2018-2020 Scholars
Colleen Bennett
Colleen Bennett, MD is currently a Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellow at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology of Global Health from Georgetown University where she graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Colleen was eager to return to the city for medical school. Colleen received her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During medical school, she completed the Bridging the Gaps Clinical Scholars program and cultivated her interest in community health and caring for vulnerable populations. While in medical school, Colleen also collaborated on a qualitative research study focused on the perceptions of non-offending caregivers of victims of child sexual abuse. Colleen subsequently completed her pediatric residency training at CHOP. During residency, Colleen’s advocacy project focused on mental health treatment options for children in foster care. With continued passion for caring for vulnerable populations and victims of child maltreatment, Colleen recently began Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship at CHOP and is working on a project focused on health care utilization for children in foster care.
Career Interests: As a Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellow, Colleen plans to continue clinical work focused on child maltreatment and children in foster care while also pursuing community-oriented and policy-relevant research for these vulnerable populations.
Research Interests: Colleen’s research interests include healthcare delivery and utilization for children in foster care, mental health outcomes for victims of child maltreatment and community prevention programs aimed at reducing child maltreatment.
Elias Dayoub
Elias Dayoub, MD, MPP, (VA Scholar) is an internal medicine resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester, where he double majored in chemistry and economics. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School where he graduated with Distinction and was selected as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, as well as completed a Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to beginning his medical training, he worked for an economic consulting firm advising clients in government and industry on cost issues in health care. While in residency, he has been involved with the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at Penn as an Associate Fellow, investigating various health policy issues in cardiovascular health.
Career Interests: Dr. Dayoub plans to pursue a career in academic cardiology, combining cardiovascular health services research and clinical practice.
Research Interests: As a scholar, he plans to investigate how the adoption of innovations in cardiovascular pharmacotherapies and medical devices affects health care utilization and costs, as well as access to care and health disparities. Additionally, he plans to explore policy solutions to address the economic and social implications of medical innovation.
Austin Kilaru
Austin Kilaru, MD, (VA Scholar) is an emergency physician who was raised in Texas. He attended Yale University, where he studied English Literature. He received his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he worked as a research fellow at the Penn Center for Emergency Care Policy and Research. He has published on novel applications of narratives, social media, and geographic analysis in health. Currently, Austin is chief resident in emergency medicine at Highland Hospital, the county hospital serving Oakland, California.
Career Interests:
Austin plans to be an academic emergency clinician, researcher, and patient advocate.
Research Interests:
Austin’s research interests include the development of tools and policies to address social determinants of health at the bedside; integration of emergency care with ambulatory and specialty care; population-based models to deliver and improve the value of emergency care; applications for social media in healthcare; and the health of undocumented immigrants.
Natalie Lee
Natalie Lee, MD (VA Scholar) graduated from Amherst College and went on to earn her medical degree at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She jointly pursued a masters degree in public health at Case Western Reserve University, with a focus on health administration and policy. She stayed on at the Cleveland Clinic for her internal medicine residency. During her training, Natalie studied patterns of resource utilization in high-cost Medicare patients and has since developed an interest in understanding and addressing drivers of high healthcare costs. Along the way she also participated in studies on healthcare communication, preventable admissions, and care coordination in primary care.
Career Interests: Natalie would like to pursue a career conducting policy relevant research and promoting evidence based health policy. She hopes to contribute to disruptions in healthcare that make it more affordable, accessible, and practical.
Research Interests: Natalie’s research interests include high healthcare costs and innovations in healthcare operations and delivery.
Kirstin Manges
Kirstin Manges. PhD, RN, completed her PhD at the University of Iowa. A northern Michigan native, she earned her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Nursing and Biology from Luther College, and Masters in Nursing from the University of Iowa. During her doctoral program, Ms. Manges worked as a bedside nurse in a variety of clinical settings (pediatric, adult, acute and critical care), and received a Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses. She is a National Veterans Affairs Quality Scholar Program Alumni (2014-2016), and a current American Academy of Nursing Jonas Policy Scholar (2017-2019). Ms. Manges’ scholarship is in health systems research specializing in organizational psychology, care transitions, and patient safety. Her dissertation is examining the impact of inpatient teams on high-risk patient’s post-hospital outcomes. The Midwestern Nursing Research Society Buckwalter Grant and the Versant Center for the Advancement of Nursing Research Doctoral Grant funds her dissertation work.
Career Interests: Ms. Manges’ long-term goal is to become a nurse researcher and leader in (re)designing high-performing healthcare systems.
Research Interests: Her research interests include: a) identifying modifiable organizational factors of healthcare system performance, b) articulating nursing’s impact on patient safety and outcomes, and c) developing team-based interventions for ensuring safe patient-centered transitions.
Angelico Razon
Angelico Razon, MD, MPH received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College with a major in biochemical sciences and a minor in health policy. After college, he served as the Nonprofit Management Fellow at the Phillips Brooks House Association, a student-run nonprofit human service organization serving youth and communities in the Greater Boston Area. Afterwards, he attended the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California through PRIME, a dual degree program focused on leadership in underserved and vulnerable communities. He pursued a Masters of Public Health in Healthcare Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where he also received the Zuckerman Fellowship for interdisciplinary work in public service. Dr. Razon is currently completing Combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency at the University of Michigan.
Career Interests: Dr. Razon plans to practice primary care for both children and adults with a focus on coordinating care for individuals with complex medical conditions. He hopes this approach will better inform policies that address health and healthcare disparities.
Research Interests: Dr. Razon is interested in patient- and community-centered system design and policy interventions to promote patient self-efficacy and address social determinants of health. His research focuses on transitions of care, especially with how Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) access the healthcare services as they develop into adults.
Ashley Ritter
Ashley Z. Ritter, PhD, MSN, CRNP earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified as an adult and gerontologic primary care nurse practitioner. In this role, she provides advanced care planning to adults with complex multi-morbid illness in sub-acute rehabilitation following hospitalization. Ritter previously worked for six years as a nurse practitioner and interdisciplinary educator in the Division of Geriatrics at Abington Memorial Hospital. This role provided the opportunity to deliver continuous care to older adults from hospital to home. Prior to becoming a nurse practitioner, Ritter worked as a registered nurse in Princeton, N.J. where she coordinated the opening of an Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE) unit and the adoption of the national Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE) program.
Career Interests: Ritter’s clinical practice as a nurse opened her eyes to local and national threats to living and aging well. With a specific interest in nurses and older adults, she hopes to contribute to research examining the laws, economics, and delivery models that shape the health of communities. She plans to disseminate her knowledge to policy makers, business stakeholders, and the next generation of health professionals across disciplines.
Research Interests: Utilizing a competition framework, her dissertation study examines a common element of nurse practitioner occupational licensure called a collaborative practice agreement. Results from this work provide a foundation of empirical evidence needed to assess the potential for mandatory collaborative practice agreements to induce anticompetitive conduct between nurse practitioners and physicians without substantiated consumer safety benefits. Her future research will focus on optimal utilization of the health workforce to meet the health needs of all patients and communities within an evolving regulatory and reimbursement landscape.