Research

LinkedInLisaLinesI am a Senior Health Services Researcher at RTI International, an independent, nonprofit institute. I’m in the Center for Advanced Methods Development within the Social Policy, Health, and Economics Research division. My background includes education and experience in health economics and outcomes and health policy, as well as the core public health disciplines of epidemiology and biostatistics.

Click the play button below to listen to a public radio interview with me and the late Joshua Wiener, PhD, an esteemed RTI mentor and colleague, about racial and ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s disease (aired on The Measure of Everyday Life, WNCU, May 2015).

I also hold a voluntary academic appointment as an Assistant Professor, Health Informatics and Implementation Science in the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.

I’m active in the Medical Care section of the American Public Health Association, currently leading both the communications workgroup and the Health Equity Committee. I’m also an Editorial Board member for the section’s journal, Medical Care, and a founding co-editor of The Medical Care Blog.

I was appointed to the Neurology Standing Committee of the National Quality Forum in 2015, for a three-year term, to provide quality measure development expertise and input to The Neurology Project of the National Quality Forum, addressing stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological conditions.

I received my PhD from the Clinical and Population Health Research doctoral program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Under the direction of my advisor, Arlene Ash, my doctoral dissertation research focused on measuring and predicting emergency department utilization. I also hold a Master of Public Health from UMass Amherst and a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University.

Expertise

Quality measure development and implementation; racial and ethnic disparities and inequities; risk adjustment; emergency department utilization; patient-centered medical homes; patient experience of care (CAHPS) surveys; care coordination; guideline-concordant care; economics of prevention, screening, and early detection; burden of illness and out-of-pocket expenditures; and person-centered/person-directed care.

Clinical Areas

Oncology; neurology (Alzheimer’s/dementia, migraine, neuropathy); nephrology (CKD/ESRD); ophthalmology; and mental health/substance use.

Dissertation