Health Communication. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Health with a focus on Social Marketing. He recently earned a Graduate Certificate in System Dynamics Modeling.
Dr. Biroscak researches, writes, and lectures in the areas of violence prevention, injury prevention, systems science, social marketing, and participatory research methods. He has a strong interest in the integration of social marketing and systems science to advance social change. Dr. Biroscak has published articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network. He serves on the Editorial Board for Social Marketing Quarterly and the Board of Directors for the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA).
Research Interests
Previously, Dr. Biroscak worked as an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine. Prior to pursuing his doctoral degree, Dr. Biroscak worked as an Epidemiologist—first at a state health department and then at a local health department. Dr. Biroscak obtained his undergraduate degree in Applied Biology. He holds Master’s degrees in Epidemiology as well as Health Communication. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Health with a focus on Social Marketing. He recently earned a Graduate Certificate in System Dynamics Modeling.
Dr. Biroscak researches, writes, and lectures in the areas of violence prevention, injury prevention, systems science, social marketing, and participatory research methods. He has a strong interest in the integration of social marketing and systems science to advance social change. Dr. Biroscak has published articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network. He serves on the Editorial Board for Social Marketing Quarterly and the Board of Directors for the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA).
Research Interests
- Violence prevention
- Injury prevention
- Social marketing
- Systems science
Tom Bodenheimer, MD, MPH
general internist
Tom Bodenheimer, MD, MPH
general internist
Thomas Bodenheimer MD, MPH is a general internist who received his medical degree at Harvard and completed his residency at UCSF. He spent 32 years in full-time primary care practice in San Francisco's Mission District – 10 years in community health centers and 22 years in private practice. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine at University of California, San Francisco and Founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Primary Care (CEPC). He is co-author of Understanding Health Policy, 8th Edition, 2020, and Improving Primary Care, 2006 (both McGraw-Hill). He has written numerous health policy articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Annals of Family Medicine, and Health Affairs.
Bennet Davis, MD
Board Certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Medicine expert
Bennet Davis, MD
Board Certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Medicine expert
Bennet E. Davis, MD, is the director of the Pain Recovery Program at Sierra Tucson. He is board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. Dr. Davis completed his undergraduate work at Stanford University in Stanford, CA, and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He then trained in orthopedic surgery and anesthesiology at the University of New Mexico and University of California, Irvine. He completed his fellowship in Manchester, England, after finishing residency training.
Dr. Davis served as founder and director of the University of Arizona Pain Center from 1995 to 2002, where he was also director of the Pain Fellowship Program and co-founding faculty of the Arizona Cancer Center. In 2002, he and his colleagues founded Arizona’s first and only adult pain clinic to achieve American Pain Society Center of Excellence, The Integrative Pain Center of Arizona, which operated as one of the nation’s few models for interdisciplinary pain care until November 2017.
He is involved in organized medicine as past president of the Pima County Medical Society, and is active on a national level in teaching as medical director for CHC Pain ECHO, a telemedicine teaching program for primary care providers across the nation. He serves on numerous advisory boards for health policy. His latest article, “A Patient Centered Approach to Tapering Opioids” was featured in The Journal of Family Practice in 2019 and addresses the adverse how not screening for trauma has prevented us from effectively addressing the opioid crisis.
Amy K. Kennedy, PharmD, BCACP, FAPhA
Amy K. Kennedy, PharmD, BCACP received her post-graduate training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008 and completed her community pharmacy practice residency and community participatory research fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010. Dr. Kennedy is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, the El Rio Health pharmacy residency program director, and a clinical pharmacist at El Rio Health where she sees patients with pain under a collaborative practice agreement. Previously, Dr. Kennedy worked as a clinical pharmacist at a health center for the homeless. In this capacity, she provided medication therapy management services, precepted students, and conducted research as part of an interprofessional healthcare team. Her scholarship interests include the treatment of chronic pain, preventive health, the impact of medication adherence on mental health outcomes, the role of therapeutic lifestyle modifications in hypertension management, medication therapy management outcomes, and the pharmacist’s role in caring for the underserved.
James Lehman, DC, MBA
Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences
James Lehman, DC, MBA
Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences
Dr. James J. Lehman is a board-certified in neuromusculoskeletal medicine, an Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences, and Director of the only 3-year, full-time neuromusculoskeletal medicine residency program leading to board certification as a chiropractic specialist. He has taught post-graduate chiropractic orthopedics since 1998. Dr. Lehman has been recognized as Academician of the Year by the American Chiropractic Association and Professor of the Year by the University of Bridgeport, School of Chiropractic. Currently, Dr. Lehman is the Director of the Health Sciences Postgraduate Education Department at the University of Bridgeport.
He provided sports medicine, clinical rotations for fourth-year chiropractic students with the Bridgeport Bluefish professional baseball team for 10 years. While practicing in New Mexico, he mentored fourth-year University of New Mexico medical students. Currently, Dr. Lehman is credentialed as a chiropractic specialist with the Community Health Center, Inc. of Middletown, Connecticut.
He provided sports medicine, clinical rotations for fourth-year chiropractic students with the Bridgeport Bluefish professional baseball team for 10 years. While practicing in New Mexico, he mentored fourth-year University of New Mexico medical students. Currently, Dr. Lehman is credentialed as a chiropractic specialist with the Community Health Center, Inc. of Middletown, Connecticut.
Chris R. Oagley, MFA, MOT, MSOM, OTR/L, L.Ac., SEP
Certified Hand Therapist
Chris R. Oagley, MFA, MOT, MSOM, OTR/L, L.Ac., SEP
Certified Hand Therapist
Ms. Oagley has been in practice for 35 years treating complex chronic pain and trauma. She has worked as a OTR/L in hospitals and private clinics specializing in hand and upper extremity therapy. Ms. Oagley was also a Certified Hand Therapist for 20 years. She has also developed a number of integrated hand therapy programs and designed several clinics specifically for upper extremity work-related rehabilitation. Ms. Oagley has special expertise in management of painful unstable wrist and thumb conditions, RSD/CRPS, repetitive stress injuries, chronic distal tendonitis and joint dysfunction. She lectured nationally on RSD/CRPS and custom orthotic making for chronic wrist pain.
Ms. Oagley also has a masters from Southwest Acupuncture College in Santa Fe and has done post-graduate work in Beijing, China. She is board certified in Acupuncture; and has been a clinical instructor at the Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine for 11 years. Ms. Oagley has been in private practice in Tucson since 2003. She has extensive experience in treating stress and depression related to physical injury and long-term chronic disability using both Eastern and Western therapies. In 2018 Ms. Oagley became certified in Somatic Experiencing a neurocognitive-based trauma therapy.
Ms. Oagley is published as a medical illustrator. She has also worked in television, film and professional theatre as a designer and special effects craftsman.
Ms. Oagley is a veteran.
Ms. Oagley also has a masters from Southwest Acupuncture College in Santa Fe and has done post-graduate work in Beijing, China. She is board certified in Acupuncture; and has been a clinical instructor at the Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine for 11 years. Ms. Oagley has been in private practice in Tucson since 2003. She has extensive experience in treating stress and depression related to physical injury and long-term chronic disability using both Eastern and Western therapies. In 2018 Ms. Oagley became certified in Somatic Experiencing a neurocognitive-based trauma therapy.
Ms. Oagley is published as a medical illustrator. She has also worked in television, film and professional theatre as a designer and special effects craftsman.
Ms. Oagley is a veteran.
Stephen Scholand, MD
specialist in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine
Stephen Scholand, MD
specialist in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine
Dr. Steve Scholand is a specialist in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine, with a passion for fighting disease. He graduated from the George Washington School of Medicine in Washington DC and subsequently attended Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for his internship, residency and fellowship in Infectious Diseases. He has over 20 years of clinical experience, including work overseas in medically underserved areas including the Philippines and Thailand.
He is well published in a number of journals and he enjoys teaching medical students, residents and fellows. Dr. Scholand also has a passion for taking care of patients at the bedside. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has worked as a front-line physician, caring for hundreds of the afflicted. He continues to serve as a faculty member in regional and national webinars on COVID-19 through the Weitzman Institute. He also serves as a telemedicine ID expert through ConferMED, a national network of specialists providing eConsults and other telehealth services to providers across the country.
Steve is the son of the late Dr. Joseph F. Scholand, who practiced Internal Medicine in New Britain, Connecticut for over 30 years.
He is well published in a number of journals and he enjoys teaching medical students, residents and fellows. Dr. Scholand also has a passion for taking care of patients at the bedside. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has worked as a front-line physician, caring for hundreds of the afflicted. He continues to serve as a faculty member in regional and national webinars on COVID-19 through the Weitzman Institute. He also serves as a telemedicine ID expert through ConferMED, a national network of specialists providing eConsults and other telehealth services to providers across the country.
Steve is the son of the late Dr. Joseph F. Scholand, who practiced Internal Medicine in New Britain, Connecticut for over 30 years.
Sarah Scholle, MPH, DrPH
Vice President, Research and Analysis, National Committee for Quality Assurance
Sarah Scholle, MPH, DrPH
Vice President, Research and Analysis, National Committee for Quality Assurance
Sarah Hudson Scholle, MPH, DrPH is Vice President of Research and Analysis at NCQA. Dr. Scholle is an expert in health services and quality measurement in multiple settings and has a demonstrated record of moving innovative measurement concepts into implementation, particularly through NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition program. Dr Scholle has substantial experience in disparities and health equity work. She leads the CMS Office of Minority Health’s Health Equity Innovation Incubator contract that includes research to identify disparities and their precursors, methods for characterizing equity such as a newly developed health equity summary score and efforts to support improvement including toolkits.
She has served on panels to address equity for the Institute of Medicine, the National Quality Forum, and the HHS Office of Minority Health and currently serves on the Forum’s Disparities Committee. She has led or participated in projects to develop quality measures for health plans and providers in diverse areas, particularly with a focus on incorporating the voice of consumers. She leads the National Collaborative for Innovation in Quality Measurement, one of six pediatric quality measurement program grants funded by AHRQ and CMS. She recently completed Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded efforts to implement patient-reported outcome tools in primary care and is currently leading NCQA’s partnership with the American Psychiatric Association on a CMS-funded cooperative agreement award to develop new quality measures for mental health and substance use care that focus on patient-reports of functioning, recovery, and care experiences.
Dr. Scholle is also leading a project to support person-driven goal setting and outcomes measurement for individuals with serious illness. In all these projects, patients and advocates serve either as members of the project leadership or are integrally involved in the decision-making through a consumer/family panel and a variety of stakeholders are involved in guiding and responding to the research work.
She has served on panels to address equity for the Institute of Medicine, the National Quality Forum, and the HHS Office of Minority Health and currently serves on the Forum’s Disparities Committee. She has led or participated in projects to develop quality measures for health plans and providers in diverse areas, particularly with a focus on incorporating the voice of consumers. She leads the National Collaborative for Innovation in Quality Measurement, one of six pediatric quality measurement program grants funded by AHRQ and CMS. She recently completed Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded efforts to implement patient-reported outcome tools in primary care and is currently leading NCQA’s partnership with the American Psychiatric Association on a CMS-funded cooperative agreement award to develop new quality measures for mental health and substance use care that focus on patient-reports of functioning, recovery, and care experiences.
Dr. Scholle is also leading a project to support person-driven goal setting and outcomes measurement for individuals with serious illness. In all these projects, patients and advocates serve either as members of the project leadership or are integrally involved in the decision-making through a consumer/family panel and a variety of stakeholders are involved in guiding and responding to the research work.
Yashoda Sharma, PhD
Program Director
Yashoda Sharma, PhD
Program Director
As a Senior Research Scientist at the Weitzman Institute, Dr. Sharma’s primary responsibility was Principal Investigator for NIH’s All of Us Research Program (https://allofus.nih.gov/), one component of the national Precision Medicine Initiative. The All of Us Research Program will enroll one million or more participants in a longitudinal research study to build the most diverse research resource, which will then study how individual differences in lifestyle, environment and biological makeup affect our ability to prevent and treat diseases. This is a landmark opportunity to ensure underrepresented populations are contributing to the future of health care. Dr. Sharma’s additional responsibilities included serving as a preceptor to Wesleyan University and UConn students, Safety Officer and a member of the Institutional Review Board.
Dr. Sharma joined the Weitzman Institute in March 2019, after serving as the Project Administrator for the NIDDK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium, and Administrative Manager in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine. In these roles, she participated in the development of long-term goals and strategic objectives and managed of several interdisciplinary multi-investigator programs. She has extensive experience with managing all aspects of academic research programs at three major academic research institutions: The Jackson Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In these roles, Dr. Sharma served as human resources, grants manager and accountant, project and data manager, communications coordinator, and compliance and regulatory manager.
Dr. Sharma earned a Bachelors from Skidmore College and her PhD from the University of Iowa. She completed her post-doctoral training at the Jackson Laboratory. These experiences, in addition to serving as a manager and supervisor drives her passion to mentor and guide undergraduates and graduates as they explore their career paths.
Dr. Sharma joined the Weitzman Institute in March 2019, after serving as the Project Administrator for the NIDDK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium, and Administrative Manager in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine. In these roles, she participated in the development of long-term goals and strategic objectives and managed of several interdisciplinary multi-investigator programs. She has extensive experience with managing all aspects of academic research programs at three major academic research institutions: The Jackson Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In these roles, Dr. Sharma served as human resources, grants manager and accountant, project and data manager, communications coordinator, and compliance and regulatory manager.
Dr. Sharma earned a Bachelors from Skidmore College and her PhD from the University of Iowa. She completed her post-doctoral training at the Jackson Laboratory. These experiences, in addition to serving as a manager and supervisor drives her passion to mentor and guide undergraduates and graduates as they explore their career paths.
Mark Splaine, MD, MS
Managing Director of EduHealth LLC
Mark Splaine, MD, MS
Managing Director of EduHealth LLC
Mark Splaine, MD, MS is the Managing Director of EduHealth LLC, an independent consulting firm specializing in health professional education as well as healthcare quality and measurement education. Mark is an Affiliate Faculty member of the Weitzman Institute, and serves as an education consultant for Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC).
Examples of Mark’s current work with CHC and the Weitzman Institute include:
• He is a member of the interprofessional faculty team that leads the Quality Improvement Seminar Series in CHC’s Postgraduate Training Programs; this is a 10-month education series for nurse practitioner and postdoctoral clinical psychology residents.
• He supports the Site Visitor Training Program for the National Nurse Practitioner Residency and Fellowship Training Consortium.
• He is a faculty support for a learning collaborative run by the Central Valley Health Network in California that has brought together 28 health centers to improve quality of care for childhood immunizations and colorectal cancer screening.
• Most recently, he has joined the group of coaches/mentors from CHC’s Center for Key Populations that support quality improvement teams working in Ryan White HIV Clinics throughout the state of Kentucky.
Before returning to consulting, Mark was the Director of Education for CHC, Inc.’s Weitzman Institute from 2016-2018. In that role, Mark was responsible for contributing to and helping to coordinate all of the educational activities of the Weitzman Institute. This involved work with faculty, program managers, and students. In addition, Mark led the development of Weitzman’s portfolio of online educational offerings.
In prior work, Mark was an Associate Professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Mark has been a teacher of health professionals for over 25 years. His education interests include creating, implementing, assessing, and continually improving educational offerings for learners that promote developing knowledge and skills for improving the quality and safety of care for individuals and communities. This work involves understanding how individuals can learn together and from one another, as well as how to best incorporate different educational technologies and assessments to promote learning for professional, graduate, and undergraduate learners.
Mark’s interests in research and implementation include developing and studying opportunities to incorporate the use of measurement, analytic methods, and collaborative learning to enhance practice in health care and public health settings. The major goals of this work are to make statistics more easily understandable and useful; to develop practical methods to measure clinical processes and outcomes that can be incorporated into care settings; to teach about how health professionals can use continuous quality improvement as a way to enhance their practice and the value they provide to individuals and communities; and to study models of collaborative learning that enhance health outcomes. This work has included projects in the U.S., Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Africa.
Mark is professionally trained as a general internal medicine physician and practiced primary care for 16 years. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College, his Doctor of Medicine degree from Dartmouth Medical School, and his Master of Science degree in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences from Dartmouth College.
Examples of Mark’s current work with CHC and the Weitzman Institute include:
• He is a member of the interprofessional faculty team that leads the Quality Improvement Seminar Series in CHC’s Postgraduate Training Programs; this is a 10-month education series for nurse practitioner and postdoctoral clinical psychology residents.
• He supports the Site Visitor Training Program for the National Nurse Practitioner Residency and Fellowship Training Consortium.
• He is a faculty support for a learning collaborative run by the Central Valley Health Network in California that has brought together 28 health centers to improve quality of care for childhood immunizations and colorectal cancer screening.
• Most recently, he has joined the group of coaches/mentors from CHC’s Center for Key Populations that support quality improvement teams working in Ryan White HIV Clinics throughout the state of Kentucky.
Before returning to consulting, Mark was the Director of Education for CHC, Inc.’s Weitzman Institute from 2016-2018. In that role, Mark was responsible for contributing to and helping to coordinate all of the educational activities of the Weitzman Institute. This involved work with faculty, program managers, and students. In addition, Mark led the development of Weitzman’s portfolio of online educational offerings.
In prior work, Mark was an Associate Professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Mark has been a teacher of health professionals for over 25 years. His education interests include creating, implementing, assessing, and continually improving educational offerings for learners that promote developing knowledge and skills for improving the quality and safety of care for individuals and communities. This work involves understanding how individuals can learn together and from one another, as well as how to best incorporate different educational technologies and assessments to promote learning for professional, graduate, and undergraduate learners.
Mark’s interests in research and implementation include developing and studying opportunities to incorporate the use of measurement, analytic methods, and collaborative learning to enhance practice in health care and public health settings. The major goals of this work are to make statistics more easily understandable and useful; to develop practical methods to measure clinical processes and outcomes that can be incorporated into care settings; to teach about how health professionals can use continuous quality improvement as a way to enhance their practice and the value they provide to individuals and communities; and to study models of collaborative learning that enhance health outcomes. This work has included projects in the U.S., Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Africa.
Mark is professionally trained as a general internal medicine physician and practiced primary care for 16 years. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College, his Doctor of Medicine degree from Dartmouth Medical School, and his Master of Science degree in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences from Dartmouth College.
Kathleen M. Thies, PhD, MS, RN
Consultant for the Weitzman Institute, Moses/Weitzman Health System
Kathleen M. Thies, PhD, MS, RN
Consultant for the Weitzman Institute, Moses/Weitzman Health System
Dr. Thies has been consulting with the Weitzman Institute since 2014, when she worked with nursing staff to implement care coordination in primary care, an initiative funded by the Yale School of Public Health. Since then, she has worked on several projects as a researcher, evaluator and faculty. These have included: an analysis of specialist recommendations to participants in Project ECHO Chronic Pain; an analysis of issues raised by participants during Project ECHO COVID early in the pandemic; evaluation of and faculty for the HRSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Partners learning collaboratives and webinars on team-based care, post-graduate nurse practitioner residency programs, health professions education, and quality improvement; and evaluation of the Prescription for Play (P4P) initiative funded by the LEGO Foundation. These efforts have resulted in several publications, presentations, and two books co-authored with Weitzman Institute staff and faculty--Training the next generation: Residency and fellowship programs for nurse practitioners in community health centers (published by HRSA, 2017) and Team-Based Care in Community Health Centers (published by HRSA, due 2023).
Before joining the Weitzman Institute, Dr. Thies was the first nurse researcher for the Elliot Health System in New Hampshire for six years, working with hospitalists and nurses in acute and ambulatory care on a variety of data-driven initiatives to improve patient care using evidence-based practices. These included preventing hospital acquired infections, standardizing clinical processes and documentation in the electronic health record, and screening for perinatal mood disorders. Prior to this work, Dr. Thies spent many years in academia, most notably as an associate professor and the founder of a direct entry program into nursing for non-nurse college graduates at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Graduate School of Nursing, and as the tenured chair of the Department of Nursing at Colby-Sawyer College, an affiliate of the Mary Hitchcock Hospital at the Dartmouth Medical Center in New Hampshire. During that time, Dr. Thies also received training in quality improvement methods and data from the Dartmouth Institute and its Microsystems Academy.
Dr. Thies received her BS in nursing from Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, and an MS in psychiatric-mental health nursing from Adelphi University in New York. She worked as a mental health counselor in hospice in New York City with patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Her PhD is in developmental psychology from Boston College, where her research focused on resilience in children experiencing adversity. She has published books in child development with faculty from Boston College and Harvard Medical School. She has taught statistics to undergraduates, and nursing and psychology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Thies lives in New Hampshire, where she has been on the Board for the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation. While she was on the grant committee, the Foundation funded the pilot study for ACERT—Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team—a joint initiative of police, crisis and behavioral health services. It has become a national model.
Before joining the Weitzman Institute, Dr. Thies was the first nurse researcher for the Elliot Health System in New Hampshire for six years, working with hospitalists and nurses in acute and ambulatory care on a variety of data-driven initiatives to improve patient care using evidence-based practices. These included preventing hospital acquired infections, standardizing clinical processes and documentation in the electronic health record, and screening for perinatal mood disorders. Prior to this work, Dr. Thies spent many years in academia, most notably as an associate professor and the founder of a direct entry program into nursing for non-nurse college graduates at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Graduate School of Nursing, and as the tenured chair of the Department of Nursing at Colby-Sawyer College, an affiliate of the Mary Hitchcock Hospital at the Dartmouth Medical Center in New Hampshire. During that time, Dr. Thies also received training in quality improvement methods and data from the Dartmouth Institute and its Microsystems Academy.
Dr. Thies received her BS in nursing from Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, and an MS in psychiatric-mental health nursing from Adelphi University in New York. She worked as a mental health counselor in hospice in New York City with patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Her PhD is in developmental psychology from Boston College, where her research focused on resilience in children experiencing adversity. She has published books in child development with faculty from Boston College and Harvard Medical School. She has taught statistics to undergraduates, and nursing and psychology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Thies lives in New Hampshire, where she has been on the Board for the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation. While she was on the grant committee, the Foundation funded the pilot study for ACERT—Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team—a joint initiative of police, crisis and behavioral health services. It has become a national model.