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People
The Foundation’s Staff, Board, Medical Editors, and Clinical Advisors bring a wealth of expertise, talent and dedication. With a unique body of knowledge, their commitment to excellence and patient-centered health care drives the Foundation’s efforts every day.
Board
Medical Editors
Clinical Advisors
Staff
Floyd J. Fowler Jr., PhD
President
Floyd Jackson Fowler Jr. is a social scientist who specializes in survey research methods; he has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research, UMass Boston since 1971. Dr. Fowler has been a major contributor to research on patient outcomes, and on how patients are affected by the treatments they receive. He has worked with the Foundation since its inception on the dual tasks of understanding patient perspectives on treatment decisions and evaluating the programs designed to help patients make decisions. In early 2002, he was chosen to be President of the Foundation.
John E. Wennberg, MD, MPH
Co-Founder, Senior Policy Advisor
Dr. Wennberg is Director of the Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School and Peggy Y. Thomson Professor of Epidemiology and Professor of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.
Albert G. Mulley, MD, MPP
Co-Founder, Senior Medical Advisor
Dr. Mulley is Chief of the General Medicine Division and Director of the Medical Practices Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine and of Health Policy at Harvard Medical School.
Molly T. Beinfeld, MPH
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Molly Beinfeld gathers, evaluates and summarizes current medical research in support of new or revised Shared Decision Making programs. Ms. Beinfeld has a BA in Psychology and Biology from Cornell University and a Master's of Public Health from Boston University. Before joining the Foundation in 2004, Ms. Beinfeld worked as an Analyst for the Boston Public Health Commission and as a Research Scientist at the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Chris Bettis
Research Assistant, Clinical Evidence
Chris Bettis researches current medical literature and assists the Clinical Evidence team with a variety of projects to promote Shared Decision Making. Before joining the Foundation, she worked as a Research Publications Specialist at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center at McLean Hospital, where she also served as the manuscript coordinator for Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Prior to that, she wrote reports and conducted computer research for a Boston detective agency. Ms. Bettis holds a BA from Wellesley College.
Charity S. Curtis
Program Coordinator
Charity Curtis works closely with the Foundation’s Evaluation, Clinical Evidence, and Patient Perspective teams. She assists in the process of upcoming reviews for the Foundation’s many video programs, helps research medical articles for future video program updates, and schedules and screens focus group participants. Charity earned a BA at Tufts University, Boston, MA.
Marline Fichter, RN, MHSA
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Marline Fichter participates in the collection, review, and assessment of clinical evidence to support new or revised Shared Decision Making programs. Ms. Fichter has a BS in Nursing from Grand Valley State University and a Master's in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan. Before joining the Foundation in 2003, she held management positions in the Department of Nursing at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and in the Division of Reproductive Medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.
Catherine Finn, MSW
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Catherine Finn gathers, evaluates and summarizes current medical research in support of new or revised Shared Decision Making programs. Before joining the Clinical Evidence Team as a Research Associate, Ms. Finn worked in the Child Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Harvard School of Public Health. She conducted her clinical social work training at Healthcare Associates, a multidisciplinary primary care practice within Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. Ms. Finn holds a BA in Literature and Psychology and BS in Mass Communications from Boston University and a Master’s in Social Work from Simmons, where she now teaches a writing course during the summer term.
Christine M. Fisler
Director of Finance and Administration
Chris Fisler is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Foundation's fiscal operations, contract and grant management as well as the overall day-to-day activities of the office. Ms. Fisler comes to the Foundation with many years of experience in both finance and operations. In recent years, she worked as the Controller for Dalbar, Inc., a financial services research firm, and as Director of Finance and Operations for Stackpole & Partners, an advertising agency.
Gail Gabriele
Administrative Professional
Gail’s responsibilities include assisting the Director of Finance and Administration in the day-to-day operations of the office. Previously she was employed by Verizon Communications as the Communications Manager for a Senior V.P. in the Marketing Organization. In that capacity, she participated in the development and content management of the departmental website, planned/coordinated annual conferences and created presentations. Gail earned Associate Certificates in Project Management from George Washington University and Critical & Creative Thinking in Business from U-Mass Boston. She also holds an Associate’s degree in Legal Secretarial Science from St. Thomas Aquinas College.
Megan Gassert
Implementation Manager
Megan Gassert is responsible for supporting sites in the implementation of decisional aids into their practices. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked at Harvard Clinical Research Institute as an Electronic Data Capture Specialist, helping to launch web-based data capture tools and processes at clinical sites around the world. Her earlier work included leading the implementation and training for a widely used clinical data capture software program, clinical data management for a large pharmaceutical company and clinical triage in a hospital emergency department. She has also worked in physician offices. Megan has a BA in microbiology from Miami University of Ohio.
Tina Gelsomino, MSW
Evaluation Manager
Tina Gelsomino is responsible for managing the Foundation's evaluation activities. She collaborates with an interdisciplinary team of individuals within the Foundation, as well as with clinicians and external evaluation sites, to support the Foundation's programs and to help ensure the quality, accuracy and relevancy of the Foundation's decision aides. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Gelsomino worked as a clinical research coordinator for the Center for Outcomes and Policy Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Ms. Gelsomino completed her social work training with a gerontology fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Ms. Gelsomino holds a BA in psychology from Brandeis University and a Master's in Social Work from Boston College.
Jennifer Layne, PhD
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Jennifer Layne researches, evaluates and summarizes current scientific and medical literature to support a broad range of Foundation programs. Before joining the Clinical Evidence team, Dr. Layne was a research associate at the USDA Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and was involved in clinical trials and community-based initiatives for older adults with multiple chronic medical conditions. She received a master’s degree in Applied Anatomy and Physiology from Boston University and a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism from Tufts University.
Carrie Levin, PhD
Director of Research
Together with the research team, Dr. Levin is involved in the design, collection, analysis, and dissemination of research instruments, protocols, and results supporting the Foundation’s mission. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked as a senior analyst at Qualidigm, Connecticut’s Quality Improvement Organization and as an Assistant Research Professor at the Institute for Health, Health Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. Dr. Levin holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Health Services Research from the University of Minnesota.
Ruth Lipman, PhD
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Ruth Lipman gathers and assesses clinical evidence to support new or revised Shared Decision Making programs. She has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has been a faculty member at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Tufts University School of Nutrition and Harvard School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Foundation, she conducted medical research funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Heart Blood and Lung Institute, and the National Eye Institute.
Morgan MacCuaig
Research Assistant
Morgan MacCuaig assists with the coordination of research projects and demonstration sites, as well as investor initiated grants, non-funded research, decision quality, George Bennett Fellowships and Grants, research conferences, and other research initiatives. She recently graduated from William Smith College in Geneva, NY with a BS in Biology.
Vicki Mentink
Office Manager
Vicki Mentink is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Foundation as well as the financial reporting. Vicki comes to us from Wisconsin, where she worked for ten years in various departments of the City of Manitowoc. Her experience included five years with the Police Department where she was involved in police records and statistical reporting.
Christine Moynihan
Office Assistant
Christine Moynihan is responsible for the video library at the Foundation. She does the ordering, inventory, and shipping of all videos for the library. Prior to joining the Foundation she worked at various nonprofits including the Education Outreach department at the Museum of Science, Boston and the Conservation department of the New England Aquarium. She has a BA in English with a minor in Anthropology from University of Massachusetts Boston.
Colin Nelson
Research Associate, Clinical Evidence
Colin Nelson critiques and synthesizes scientific research, and translates it into clear, evidence-based messages to support a broad range of Foundation programs. He has authored or edited more than 2000 articles and monographs, several of which won medical writing awards. His work for health care providers and the general public has appeared on CNN.com, WebMD, AOL Health, Medpage Today, and elsewhere. Mr. Nelson is also a consumer representative to the Cochrane Collaboration. For 10 years he was editor of the newsletters Bone & Joint and Sports Medicine Digest and associate editor of The Back Letter. He received his BA from Williams College.
Lyn Paget, MPH
Director of Communications
Lyn Paget develops strategies for communicating the Foundation’s mission to all who are interested in improving the quality of medical decision making. She designs plans for sharing the Foundation’s resources, innovations, and research findings with the health care community, consumers, and policy professionals. She has a BS in Health Education from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and a Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the Foundation, she served as Vice President of the Medical Outcomes Trust in Boston. In management and consultative roles, her work has concentrated in health care quality improvement, with a focus on program planning, evaluation and policy development.
Kristin Pepe
Research Associate, Data Collection and Analysis
Kristin Pepe is involved in the collection, organization, analysis and synthesis of data primarily for FIMDM’s Research and Evaluation programs. Her responsibilities include questionnaire design, evaluation of FIMDM products and implementation strategies, preparing summaries and reports of findings, and communicating research results to FIMDM’s internal and external audiences. Before joining FIMDM in 2008, Kristin worked for many years as a Laboratory Director and statistical consultant at Mount Holyoke College. Kristin completed her BA degree in psychology at University of Lowell, and an MA in Community Social Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Ellen J. Reifler, MPH
Research Associate, Patient Perspectives
Ellen J. Reifler is responsible for all phases of patient perspective program development. This includes recruiting patients, moderating focus groups, conducting individual interviews, writing patient perspective summaries, and reviewing video program development to ensure that these perspectives are accurately represented in Foundation materials. Ms. Reifler has a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master's in Public Health from Yale University. She has been the Executive Director of the Abortion and Pregnancy Testing Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Administrator of Surgery for Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York and a consultant for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition.
Diana L. Stilwell, MPH
Director of Clinical Evidence
In collaboration with clinical experts, Diana L. Stilwell ensures the accuracy of the clinical evidence included in all Foundation materials. Before joining the Foundation in 2001, she was Executive Editor of Weekly Briefings from The New England Journal of Medicine, a regular contributor to the consumer newsletters HealthNews and Heart Watch, and former managing editor of the Healthwise Handbook, Healthwise for Life and the Healthwise Knowledgebase™. Ms. Stilwell holds BS and MPH degrees from the University of Michigan.
Pamela H. Wescott, MPP
Director of Patient Perspective
Pamela Wescott is responsible for overseeing all of the Foundation’s patient perspective and evaluation activities. She has managed research initiatives for Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, and she has taught focus group methodology to Harvard undergraduates and Harvard Law students. Since joining the Foundation in 1998, she has collaborated on research initiatives exploring the appropriateness of the Foundation’s decision aids for underserved groups. Ms. Wescott has a BA from Wellesley College and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.
Christa Weiss
Graphic Designer
Christa Weiss designs all of the communications materials necessary to inform others about the Foundation’s mission. Brochures, books, web and print graphics and newsletters are just some of pieces she has created for the organization. She also assists with communications responsibilities. Christa attended Rochester Institute of Technology where she received a BFA in Graphic Design with a minor in Communications.
Richard Wexler, MD
Director, Patient Support Strategies
Richard Wexler is physician helping to develop and implement strategies which promote the effective use of decision aids. In this role, he works closely with provider organizations, policy setting groups and Health Dialog. Immediately before joining the Foundation, Dr. Wexler held a leadership position at Health Dialog where he focused on health coaching and provider programs. His past work has concentrated on improving the quality of care in the context of provider organizations, health plans and communities. He maintained an active medical practice in Maine for twelve years after training at Johns Hopkins, University of Vermont, and Harvard University.
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