Our Team
Leadership Team
Andrea (Anne) Nederveld, Principal Investigator
Andrea (Anne) Nederveld, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and a primary care physician who lives and works in Grand Junction, Colorado. She is committed to primary care research that improves the health of individuals and communities. She is particularly interested in prevention of chronic disease through behavior change.
Jodi Summers Holtrop, Principal Investigator
Jodi Summers Holtrop, PhD, MCHES is Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Associate Director for the Dissemination and Implementation Research Program at ACCORDS at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her career goal is to improve the help patients get in primary care for preventing and managing health problems.
Evaluation Team
Zhehui Luo
Zhehui Luo, MS, PhD is Professor and Associate Chair for Research of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at MSU; a methodologist and biostatistician who is an expert in study design, program evaluation, and causal inference using experimental and non-experimental data, including administrative health and registry data.
Bethany Kwan
Bethany M. Kwan, PhD, MSPH: Dr. Kwan is an Associate Professor and the Associate Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is the Director of Dissemination and Implementation Research with the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute. She is committed to engaging communities and partners at all stages of research, from planning, to conduct, to dissemination, to ensure the products of research fit the context of intended use.
Lauri Connelly, Study Manager
Lauri Connelly, MS, is a Research Services Principal Professional who has worked with the Department of Family Medicine for the past seven years. She has a BA in psychology and an MS in occupational therapy. Her clinical interests include health promotion, education, and patient-centered outcomes.
Chloe Glaros
Chloe Glaros, MPH, MSW is a Senior Qualitative Analyst in the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Core at ACCORDS at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is passionate about qualitative methods as a means of amplifying the voices of healthcare workers and patients with the goal of improving systems of care.
Practice Facilitation Team
Elizabeth (Liz) Bell, Practice Facilitator
Liz Bell, BA is a Research Services Professional with the PEACHnet Practice Based Research Network serving the Western Slope of Colorado. She has a background in patient advocacy, communications, and grant-making in the fields of autism and suicide prevention, and a passion for integrative and bidirectional considerations in mental and physical health. She will be conducting practice facilitation for HOPE.Margery Brennan, Practice Facilitator
Margery Brennan, MA, CAS is a Research Service Professional working as part of PEACHnet on the Western Slope. Margery is dedicated to increasing wellness by addressing each patient’s social determinants of health. She will be conducting practice facilitation for HOPE.Robyn Wearner, Practice Facilitator leader
Robyn Wearner, MA, RD is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Family Medicine and Manager of CUeLearning.org. For HOPE, Robyn will develop and publish learning opportunities for primary care teams addressing weight management with patients and assist with practice facilitation.Jennifer Halfacre, Practice facilitator leader
Jennifer is a Health Care Program Manager and Practice Facilitator with the Practice Innovation Program. She entered the health care industry in 2010, managing grants, data and quality for a primary care clinic. As a Practice Facilitator and Clinical Health Information Technology Advisor, she leads practices to achieve their goals and sustain improvements, focusing on teaching quality improvement techniques to clinics.
Implementation and Content Expertise Team
Erik (Seth) Kramer
Erik (Seth) Kramer, DO, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is a primary care physician, focusing on the management of patients with metabolic disease including obesity and has experience coaching clinicians to enhance their knowledge in obesity treatment and address gaps in physician education.
Bonnie Jortberg
Bonnie T. Jortberg, PhD, RDN, CDCES is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She has devoted her career to evidence-based research that will help patients manage chronic conditions, including obesity and diabetes.
Christie Befort
Christie Befort PhD is Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control for the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Her research focuses on implementation of treatment guidelines for weight management with an emphasis on improving cancer prevention and survivorship in rural clinics.
Russell Glasgow
Russell Glasgow PhD is Research Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Director of the ACCORDS Dissemination and Implementation Science Program at University of Colorado School of Medicine. His goal is to facilitate the translation of research evidence into programs that are feasible, equitable and sustainable in diverse real-world settings.Daniel Bessesen
Daniel Bessesen, MD: Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and Director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. He is a researcher and clinician interested in the biological regulation of body weight and the clinical care of people living with obesity.
Stakeholder Engagement Team
Erin Hightower
Erin Hightower is a bariatric patient with a history of gastric bypass and struggles with obesity. She currently works in the medical field where she has been a medical assistant, manager, and registration and billing. Her goal is to make a difference in others lives and mentor and support others around her.
Ramona Koren
Ramona Koren is a long time patient partner who has worked on several projects for the University of Colorado,as well as, UC DAVIS. Her most important motivation for this work is the desire to improve healthcare for all.