P. Michael Ho, MD, PhD

NavLab Director

Dr. Ho is Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado and cardiologist at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. He was an HSR&D Career Development Awardee (CDA) and has been an active investigator within the Denver HSR&D COIN Center since 2004.

His research has focused on medication adherence and interventions to improve medication adherence. More recently, his research has focused on value in healthcare and creating learning health systems to improve the value of health care delivered to patients. He leads the VA Collaborative Evaluation (VACE) team which is focused on conducting collaborative program evaluations with VA clinical and operational partners. These evaluation findings have led to policy changes and clinical program improvement within VA. He serves in several leadership positions on national cardiology organizations for the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology.

Tyler Anstett, DO

Tyler Anstett, DO is a hospitalist in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of Colorado. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado where he was an inaugural member of the Hospitalist Training Program Leaders Track and went on to complete a fellowship in Hospital Medicine with a focus on Quality Improvement and Health Systems Leadership. His academic interests lie at the intersection of Quality Improvement, Leadership, and Medical Education across all levels of learners. Accordingly, he is a member of the NavLab and faculty in the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Efficiency. His leadership roles include Director of the GME/IHQSE Quality and Safety Academy, Director of Quality and Safety Programs for GME, and he is an Associate Vice Chair for Quality for the Department of Medicine. His Quality Improvement work is focused on high-value care with a specific focus on simplifying processes and influencing user behavior at the point of care.

Blake Jones, MD

Blake Jones is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He received a BA in Philosophy from Boston College, his medical degree from Loyola University of Chicago, completed medical internship and residency at University of Chicago Medical Center and his gastroenterology fellowship at The University of Colorado. He is also a graduate of the Leaders in Informatics, Quality and Systems (LINQS) fellowship at the University of Colorado. His research involves leveraging physician and nursing documentation workflows to capture measurable data with a focus on gastrointestinal endoscopy quality and outcomes, colorectal cancer screening and the management of Barrett's Esophagus. 

Evan Carey, PhD

Dr. Carey is a data scientist/health outcomes researcher at the US Department of Veteran Health Affairs and a clinical assistant professor in the department of Biostatistics and Informatics at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Carey leads quantitative analytic teams in his role as the quantitative director for the VA Collaborative Evaluation Center and the quantitative director for the NavLAB at the University of Colorado. Dr. Carey is an experienced quantitative methodologist who has authored 21 peer reviewed publications, successfully competed for research and operations funding as a Co-I and PI in the VA, and serves as a co-chair and reviewer for the VA Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, HSR9. His recent work has focused on understanding the epidemiology of Chronic Pain in US Veterans and the effectiveness of various treatment modalities. He also studies the impact of different care models on access to care and outcomes in the VHA health system. His methodologic research is focused on integrating machine learning techniques into causal inference frameworks in large observational datasets. He has led numerous organizational improvement analytic efforts for the VA, including partnerships with the Office of Rural Health, the National Pain Management Program, the Office of Specialty Care Transformation, the Office of Clinic Practice Management and Access, and the COVID National Surveillance Team.

Vanessa Richardson, MS

Vanessa Richardson received her MS in Biostatistics from the Colorado School of Public Health. She now works as a Research Instructor in the Department of Biostatistics & Informatics and performs data analysis on a variety of projects for the NavLab and the VA Eastern Colorado Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC).

Richard Lindrooth, PhD

Richard C. Lindrooth, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He is also a co-director of the department's Health Service Research PhD program. He teaches graduate-level Health Care Financial Management and Health Services Research Methods.  

Dr. Lindrooth's research has primarily been focused on three topical areas: the economics of the hospital industry, mental health services research, and health policy. His ongoing research is focused on understanding the role that management practices play in determining differences in the quality of care and treatment decisions in cardiac care units. He recently started a project funded by the NIH Common Fund focused on understanding the differences in outcomes and cost between a system using global bundled payments and one that uses fee-for-service and primary care capitated payments in Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations. Dr. Lindrooth has been PI on several R01 grants funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He has also been PI on projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Berlex Laboratories. 

Robert McGowan, MPH

Robert McGowan, MPH, is a PhD student in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He received his MPH from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Robert's research has primarily been focused on cost-effectiveness of health policies. His ongoing research is focused on understanding the long-term costs and benefits of various interventions for adults with type 2 diabetes in underserved communities, and he has also been involved in a cost-benefit analysis for doula care.

Juli Barnard, MA

Ms. Barnard is a Senior Instructor in General Academic Pediatrics, and is the Education Lead for the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Core in ACCORDS. She also conducts program evaluations for the Denver Center of Innovation for Veteran Centered and Value Driven Care (COIN), Denver VA Medical Center. She earned her Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma in 1994. Ms. Barnard has 20+ years of experience conducting qualitative and mixed methods research in environmental and occupational health sciences (at National Jewish Health) and in health services research (at CU Anschutz), and has several years of experience teaching qualitative research methods and analytic techniques to clinician-scientists and master-level research assistants.

Brad Morse, PhD

Dr. Morse is a Research Instructor and faculty member in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He earned his Ph.D. in Technology, Media, and Society from the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder. A Masters degree in Cultural Anthropology was obtained before finishing his terminal degree. His current academic interests include user experience (UX) research, user-centered design, participatory design, qualitative research and methods, and community engagement. Skateboarding long distances is how Brad finds his daily bliss between snowboarding trips to the local Rocky Mountains. Board sports provide an opportunity to practice balance and mindfulness and serve as a centering pursuit of discipline and endurance.

Jonathan Pell, MD

Dr. Jonathan Pell, MD, is hospitalist clinician, researcher, and expert in health information technology (IT). He serves as the  Senior Medical Director of Informatics for UCHealth Inpatient Services and works clinically as a hospitalist at the University of Colorado Hospital. He has functioned as the physician champion for the rollout of multiple IT projects including the implementation of the electronic health record, Epic, at 12 University of Colorado Health Hospitals. He has served on the Society of Hospital Medicine Information Technology Task Force and is board certified in Clinical Informatics. His research has been focused on implementing health information interventions that aid providers in clinical decisions and improve patient engagement through project promoting transparency of the electronic health record.