The Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy

Faculty

Judith Fifield, PhD, is a Professor in Family Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a Clinical Professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. In addition to being the Director of the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy at UCHC, she is the Director of Research in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Fifield is a Medical Sociologist whose research is focused on practice and community oriented translational research (T2), and minority and women’s health. Recently, she has been the PI on an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-funded study to improve pediatric asthma outcomes in low resource environments using web-based decision support. She is also the PI on a study of SisterTalk Hartford, a faith based weight control program delivered through the Black and African American Church, funded by the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation and the Connecticut Health Foundation. She is currently the Co-PI of the University of Connecticut’s Clinical and Translational Science Award Planning Grant and is Co-PI of the developing Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UCHC. Dr. Fifield has served on AHRQ’s Health Research Information and Dissemination study section and chaired AHRQ’s TRIP-II intervention subcommittee. She is a member of the Saint Francis Hospital IRB, and the SOM Research Council as well as the Scientific Advisory Committee of the GCRC.

Jane A. Ungemack, Dr.P.H., Director of the Planning and Pilot Grant Program

Jane A. Ungemack, Dr.P.H., Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, is a health services researcher specializing in the areas of substance abuse treatment and prevention. Dr. Ungemack is an Associate Faculty of the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research and Policy, serving as Director of the Planning and Pilot Grant Program. Most of Dr. Ungemack’s research work has been done in collaboration with the Connecticut Departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and Children and Families (DCF) to develop and implement research and evaluation projects designed to inform state substance abuse policy and program development. These projects, all funded through the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), have been designed to enhance the availability, accessibility, and quality of substance abuse services, improve the state’s capacity to provide treatment and prevention, and assess the feasibility and effectiveness of evidence-based practices. She has been responsible for three statewide substance abuse need assessment families that included adult household surveys, student surveys, a study of at-risk youth, analyses of client-based treatment data, social indicators analyses, and community resource and readiness assessments. She has evaluated several demonstration projects, including most recently The Hartford Youth Project, a five-year initiative to enhance adolescent substance abuse services in Hartford through development of a system of care, and the Connecticut Strategic Prevention Framework – State Incentive Grant designed to enhance the substance abuse prevention service system through application of strategic planning principles and practices. Dr Ungemack also teaches in the Graduate Program for Public Health and serves on several MPH committees. She has served on peer review committees at the state and federal levels, as well as several federal workgroups for substance abuse treatment and prevention.

Victor Villagra, M.D., F.A.C.P., Health Policy Scholar

Dr. Villagra is currently the president of Health & Technology Vector, Inc. The company’s mission is to decrease, postpone, or eliminate the physical, emotional and financial burden of illness among all peoples. His extensive background includes his responsibilities as the National Medical Director & VP Quality and Medical Strategy for CIGNA HealthCare. As well as Medical Director Continuous Health Improvement Program for Geisinger Health Plan.

Dr. Villagra’s position involves investigating and recommending a plan for the UCHC Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Community Consortium (Area III) to be the region’s Center for Innovation in Disease Management (IDM). He will also be investigating and recommending a plan for collaboration with local industry, state agencies and the Center for IDM.

Staff

Matthew J. Cook, M.P.H., Research Associate

Matthew J. Cook, MPH, is a Research Associate II at the TRIPP Center and in the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS) and also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Community Medicine & Health Care in the School of Medicine. Mr. Cook has worked in the area of community-based health services research particularly in substance abuse prevention and socio-behavioral health for over 14 years as a data analyst, data manager, epidemiologist, and project coordinator. Currently, Mr. Cook is the project manager of the Safety.Net Health Information Technology (HIT) project, a collaborative of seven community-based health centers and the university, formed to plan for the adoption of HIT to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for Connecticut’s poor and uninsured patients. He also is the project manager for the Health IT Regional Extension Center Education and Outreach components and is involved in a number of biomedical informatics projects. He also assists Center and CICATS staff with computer software and hardware support. In addition to his duties within the University, he operates a website design firm and consults with community organizations on data management, information infrastructure, and technology. He earned a bachelors degree in Psychology from Fairfield University and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Connecticut. He is currently pursuing a post-masters graduate certificate in the area of biomedical informatics at Oregon Health & Sciences University. His research interests lie in the nexus of technology and health care, informatics, consumer and public health informatics, and the evaluation of public health and social service programs.

Deb Dauser Forest, M.P.H., Research Associate

Deb Dauser Forrest, MPH, is a Research Associate II in the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Her educational background consists of a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Connecticut and an MPH from Boston University with a concentration in Biostatistics and Epidemiology. Currently, she is enrolled in the Public Health interdisciplinary doctoral program concentrating in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. Her work experience at a major HMO in Boston consists of 7 years of building databases from multiple data sources such as multiple claims systems and survey data, as well as performing statistical data analysis. The last ten years she has worked as a research associate in a data manager, statistical consulting and analytic capacity primarily in the area of substance abuse, chronic pain conditions as well as overweight and obesity related data. Currently, Ms. Dauser Forrest works as a senior statistical analyst for a number of community-based participatory research projects, as well as other evaluation studies in the TRIPP Center.

Nella Field, Administrative Officer

Nella Field has been with the University of Connecticut for more than 10 years in various capacities. Her current responsibilities range from collaborating with Health Center Management and staff to coordinating the seminar series. In addition, her position involves developing and maintaining the Center budget, tracking grant procedures and various activities associated with the daily operation of the Ethel Donaghue TRIPP Center.

Marco Fujimoto, Research Assistant

Marco Fujimoto is a research assistant in the Ethel Donaghue TRIPP Center. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Biopsychology and Cognitive Science. He currently acts as data manager for the “Church-Based Diabetes Prevention and Translation Study”, which investigates the effects of early screening and lifestyle intervention for the reduction of risk factors associated with diabetes. His previous experience includes investigating the development and evaluation of novel behavioral approaches for treatment of deficits in attention, memory and problem-solving in people with schizophrenia, and assisting in neuroimaging studies that focus on different brain mechanisms involved in cognition and their association with various psychiatric disorders. His interests include playing and watching sports, poker, game theory, sabermetrics (analyzing baseball through objective and statistical evidence), behavioral economics and, of course, all University of Michigan athletics. Go Blue!

Jeanette Goyzueta, M.P.H., Research Assistant

Jeanette Goyzueta, MPH, is a Research Assistant III and her work ranges from Project Manager, to Database Administrator, to Qualitative Analyst. She has worked in healthcare for more than five years in areas such as diabetes, HIV, prenatal care, fibromyalgia, occupational medicine, and oral health. She has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Connecticut and is part of the MPH Advisory Committee. Ms. Goyzueta is originally from Lima, Peru and a fluent Spanish speaker. She also translates documents to and from Spanish and works as an interpreter for patients seen at John Dempsey Hospital.

Pamela S. Higgins, M.S., M.P.H., C.P.H, Research Associate

Pamela S. Higgins, MS, MPH, CPH, is a Research Associate II at the Ethel Donaghue TRIPP Center. Her professional focus is in public health research, program development, implementation, and evaluation. She has been involved in national and local primary care evidenced-based practice implementation efforts for screening and brief intervention studies and pediatric asthma management. Ms. Higgins recently led a community-based participatory research effort for children’s behavioral health that secured funding for a multi-year implementation project. She is currently the project manager for a statewide data interoperability planning and implementation project focused on analyzing opportunities for change in Connecticut state policy, data collection procedures, data systems and practices at the program and agency level to assist vocational rehabilitation clients obtain the cross-agency services needed to work competitively and live independently. In addition to her duties with in the TRIPP Center, she is an adjunct faculty member at Springfield College as the instructor for the Public Health Concepts and Epidemiology courses in the Department of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies. She has a Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Springfield College, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Connecticut.

Melanie Martin-Peele, M.A., Director of Evaluation Unit

Melanie Martin-Peele, MA, is the Director of the Evaluation and Center Services Unit, and is also a Research Associate II in the Department of Family Medicine. She has worked in health services research for over seven years, specializing in research design and implementation, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In her current position she is responsible for developing the evaluation services of the Center, and managing the research services provided to TRIPP Center collaborators. She has a Master’s degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Connecticut.

Melissa Mokel, Ph.D., APRN-BC, Research Associate

Melissa Mokel, PhD, APRN-BC Is a Research Associate I at the TRIPP Center. She currently manages a faith based, weight loss and weight management project in African American and Black Churches in the Hartford area. She earned a PhD in Nursing from the University of Connecticut, a Bachelors degree in Biology from Wesleyan University and an MSN from Yale University. Her program of research focuses on: the influence of social and cultural factors on health; health disparities in ethnic minority populations; and community based health initiatives. Her dissertation research involved examination and validation of a religiousness and spirituality scale in Blacks for use in health based research. Prior to working at the Ethel Donaghue TRIPP Center, Dr. Mokel worked for many years as a family nurse practitioner in community health centers in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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