Ensuring Access and Equity in Health Care

Access to health care, particularly among those in underserved communities, is a key focus of UMB’s experts. Our research, treatments, and expertise focus on a wide range of areas including elder care, health equity, drug policy, behavioral health, and pediatrics.

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Maureen M. Black, PhD

Global child development

Nutrition and child development

Health disparities

Dr. Black is a pediatric psychologist who has made significant contributions to the intersection of child development and nutrition. Dr. Black’s training is in developmental science and pediatric psychology. She is a licensed psychologist, chaired the Division of Growth and Nutrition in the Department of Pediatrics from 2003-2021, and directed an interdisciplinary Growth and Nutrition Practice for children with growth and /or feeding problems for 25 years. She spearheaded advances in child development by co-authoring three series of papers on early child development, published in The Lancet (2007, 2011, and 2017), including leading the first paper of the 2017 Lancet series, Advancing Early Childhood Development: from Science to Scale. That paper provided the scientific basis for the Nurturing Care Framework, which has been adopted by the World Health Assembly (2018) and advanced globally by WHO, UNICEF, and the World Bank Group. In recent work, she demonstrated that the principles of Nurturing Care apply from pre-conception through adolescence. Dr. Black has been instrumental in the development of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED), a WHO-led, population-based scale to evaluate children’s development globally.

Nicole Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCPP, CGP, FASCP

Geriatrics

Since joining the School of Pharmacy, Dr. Brandt has expanded available geriatric training opportunities, including the geriatrics/palliative care pathway, ASHP-accredited geriatrics residency, and two-year post-PharmD fellowship. She was named the 2019 recipient of the American Geriatrics Society’s (AGS) Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award for her leadership in geriatrics education. She has worked on interdisciplinary teams across numerous practice settings and leads initiatives to integrate sustainable pharmacist-directed services to help older adults with multiple co-morbidities at the MedStar Center for Successful Aging. Dr. Brandt is active in promoting optimal care for older adults through her educational, clinical, and health care policy work. She co-led an initiative that led to the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, Baltimore County being the first universities in Maryland to receive Age-Friendly University distinction. She has directed projects focused on Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management programs, high risk medications, and medication stewardship. She is an author of the 2012, 2015, and 2018-2019 the AGS Beer’s Criteria and past president and board chair of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. She co-chaired a task force convened by the Lamy Center with assistance from the US Deprescribing Research Network to develop an Implementation Guide for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wendy Camelo Castillo, MD, MSc, PhD

Health Disparities

Pharmacoepidemiology

Comparative Effectiveness and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research

Dr. Camelo Castillo is an assistant professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research, where she has been a faculty member since 2017. Dr. Camelo Castillo trained as a physician at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where she also obtained an MSc degree in physiology. Her PhD training in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill focused on pharmacoepidemiology, after which she joined the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the School of Pharmacy as a postdoctoral fellow in patient centered outcomes and comparative effectiveness research. Her research integrates methods in pharmacoepidemiology and patient preferences to develop evidence for populations in whom best practices of care are limited, such as women, youth, and minority communities. Her goal is to inform and improve clinical and policy decision making by providing evidence of benefits or harm of interventions used in real world settings in these populations. She brings an innovative approach into this work by integrating the patient perspective into pharmacoepidemiology and health services research. Her research agenda focuses on improving methods to assess effectiveness of treatments in the context of multimorbidity, and development and implementation of patient-centered methods to address health disparities in minority communities.

Neijma Celestine-Donnor, JD, MSW

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

As the School of Social Work’s first assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion, Neijma Celestine-Donnor will help lead the school's diversity and anti-oppression efforts and guide the achievement of a new standard for inclusive excellence. As a member of the dean’s executive leadership team, Celestine-Donnor has a strategic position responsible for promoting and enabling an inclusive environment for faculty, students, and staff while championing organizational change. Grounded in pursuing social justice for minority populations and supporting equity in higher education, Celestine-Donnor is an experienced leader focused on providing strategic oversight for protocols, services, and policies related to campus climate. She uses her clinical and conflict resolution skills to provide individual and systemic trauma-informed outreach, advocacy, and support for all. Her extensive experience developing, facilitating, and assessing professional development workshops, training, and programming designed to enhance the intercultural competency of students, faculty, and staff will be a tremendous benefit to the school. Celestine-Donnor comes to the school from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she served as director of campus climate support and engagement in the Division of Diversity and Inclusion. She is a 2009 graduate of the School of Social Work’s MSW program and previously served as a clinical training instructor and adjunct faculty member at the school. In addition, Celestine-Donnor is studying for a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore.

Heather Congdon, PharmD, BCPS, CDE

Interprofessional Education

Ambulatory Care

Dr. Congdon received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a pharmacy practice residency with emphasis in community care from the University of Maryland. Her teaching focuses on interprofessional education, diabetes, and the abilities lab series. She has a clinical practice at Mercy Health Clinic, providing care for underserved, uninsured patients on multiple medications and with various chronic conditions. Dr. Congdon’s research interests relate to her practice at Mercy Health Clinic. She has evaluated the impact of pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) on clinical outcomes, such as hemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Furthermore, her team has demonstrated the importance of interprofessional, coordinated care on clinical outcomes for patients with poorly controlled diabetes.

Yvette Conyers, DNP, MS, RN, FNP-C, CTN-B, CFCN, CFCS, CNE

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity

Dr. Conyers is the associate dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion and an assistant professor, teaching excellence tenure track, at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In this role, Conyers serves as the primary advisor to UMSON’s dean, senior academic leadership team, senior administrative team, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council on operational and strategic goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Catherine Cooke, PharmD, BCPS, PAHM

Outpatient Medication Management of Chronic Diseases

Geriatrics

Health Technology

Dr. Cooke is a board-certified pharmacist with experience in the clinical, business, and research arenas of different health care settings. She has provided direct patient care in ambulatory care environments for patients with chronic medically managed diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and other prevalent conditions found in primary care populations. She has also provided medication therapy management, completing comprehensive medication reviews (CMR) for eligible Medicare beneficiaries. In addition to direct patient care, she has published research on primary non-adherence and continues to study ways to improve patient-centered outcomes. Her work with the School’s Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging focuses on the quality of medication-related care for older adults. In collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), we were able to refine the Standardized Format (i.e., summary document that a patient receives after a CMR), and evaluate it in real-world settings after it was mandated for use in January 2013. Additional quality initiatives at the Lamy Center include the integration of medication-related information within healthcare practices through the use of health information technology standards and systems and assisting with the development and implementation of metrics to improve medication-use for older adults.

Steven J. Czinn, MD

Child Health

Infant Health

Pediatric Vaccinations

I have been the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland for the last 17 years. In addition to a very robust Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative, my Department has developed creative programs to provide our local community with access to medical care. Examples include two mobile units providing free asthma care to children at their public schools of Baltimore, and the second provides counseling, testing and treatment for STI’s and HIV for teenage population. We also provide healthcare and immunizations in a newly created community Center in Baltimore. To address the mental health crisis in children, I am a member of the Mayor’s “Trauma informed Taskforce” and we have also just completed an expansion of an adolescent inpatient treatment center for adolescents. The progress we are making in Baltimore with creative programming may stimulate similar efforts on a national scale.

Sarah Dababnah, PhD, MPH, MSW

Autism

Developmental Disabilities

Parenting

Sarah Dababnah, PhD, MPH, MSW is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Social Work (United States), a Faculty Affiliate at Yonsei University School of Social Welfare (South Korea), and a recent US Fulbright Scholar at the American University in Cairo (Egypt). She specializes in practice, policy and research related to the health and well-being of families of individuals with intellectual and developmental differences. Dr. Dababnah’s research focuses on family-centered, community-engaged and culturally relevant strategies to address racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in autism services. Dr. Dababnah received specialized training in early childhood and disability practice, research, and policy at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Chapel Hill, NC), the Kennedy Krieger Institute (Baltimore, MD), the Columbia University National Center for Children in Poverty (New York, NY), and the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health (Washington, DC). She earned advanced degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Johns Hopkins University.

Esa M. Davis, MD, MPH

Community Health

Maternal and Child Health

Health Disparities

Dr. Davis is a board-certified family physician with more than 20 years of clinical expertise in the acute and chronic management of adults and children. In addition, she is a widely published, NIH-funded clinical researcher, whose efforts focus on obesity-related maternal and child health outcomes and in comparative effectiveness research in maternal health and tobacco use disorder.

Crystal DeVance-Wilson, PhD, MBA, PHCNS-BC

Nursing Workforce

Community/Public Health

Black Men's Health

Dr. DeVance-Wilson is a board-certified public health clinical nurse specialist with 30 years of experience working in acute and community settings with diverse populations. She is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, where she teaches in the graduate and undergraduate programs. Dr. DeVance-Wilson is the vice chair of the University of Maryland School of Nursing at the Universities at Shady Grove and also serves as the director of the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center, through which she and her team work to address issues affecting Maryland nurses, nursing students, schools of nursing, and health care organizations. Dr. DeVance-Wilson has also held leadership positions in several community organizations and is currently the immediate past chair of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Commission on Health.

Vineet Dhar, BDS, MDS, PhD

Pediatric Dentistry

Early Childhood Caries, Nutrition

Equity in Access to Dentistry for Children

Dr. Dhar is a board-certified pediatric dentist who serves on the councils on Scientific Affairs and Post-Doctoral Education at the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) and the Council of Scientific Affairs of the American Dental Association (ADA). He also serves on the ADA guideline panels on restorative care and caries prevention and has served on the pit and fissure sealants panel. He is on the AAPD guideline panel on vital pulp therapies in primary and immature permanent teeth and behavior guidance and has served on the AAPD panel to produce clinical practice guidelines on non-vital pulp and vital pulp therapies in primary teeth. He received the 2018 ADA Evidence Based Dentistry Mid-Career Faculty Award and the 2017 AAPD Jerome B. Miller/Crest-Oral-B/For The Kids Award. He also co-authored manuscripts that received the AAPD Paul Taylor Award in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Dr. Dhar has been involved in multiple research projects and has directed thesis work for master's degree candidates as an advisor or co-advisor.

Kelly Doran, PhD, RN, FAAN

Nurse-Led Interventions to Improve Social Needs and Health Disparities

Worksite Wellness

Cardiovascular Health

Dr. Doran runs the health suite at the UMB Community Engagement Center (CEC), which has been serving West Baltimore residents for two years. Dr. Doran and other School of Nursing faculty serve as clinical instructors and preceptors to graduate and undergraduate nursing students who are joined by medical, social work, and pharmacy students in the CEC’s health suite. Students gain community-based experience and opportunities to interact with neighbors outside the hospital. Dr. Doran’s expertise is in interprofessional education and nurse-run clinics to improve social determinants of health and health outcomes with underserved populations. Her research focuses on worksite wellness programs with health care workers to reduce work stress/burnout, health promotion interventions to improve cardiovascular health, and interventions to improve health outcomes.

Peter Doshi, PhD

Credible Evidence Synthesis

Drug Safety and Regulation

Evidence-Based Medicine

Peter Doshi, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and senior editor at The BMJ. His research focuses on the drug approval process, how the risks and benefits of medical products are communicated, and improving the credibility and accuracy of evidence synthesis and biomedical publications. Dr. Doshi campaigns for greater transparency of clinical trial data and has received wide recognition for his work. In 2013, the New York Times reported on his work to increase public access to clinical study reports. The same year he was also chosen for The Wired “Smart List.” In 2015, he received a New Investigator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Dr. Doshi has presented on the topic of clinical trial data sharing to the Institute of Medicine in 2013 and 2014, and served on advisory panels to the European Medicines Agency regarding its policy on proactive publication of clinical trial data. Much of Dr. Doshi’s research has examined the science and politics of influenza policy. His most cited publication is a Cochrane systematic review of neuraminidase inhibitors for influenza. This review—the first Cochrane review to be based exclusively on clinical study reports and other regulatory documents—challenged previous understandings of the drugs’ effectiveness, raised new questions about their safety, and led to governmental inquiries in the United Kingdom. It is cited as a milestone in the James Lind Library, which chronicles the evolution of fair tests and research synthesis. Dr. Doshi leads the RIAT Support Center. The Restoring Invisible and Abandoned Trials (RIAT) initiative enables researchers everywhere to address two long-standing problems in the biomedical literature: non-publication and misreporting of trials. The RIAT Support Center aims to accelerate the correction of the scientific record of clinical trials by making publications more accurate and more complete, addressing these problems of publication bias and reporting bias. Dr. Doshi earned an AB in anthropology from Brown University, an AM in East Asian Studies from Harvard University and PhD in history, anthropology, and science, technology and society from MIT. During his PhD, he was an intern at the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a research student at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, and studied as visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo Center for Biomedical Ethics and Law. Dr. Doshi completed a fellowship in comparative effectiveness research at Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

Susan dosReis, BSPharm, PhD

Pediatric Mental Health

Pharmacoepidemiology

Dr. dosReis is professor and co-vice chair for research in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She received a bachelor of science in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island School of Pharmacy and a doctorate in pharmacoepidemiology from the University of Maryland Graduate School. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in child mental health services from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was previously on faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. dosReis works closely with the state Mental Hygiene Administration on policies and programs that impact child mental health services. She is a core faculty of the Maryland Child Mental Health Advisory group within the Center for Child Mental Health Innovations at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In this role, she advises the state on child psychopharmacologic treatment of youth in the public mental health system with a specific focus on psychotropic medication use among youth in the child welfare system. Through several federally-funded research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dr. dosReis has developed a profile of research on psychotropic medication use among children and adolescents, examining disparities in psychotropic use by age, race, and foster care involvement, characterizing psychotropic treatment by combined use with psychotherapy for ADHD, and use of multiple psychotropic medications, and assessing longitudinal patterns in antipsychotic treatment for adults with schizophrenia. She developed two surveys - the ASK-ME survey, which assesses parental perceptions of stimulant treatment for their child’s ADHD, and a survey to assess pediatricians’ identification and screening of autism spectrum disorders in young children. Using qualitative research methods, she has investigated parental perspectives of their child’s ADHD and developed a conceptual model of how parents approach mental health care for their children.

Wonder P. Drake, MD

Sarcoidosis

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Dr. Drake serves as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and directs the inaugural Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. As a consequence of her investigation of sarcoidosis pathogenesis for the past 24 years, the Drake lab conducts the full spectrum of research from basic investigations using murine models for interstitial lung disease, to translational research using sarcoidosis peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to implementing clinical trials based on repurposed therapeutics that target the identified molecular deficiency.

Lori A. Edwards, DrPH, BSN, RN, CNS-PCH, BC, FAAN

Public Health and Public Health Nursing

Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity

Community Engagment and Community-Based Participatory Research

Dr. Edwards is the associate dean for the Master of Science in Nursing program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She is also an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Health. She is a leader of University-wide community engagement initiatives and has extensive experience working in local and global communities. Her research has focused on community-based participatory and engagement efforts focused on occupational health with immigrant workers. She teaches courses on health equity and social determinants of health, program planning, and leadership. She has served as the president of national organizations and boards of community agencies. Dr. Edwards earned her BSN from University of Maryland School of Nursing and her MPH and DrPH degrees from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board certified as a clinical specialist in public health nursing.

Megan Ehret, PharmD, MS, BCPP

Psychiatric Psychopharmacology

Neurology

Substance Abuse

Dr. Ehret completed her BS and PharmD degrees at the University of Toledo. She then completed an ASHP-accredited residency in psychiatric pharmacotherapy at the Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center, after which she completed a Psychopharmacology and Pharmacogenomics Fellowship at Nova Southeastern University. After training, she received her initial faculty appointment at the University of Connecticut and gained tenure there. While at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Ehret served as vice-chair of the Institutional Review Board, Director of Practices for the Center for Correctional Health Networks, and a faculty member for Project ECHO: Buprenorphine. Additionally, Dr. Ehret received her master's in Clinical and Translational Research from the University of Connecticut Health Center. Dr. Ehret is a board certified psychiatric pharmacist. She most recently practiced at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital as its behavioral health clinical pharmacy specialist. She has experience in treating the spectrum of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Additionally, she is a past president of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP) and a senior editor on the Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Review Course. Her research interests are precision medicine, including utilization of guideline based treatment and pharmacogenomics, utilization of long-acting injectables, psychotropic medication adherence, and the role of the psychiatric pharmacist on the treatment team

Jodi J. Frey, PhD, LCSW-C, CEAP

workplace

behavioral health

suicide prevention

Dr. Jodi J. Frey, PhD, LCSW-C, CEAP is a full Professor with tenure at University of Maryland, School of Social Work. She serves as Associate Dean for Research and chairs the Social Work in the Workplace & Employee Assistance Sub-specialization. She is the Founder and Faculty Executive Director of the Behavioral Health and Well-Being Lab (BHWell Lab). For 10 years (until 2022), she chaired the Financial Social Work Initiative. Dr. Frey’s research focuses on adult and emerging adult behavioral health and well-being with an emphasis on suicide prevention, mental health, substance use and the workplace. She has published over 100 articles, books and book chapters, in addition to presenting research at international conferences and receiving numerous awards for her research and teaching. Dr. Frey co-chairs the Workplace Suicide Prevention and Postvention Committee where she is working to disseminate the National Guidelines for Workplace Suicide Prevention.

Elizabeth Galik, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP

Care of Individuals Living with Dementia

Dr. Galik is a nurse practitioner who specializes in improving care practices for older adults with dementia and their caregivers. Her externally funded research tests the impact of non-pharmacological interventions designed to optimize function and physical activity, improve mood, and manage behavioral symptoms among long-term care residents living with dementia. She also has expertise in the recruitment, retention, and measurement of cognitively impaired research participants, particularly involving the measurement of physical activity, using actigraphy. She has served as an expert advisor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s national initiative to improve behavioral health and minimize the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications among nursing home residents and hospitalized older adults with dementia.

Joga Gobburu, PhD

Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Research

Pediatrics

Pharmacometrics

Dr. Gobburu is a world-renowned scientific leader in the area of quantitative disease models and their applications to decisions. He is best known for transforming the field of pharmacometrics into a decision-supporting science. His experience as a senior biomedical research scientist and director of pharmacometrics at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives him unique insight into the technical, regulatory, and decision-making aspects in all phases of drug development. He obtained his BPharm and MSc in chemistry from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from North Dakota State University, and his MBA from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gobburu’s research interests include pediatrics, clinical pharmacology and translational research, comparative effectiveness, and pharmacometrics.

Lauren Hynicka, PharmD, BCPS

Internal Medicine

Hepatology

Dr. Hynicka received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. She went on to complete both a PGY-1 general practice and PGY-2 internal medicine residency at the Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia Health System. She served as a clinical pharmacy specialist on a general internal medicine team at the University of Maryland Medical Center for six years before transitioning into her current role, where she manages treatment of HCV infected patients enrolled in Maryland Medicaid. Her teaching, research, and patient care activities focus on the care of patients with chronic liver diseases including chronic HCV infection. Recent areas of research include streamlining the prior authorization process for HCV medications at a large academic health system and evaluating HCV treatment interruptions. Dr. Hynicka has a variety of research interests including transitions of care, infectious diseases, viral hepatitis C, chronic liver disease, provision of care to underserved patients, and global health.

Laundette P. Jones, PhD, MPH

Community Health

Health Disparities

Breast Cancer Research

Dr. Jones is a biosocial researcher with broad training and expertise in the basic biomedical sciences and community and population health. For over 15 years, Dr. Jones led a research laboratory utilizing cell culture and animal models to identify genetic and environmental risk factors for breast cancer. She received international recognition for her contributions towards understanding of the relationship between BRCA1 mutations, sex hormone levels, and cancer risk. Her completion of the MPH degree has uniquely positioned Dr. Jones to build transdisciplinary research teams (from basic scientists, clinicians, public health experts, to communities) that seek to address cancer health disparities through the understanding of the interplay of biological, environmental, and social factors. Currently, her research program utilizes a participatory health research approach to create community-academic partnerships that share and co-generate knowledge to produce comprehensive, context-specific strategies for eliminating health disparities.

Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH, FGSA

Geriatrics

Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Internal Medicine

Dr. Kheirbek is a Professor of Medicine and the inaugural Division Head of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her clinical work focuses on offering comprehensive care and support to individuals and their families facing serious and advanced illnesses. Her research centers on the oldest segment of the population, particularly centenarians as expert survivors. Dr. Kheirbek is an advocate for social justice and a writer who provides expert testimonies addressing the unique needs of marginalized and vulnerable individuals, including elders within the criminal justice system. Her work has been featured in academic journals as well as the Baltimore Sun, New York Times, Washington Post, and US World and News Report.

Nancy Kusmaul, PhD, MSW

nursing homes

aging policy

trauma-informed care

Nancy Kusmaul, Ph.D., MSW is an Associate Professor in the Baccalaureate Social Work program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She received her PhD from the University at Buffalo and her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan. She was a nursing home social worker for more than a decade. Her research focuses on quality of life and quality of care in nursing homes, organizational culture, trauma informed care, and the impact of trauma experiences on workers and care recipients. She is co-chair of the NASW-Maryland Committee on Aging and is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Kusmaul was a 2019-2020 Health and Aging Policy Fellow. She has done several podcasts on aging, trauma, and nursing homes on various platforms.

Wendy G. Lane, MD, MPH

Child Maltreatment

Maternal and Child Health

Preventive Medicine

Wendy Lane, MD, MPH is a clinician and researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is board certified in General Pediatrics, Child Abuse Pediatrics, and Preventive Medicine. A Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and the Department of Pediatrics, she serves as Medical Director for the Center for Hope/Baltimore Child Abuse Center (CFH/BCAC) and the Howard County Child Advocacy Center. She is a member of the Child Protection Team at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where she served as Chair from 2004-2011. In 2020, Dr. Lane became Director of the Maryland CHAMP (Child Abuse Medical Professionals) Program, which provides training and peer review to health care professionals throughout Maryland. She and her colleagues have been working to identify and train doctors and nurses to serve all Maryland counties, and to increase their participation in peer review. Since 2008, Dr. Lane has served as Chair of the Child Maltreatment and Foster Care Committee for the Maryland Chapter of the AAP (MDAAP). She collaborated with MDAAP on a national AAP grant to address health care services for children in foster care. Dr. Lane has continued this work as a member and now Chair of Maryland’s State Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (SCCAN), one of the three citizen panels mandated by CAPTA. Advocacy by SCCAN helped pass Maryland legislation to create a Medical Director for Child Welfare and to require an electronic health passport for children in foster care. In addition, SCCAN worked with legislators to pass two bills to reduce the likelihood of sexual abuse and misconduct in schools. In addition to her child maltreatment work, Dr. Lane also serves as Director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program and the Principal Investigator for B’more for Healthy Babies Upton/Druid Heights (BHB-U/DH), a community-based and community-engaged intervention to improve birth outcomes. Since its inception 11 years ago, this predominantly low-income, Black community has seen a 75% decrease in infant mortality rates.

Richard J. Manski, DDS, MBA, PhD

Socioeconomic Inequities in Health Care

Dental Public Health - Medicare, Elderly

Dr. Manski manages and provides oversight for a team of faculty, staff, educators, and researchers at the School of Dentistry. His disciplines of interest and areas of responsibility include public health, research methods, statistics, education, practice management, the school’s externship program, and the Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry (NMD). Dr. Manski also manages a multi-institutional and multidisciplinary team of researchers that studies the effects of dental utilization patterns associated with changes in dental coverage and changes in retirement status among older Americans. As executive director of NMD, Dr. Manski is responsible for all operations of the museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate organization that has one of the most comprehensive dental collections in the world; is the national collection for the social, cultural, economic, scientific, and technological history of dentistry; and represents the origins and development of dentistry in the United States and beyond. The museum received congressional designation as the official U.S. museum of the dental profession in 2003. Dr. Manski also serves as a senior scholar for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) within the Department of Health and Human Services. As a senior scholar, he provides advice to AHRQ staff on the editing and imputation of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data related to use, source, expenditures, and health insurance benefits for oral health care. He also provides technical assistance and advice to the oral health community on issues related to dental policy, expenditures, dental benefit, and dental utilization data.

Diane Martin, PhD, MA

Gerontology

Quality of Later Life

Dr. Martin has been committed throughout her career to developing high-quality, impactful, and engaging academic and non-academic activities designed to increase the knowledge and skill sets of professionals and paraprofessionals employed in the senior service and care industry. As an applied gerontologist, her research has centered on quality-of-later-life initiatives, including person-centered care and aging in place. Dr. Martin is a member of the Gerontological Society of America and the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education. She earned her doctorate in psychology with a concentration in aging from Northcentral University, her master’s degree in experimental psychology from Towson University, and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Valli Meeks, DDS, MS, RDH

Oral Health - HIV AIDS

Community Engagement - Oral Health or Education

UMB’s 2018 Public Servant of the Year, Dr. Meeks is director of the School of Dentistry’s PLUS Clinic, which focuses on treating people who are living with HIV disease and in need of oral health services. Halfway around the world, Dr. Meeks supports a second vulnerable population by collaborating in an effort that formed the first school of dentistry in Rwanda. She also has taught at, helped form the curriculum, and assisted an orphanage in becoming a dental education outreach center. Additionally, Dr. Meeks works with students in Baltimore to donate dental equipment that she delivers to Rwanda. The project involves teaming with two Rwanda nonprofits, the Urukundo Learning Center (ULC) and the Rwanda Village Concept Project (RVCP). ULC began as an orphanage for children displaced by the genocide of 1994 and now serves as a primary and secondary school for children in the area. RVCP is an organization run by the students at the University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences that works to advance the health of Rwandans living in rural areas.

Jill Morgan, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS, FNAP

Pediatrics

Dr. Jill A. Morgan is professor and chair of the Department of Practice, Sciences and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.  She practices at the Interprofessional Pediatric GI Clinic at the University of Maryland Midtown in Baltimore.  She received her PharmD from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed pharmacy practice and pediatric pharmacy specialty residencies at the University of Maryland Medical Center. For a number of years, Dr. Morgan has been teaching pediatric and neonatal pharmacotherapy to nursing and pharmacy students as well as medical residents. Dr. Morgan served as director for the PGY2 Pediatric Pharmacy Residency program for several years. She is also board certified in pharmacotherapy and pediatric pharmacy. In, 2017, Dr. Morgan became a fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP). Dr. Morgan has been involved with several professional organizations. She served as chair of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Administrative Services Section and the Student Services Special Interest Group, as president of the Maryland Society of Health System Pharmacists (MSHP), as chair of the Research Committee for the Pediatric Pharmacy Association (PPA), and chair of the NAP's Pharmacy Academy. Dr. Morgan serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She is the co-advisor for the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy Pediatric Pharmacy Association.  Dr. Morgan received the AACP Administrative Services Section Award for Sustained Contribution to Administrative Practice in Pharmacy Education, the Excellence in Innovation Award and the Mentor of the Year Award from the Maryland Pharmacists Association, the Purdum Award from MSHP, and the University of Maryland Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Mentoring. In 2021, Dr. Morgan received the State of Maryland Governor’s Citation for her teamwork in the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Community Mass Vaccination Site. Her research interests include asthma, constipation, care of pediatric patients in community pharmacy, taste and flavoring of liquid medications for children, nutrition, immunizations, pediatric dermatology, transitions of care for pediatric patients, and interprofessional education.

Jason Noel, PharmD, BCPP

Mental Health

Dr. Jason Noel received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degrees at Rutgers University College of Pharmacy. He completed a residency in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Dr. Noel’s clinical practice focus is in mental health and intellectual/developmental disabilities. He teaches therapeutics of psychiatric and neurologic disorders in UMB’s PharmD and Nursing graduate programs as well as to audiences of training and practicing clinicians, including pharmacists, physicians, nurses, and social workers. He is a Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist and serves as the administrator for the School’s ACPE-Accredited Continuing Education Program. Dr. Noel’s area of scholarly focus is in the integrated psychopharmacologic and behavioral treatment in people with co-occurring intellectual disability and behavioral/psychiatric concerns.

Timothy D. O'Connor, PhD

Human Evolutionary Genetics

Computational Biology

My laboratory explores the effects of evolution and population structure on the genomic architecture of disease and other phenotypes. One of the biggest questions of modern genetics and evolution is to understand the complex connection between genes, environment, and phenotype. We want to understand the origin of phenotypic diversity. We believe this will require the integration of many data types, scientific disciplines, and a heavy reliance on evolutionary theory. As we move forward in developing theories and addressing this important problem it will be important to combine evolutionary genetics and systems biology. My lab has a track record of developing new algorithms and statistics to interdisciplinary biological problems as well as the use of large multifaceted data sets, particularly the output of next-generation sequencing. We are especially interested in the recent evolution of New World populations such as Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and the Old Order Amish.

Taofeek K. Owonikoko, MBChB, DrMed, MS

Thoracic Oncology

Cancer Research

Cancer Treatment

Dr. Owonikoko is a thoracic medical oncologist who specializes in treating patients with lung cancer. His clinical interests include medical oncology (diagnosis and treatment of cancer), hematology (diagnosis and treatment of blood disorders) and internal medicine (treatment of diseases in adults). He is the executive director of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center, Senior Associate Dean of Cancer Programs at University of Maryland School of Medicine and Associate Vice President of Cancer Programs at University of Maryland, Baltimore. His research interests include preclinical experimental therapeutics, biomarker discovery and translation of promising laboratory findings into clinical trials.

Kristine Parbuoni, PharmD, BCPPS

Pediatrics

Dr. Parbuoni obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2005. She then completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY-2 Pediatric Residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Following residency training, Dr. Parbuoni obtained a position as the clinical pharmacy specialist in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, where she later also took on administrative roles. Dr. Parbuoni then moved to California and joined the faculty at Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. Dr. Parbuoni was also the Residency Program Director of the PGY2 Pediatric Residency Program at Loma Linda University. She was excited to return to her alma mater in 2018. Dr. Parbuoni is a Board Certified Pediatric Pharmacy Specialist. She has a clinical practice site at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital. She is also the Residency Program Director of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy PGY2 Pediatric Residency. Dr. Parbuoni has been actively involved in professional organizations throughout her career. She served as president of the Maryland Society of Health-System Pharmacy from 2012 to 2013, and is currently on its Board of Directors. She was a delegate for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), on ASHP’s Council on Education and Workforce Development, and the SCSS’s Preceptor Development SAG and Pediatrics SAG. Dr. Parbuoni served as chair of the Research Committee of the Pediatric Pharmacy Association from 2019 to 2020. Since becoming faculty, she has been a member of the American Academy of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), has served as a delegate to its House of Delegates, and is chair-elect of the AACP Pediatric Special Interest Group. Dr. Parbuoni’s research interests include clinical outcomes in pediatrics (infectious diseases, critical care), pediatric pharmacokinetics, educational methods and outcomes in simulation, and post-graduate training.

Eleanor Perfetto, PhD, MS

Comparative Effectiveness Research

Health Care Quality Performance Measurement

Patient-Focused Drug Development and Reimbursement

Prior to joining the faculty, Dr. Perfetto was with Pfizer for more than seven years, most recently as senior director of federal government relations. A pharmacist and health services researcher, she holds BS and MS degrees in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island, and a PhD from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, concentrating in health policy and epidemiology. Currently, she serves as a Pharmacy Quality Alliance and Health Industry Forum board member. In recent years, she has served on boards and committees for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Quality Forum, and the Center for Medical Technology Policy, among others. Early in her career, Dr. Perfetto served in the U.S. Public Health Service, initially as an Indian Health Service pharmacist and later as senior pharmacoepidemiologist, Agency for Health Care Policy & Research (now AHRQ). Dr. Perfetto is an advocate for patients with head trauma-related dementias, receiving wide recognition for her advocacy efforts. She is president of the Board of Directors for the Sports Legacy Institute. Dr. Perfetto’s research interests include comparative effectiveness research, patient-centered outcomes research, patient-focused drug development, quality performance measurement, and measurement of patient-reported outcomes, especially as part of clinical development plans.

JP Pierre, MSc, SPHR, PMP

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Health Equity

JP Pierre, MSc, SPHR, PMP, is the Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. A seasoned EDI strategist and innovator, Ms. Pierre yields 23 years of experience steering organizations and teams toward greater inclusivity and organizational success. She specializes in the management and leadership of EDI programming, while bringing a deep understanding of public health, diversified funding pipelines, public/private partnerships, and inclusivity and equity dynamics in healthcare workforces. Within the discipline of EDI and health equity, Ms. Pierre has been recognized for innovative visioning and strategic planning, inclusive of workforce and talent management approaches, learning & professional development strategies, and organizational commitment to EDI metrics. Prior to joining UMSOM, Ms. Pierre served as Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the Center for Reproductive Rights as well as Interim Chief of Party and Director of Learning for United States Agency for International Development programs, and lastly, Executive Director and Vice President for ILC Africa.

Kathleen Pincus, PharmD, BCPS

Family Medicine

Transitions of Care

Kathleen Pincus, PharmD, BCPS, is a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist and an associate professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency Program. An alumna of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (’09), Dr. Pincus completed her Pharmacy Practice Residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center and her Pharmacotherapy Specialty Residency at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Dr. Pincus is an ambulatory care specialist at the University of Maryland Family and Community Medicine practice and a clinical pharmacy consultant with the Governor’s Wellmobile Program. Dr. Pincus’ research interests include transitions of care, integrating clinical pharmacy services in primary care practices, patient motivators for medication adherence and chronic disease state management, including asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hepatitis C.

James E. Polli, PhD

Regulatory Affairs

Bioequivalence of Brand and Generic Drugs

Dr. Polli’s research focus is oral drug absorption. His two main research interests are 1) maximizing oral bioavailability through formulation and chemical approaches and 2) developing public quality standards for oral dosage forms. He has served as advisor to 24 Ph.D. graduates. He is co-Director of the University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) and the Center for Research on Complex Generics (CRCG), each an FDA-funded collaborative agreement with the Agency. He is Director of the online MS in Regulatory Science program. He is a fellow of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and served as an editor of its flagship journal Pharmaceutical Research for 12 years. He was the recipient of the 2022 AAPS Global Leadership Award and 2021 TOPRA Education Award.

Danya Qato, PhD, PharmD, MPH

High-Risk Medications in Vulnerable Populations

Health Disparities

Pharmacovigilance

Dr. Danya M. Qato is a practicing pharmacist, epidemiologist, and health services researcher. She holds a PhD in health and pharmaceutical services research from the Brown University School of Public Health, a PharmD from the University of Illinois, and a MPH with a concentration in international health and humanitarian studies from Harvard University. In 2020, she was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader. Her research is currently funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. At Brown, Dr. Qato was funded as an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and National Institutes of Health doctoral and postdoctoral research fellow in comparative effectiveness research. Dr. Qato’s substantive areas of research pertain to improving regulatory and policy tools to reduce use of high risk medications in vulnerable populations, substance use and women’s health, risk management and post-marketing surveillance, drug pricing and access to essential medicines, environmental and global health systems development, pharmacovigilance, and global health equity. She was previously a Schweitzer Fellow, a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow (for support of her MPH at Harvard), and a U.S. research fellow of the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences funded by the Swedish International Development Agency. In the 2015-2016 academic year, Dr. Qato was based at the Institute for Community and Public Health at Birzeit University in Palestine, where she was a Fulbright Scholar and served as an expert consultant to the World Health Organization. In addition to her role as an associate professor at the School of Pharmacy, Dr. Qato holds a secondary appointment in the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, is a faculty affiliate at the University of Maryland Institute for Global Health, and a faculty member of the joint UMB/UMBC PhD Program in Gerontology. She is former chair of the Drug Policy and Pharmaceutical Services Committee of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association and is a member of the Public Health subcommittee of the Maryland State Taskforce on Reconciliation and Equity.

Sandra Quezada, MD, MS, AGAF

Unconscious Bias in Academic Medicine

Social Determinants of Health in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Diversifying the Physician Workforce

Dr. Quezada received her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, where she also completed her post-graduate residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in gastroenterology and hepatology. She is passionate about equity, inclusion, and diversity, and brings this lens to her work in academic medicine. She is Associate Dean for Medical School Admissions and Associate Dean for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion at the School of Medicine (SOM), and has worked locally, regionally, and nationally to amplify physician workforce diversity, and to impact the climate in which future and current physicians train and practice. As co-Chair of the SOM Diversity Advisory Council, Dr. Quezada spearheaded the development of an Equitable Faculty Search Policy, and established an unconscious bias training initiative for SOM faculty, leadership and students. She led the SOM initiative to eliminate race in the estimation of GFR in the University of Maryland Medical System. She is faculty advisor to the SOM Student Diversity Council, and serves on the University of Maryland Baltimore campus Diversity Advisory Council. Dr. Quezada is a practicing gastroenterologist who subspecializes in inflammatory bowel disease, and is recent past-Chair of the Diversity Committee, current co-Chair of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Equity Project, and Chair of the Intersociety Group on Diversity in Gastroenterology. She is also a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation National Scientific Advisory Committee, and DEI Section Editor for Gastroenterology, the AGA's flagship journal. She was awarded the 2021 Distinguished Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by the American Gastroenterological Association, and the 2022 Healio Disruptive Innovator Health Equity Award by the American College of Gastroenterology.

Kristin Reavis, MD

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Dr. Reavis joined the School of Medicine (SOM) faculty in 2013 and practices a full scope of family medicine. She is the faculty advisor for SOM’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association, co-faculty advisor for the Student Diversity Council, and has been an advisor for SOM’s House Advisory System since its inception in 2016. Additionally, she serves on the Diversity Advisory Councils at UMB and SOM. As a leader for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts at SOM, she is working to establish an Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in an effort to centralize DEI efforts at the school. Dr. Reavis is an inaugural member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s Anti-Racism Task Force and is working to integrate anti-racism policies into the strategic plan of the leading organization that supports family medicine educators, thus affecting the future of family medicine. Dr. Reavis serves as the director of maternal child health and is a family medicine obstetrics provider for the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Her academic and clinical interests include women’s health and social justice/health equity. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and was the 2019 recipient of the Dean’s Alumni Award for Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Reavis completed her undergraduate education at Morgan State University before earning her Master of Biological Sciences degree at Drexel University. She earned her medical degree from UMSOM and completed her residency and fellowship training in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Barbara Resnick, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP

Gerontology/Aging

Functional Status

An internationally recognized expert in gerontology, Dr. Resnick focuses on developing innovative interventions to motivate older adults to engage in healthy behaviors, particularly with regard to function and physical activity as well as other behaviors such as adhering to recommended immunizations and to managing pain and other symptoms commonly noted in aging, and to implement these in real-world settings. These interventions are designed to optimize recovery, health, function, and physical activity regardless of age or underlying co-morbidities. Examples include helping individuals recover from orthopedic events or, for individuals with and without dementia, to optimize their participation in personal care activities and ambulation and engage in physical activity.

Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA

Dentistry

Dental Education

Dental Health Equity

A distinguished academic dentist, Dr. Reynolds has been a professor at the School of Dentistry (SOD) since 2009 and served for one year as interim dean before being named dean in 2014 after a national search. He has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles with more than 11,000 citations and serves on the editorial boards of journals including Biomaterials, Clinical Advances in Periodontics, the International Journal of Periodontics and Restorative Dentistry, and the Journal of Periodontal Research. Dr. Reynolds is a diplomate and past director and co-chair of the American Board of Periodontology. He has served on the board of organizations such as the American Academy of Periodontology and LifeNet Health. He is past president of the National Dental Honor Society, Omicron Kappa Upsilon, Supreme Chapter, and a fellow of the American College of Dentists, International College of Dentists, and Pierre Fauchard Academy. Dr. Reynolds has participated in more than 40 National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections, serving as a regular member of the Skeletal Biology Development and Disease Study Section from 2006 to 2010. He was a consultant to the Commission on Dental Accreditation and Naval Postgraduate School and served two four-year terms as a voting member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Dental Products Panel, including as chair during the second term. He began his NIH funding in 1992, when he earned a competitive five-year NIH Individual Dentist Scientist Award to support his residency and PhD studies. His research focuses on bone and periodontal regeneration. In 2004 and 2016, Dr. Reynolds received the American Academy of Periodontology R. Earl Robinson Periodontal Regeneration Award. Most recently, he serves as co-chair of the Task Force on Oral Health in Maryland. In 1999, Dr. Reynolds earned his PhD in oral and experimental pathology from the University of Maryland Graduate School. In 1995, he earned a certificate in periodontics from SOD, where he had earned his DDS in 1986. Dr. Reynolds also earned a master’s degree in community-clinical psychology in 1982 and a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1978, both from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, FAPhA

Chronic Disease Management

Diabetes

Cultural Competency

In addition to serving as the Felix Gyi Endowed Memorial Professor in Pharmapreneurship and associate dean for clinical services and practice transformation at the School of Pharmacy, Dr. Rodriguez de Bittner is the director of the Maryland P3 Program — a patient-centered comprehensive medication therapy and chronic disease management program provided by pharmacists throughout the Mid-Atlantic region — and executive director of the School’s Center for Innovative Pharmacy Solutions (CIPS). She engages in legislative advocacy and state and national leadership to expand the role of pharmacists in chronic disease management. She is an innovator who has implemented many new health care delivery models particularly in community pharmacies and received many grants and contracts to develop innovative programs. She is a member of the Maryland Health Care Reform Council Health Care Delivery Reform Subcommittee, subcommittee of the Maryland Patient-Centered Medical Home pilot, a past-president of the Maryland Pharmacists Association (MPhA), past board member and president of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation, and member of the Pan-American Commission for Pharmaceutical Education. She has provided presentations and authored/co-authored many publications. She has received numerous awards including: the APhA Pinnacle Award and its Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence in Precepting Award; the Distinguished Achievement in Pharmacotherapeutic Practice Award; the LKS/Merck Vanguard Leadership Award; the MPhA Bowl of Hygeia Award; the APhA Merit Award; MPhA's Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award; Baltimore’s Magazine Best of Baltimore Pharmacist of the Year, and the APPM Merit Award. Her research interests include chronic disease management; clinical outcomes in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; medication therapy management and practice-based research; vulnerable populations; collaborative practice; cultural competence

Paul Sacco, PhD

substance use

gambling

aging

Paul Sacco received his MSW from Arizona State University in 1995 and practiced for 10 years as a psychiatric social worker. In 2005, he returned to complete his PhD in Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and joined the faculty of the School of Social Work in 2009. His research focuses primarily on behavioral health and addictions with a focus on life course development, alcohol use disorders, problem gambling, tobacco use, and behavioral health integration. Sacco combines his behavioral health research with an interest in the training of social work students in evidence-supported behavioral health interventions. He served as the Project Director of a SAMHSA-funded Screening and Brief Intervention and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT) Training program (2014-2017) and continues to provide training in this public health approach. He also directs the BHWISE-Lifespan Fellows Program, a HRSA-funded workforce development project focused on integrated behavioral health training. Sacco teaches in the foundation and clinical practice areas. He also teaches structural equation modeling in the PhD program. As an educator, he endeavors to support students in learning the latest from research while helping them to recognize the core elements of effective social work practice.

Leah Sera, PharmD, MA, BCPS

Palliative Care

Medical Cannabis

Dr. Sera received her PharmD from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2010. She completed a pharmacy practice residency at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., and a specialty residency in pain management and palliative care at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist. She earned a master’s in instructional systems development at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2017. Dr. Sera's clinical specialties are pain management and palliative care. Dr. Sera is co-director for the nation’s first MS in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics (MCST) program at the School of Pharmacy. She teaches in several courses in the MCST program, including an introduction to medical cannabis history, culture, and policy; a course introducing students to patient care and the clinical uses of medical cannabis; she also mentors students in their capstone projects. In the Doctor of Pharmacy program, Dr. Sera teaches a variety of topics in required and elective courses. Additionally, she holds an associate faculty position at the University of Maryland Graduate School. Dr. Sera maintains an active clinical practice in the Transitional Care Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, Md. Dr. Sera has been invited to speak on pain management, palliative medicine, and cannabis therapeutics topics at professional pharmacy conferences and at medical centers such as the National Institutes of Health. She received a Leader in Healthcare Award in the category of medical cannabis from the Baltimore Business Journal in 2020.

Julia Slejko, PhD

Medication Adherence and Decision-Analytic Modeling

Cost Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Research

Dr. Slejko’s research is focused on innovative approaches for decision-analytic modeling for economic and health outcomes assessments. She has applied these methods to modeling medication adherence and translating pharmacometric findings to cost-effectiveness analyses. She holds a BA in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her PhD training at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research was focused on pharmacoeconomics. Her postdoctoral training was completed at the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program in the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. Prior to her PhD training, she had a seven-year career in drug discovery at Array BioPharma. Dr. Slejko is very active in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and maintains close connections with industry and academic partners. Her research focuses on assessing economic and comparative value of medications and health care. Current efforts include informing decision-analytic models with real-world evidence on effectiveness, in particular patients’ adherence to medications as a determinant of value, how adherence affects economic evaluations and how predicting and improving adherence may increase value. As co-director of the School of Pharmacy's Patient-Driven Values in Healthcare Evaluation (PAVE) Center, she leads research on incorporating patient-driven value elements into cost-effectiveness analyses and other components of value assessments.

Ester Villalonga Olives, PhD, MsC

Patient-Reported Outcomes

Social Epidemiology

Health Inequities

Dr. Villalonga-Olives is a social epidemiologist with a PhD in biomedicine, specializing in epidemiology and public health. She obtained her BsC and MsC in sociology and health from the University of Barcelona, with an international stint at the Università degli Study di Trieste in Italy. Her PhD, with International Doctor Distinction, was from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and she completed stays at the London School of Economics in the UK and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany. During her PhD, she conducted public health interventions for non-governmental organizations in India and Cuba. Currently an adjunct professor at New York University, she has also been a teaching and research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, guest lecturer at Yale School of Public Health and the University of Tarapacá, Chile, and a research scientist at the University Medical Center of the Georg-August-University of Goettingen in Germany. Dr. Villalonga-Olives is a member of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and the International Expert Group on Operationalizing Social Capital Interventions in Forced Displacement Situations led by the United Nations. She was part of the Early Investigators Advancement Program of the NIH, received a GLOBALtimore teaching fellowship, served on the board of the International Epidemiology Association for 10 years, and received an award from the Spanish Society of Epidemiology to train at the European Epidemiology Program in Florence (Italy). Her research focuses on the social determinants of health, emphasizing social capital, health inequalities, structural racism, and health intervention design. She has a background in psychometrics and works with patient-reported outcomes, particularly health-related quality of life, and developed a measure for assessing bridging social capital. She leads various projects, including an NIH R01 grant creating a measure of structural racism. In her research she is exploring social capital's link to health outcomes in underserved populations, adapting cancer knowledge tools for Hispanics/Latinos, studying racial Differential Item Functioning in social indicators, and implementing social capital interventions to boost cancer screening among Hispanic/Latino immigrants. She co-investigates two NIH R01 projects on social connectedness's impact on mental health in Black adults and creating a shared decision-making measure in maternity care. Her research methodologies encompass mixed methods, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, and Rasch analysis. Dr. Villalonga-Olives has received awards for multiple conference presentations, published in prestigious journals like the American Journal of Epidemiology, Social Science and Medicine, and the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. She serves on the editorial board of Frontiers in Public Health and actively contributes to scientific committees at international events.

Linda Wastila, BSPharm, MSPH, PhD

Health Services Research in Mental Health

Substance Use Disorders in Geriatrics

Dr. Linda Wastila is professor and Parke-Davis Chair in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research and director of research for the Peter Lamy Center for Drug Therapy and Aging. For more than two decades, she has conducted research focusing on prescription drug policy, quality, and outcomes. She received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also completed a Master of Science in Public Health. In 1993, she received her doctorate in health policy from Brandeis University, where she served as a Pew Health Policy Fellow. From 1994–2001, she served as senior scientist at the Schneider Institute for Health Policy and was a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. With a focus on older adults and other vulnerable populations, Dr. Wastila examines issues such as: prescription drug use, abuse, and diversion; intended and unintended policy impacts on prescription drug utilization and outcomes; psychopharmacological medication use, quality, and outcomes in community- and residential-residing older adults; innovative methods addressing multi-morbidity and poly-pharmacy; mental health disorders and impact on medication use, adherence, and outcomes; and medication quality and falls prevention. Dr. Wastila’s current research portfolio includes papers on psychopharmacological treatment and quality of treatment in long-term care beneficiaries, substance use disorders epidemiology, and co-morbidity of psychiatric and physical health conditions. She has received grants and contracts from the National Institute of Aging, National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Health Research and Quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Research Retirement Foundation, the Maryland Department of Health, and other sources.

Chanel Whittaker, PharmD, BCPS, CGP, FASCP

Geriatrics

Nephrology

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Dr. Chanel Whittaker received her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from Rutgers University. She completed a managed care pharmacy practice residency with Kaiser Permanente, Mid-Atlantic States and a primary care specialty residency at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, focused on chronic disease state management. Dr. Whittaker is a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist and certified geriatric pharmacist. She is residency program director for the PGY2 – Geriatrics Residency Program. Her practice and teaching specialties include geriatric pharmacotherapy and chronic kidney disease. She has practiced in a number of ambulatory and community settings providing services to older adults in the Baltimore area. Her current practice sites include the Geriatric Education and Medication Management Clinic and the ambulatory nephrology clinic at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Whittaker’s research interests include health literacy, health communication, interprofessional education, and improving medication related outcomes in diverse older adults. She completed an interprofessional faculty development program in ethnogeriatrics with the Stanford Geriatric Education Center to develop educational programs to equip health care professionals to address the health care needs of culturally diverse older adults. She is currently conducting research in the community to evaluate knowledge of medication safety and poison prevention in culturally diverse older adults with low health literacy. In 2022, she was named the School of Pharmacy's inaugural assistant dean of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). In this role, Dr. Whittaker oversees the development and implementation of the School's EDI strategic plan and initiatives.

Zafar Zafari, MSc, PhD

Mathematical/Statistical Simulation Modeling

Cost-Effectiveness Analyses

Health Policy

Dr. Zafari is a quantitative outcomes researcher with interests in a wide range of applied and theoretical topics in health economics, outcomes research, and health policy, including developing advanced cohort/micro simulation models for cost-effectiveness or comparative effectiveness of health policies or technologies, Bayesian methods of synthesizing and reconciling evidence, statistical methods of longitudinal analyses, prospective, or retrospective studies including multi-level (hierarchical) modeling, age-period-cohort analysis, non- or semi-parametric modeling to address burning epidemiological and health policy questions. From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Zafari was a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. During this time, besides working on a on a variety of projects on cost-effectiveness of social and preventive policies in the US public health system and especially New York City, one main pillar of Dr. Zafari's research activities was to quantify and understand the trends of despair over time and their impact on survival inequalities in the US. From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Zafari was a PhD student at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where he obtained his PhD in health economics/outcomes research. During his PhD, Dr. Zafari worked as a mathematical modeler and data scientist affiliated with the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation (2014-2016) and as a health economist/epidemiologist for the Center of Collaborations for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Vancouver, Canada (2012-2014). He received a MSc in mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 2012 and a BSc in electrical engineering from Tehran Polytechnic University in 2010.

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