The Dissertation Spotlight feature reflects each student's enthusiasm for the Health Services Research (HSR) Program, their cohort and the high regard in which they hold their mentors.
We are proud of the successes of our students and congratulate their hard work.
We are especially proud of our 2021 graduates, who mastered the virtual format garnering high praise from their advisors and kudos from current students and colleagues across social media. Congratulations!
Elliott Bosco, PharmD, PhD successfully defended his dissertation "Use and Outcomes of Opioid and Nonopioid Arthroplasty in Older Adults” via Zoom to an enthusiastic crowd of faculty, friends, family, mentors, and colleagues.
Haley Appaneal, PharmD, PhD successfully defended her dissertation “Potentially Suboptimal Treatment of Urinary Tract infections (UTIs) in Veterans Affairs Long-Term Care Facilities” via Zoom to a large viewership of family, friends and colleagues.
Shaun Forbes successfully defended his dissertation "Propagating ambiguity into decision analyses of test-and-treat strategies." Shaun entered the HSR Doctoral Program in 2015 as a 2015-2016 Brown University Presidential Fellow with research interests in comparative effectiveness research
Lacey Loomer, a 2020 Program graduate in Health Services Research (HSR) successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Impact of Rural Add-on Payment on Medicare Beneficiary Access and Outcomes.” Joining the HSR Program in 2016, Lacey received numerous awards to support her research including the Agency for Healthcare Research (R36) and the Nora Kahn Piore Award.
David Meyers successfully defended his dissertation “The Validity of Medicare Advantage 5-Star Ratings” in what a committee member described as a “tour de force.”
A 2021 graduate of the Program, Margot Schwartz successfully defended her dissertation in front of one of the largest virtual defense audiences of 2020. Margot began the Program in 2015 with research interests of quality improvement and measure development, patient and family centered care, patient engagement, and patient safety.
Sarah Gordon, a 2019 Program graduate in Health Services Research successfully defended her dissertation titled "Continuity of Health Insurance under the Affordable Care Act: Evidence from Public and Private Markets in Colorado and Utah." A multiple award winner during her time at Brown, Sarah enjoyed the distinction of being honored with the
We are proud to congratulate Xinqi Li for successfully defending her dissertation titled “Effects of Involuntary Plan Switching on Coverage Continuity, Medication Adherence, and Utilization: Evidence from Medicaid Managed Care Plan Exits.”
Brianna Osetinsky, PhD candidate in Health Services Research successfully defended her dissertation titled “HIV and Non-Communicable Disease: Integrated Modeling and Chronic Care in Africa”.
Bora Youn, a 2019 Program graduate in Health Services Research successfully defended her dissertation titled “Evaluating the Real-World Use, Effectiveness, and Cost of Cancer Therapies in Older Adults Using Routinely Collected Data,” and was featured in Providence Business News on January 5th, 2020.
Alexandra Ellis, PhD is an HSR Program graduate and 2018 Student Excellence in Public Health Impact Award winner successfully defended her dissertation titled "Emulators to Facilitate the Development and Analysis of Computationally Expensive Decision Analytic Models in Health."
Megan Cole, PhD candidate in Health Services Research (HSR), successfully defended her dissertation, titled "The impact of Medicaid expansion on community health centers."
Michael Flores, MPH, PhD candidate in Health Services Research (HSR), successfully defended his dissertation, titled “Evaluation of Rhode Island's Health Home Initiative.”
Jessica Roydhouse, PhD candidate in Health Services Research (HSR), successfully defended her dissertation, titled "Improving patient-reported outcomes in cancer care: non-response and the role of proxies."
Ben Silver, PhD candidate in Health Services Research (HSR), successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Effects of Medicare Medical Review on Short-stay Inpatient Hospital Use, Costs, and Patient Outcomes."
Andrew Zullo, PhD candidate in Health Services Research, successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Use, Safety, and Effectiveness of Diabetes Medications in Older Nursing Home Residents."
Laura Keohane, PhD candidate in health services research, successfully defended her dissertation, titled “The Impact of Medicare Hospitalizations and Deductibles on Medicaid Enrollment.” Despite qualifying for Medicaid, many low-income Medicare beneficiaries do not enroll in the program.
Qijuan (Emily) Li, PhD candidate in Health Services Research (HSR), successfully defended her dissertation, titled "Impact of Care Quality and Coinsurance on End-stage Renal Disease Patients’ Disenrollment from Medicare Advantage.”
John McHugh, PhD candidate in health services research, successfully defended his dissertation, titled "The Impact of Hospital-Skilled Nursing Facility Partnerships on Rehospitalization Rates."
Marissa Meucci, PhD candidate in Health Services Research, successfully defended her dissertation, titled "The Effectiveness of Home Health Services and Modifications for Older Adults."
Lawrence Were, PhD candidate in Health Services Research, successfully defended his dissertation, titled “The Impact of Health Insurance on Access and Utilization of Obstetric Health Services for Pregnant Women: Evidence from Kenya.”