Gloria Coronado, PhD

Gloria Coronado, PhD, is an epidemiologist who champions affordable, long-term solutions to health disparity issues. She leads a well-funded research portfolio that inspires health system leaders to make sensible, evidence-informed choices to engage hard-to-reach populations in life-saving preventive behaviors.

Dr.  Coronado has developed several innovative, cost-effective interventions to improve rates of participation in cancer screening among patients served by community health centers. Her work has led to successful partnerships with large health plans, state institutions, and community clinics. She currently directs or co-directs three programs that employ systems-based approaches to raise the rates of colorectal cancer screening and follow-up in health plans and clinics in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Dr. Coronado’s research uses existing health system data and population segmentation approaches to proactively deliver outreach to patients who need it the most; her research strives to promote health care efficiency while advancing equity.

Dr. Coronado’s team specializes in applying patient-engagement strategies to develop culturally relevant health education material. Materials developed by her team (English- and Spanish-language patient-facing materials, e.g. fact sheets, videos, training modules) have been disseminated to hundreds of health systems and community organizations across the United States.

Dr. Coronado came to the University of Arizona Cancer Center from the Center for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, where she led several practice-based research projects to improve colorectal cancer screening and follow-up. She also mentored several trainees and early-stage investigators; in 2020 she was named Mentor of the Year by the Health Care Systems Research Network. 

Over the course of her career, Dr. Coronado has served as the principal investigator, co-investigator or co-principal investigator on over 35 federally funded grants; she has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts. She previously served as a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Improving the Representation of Women and Minorities in Clinical Trials and Research. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Coronado received her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Washington and then was a research associate professor in the university’s Department of Epidemiology. She also received training at Stanford University.

Kara L. Hall, PhD

Kara L. Hall, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist, Director of the Science of Team Science (SciTS), and Director of the Theories Initiative in the Health Behaviors Research Branch (HBRB) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). During her career, Dr. Hall has conducted and championed behavioral and social science (BSS) research in areas spanning health behavior theory, systems science, health promotion and disease prevention interventions, implementation science, and emerging cancer-related areas, such as sleep and circadian function.

At NCI, Dr. Hall aims to advance BSS by fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations with researchers from across the biomedical community, and beyond. To this end, Dr. Hall has conducted numerous studies and developed new metrics, measures, and models for understanding, evaluating, and supporting transdisciplinary research, collaboration, and training. She helped launch the SciTS field with key efforts such as co-chairing the field's first conference in 2006 and co-editing the associated special supplement entitled, The Science of Team Science: Assessing the Value of Transdisciplinary Research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2008). She has served leadership roles for the Annual International SciTS Conference since its inception in 2010 and as a founding board member of the International Network for the Science of Team Science (INSciTS) and the Global Alliance for inter- and transdisciplinarity (ITD-Alliance). Dr. Hall served as a member of The National Academies Committee on the Science of Team Science (2012-15) with the resulting report, Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science, highlighted as the third- most downloaded National Academies Press report in 2015. She has also developed practical resources, including NCI's Team Science Toolkit and Strategies for Team Science Success: Handbook of Evidence-Based Principles for Cross-Disciplinary Science and Practical Lessons Learned from Health Researchers (2019).

Jean S. Kutner, MD, MSPH

Dr. Kutner is a tenured Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine  at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the inaugural Chief Medical Officer of at the University of Colorado Hospital, inaugural Chief Academic Officer for UCHealth and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is Board Certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine and cares for patients on the palliative care service and in general internal medicine clinic. Her research focuses on improving symptoms and quality of life for people with serious illness and their family caregivers and building capacity for palliative care research. Dr. Kutner was Co-Chair of the NIH-funded Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC) and a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Transforming End of Life Care Committee. She is a Past-President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). Dr. Kutner is Vice Chair of the Vizient AMC Chief Medical Executives Steering Committee.

Karen Martin, MIA

Joshua Barocas, MD

Joshua Barocas, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, PI of The Missing US Lab Project, and Director of the Social Determinants of Health and Disparities Modeling Unit, and an infectious diseases physician at Denver Health. He leads an interdisciplinary research program that is specifically aimed at the goal of improving health outcomes for marginalized populations who are often overlooked by society—people experiencing homelessness, with substance use disorders, and with a history of incarceration. His research, which uses a combination of clinical epidemiology, health economics, simulation modeling, and cost-effectiveness, informs clinical decision making and health policy specifically to improve the lives people who use drugs.

Jerica M. Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE*

Jerica M. Berge is the new ACCORDS director, Associate Director for Child Outcomes Research, and a visiting Professor in the Department of Fa e department of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota where she also held the Carol Bland Endowed Chair in Research and was a Distingusihed Mcknight Professor.
Dr. Berge is both a researcher and licensed behavioral medicine clinician. Her NIH research agenda focuses broadly on child and family whole person health promotion across the life course using mixed-methods and dissemination science. Dr. Berge has expertise in conducting mixed-methods cohort and intervention studies that utilize ecological momentary assessment (EMA), mHealth, video-recorded family tasks, survey research, qualitative interviews, community-based participatory research, and machine learning to more fully understand complex processes related to health and well-being. Dr. Berge is one of the most cited authors on child and family health from an integrative perspective with over 200 publications, 500 presentations and 35 book chapters on related topics. She has been continuously funded by NIH as a Principal Investigator throughout her career, and currently is the PI on three R01 studies and a R61/33 clinical trial. She is highly committed to elevating the next generation of scholars and has been the PI and core faculty for multiple training grants including the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) K12 and the Research on Eating and Activity for Community Health (REACH) T32. In addition, she is a strong advocate for elevating the research careers of faculty of color and currently has 8 diversity supplements connected to her NIH grants. Her leadership experience has included being the director of several centers and labs including being the co-director of the Community and Collaborations core in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the director of the Center for Women’s Health Research, the director of the Primary Care Service Line Practice-Based Research Network, the director of the Learning Health Systems Hub, and the director of the Healthy Eating and Activity Across the Lifespan (HEAL) lab, which all focus on dissemination and implementation science.

Sarah Brewer, PhD, MPA*

Dr. Brewer co-directs the Training, Education and Mentorship (TEaM) Core at ACCORDS where she leads the Education Program. She also serves as a Qualitative and Mixed Methodologist in the ACCORDS Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Core, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, and  Associate Director for the Colorado Children’s Outcomes Network, a state-wide practice based research network (PBRN) of pediatric practices in Colorado focused on answering clinically relevant research questions. Dr. Brewer's research interests include preventive health behavior interventions, implementation of interventions in healthcare settings, patient and stakeholder engagement, and health communication. She specific focuses on community-engaged research that addresses health disparities and informs structural and systems-level changes to improve health and empower underserved and disenfranchised communities. She earned a PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Colorado Denver, a graduate certificate in Public Health Sciences from the Colorado School of Public Health, a Master of Public Administration with a focus in health policy from University of Colorado Denver, and. B.A. in International Studies and German Languages and Literature from the University of Denver.

Lilia Cervantes, MD

Dr. Lilia Cervantes is a professor in the Department of Medicine and the Director of Immigrant Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Cervantes is recognized for pioneering community participatory research that has resulted in transformative changes to Medicaid payment policies and healthcare regulations in Colorado, enabling uninsured immigrants with kidney failure to access essential services such as maintenance dialysis, home dialysis, outpatient COVID-19 care, and, more recently, treatment for chronic conditions. By partnering with community members, she has gained insights into the social and structural challenges faced by racial and ethnic minoritized individuals. Dr. Cervantes also developed and evaluated community-based clinical interventions employing community health workers to tackle kidney health disparities. Dr. Cervantes is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a member of 5 civic and community boards. Dr. Cervantes has received numerous accolades for her research and community service, including the 2024 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility.

Kathryn (Katie) Colborn, PhD, MSPH*

Dr. Colborn is an Associate Professor the Division of Healthcare Policy and Research in the Department of Medicine. She Directs the Biostatistics and Analytics Core at ACCORDS. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics and Informatics in the Colorado School of Public Health, and she co-directs the Data Informatics and Statistics Core (DISC) of the Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC). She has received extramural funding for her own research and has collaborated on numerous extramural research grants. Her research interests include design and analysis of randomized controlled trials and cluster randomized trials, analysis of electronic health record data, and health services and outcomes research.

Liza M. Creel, PhD, MPH*

Dr. Creel Creel is an Associate Professor in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine. She is also a member of the Economic Analysis Core within ACCORDS and Affiliate Faculty in the Farley Health Policy Center. Dr. Creel's research is in the areas of maternal and child health, organizational collaboration within the healthcare and social service systems, and policy evaluation as it relates to impacts on cost, quality, and access. Dr. Creel serves as PI and Co-I on several studies, including a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported grant to examine cross-sector alignment among organizations serving pregnant and parenting women in recovery. Dr. Creel has taught courses in health policy analysis, health policy research, and microeconomic theory. She received her PhD in Health Services Research from Texas A&M University School of Public Health and her MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Brooke Dorsey Holliman, PhD*

Dr. Brooke Dorsey Holliman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine. She specializes in the use of qualitative and mixed methods in health services research, and is skilled at health policy and program evaluation. Dr. Dorsey Holliman’s research focuses on health disparities and inequalities due to socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and social and structural factors. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, she was the founding Director of the Qualitative Core for the Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. Dr. Dorsey Holliman earned her B.A. in Psychology from North Carolina Central University, a M.A. in Forensic Psychology from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in Health and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Colorado Denver.

Bryan Ford, MPH

Mr. Ford manages pragmatic research projects aiming to speed the uptake of clinically proven interventions. He also has extensive expertise in creating digital, interactive resources to supplement the field of Implementation Science broadly. Related to this presentation, these interactive tools present and connect to key information for investigators and research professionals - and even some clinical staff - to learn methodologies such as using theories, models and frameworks in research project planning, conduct, and sustainment.

Alyssa Gatto, PhD

Alyssa Gatto, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and licensed clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. She is currently employed as a Mental Health Quality and Pragmatic Implementation Researcher where she collaborates with ACCORDS and Colorado Children’s Hospital to build a learning health system focused on improving youth mental health. Dr. Gatto’s research is multifaceted with a focus on translating evidence-based practices into care and promoting psychological resilience for youth.

Cristy Geno Rasmussen, PhD, MPH

Dr. Geno Rasmussen is an Implementation Scientist at the MedStar Health Research Institute who specializes in dissemination and implementation science, translational research and evaluation. Research interests include chronic disease prevention across the life course, social and environmental determinants of health, implementation of screening initiatives that support improved health outcomes, population health, health equity, community-based participatory research, and qualitative methodologies.

Russell E. Glasgow, PhD*

Dr. Glasgow is Director of the Dissemination and Implementation Program of ACCORDS and research professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Prior to Fall 2013, he was Deputy Director for Implementation Science in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Science at the U. S. National Cancer Institute (http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/IS/). Dr. Glasgow is an implementation scientist and evaluation expert who has worked on many transdisciplinary research issues including chronic illness self-management, worksite health promotion, primary care-based interventions, and community-based prevention programs involving community health centers

Amy Huebschmann, MD, MSc

Dr. Huebschmann is a primary care physician and tenured Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and with the Ludeman Family Center for Women's Health Research. Dr. Huebschmann’s independent line of research inquiry seeks to advance the dissemination and implementation (D&I) science methods available to translate evidence-based interventions into real-world practice settings with attention to health equity concerns. Dr. Huebschmann currently serves as MPI and lead D&I investigator for one of only 7 NHLBI-funded UG3/UH3 dissemination trials to improve cardiopulmonary disparities, is the senior D&I co-investigator on several other NIH-funded studies, the Director of the National Resource Core for the Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research, and the Director of the ACCORDS Primary Care Research Fellowship.

Ainsley Losh, PhD

Ainsley Losh, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a psychologist in Developmental Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Colorado. She has been supporting youth with developmental disabilities and their families across clinical, school, and research contexts for more than a decade. Her research interests include school-based interventions to promote mental health, therapeutic alliance, and student-teacher relationships for autistic children.

Cecilia Low Wang, MD

Dr. Cecilia C. Low Wang (pronounced “lowwong”) is Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC) School of Medicine. She is a nationally and internationally known expert in the diabetes field, and serves as Chair of the FDA Advisory Committee for Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs. Her research interests include prevention and management of diabetes-related vascular complications, use of technology to manage diabetes in rural settings, and hospital diabetes care.

James Mitchell, PhD

James Mitchell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, part of the Centre for Health AI on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. James completed his Computer Science PhD in the UK after working for Apple Inc. for almost a decade. His research focuses on HCI, User-centered Design, and software development, predominantly in clinical information delivery and decision support.

G M Fahad Bin Mostafa, PhD

Fahad is a dedicated postdoctoral research scientist in Biostatistics at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine, with a strong background in statistical science, his Ph.D. dissertation, titled Statistical Machine Learning Models for Biomedical Science, reflects his deep interest in advancing the field of biomedical data science. Fahad's research spans various areas, including machine learning, statistical uncertainty quantification, computational biology, and biostatistics. His recent work focuses on detecting and interpreting patterns in high-dimensional biomedical data, particularly in cancer research. He applies statistical machine learning to enhance human disease diagnosis and monitoring, with a special emphasis on cancer infrared tomography, genomics, and medical imaging. Fahad's interdisciplinary approach integrates advanced statistical modeling, time series analysis, and machine learning techniques to improve the accuracy and reliability of disease prediction, diagnosis, and treatment, contributing significantly to the advancement of biomedical science. Before joining CU Anschutz, Fahad was an ORISE fellow at NCTR, FDA.

Donald Nease, MD

Dr. Nease is a Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus, where he serves as the Director of Community Engagement and Health Equity for the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. He completed his undergraduate degree and medical school at the University of Kansas, residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a Faculty Development Fellowship at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Dr. Nease’s passion is to improve health in partnership with communities, patients, clinicians and healthcare. He works this territory from the level of individual interactions to community and population-based interventions.

Julia Reedy, MA

Julia Reedy is a senior qualitative analyst with the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Core. Julia has extensive knowledge and expertise in a range of qualitative data collection and analysis methods and approaches. Her primary research interests include health equity and access, pediatric chronic diseases and medical complexity, and research supporting providers in complex and challenging decision-making scenarios. Julia also has a particular interest in multilingual and language inclusive approaches to research.

Jonathan Safer-Lichtenstein, PhD

My primary research interest is in creating and evaluating interventions and screening programs for neurodivergent children, including those with autism and ADHD, and their families. Specifically, my research has focused on developing the evidence base for low-cost interventions that are accessible for all children. I am also interested in differences in autism identification in medical and school settings.

Denise Smith, PhD

Dr. Smith is a midwife and maternal health systems researcher focused on improving the quality and equity of maternity care. Her research explores topics such as midwifery-led care, midwife-physician collaboration, cesarean birth overuse, and respectful maternity care. She leads the Colorado Midwifery Workforce Expansion Program, working to expand midwifery services in rural areas, and played a key role in the 2023 policy effort to license Certified Midwives in Colorado. Dr. Smith is also a dedicated educator, teaching both midwifery students and PhD candidates in Health Care Systems and Policy at the University of Colorado.

Heather Smyth, PhD

Dr. Smyth is a Research Associate with the Center for Innovative Design and Analysis (CIDA) at the Colorado School of Public Health. As a collaborative team scientist, she provides biostatistical support for various research projects within ACCORDS, CU College of Nursing, and the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center. Trained as a Quantitative Psychologist, her methodological expertise includes mediation & moderation, causal inference, psychometrics, and latent variable modeling.

Sarah Stella, MD

Sarah Stella, MD is an academic hospitalist at Denver Health and associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her academic interests relate improving outcomes at the intersection of housing and health. Dr. Stella is the Director of Denver Health's Housing Outreach, Partnerships and Engagement (HOPE) Program and the site PI for the Denver SIPPRA Housing to Health Program.

Brie Thumm, PhD, CNM, MBA, FACNM

Dr. Brie Thumm, PhD, CNM, RN, MBA, FACNM is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing. She has been practicing midwifery domestically and internationally since 2001 when she completed her Masters in the Science of Nursing at Yale University. She obtained her MBA in Healthcare Administration at Baruch College in New York City and her PhD in health systems research at University of Colorado College of Nursing. Her primary area of research is perinatal workforce development to address disparities in maternal health outcomes applying principles of organizational theory and implementation science. She continues to practice clinically at Denver Health.

Katy Trinkley, PharmD, PhD, BCACP, FCCP

Katy Trinkley, PharmD, PhD, BCACP, FCCP is an Associate Professor and implementation scientist at the University of Colorado in the Department of Family Medicine with secondary appointments in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine. She is also a primary care clinical pharmacist and clinical informaticist at UCHealth. Dr. Trinkley’s research focuses on advancing the visionary goals of learning health systems and leveraging data and implementation science to create innovative health information technologies to optimize safe, effective, and equitable medication use.

Bryan Wallace, MPH

Drawing from multi-disciplinary theoretical and methodological perspectives, my current research focuses on shared decision making in cardiovascular health. I work on the development and testing of decision aids in diverse fields. My previous research included complex care in pediatrics, holistic health for migraines in teenagers, and smoking cessation in teenagers. I am currently working on my PhD in the interdisciplinary field of Health Behavioral Sciences.

Venice Ng Williams, PhD, MPH

Dr. Williams' research relates to improving the implementation of home visiting programs like Nurse-Family Partnership through implementation science, cross-sector collaboration, and systems integration. She is a mixed methods health services researcher focused on engaging community to improve family health. She has a range of experience in health services research, including conducting health impact assessments to inform child welfare policy, evaluating systems-change interventions with Urban Indian health centers, and developing collegiate tobacco control policies.

Yaxu Zhuang, PhD

Yaxu Zhuang, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Healthcare Policy and Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, specializing in biostatistics, data science, and AI to enhance healthcare outcomes. His work includes contributions through NIH-funded projects and publications, and he's actively involved in different collaborative projects focused on data analysis, data management and methodology development. I am dedicated to advancing health services research by developing novel statistical methodologies.