WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY - Key Persons
Abby serves as a Program Manager on the Health Affairs Institute Survey Research Team. Starting at Health Affairs in February 2022, Abby has assisted the MOTOR team with logistics surrounding survey implementation including vendor communications and registration, incentive management, and data management. She is also responsible for managing schedules and meetings, scheduling interviews with study participants, and logging decisions made and action items for the team.
Job Titles:
- Accounting Information Systems Professional
- Manager of Administration
Adam Pauley is an accounting information systems professional with experience in assurance services, financial analysis, and enterprise resource planning.
As Manager of Administration for the Health Affairs Institute, Adam works in concert with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources' Bureau for Medical Services, providing support and guidance for projects focusing on improving outcomes for the health of West Virginians. His duties include managing project timelines, analyzing and managing project risks, and managing reporting and monitoring budgets.
Drawing from his background in accounting and his experience as a business analyst, Adam brings a valuable skill set to the team at Health Affairs. Providing robust data analysis and strategic planning, Adam contributes to the strength of projects that benefit the state of West Virginia.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Amanda Jones is a driven, adaptable program director who leverages multidisciplinary experience to provide innovative problem solving. Amanda brings a wealth of experience in managing projects from conception to completion, ensuring they are delivered on time and to the highest quality. Amanda has a deep understanding of the complex and interconnected factors that influence health outcomes, including social determinants, health disparities, and access to care.
Amanda's current work at Health Affairs lies within the areas of behavioral health, program management, public impact research, and health data analytics. Amanda has managed a variety of projects aimed at addressing pressing public health issues, including the Telehealth Pilot, Children's Mental Health Evaluation, Independent Verification and Validation, Health Information Technology Plan, COVID-19 Evaluation, and others. From leading multidisciplinary teams to collaborating with community partners and stakeholders, Amanda is dedicated to leveraging her skills and expertise to drive positive change in the health of West Virginia communities.
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Committee on Health and Human Resources, WV House of Delegates
Amy Summers graduated from West Virginia University in 1986 with a BSN in Nursing and in 2014, she earned a MSN in Nursing Management and Leadership from Western Governors University (WGU). She has worked as a Registered Nurse for 37 years in a variety of settings, including Neonatal ICU, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Emergency, Physical Rehabilitation, and management. She also served as the county medical examiner and a volunteer paramedic. Since 2014 she has served in the WV House of Delegates. She lives in Flemington, W.Va. on a farm with her husband Rod and has three grown children and a grandson.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Research Associate at West Virginia University Health Affairs Institute
Angela Dyer, PhD, MSPH, is a Research Associate at West Virginia University Health Affairs Institute. In her role, Dr. Dyer collaborates on interdisciplinary research and evaluation teams, works with the state to leverage data and support analytic and policy needs, conducts associated data analysis and program evaluation activities, and leads or supports research and deliverable development. Her interests center on using multi- and mixed-methods evaluation and research practices to understand and improve access to and quality of services, particularly maternal and child health programming, and correspondingly inform advancements in research and evaluation approaches. Her current focus is activities associated with the Mountain State Assessment of Trends in Community Health (MATCH) project.
With expertise in public impact research and an extensive decades-long background in program evaluation, Dr. Dyer has led research and evaluation work in the focus areas of behavioral health, workforce development, population health and public health surveillance, and home and community-based services. Examples of her work include: the evaluation of the State Targeted Response (STR) to the Opioid Crisis Grant, the workload study of child welfare service workers, and an evaluation on the delivery of a home visitation program model's prenatal physical activity curriculum.
Dr. Dyer also spent three years as an embedded employee with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), Bureau for Behavioral Health (BBH), where she led and provided evaluation support.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Specialist ( Research Associate ) at the WVU
Dr. Ngo is a program evaluation specialist (research associate) at the WVU Health Affairs Institute. Her expertise is data analysis and statistical modeling for program and policy evaluation. She is particularly interested in Medicaid services, population health and public health surveillance, and behavioral health.
Job Titles:
- Health Data Analyst
- in 2020 As an Analyst
Anina Aaron joined the Health Affairs Institute in 2020 as an analyst on the Data Analytics and Decision Support team and supports the Bureau for Medical Services with her strong analytical and geospatial skills. Anina's expertise lies in health demographics, spatial analysis and data visualization using ArcGIS, R, or SAS
Ben Balding serves as a Research Specialist within the Health Affairs Institute. In this role, Ben provides research support and outreach services on both the Mountain State Assessment of Trends in Community Health (MATCH) and the Children's Mental Health Evaluation (CMHE) projects. Ben applies research and evaluation skills, which include tasks such as literature reviews, drafting deliverable reports, project outreach activities, data visualizations, and survey administration/facilitation duties, just to name a few.
Prior to joining the Health Affairs team, Ben worked with various state agencies with an emphasis on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) programs and business research/evaluation activities for the West Virginia Department of Economic Development for more than 14 years. In addition, he served as the West Virginia Census Bureau Liaison to the Governor's Office for more than six years, tasked with collecting and analyzing demographic datasets used for several federal-state community grant programs, which dovetail with population health and public health surveillance initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Data Integrity and Compliance
Job Titles:
- Deputy Secretary of Children and Adult Services, WV Department of Human Services
Job Titles:
- Faculty Researcher, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Senior Survey Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
Christena Ross has focused on grant development, management, and implementation over the last decade of her 30-year healthcare career. She has brought more than $35 million in grants to West Virginia to help improve the lives of its citizens. As a native West Virginian, Christena knows the state, its people, and its needs well.
As a Program Director, Christena has focused on federal grants with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Behavioral Health (BBH) and the Bureau for Medical Services (BMS). She is the Principal Investigator for the State Opioid Response Medical Services (SORMS) grant focusing on expanding treatment and recovery services to individuals with substance use disorder.
Prior to the SORMS grant, Christena served as Program Director for the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT). This work led to BMS being awarded a competitive SUPPORT planning grant. Christena has also been the Principal Investigator of the American Rescue Plan Home and Community Based-Services Workforce Training Curriculum and Learning Management System (LMS). This project helped connect state partners to utilize existing resources to avoid duplication of systems.
Some populations these grants have covered that Christena has worked with include rural and Appalachian populations, pregnant and postpartum women, LGBTQ+, and those reentering the community that were recently incarcerated. Christena specializes in program development and implementation and project management.
Before joining Health Affairs in 2020, Christena was with CAMC Research and Education Institute as the Director of Research and Grants Administration. Her responsibilities included pre-award, post-award, grants financial management, Office of Sponsored Projects, Institutional Research Board (IRB), and Research Integrity and Compliance. Under her leadership, the organization had tremendous grant development growth and received its first Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protections Program accreditation. Her other healthcare experience includes leadership and training development, fund development, six sigma and lean training, and she has been a National and State Baldrige Examiner.
Christena is a WVU Blue IRB Member, Health Affairs Culture Ambassador, and serves on several Health Affairs Committees.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders / Co - Interim Director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, WV Department of Human Services
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Emergency Medicine
Job Titles:
- Forensic Psychologist, School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Specialist
Job Titles:
- Commissioner of the Bureau for Medical Services, WV Department of Human Services
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Public Health Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Director of Program Development and Management Office
Job Titles:
- Survey Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Manager of Research Support
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Senior Instructional Designer
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Professor, School of Nursing
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Social Work, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Program Management, Risk Management, and Quality Assurance
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Research Support
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Departmental Affairs Chair and Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Senior Health Data Analyst
Job Titles:
- Professor and Chief, Division of Pediatric Neurology and Child Development, WVU School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- State Health Officer, WV Department of Human Services
Job Titles:
- Manager of Research Support
Job Titles:
- Dean of the College of Health Professions, Marshall University
Job Titles:
- Myia Welsh / Program Director
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Operations
Job Titles:
- Senior Survey Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Specialist
Job Titles:
- Law and Clinic Director, WVU College of Law
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Survey Research
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Health Analytics
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Program Director, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Home and Community - Based Services
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Specialist
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Health Policy Analyst, WV Center on Budget and Policy
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- American Board of Internal Medicine Certified Family Medicine Provider
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Program Management
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Dean for Administration, WVU School of Public Health
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Population Health and Public Health
Job Titles:
- Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Director of Health Analytics
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, School of Public Health Adjunct Professor, School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Professor and Chair, Occupational Therapy, WVU School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Medicaid Services
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Manager of Administration
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Program Management
Job Titles:
- Senior Health Data Analyst
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Health Analytics