Health Services Research Grand Rounds
The Health Services Research Grand Rounds is a free virtual event open to the academic community on the third Tuesday of each month from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. U.S. EST. The session consists of extramural-funded health services researchers from University Hospitals and across the United States to share scholarly insights on their cutting-edge research.
2025 – 2026 Speakers
Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Julie Lauffenburger, PharmD, PhD
Dr. Lauffenburger is an NIH-funded investigator focused on optimizing medication use and adherence in chronic diseases. Her research leverages pragmatic trials and other study designs to develop and evaluate behavioral interventions for improved healthcare delivery and outcomes.
David Axelrod, MD, MBA
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Lilliam Ambroggio, MPH, PhD
Dr. Ambroggio is an NIH-funded investigator focused on improving care delivery and outcomes for children with common, serious infections. Her research leverages methods to improve diagnostic accuracy and the implementation of these methods into clinical practice.
Jennifer Villwock, MD
Dr. Villwock is an NIH-funded investigator focused on personalized medicine, primarily in the areas of olfaction and pain. Her research leverages methods to design and implement evidence-based, cost-effective diagnostic and therapeutic options.
Scott Lorch, MD, MSCE
Dr. Lorch is an NIH-funded investigator focused on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in care and the role of health care organizations in outcomes of ill children. His research leverages sophisticated epidemiological methods and population-based data to understand root causes for variations in health outcomes and health care utilization of high-risk children.
David Sheyn, MD
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Jonathan Litt, MD, MPH
Dr. Litt is an NIH-funded investigator focused on pathways through which chronic health problems impact behavioral development and functional outcomes among infants born preterm. His research leverages health services research and improvement science approaches to develop innovative models of post-discharge care for high-risk infant follow-up.
Susan Mazanec PhD, RN
Dr. Mazanec is an NIH-funded investigator focused on cancer survivorship, symptom distress and family caregiver support. Her research leverages clinical trials of simulation-based interventions to build family caregiver skills for the care of patients with cancer, as well as approaches to integrate caregiver involvement in cancer clinical decision-making.
Julie Donohue, PhD
Dr. Donohue is an NIH-funded investigator focused on insurance coverage, financing and healthcare delivery, primarily prescription drug use and behavioral health services. Her research leverages epidemiologic, economic and policy research methods.
Samuel Rodgers-Melnick, MPH, MT-BC
Mr. Rodgers-Melnick is an NIH-funded investigator focused on the impact of music therapy among populations including oncology, sickle cell disease and heart failure. His research leverages electronic health record data to investigate the real-world effectiveness of music therapy in medical care, primarily patient-reported outcome measures and healthcare utilization.
Mary Lauren Neel, MD, MSCI
Dr. Neel is an extramural-funded investigator focused on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of high-risk infants. Her research leverages evidence-based and targeted early parenting interventions to improve high-risk infant neurodevelopment.
Heather Tubbs Cooley, PhD, RN
Dr. Tubbs Cooley is an NIH-funded investigator focused on care delivery mechanisms linking the organization and financing of nursing services with patient outcomes. Her research leverages theoretical frameworks and methods from health services research, psychology and systems engineering to develop and apply novel approaches to strengthen nursing care quality and outcomes for children.
Previous Research Grand Rounds Presentations
- 2024-2025 Research Grand Rounds
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2024 – 2025 Speakers
June 18, 2024
Goutham Rao, MD
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of MedicineGoutham Rao, MD, is the Jack H Medalie Professor and Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He also serves as Chief Clinician Experience Officer for the University Hospitals Health System. Dr. Rao is board-certified in both family medicine and obesity medicine and practices in both fields. He is the Principal Investigator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) funded UH ADVANCE Center (Advancing DIagnosis through Validated Analytics and Novel Collaborations for Excellence). UH ADVANCE is one of just ten funded centers of its kind in the United States. Its mission is to identify best practices for diagnosis. Dr. Rao is an established health services researcher who has served as principal investigator for more than $8 milion dollars in grants from AHRQ, NIH, and PCORI. He is the author of well over 100 publications including six books. Among these is Rational Medical Decision Making: A Case-Based Approach (McGraw-Hill), a unique textbook that combines the disciplines of evidence-based medicine, clinical epidemiology, and biostatistics, and is used by medical students and others all over the world. Dr. Rao serves on a number of important national committees. He is a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and AHRQ's Health Information Technology Research study section. He is past chair of the American Heart Association's Obesity Committee, and has served on the National Quality Forum's Core Quality Measures and Child Health Steering Committees. Dr. Rao is an experienced medical editor. Among several editorial roles, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Family Practice (Oxford University Press), one of the world's leading journals with an emphasis on primary care. Dr. Rao is a graduate of McGill University School of Medicine in Montreal. He completed his residency training at the University of Toronto, and fellowship training at the University of Pittsburgh. University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
July 16, 2024
Alyna T. Chien, MD, MS
Harvard Medical School
Alyna Chien, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. She studies how payment policies and public reporting affect healthcare quality and spending, especially for vulnerable populations such as children and young adults with disabling health conditions. Dr. Chien’s research has been supported by the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and several private foundations. She has also participated on national advisory committees for the National Academies of Medicine, National Quality Forum, and the Patient-centered Outcomes Research Institute. Dr. Chien is also a practicing primary care pediatrician.
August 20, 2024
Gina Kruse, MD, MPH
University of Colorado School of MedicineGina Kruse, MD, MPH, is a physician researcher in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She trained in internal medicine and primary care at Massachusetts General Hospital, completed a Harvard Medical School General Internal Medicine research fellowship, earned her MPH in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in Cancer Prevention from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Kruse’s research uses clinical trials, observational research, and mixed methods to test interventions and examine implementation strategies to improve the delivery of preventive services with a focus on improving tobacco cessation treatment in healthcare settings in the US and internationally.
September 17, 2024
Beth A. Tarini, MD, MS, MBA
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
October 15, 2024
Kiran Faryar, MD, MPH
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
November 19, 2024
Martha Sajatovic, MD
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
December 17, 2024
John R. Blosnich, PhD
University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
January 21, 2025
Nathalie L. Maitre, MD, PhD
Emory University School of Medicine
February 18, 2025
Arvin Garg, MD, MPH
UMass Chan Medical School
March 18, 2025
Sarah D. Ronis, MD, PhD
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
April 15, 2025
Julia E. Blanchette, PhD, RN, CDCES
University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
May 20, 2025
Shoba Ramanadhan, ScD, MPH
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health