Click GMU Research Table  for a detailed chart of George Mason University Research.

Heibatollah Baghi, PhD Associate Professor
Global and Community Health

Application of statistical & psychometric modeling techniques in healthcare using LISERL; investigation of job analysis methodologies for licensure and certification examination in nursing practice;computer-adaptive testing; item response theory; experimental design and applied multivariate statistics.

Recent publications include: Kowitlawakul, Y., Baghi, H., & Kopac, C. A. (2011). Psychometrics evaluation of the nurses’ attitudes toward eICU scale.Journal of Nursing Measurement 19(1), 17-27. Alemi, F., and Baghi, H. (2010). Measurement of substance abuse treatment outcomes. Quality Management in Health Care 19(2), 1-8.

Carl Botan, PhD Professor Director of the PhD Program, Communication
Communication, a department within The College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Strategic communication campaigns, including health campaigns. Research interests include: emergency preparedness and response, anti-terrorism work, public health campaigns, social marketing and climate change communication. He is concerned with how to make such campaigns more effective and with the social role and ethical issues involved in such campaigns.

Dr. Botan is the Faculty/Director of the PhD Program in Communication

Andrew Carle, M.H.S.A. Executive-in-Residence, Assistant Professor Director, Senior Housing Administration
Health Administration and Policy

Mr. Carle is the Director of the Program in Senior Housing Administration, which is designed to provide graduates with the operational, marketing, resident care, and hospitality services skills required to become effective leaders and managers of senior housing communities. Equally important, the program provides exposure to and understanding of the unique philosophy of senior housing relative to choice, dignity, autonomy, and quality of life for older adults.

Mr. Carle’s book Moments, Memories, and Mission: Stories from the Field of Assisted Living, received a Silver Award during the 15th Annual National Mature Market Media competition. Click here to view more information about the book.

William Cartwright, PhD Assistant Professor, retired
Health Administration and Policy

Dr. Cartwright’s research focuses on the economics of drug abuse prevention and treatment.

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD Associate Professor
Health Administration and Policy

Dr. Cuellar’s research interests include: hospital systems, Medicaid, mental health care delivery, and justice involved populations.

Carol Filak, PhD Director of Mason Student Health Services

Dr. Filak’s research examines the impact of a community, immunity health education campaign on college students’ compliance with required and recommended immunizations.

Dr. Filak was selected to receive a 2011 Pfizer Junior Investigator Award ($40,000) for her research.

Catherine Gallagher, PhD Associate Professor
Criminology, Law and Society

Dr. Gallagher’s research focuses on improving the intersection between health care and justice agencies to better meet the needs of high-risk populations and the public health of their larger communities.

Dr. Gallagher develops, monitors and analyzes national statistical programs and provides federal agencies with policy guidance, routinely working iwth the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the CDC, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
Andrew Guccione, PhD Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Science
Department of Rehabilitation Science

Dr. Guccione’s research interests are in geriatrics, health status measurement, and functional outcomes after rehabilitation. He has received grant funding from the Arthritis Foundation and was the recipient of a Special Emphasis Research Career Award from the National Institute on Aging. His clinical practice has centered mainly on geriatrics and musculoskeletal impairment in older adults

Dr. Guccione’s article “Can ‘Severity-Intensity’ be the conception basis of an alternative payment model for therapy services provided under Medicare?” appeared in Physical Therapy,Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association, in October 2011.

Jack Hadley, PhD Professor and Senior Health Services Researcher Associate Dean, Finance and Planning
The College of Health and Human Services

Building on this research, he plans to focus his teaching activities around policy and research issues in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Possible future studies include the effects of practice and market characteristic son the cost of care received by high-cost Medicare patients, who account for a substantial share of Medicare’s total spending, and the effects of physicians’ financial incentives on treatments and outcomes of Medicare patients with back/spine disorders.

Dr. Hadley’s article “Medical spending and the health of the elderly” appeared in Health Services Research 2011.

Lorens Helmchen, PhD Associate Professor
Health Administration and Policy

Dr. Helmchen researches the potential of provider-issued outcome warranties, which would insure policyholders against easily verifiable adverse treatment outcomes, such as remission after cancer therapy or 30-day survival after undergoing heart bypass surgery. In a related project, he is exploring how negative co-payments might improve existing insurance benefits, instead of paying more for more costly treatment; beneficiaries would get paid for choosing less costly treatment.

Dr. Helmchen studies mechanisms that improve quality transparency in health care and patients’ incentives to choose effective medical treatment. Dr. Helmchen is a co-investigator on a $3 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that aims to evaluate how the disclosure of medical errors affects patients’ likelihood to sue and receive compensation, and their assessment of the quality of care.

Thomas (Tim) Henderson M.A.M.C., M.P.H. Assistant Professor
Health Administration and Policy

Mr. Henderson identifies and analyzes state financing mechanisms and public policies for supporting health professions education. He assesses and evaluates the policy approaches for understanding and addressing shortages in the health care workforce.

Emily Ihara, PhD Assistant Professor
Department of Social Work

Dr. Ihara’s research explores the social contexts of health and well-being for older adults. She is particularly interested in the role of race/ethnicity, immigration, and socioeconomic position on health status, health and social services, and policy.

Dr. Ihara spent four years as a research associate at the Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute where she focused on access to health and long-term care services, particularly for under-served and low-income populations. Specific projects included national surveys of Medicaid home and community-based services, personal care services, and enrollment simplification; issue briefs on health literacy, cultural competence, and chronic conditions; and incremental reform of long-term care financing and organization.
Gary Kreps, PhD Director, Center for Health and Risk Communication Chair, Communication
Communication, a department within The College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr. Kreps developed national health communication research initiatives to promote cancer prevention and control. His areas of expertise include health and organizational communication, health promotion, e-health, multi-media edutainment, multicultural relations, and applied research methods.

He is the Director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, serves on the Governing Board of the Center for Social Science Research, and is a faculty affiliate of the National Center for Bio-defenseand Infectious Diseases, the Center for Health Policy & Ethics, the Center for the Study of International Medical Policies and Practices, the Climate Change Communication Center, the Center for Consciousness & Transformation, and the Center for Health Information Technology, at George Mason.
Lisa Lindley, Dr.P.H. Associate Professor
Global and Community Health

Dr. Lindley’s research interests include sexual health promotion and the prevention of HIV/STI and unintended pregnancy among under-served populations to included adolescents/young adults, racial/ethnic and sexual minority populations.

Connie McNeely, PhD Professor of Public Policy; Co-Director, Center for Science and Technology Policy
Center for Science and Technology Policy a Center within the School of Public Policy

Dr. McNeely’s research interests in Health Systems/Policy include: comparative health systems and disparities in health care access and delivery.

Dr. McNeely also serves on the advisory board for the journal World Medical and Health Policy.

Mark Meiners , PhD Professor
Health Administration and Policy

Dr. Meiners’ research focuses on aging and health with and emphasis on financing and reimbursement issues, and financing and program development in long term care.

Among his noteworthy accomplishments is his leadership of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Medicare/Medicaid Integration Program, an initiative designed to help states develop new systems of care that better coordinate acute and long-term care. In addition he has led the RWJF Partnership for Long-Term Care, an innovative state-based long-term care insurance program, since its beginning in 1987. His path-breaking research on long-term care insurance has been a major catalyst to the current interest in this topic and his work on Medicare/Medicaid integration has helped advance chronic care improvement strategies for all aged and disabled populations.

Arnauld Nicogossian, M.D. Distinguished Research Professor; Director, Center for the Study of International Medical Policies and Practices
School of Public Policy

Dr. Nicogossian’s research specializes in bio-defense and health policy as well as Global Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, and Strategic Planning and Execution of Research and Development.

Arnauld Nicogossian is a Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Center for Study of International Medical Policies and Practices, at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University (SPP/GMU). He conducts research in biodefense and health policy, and teaches the concentration and certificate “Global Challenges and Threats and Medical Policy” graduate courses that he helped create for GMU. He is also the Director of Public Policy for the International Society of Microbial Resistance (ISMR). He is a member of the National American Red Cross Advisory Committee.

Todd Olmstead, PhD Assistant Professor of Public Policy
School of Public Policy

Dr. Olmstead conducts health services research and economic analysis in the field of addiction. His current research interests include: the impact of substance abuse treatment on health services utilization, estimating the elasticities of demand for illicit drugs, and the cost-effectiveness of using computer-based therapies to treat drug addiction.

In addition to his recent work in the field of addiction, Professor Olmstead has published in the areas of intelligent transportation systems, highway safety, and administrative rule-making.

Lisa Pawloski, PhD Associate Professor Chair, Nutrition and Food Studies
Department of Nutrition and Food Studies

Dr. Pawloski’s current research interests involve exploring the bio-cultural, geographic, and social determinants of obesity in transitional countries. Dr. Pawloski has most recently worked and conducted research in Nicaragua, Thailand, Chile, Iraq, and Costa Rica.

As a Fulbright Scholar in 1997, she examined the nutritional status of adolescent girls from the Segou Region in Mali, West Africa to explore factors impacting malnutrition in that region.
Cathy Tompkins, PhD Associate Professor Director, Undergraduate Social Work Program
Department of Social Work

Dr. Tompkins is particularly interested in the caregivers of older adults suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other chronic illnesses, as well as in older adults who take on the caregiving responsibilities of their grandchildren.

This past year, Dr. Tompkins conducted a classical Glaserian Grounded Theory study developing theoretical models to explain the care giving relationship between grandparents and grandchildren residing within grandparent-headed households for her Hartford Faculty Scholars Program research project.
Lisa Vandemark, PhD. Assistant Professor
School of Nursing

Dr. Vandemark works with communities to identify the physical and social factors that influence health and well-being, especially among disadvantages groups.

Dr. Vandemark’s research is used for decision, support, and to communicate a community’s priorities to policy makers.

Janusz Wojtusiak, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Health Administration and Policy, Director, Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory, Director, Center for Discovery Science and Health Informatics
Health Administration and Policy, Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory, and the Center for Discovery Science and Health Informatics

Dr. Wojtusiak’s research include: knowledge discovery, artificial intelligence, machine learning, decision support, and application of these areas in healthcare and health services research.

Dr. Wojtusiak performs theoretical and applied research in health informatics, using clinical, administrative and financial healthcare data, existing published studies, and expert knowledge.
Tony Yang Sc.D Assistant Professor
Health Administration and Policy

Dr. Yang’s research includes: policy issues at the intersection of the legal and public health/healthcare systems, especially quality of care, and patient safety.

Dr. Yang was selected to be an editorial board member of the Beijing Law Review, and English language law journal based in China. He’ll recommend health care law papers for publication and review submissions.

Promising Practices 2012

Date: May 11, 2012
Location: Marriott Fair Oaks, Fairfax, VA
More Information: Download the Event Flyer (includes invited speakers)

More than one in four U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have suffered a service-related head injury and two-thirds reported depression. The great concern is that all the problems we’re seeing with head injury, PTSD, and depression could be the tip of the iceberg. There is an urgent need for services that can promote healing, strengthen relationships, and reintegrate our warriors with their families, communities, schools, and employers.

 Click here to view more information about Promising Practices.