2017-2019 Scholars

Anish Agarwal, MD MPH

Anish Agarwal, MD MPH

Anish Agarwal, MD, MPH (VA Scholar) is an Emergency Medicine physician who grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Though he has strong family ties to the area, he ventured towards Boston to attend Tufts University as an undergraduate. There, Anish double majored in Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering and became heavily involved with the campus wide emergency medical services. Anish explored his interest in community/public health while an undergraduate and stayed at Tufts for his MD and MPH degrees. While in medical school he completed research on cost savings for inpatient laboratory testing and became interested in innovative solutions to complex, everyday issues. As a part of his public health training, Anish traveled to rural Tanzania to conduct HIV/AIDS community health research and led a focused intervention working with local businesses and guest houses along major trucking routes. After completing his medical and public health training in Boston, Anish returned home to Philadelphia (and his beloved Philadelphia Eagles) to begin an OB/GYN residency at Pennsylvania Hospital. Despite an excellent exposure to clinical training, his career interests changed and Anish found his heart belonged in the ER. He spent a year working with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Emergency Care and Policy Research as a research fellow where he conducted a multicenter project studying the application of telehealth within the ER. He also completed projects studying the acute resuscitation of cardiac arrest and sepsis patients. Currently, Anish is one of the chief residents within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his training, Anish has had the opportunity to present his work at multiple national and international Emergency Medicine and Critical Care conferences. As a resident, he has been selected to participate in the hospital wide Healthcare Leadership and Quality Improvement Track. Amongst all of this, Anish is most proud to have recently become a father; he and his wife welcomed a baby boy in August 2016.

 

Career Interests: Anish plans to continue to work clinically within the urban ERs of Philadelphia and is interested in methods of improving the delivery of emergent and urgent care through innovation and health policy.

Research Interests: He is interested in the application of app-based technology, social media and technological advancements to expand and improve the approach to emergent and urgent health care delivery.

Benjamin Cobb, MD

Benjamin Cobb, MD

Benjamin Cobb, MD (VA Scholar) Benjamin Cobb, MD (VA Scholar) is an Anesthesiology trained physician who was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Virginia. Upon graduating from Hampton University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Analytical Chemistry, he attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and served as his class Vice-President. At Pitt, he was an Albert Schweitzer Health Equity fellow and used the Transtheoretical Model of Change to develop a sustainable, multi-disciplinary smoking cessation curriculum for incarcerated adolescents and men. He was Pitt’s Vice-President of the Student National Medical Association and during his term, chaired a weekly soup kitchen and used the American Medical Association’s resources to create a health education program at a non-profit men’s shelter. Through a Foundation of Anesthesia Education and Research grant, he studied maternal satisfaction and peripartum safety at Magee Women’s Hospital and has published and presented his work nationally. Dr. Cobb completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded the Robert D. Dripps Research Scholarship, which promotes early mentorship, academic development, and prepares physicians for careers in academia as independent researchers. He plans to pursue specialized training in obstetric anesthesia.

Career Interests: Benjamin plans to pursue a career in academic medicine to conduct rigorous health services research and promote and mentor students and residents to become leaders in healthcare.

Research Interests: Improving the quality of parturient care and increasing maternal safety through obstetric anesthesia. Interracial and socioeconomic disparities in peripartum healthcare.

George Dalembert, MD

George Dalembert, MD

George Dalembert, MD is a pediatrician from Connecticut. He attended Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, with a concentration in Psychology. His undergraduate work included social psychology research on motivated reasoning in relation to subjective experience of unconscious biases. He received his medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. As a medical student, he helped organize community outreach efforts to minority and underserved populations and began his exploration of social determinants of health. He subsequently completed his residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). At the conclusion of his residency, he received the Nancy Elizabeth Barnhart Award in recognition of his dedicated efforts to improve the health and well-being of children in the community. He is currently completing his Chief Residency at CHOP. He has continued to study unconscious biases, examining how such biases may impact workforce diversity.

 

Career Interests: George plans to use his experience from an active academic primary care practice to inform his research-based advocacy on the behalf of underserved populations, especially youth, while refining his skills as a medical educator.

Research Interests: addressing social determinants of health through the patient-centered medical home; creative use of technology in the medical home to address barriers that impede the engagement of underserved and minority communities with the health care system.

Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison received her PhD at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, where she also completed her undergraduate nursing degree. As a member of the first cohort of students in the Hillman Scholars Program at Michigan, her research has been focused primarily on heart failure in women and in oncology populations. The topic of her dissertation research is quality of life, functional status, and long-term survival among breast cancer survivors with chronic heart failure.

 

Career Interests: Jordan plans to pursue a tenure track faculty position at a research-intensive university conducting policy-relevant health services research to improve health care delivery for patients with complex chronic conditions.

Research Interests: Management of complex chronic conditions in older adults; delivery of care to high-cost, high-needs patients (health care “superutilizers”); use of national administrative data to conduct large-scale health policy analyses.

Anna Krupp, PhD, MS, RN

Anna Krupp, PhD, MS, RN

Anna Krupp, PhD, MS, RN is a critical care clinical nurse specialist originally from Madison, Wisconsin. She completed an undergraduate degree in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, followed by a Masters in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In May 2017, she is anticipated to complete a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis in Industrial and Systems Engineering, along with a graduate certificate in clinical and community outcomes research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she was the recipient of a Nurses for Wisconsin fellowship. She has worked for fourteen years in adult critical care nursing, with the last ten years as a clinical nurse specialist. In her role as a clinical nurse specialist, Anna has co-led the implementation of multiple evidence-based interventions to improve outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients. She is an active local and national member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

 

Career Interests: Anna plans a career in health services research as a nurse scientist focused on ICU system redesign and implementation and dissemination of interventions to improve long-term outcomes for ICU patients.

Research Interests: Her overall program of research aims to create sustainable, systems-based interventions to improve long-term outcomes for ICU patients. She is particularly interested in nurse decision-making within the context of early mobility interventions.

Margaret Lowenstein, MD MPhil

Margaret Lowenstein, MD MPhil

Margaret Lowenstein, MD, MPhil (VA Scholar) is a general internist who completed her residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. Originally from Upstate New York, she earned a BA in biology at Williams College and then a Master’s degree in biology and biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Maggie attended the University of Pennsylvania for medical school, where she was a 21st Century (Gamble) Scholar. At Penn, she conducted research on doctor-patient communication about healthcare costs, worked with vulnerable patients in Botswana, and led HIV testing and counseling in West Philadelphia. During residency at UCSF, Maggie was part of the UC Primary Care track and received additional training in health advocacy and care the for underserved as well as addiction medicine. She also conducted research on integrating mental health treatment into primary care through electronic consultation. She is currently on faculty in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF focusing on primary care and addiction treatment.

 

Career Interests: Dr. Lowenstein plans to pursue a career in academic general medicine combining health services research, advocacy, and primary care practice.  

Research Interests: Primary care innovation in the areas of doctor-patient communication and behavioral health, particularly around issues of mental health, addiction, and value in healthcare.

Priscilla Mpasi, MD

Priscilla Mpasi, MD

Priscilla Mpasi, MD completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital with a certificate in Advocacy. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Duke University and her MD from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. While in medical school she actively participated in community service having worked closely with Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT) youth programs and served as medical student coordinator of the CARITAS Health Clinic for the Homeless. She held leadership roles on several boards including, VCU Board of Visitors and Rural Education and Community Health (REACH) for Ghana. With a strong interest in child advocacy and pediatric health outcomes, she served on the Children’s Hospital of Richmond Advocacy Committee and joined the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In residency her dedication for advocacy evolved as she engaged in B’More Fit For Kids, a community partnership geared to introduce healthy lifestyles to early school-aged children. She also held national executive leadership positions for the AAP Section on Pediatric Trainees. Dr. Mpasi served as National Vice-President of the Student National Medication Association in the 50th administration and currently serves in dual roles on the organization’s Strategic Planning Council and as the Future Leadership Project Director. She has received numerous awards, including the NMA Billie Wright Adams Scholar Award, AMA Physicians of Tomorrow Award, NAMME National Scholarship and selection as a National Health Service Corps Scholar. Raised in Silver Spring, MD she aspired to become a pediatrician at an early age. She now strives to become a community leader in health care delivery and an advocate to improve the overall health status among medically underserved pediatric populations. Her faith and family support provide her the strength to embark on this professional and personal journey

 

Career Interests: Dr. Mpasi desires to pursue a clinical career in community pediatrics that intersects with child health advocacy and health policy implementation. She additionally wants to focus on educational preparation and leadership development for minority physicians to promote diversification of the medical field.

Research Interests: Medicaid network adequacy, social determinants of health in poverty, health literacy, school readiness and early childhood education

Elizabeth Sonnenberg, MD

Elizabeth Sonnenberg, MD

Elizabeth (Liza) Sonnenberg, M.D.  is a General Surgery resident in her third year of training at the University of Pennsylvania.  She completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded the I.S. Ravdin and Jonathan Rhodes surgical scholarship prizes. She served as vice president for the Agnew Surgical Society where she revamped their Surgery 400 course and worked with representatives from all Philadelphia-area medical schools to plan multiple Philadelphia Surgical Symposiums.  She volunteered at United Community Clinic in West Philadelphia run by University of Pennsylvania students.  Liza is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism medical honor societies. Sonnenberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia, where she majored in the interdisciplinary major of Human Biology. She worked in Lesotho for her undergraduate thesis studying HIV testing in rural Lesotho and a reviewed of the role of support group members. As an undergraduate, she volunteered as emergency medical technician for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad.
 

Career Interests: She plans to pursue a fellowship and career in abdominal transplant surgery.

Research Interests: Organ allocation policy, outcomes after kidney and liver transplantation, disparities in access to transplantation