Decision Sciences and Outcomes Research

Caitlin Biddell
Student Profile

Contact Info: cbiddell@live.unc.edu
Research Interests: Cancer Care Equity, Financial Toxicity, Health Disparities, Public Health Impacts of Mass Incarceration, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Big Data Methods
Dissertation: The impact of financial barriers to care on adverse healthcare events among cancer patients and survivors.
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Stephanie Wheeler
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Stephanie Wheeler

Sophie Ravanbakht

Sophie Ravanbakht
Student Profile

Contact Info: snravan@email.unc.edu
Research Interests: Systems science, immigrant and pediatric health services research, obesity prevention and treatment, racial/ethnic health disparities, implementation science
Dissertation Title: The Influence of Intergenerational Acculturation and Stress on Pediatric Obesity in US Latinos: An Exploration Using Decision and Systems Science
Dissertation Committee: Leah Frerichs, PhD (chair), Kristen Hassmiller Lich, PhD, Morris Weinberger, PhD, Asheley C. Skinner, PhD (Duke), Sarah Armstrong, MD (Duke)

Economics

Yucheng Hou

Yucheng Hou (PhD Expected 2023)
Student Profile

Contact Info: yuchengh@live.unc.edu
Research Interests: Health Economics, Health Service Research, Payment and Delivery System Reform, Care Coordination, Social Network Analysis
Dissertation Title: Peer Participation, Spillover Effects, and Evaluation of the Medicare Shared Savings Program
Dissertation Committee: Justin Trogdon, PhD (Chair), Marisa Domino, PhD, Valerie Lewis, PhD, Qing Gong, PhD, Kevin Callison, PhD

Eunice Yang

Eunice Yoonbin Yang (PhD Expected 2022)
Student Profile

Contact Info: eyang@live.unc.edu
Research Interests: Medicaid managed care, provider payment and delivery systems for Medicare and Medicaid; hospital competition; insurer competition; health economics
Dissertation Title: Effect of competition among fully-capitated Medicaid managed care plans on healthcare utilization and quality of care
Dissertation Committee: Marisa Domino, PhD (Chair), Sandra Decker, PhD, Doug Melton, PhD, Kristin Reiter, PhD, Sally Stearns, PhD

Quality and Access

Danielle Brathwaite

Danielle M. Brathwaite (PhD expected 2022)
Student Profile

Contact Info: danielle_brathwaite@med.unc.edu
Research Interests: Child and adolescent psychiatry, quality of mental health care, access to mental health services, emergency department-based care, childhood development
Dissertation Title: Emergency Department-Based Psychiatric Services for Children and Adolescents: An In-depth Investigation of Care in North Carolina
Dissertation Committee: Morris Weinberger, (Chair), Sally Stearns, Sarah Birken, Angela Strain, Anna Waller

Olive M. Mbah

Olive M. Mbah (PhD expected 2021)
Student Profile

Contact Info: olivem@live.unc.edu
Research Interests: Cancer health disparities, health policy, health services research, cancer prevention, access to care, policy-based interventions to redress disparities, social determinants of health.
Dissertation Title: Impact of The Affordable Care Act on Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Outcomes among Medicare Beneficiaries: The Role of Community-Level Social Risk
Dissertation Committee: Cleo A. Samuel, PhD (Chair), Samuel Cykert, MD, Lindsay Sabik, PhD, Justin Trogdon, PhD, Stephanie B. Wheeler, PhD, MPH

Recent Student Placements

Meghan C. O’Leary

Meghan C. O’Leary (PhD awarded December 2022)
Student Profile

Successfully placed at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC Chapel Hill.

Lexie R. Grove

Lexie R. Grove (PhD awarded May 2021)
Student Profile

Successfully placed as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Population Health in the Dell Medical School at University of Texas-Austin.

Abby F. Hoffman

Abby F. Hoffman (PhD awarded August 2021)
Student Profile

Successfully placed at the Population Health Management Office at Duke Health.

Hailey James

Hailey J. James (PhD awarded May 2021)
Student Profile

Successfully placed as a Research Economist in the Center for Health Care Financing and Payment at RTI International.

Shelley Jazowski

Shelley A. Jazowski (PhD awarded May 2021)

Successfully placed as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.