kbogue@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 702-4401
Kelsey Bogue serves as CHeSS’s Executive Director and leads day-to-day operations for the center. She joined CHeSS in 2013 and most recently served as Director of Training and Communications, where she led administration of a portfolio of research education programs, training grants, and communications. Kelsey has also partnered with collaborators both locally and externally to grow new initiatives at the intersection of research and education, including the NIA P30 Center on Healthy Aging Behaviors and Longitudinal Investigations (CHABLIS); the NIA R25 Cultivating Health and Aging Researchers by Integrating Medicine, the Science; and the Comprehensive Care, Community, and Culture (C4P) AmeriCorps program. She holds a master’s degree from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, a certificate in health policy and administration from UChicago’s Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy (GPHAP), and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

ajohnso3@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 702-5066
Angelique Johnson brings several years of grant and contract management experience in pre-award and contract development work at the Center. Angelique received her bachelor’s degree in Biology/Pre-Med from Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college and university.

vburge@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 834-1690
Valerie Burgest is part of the pre-award and contract development team. She has more than 20 years of experience working in community health and grants management, and she holds a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology with a concentration in health administration.

ddaviera@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 834-5302
Diane Daviera administers grants once they have been awarded. This includes tracking and reporting expenditures, creating budgets, and coordinating with project managers, principal investigators, and university administrators. With more than 18 years of financial and administrative experience, Diane comes to CHeSS from the University of Chicago Department of Medicine, where she served as a Post-Award Administrator. She has also worked as a financial administrator for the Sections of General Internal Medicine and Cardiology. Prior to her time at the University of Chicago, Diane earned a secretarial and accounting diploma from Sawyer College of Business in Hammond, Indiana.

lgates@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 834-1267 
Linda Gates provides administrative support to the CHeSS staff to ensure efficient operation of the Center. She brings over 20 years of administrative and accounting experience to CHeSS. Linda joined the staff in the Spring of 2018. 

aflores@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 702-7905
Andrea Flores, Methods Core Director, has over 15 years of experience in the area of health services research and analytics. Ms. Flores holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harris School at UChicago and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chile. Over the course of her career, Andrea has developed and deepened her skills working on a variety of research roles; from programmer and research analyst to projects, data and teams’ lead. She has experience working with a broad range of health data sources and can provide assistance and guidance with data collection, research administration, project management and data analysis. Previous to her current position, Andrea had a leading role in data collection and processing for the Hospitalist Project and Comprehensive Care Physician Program led by Dr. David Meltzer. Her personal interests include program evaluation, study design and research methods, and data linkages.

rbaccile@bsd.uchicago.edu
Rachel Baccile is a Senior Research Analyst and provides analytic support for the Methods Core, the Section of Hospital Medicine, and the Institute for Translational Medicine. She is skilled in using large relational datasets in statistical analysis and can consult on research methods and models. Before joining CHeSS, Rachel worked at the University of Chicago Health Lab, where she focused on randomized controlled trials testing interventions for mental health and substance use disorders among the formerly incarcerated. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan Ford School and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Vermont.

tbest3@bsd.uchicago.edu
Thomas Best supports research, analytics and quality improvement for the Methods Core and the Section of Hospital Medicine as a consultant on special projects. He has over 10 years of experience with research, analytics and quality improvement within CHeSS, the University of Chicago Medicine and the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. During this time, he has gained expertise with data transformation and statistical analysis in Python, R, Stata, and other programming languages, optimization method design and implementation, process/system simulation software such as Arena and NetLogo, and project/program management or quality improvement support for section and organization initiatives. He holds a PhD in Operations Management from the Booth School and a Master’s of Industrial Engineering (with an emphasis on Health Systems) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

jcursio@health.bsd.uchicago.edu
John Cursio is a Research Assistant Professor from the Biostatistics Laboratory in the Department of Public Health Sciences. He has over 25 years of experience analyzing data in government, industry, and academic hospital settings. His past projects include analysis of clinical trial data in women and minority health populations, quality measurement of stroke care, and pain management of elderly patients. Currently, John develops longitudinal mixed-effects models for the Comprehensive Care Program. He holds a PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has expertise in missing data techniques for intensive longitudinal data.

zhussain9@bsd.uchicago.edu
Zaed Hussain is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where he received a bachelor’s degree in Applied Statistics. He has a deep interest in pursuing a career as a physician-scientist. His previous experiences include one summer of cancer research studying Pancreatic Cancer at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and one semester of Artificial Intelligence/Neural Network research studying Machine Learning and Games at University of Illinois at Chicago. He has also done multiple class projects in Mathematics, Data Analysis, and Machine Learning/Big Data during his undergraduate studies. He is familiar with R, SAS, STATA, and Python.

mhyman@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Max Hyman is the newest addition to the CHeSS Methods Core. He is a recent graduate of Northwestern University where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in data science. He also completed the prerequisites for medical school as he is interested in pursuing a career as a physician scientist. His previous experiences include two summers of clinical research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, a summer data science internship at Agentis Energy, and a senior honors thesis about Delta Air Lines’ decision to not sell the middle seat during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has published both in medicine and economics journals, and he is proficient or familiar with R, STATA, SAS, Python, and SQL.

t.hss.jacobjameson@bsd.uchicago.edu
Jacob Jameson is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Harris School of Public Policy. He provides data and programming support on several projects in collaboration with researchers at CHeSS. Through his work at CHeSS and the University, Jacob has developed strong programming skills in R, Stata, Python, SQL, and SAS. He is interested in computational modeling and constrained optimization of healthcare operations. Before joining CHeSS, Jacob was a middle school mathematics teacher and mathematics curriculum consultant for several large charter school networks. He also assists with the Summer Program in Outcomes Research Training (SPORT).

jsoo@bsd.uchicago.edu
Jackie Soo has expertise in epidemiological research methods, longitudinal data analysis, study design and implementation, and survey design. She has worked with a variety of data sources, including data from administrative claims, randomized controlled trials, large scale surveys, and hospital admissions. Prior to joining CHeSS, she worked in program evaluation at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds an ScD in social epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

hzhang4@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu 
Hui Zhang is a Data Analytics Manager and provides analytical, data, modeling, and programming support to the researchers within CHeSS and the Section of Hospital Medicine. Her research focuses on using model-driven and data-driven methods including multiscale decision theory, game theory, operations research and computer simulation to address healthcare challenges related to payment and incentive design, clinical decision-making, chronic disease management, and hospital operations management. Before joining CHeSS, Hui has worked in the management consulting industry with a focus on healthcare delivery innovation and has also worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. She holds a PhD in Industrial & Systems Engineering and an MBA from Virginia Tech.

kopalmathur@uchicago.edu | (773) 702-9515
Kopal Mathur is a Program Director for the Program in Oral Health at CHeSS. She provides strategic dental insights into the development and implementation of various oral health projects. Prior to her role in CHeSS, she served as a dental practitioner providing treatment and care to patients with complex oral health conditions in various hospitals. She has led research programs for urban health projects in the United Kingdom and has also developed and implemented National Health programs with the Government of India to improve access and availability of healthcare services. Her research interests include oral health, health workforce, aging, and health education. She has earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and a Master’s degree in Healthcare Management from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from India.

dfoukas@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 795-3303
Dimitri Foukas holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Illinois Chicago, finishing Cum Laude. Dimitri is a passionate healthcare professional, currently pursuing enrollment for a Doctor of Dental Science/Medicine degree. He holds a hybrid role for the Program in Oral Health; his dental assistant role allows him to provide ancillary services for the dental research clinic and gain chairside experience for future endeavors. He is a proven leader when it comes to his Clinical Research Coordinator role-mentoring research assistants, building recruitment strategies, and helping our team manage the daily schedules.

kmcmanus@bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 795-3386
Katie McManus has been in the dental field for 20 years. She holds a hybrid position in the University of Chicago Dental Research Study Clinic, working as both a registered dental hygienist and the dental research clinic coordinator. She began as a dental lab technician prior to perusing her degree in dental hygiene. As a registered dental hygienist, Katie has been able to work with a widely diverse population. She values her time spent with her patients and uses it to educate, motivate and build a dental health relationship with them. Katie is currently working towards a Master of Science in Public Health at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston.

daisy2@bsd.uchicago.edu
Daisy Nguyen is a Dental Hygienist for the Program in Oral Health at CHeSS. She provides preventive, therapeutic, and educational hygiene services to patients at The University of Chicago Dental Research Study Clinic. Prior to joining CHeSS, she collaborated with an interdisciplinary team at the University of Washington on several mixed-methods studies investigating equity of access to oral health care services and social and behavioral factors that influence oral health. Daisy holds a Master of Science in Dental Public Health from the The University of Iowa.

isabellaxu@bsd.uchicago.edu
Isabella Xu is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in Biological Sciences and minored in Health and Society. As a research analyst and coordinator within the Program in Oral Health, she is able to explore the dental economy and develop quantitative research skills while leveraging her experience working with patients to facilitate recruitment for the randomized control trial. Isabella previously worked in the Volerman lab at UChicago, where she studied the effects of technology-based inhaler education for pediatric asthma patients, the effectiveness of community health workers in schools, and gender disparities in NIH study sections.

amelaku@bsd.uchicago.edu
Absera Melaku is a public health practitioner with a specialized focus in health equity and social justice, adolescent health and youth development, and community-based public health programming, implementation, and evaluation. As Assistant Director of Training Programs and Communications, she supports the administration and management of CHeSS’ portfolio of training programs and grants. Prior to joining CHeSS, Absera served as Program Manager for the University of Chicago Center for Global Health and as Research and Grants Manager for the Institute for Policy Research Two-Generation Education Research Initiative at Northwestern University. Absera received her Master of Medical Anthropology and Master of Public Health from Case Western Reserve University.

nbeals@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu | (773) 702-3726
Natasha Beals supports the administration and management of CHeSS’s portfolio of training programs and communications. Prior to joining CHeSS, Natasha served as the Graduate Education Coordinator for the University of Chicago Biomedical Sciences Cluster Microbiology PhD Program. She holds a Master’s degree from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Loyola University.