Personnel
Program Leadership
David Grande, MD, MPA
Associate Professor of Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Director of Policy, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
dgrande@wharton.upenn.edu
Dr. Grande is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. He received his MD at the Ohio State University and trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and was a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Grande’s work seeks to understand the role of medical professionalism in advancing societal public health goals. He also studies health care for vulnerable populations with an emphasis on identifying and overcoming barriers.
Dr. Julie Sochalski, PhD, FAAN, RN
Associate Professor of Nursing
julieas@nursing.upenn.edu
Julie Sochalski, PhD, FAAN, RN is Co-Director of the NCSP at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Sochalski is recognized as a national and international expert in health policy and the health care workforce. Her 3-year tenure at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010-2013) as Director of the Division of Nursing and Principal Advisor for Health Workforce Policy at the Health Resources and Services Administration involved directing interagency initiatives that promoted research and program innovations to build a right-sized, well-skilled, and effectively-deployed health care workforce. Prior to her recent federal position, Dr. Sochalski directed a series of national and international studies funded by NIH and other private and government foundations elucidating critical workforce factors influencing the quality of patient care and patient outcomes and innovative practice models that should be pursued to promote quality of care and population health. Her study featured in Health Affairs evaluated the outcomes of disease management interventions for heart failure patients by pooling data from 12 clinical trials conducted in four countries and explored payment policy options for the Medicare program to reimburse for these services. Her work has included examining the impact of innovative models of nursing care and nursing staffing on quality outcomes, and has demonstrated the cost-effective impact of nursing for diverse patient populations including high-risk high-cost chronically ill and terminally ill patients. In addition, she has investigated domestic and international trends in the health care workforce, workforce shortages, and migratory patterns of health workers and has collaborated internationally to develop policy recommendations for building an appropriately prepared and effectively deployed international health care workforce.
Dr. Joanne Wood, MD, MSHP
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine
woodjo@email.chop.edu
Joanne N. Wood is a faculty member at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and an attending physician in the Division of General Pediatrics. She is also the Director of Research of Safe Place: Center for Child Protection and Health at CHOP, and since 2011, has served as the Associate Director of Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship at Safe Place. Since her medical training at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Wood has committed to improving the quality of care for children, especially abused and neglected children. Her current research focuses on improving occult injury screening practices for children suspected of being victims of physical abuse, along with understanding the use and utility of such practices in the evaluation of abusive injuries. Dr. Wood’s research in the field of child maltreatment extends beyond hospital-based care to the child welfare and behavioral health systems.She is involved in projects focused on implementing and evaluating behavioral health interventions for children involved in the child welfare system. Dr. Wood attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she earned her MD in 2002. She was an intern and resident in pediatrics at CHOP, where she subsequently served as chief resident. In 2006, she participated in the Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship at CHOP. From 2007 to 2010, Dr. Wood was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Master in Health Policy Research (MSHP).
Associate Directors
Dr. Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Program VA Liason, Philadelphia VA Medical Center
mschap@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH is a native of Montreal, Canada. Dr. Schapira grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a graduate of Oberlin College. She attended the University of Michigan School of Medicine and Public Health where she obtained an MD and MPH in Health Planning and Administration. Following completion of an Internal Medicine Residency and General Internal Medicine Fellowship, she became a faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she established a research career in the area of risk communication and medical decision making. In 2011, Dr. Schapira joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in the Division of General Medicine and the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) at the Philadelphia VA. Dr. Schapira conducts research in the area of risk communication and medical decision making. She has developed and evaluated risk communication tools and decision-aids for use in a variety of clinical decisions including prostate cancer screening and treatment, postmenopausal hormone therapy, breast cancer screening, and prevention and treatment of osteoporotic fractures. Her current work involves the development of a measure of a new health numeracy using item response theory (IRT) scaling methods. Dr. Schapira is pursuing additional studies related to risk communication and medical decision making in the context of chronic disease management and cancer prevention, screening, and treatment decisions. Dr. Schapira is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and is the President of the Society for Medical Decision Making (2010-2011).
Dr. Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
atheenv@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Atheendar Venkataramani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and a staff physician at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Venkataramani is a health economist who studies the life-course origins of health and socioeconomic inequality. His current research focuses on elucidating the effects of early life interventions on adult health and well-being; understanding the relationship between economic opportunities and health behaviors and outcomes; and examining the spillover health impacts of social policies. This work spans both domestic and international settings. Dr. Venkataramani completed his MD at Washington University, his PhD in Health Policy (Economics) and Yale University, and his BS in Biology and Economics at Duke University. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine - Global Primary Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Katherine Yun, MD, MHS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
yunk@chop.edu
Katherine Yun (she/her) is a faculty member at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an attending physician in both the Division of General Pediatrics and the Refugee Health Program at CHOP, and director of the Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship at CHOP.
Program Staff
Sarah Gormley
Associate Director of Operations
Sarah.Gormley@pennmedicine.upenn.edu