OVERVIEW: Built consulting practice to support program development among public agencies that serve people who are older or have disabilities. Served as project director for engagements with state and federal entities, leading home and community-based services (HCBS) projects.SELECT CONTRACT PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS OVER TENURE:Project Director, Administration for Community Living (ACL), Business Acumen Technical Assistance (2019 – Present)➥Collaborate with the Administration of Community Living (ACL) to help the community-based organization (CBOs) and their network partners improve the business acumen required to sell services addressing social determinants of health to public and private payers. Develop business acumen maturity models, engage stakeholders to discuss CBO network standards and best practices, provide targeted TA to states regarding housing, and develop white papers on key topics.Project Director, ACL, Living Well Technical Assistance (2018 – Present)➥Support the design and development of training and technical assistance (T/TA) to eight Living Well project grantees, with a common goal of creating and enhancing systems to detect and address critical incidents among individuals with developmental disabilities. Oversee research strategies for capacity building, foster grantee peer-to-peer learning, develop memos, reports, and webinars for dissemination to the field, and coordinate and facilitate grantee peer-to-peer learning.Data Analysis Task Lead (2020 – Present)/Deputy Project Director (2011 – 2020)/Project Director (2009 – 2010), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Preadmission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) Technical Assistance➥Provide states and CMS with TA to help improve the effectiveness of state Medicaid PASRR programs, which require that all individuals seeking admission to a nursing home first be screened for serious mental illness or developmental disabilities so they can receive the services they need.

SELECT CONTRACT PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS OVER TENURE:Project Director, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing – HCPF , Medicaid Administrative Claiming for Centers for Independent Living (CILs) (2019)➥Analyzed how CILs in Colorado could claim reimbursement from the Colorado Medicaid agency for the share of their activities that benefit current or potential Medicaid beneficiaries. Showed how CILs could use the additional revenue to help sustain and improve their operations and, consequently, their capacity to provide person-centered options counseling to individuals with physical disabilities.Project Director, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation - ASPE, Analysis of State Efforts to Comply with Fair Labor Standards Act Protections To Home Care Workers (2016 – 2018)➥Led a preliminary analysis of the steps states have taken to comply with the Department of Labor (DOL) rule requiring that most home care workers receive overtime and travel time. Examined state-level decision-making around increasing worker pay, capping hours to reduce/eliminate overtime for home care workers, exemptions for some classes of workers, and policy to grant additional service hours to individuals with high levels of need. Project Director, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – SAMHSA (2015 – 2016)➥Worked with SAMHSA (and its partner, the Administration for Community Living, ACL) to develop training materials for the eight states that received grants from ACL in 2012, supporting staff training in person-centered counseling. The goal was to understand better and meet the needs of older adults with mental or behavioral health challenges, including those struggling with substance abuse disorders and those at risk of suicide.

Public policy analyst

At TRF, I co-wrote a successful $100,000 grant application to the CDFI Fund (Treasury Department) to study TRF’s investments in inner-city supermarkets.I helped analyze data on wages, store operating costs, and supermarket deal structure. This research led to the publication of a 2008 report entitled "CDFI Financing of Supermarkets in Underserved Communities: A Case Study."At TFI I also wrote research briefs on a wide range of topics, including the impact of breakfast on the ability of low-income students to learn in the classroom.

At Swarthmore College, I managed my own lab, and shepherded research projects from inception to design to publication. My research focus was cognitive and linguistic development.I published several sole- and first-authored articles in top-tier journals in the social sciences.I also designed and taught a variety of courses on a wide range of topics, including Research Design and Analysis and Introduction to Psycholinguistics.

At the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, I wrote a successful $100,000 grant to the National Institutes of Health to study sentence processing in children and adults. I managed a lab using cutting-edge methodology (head-mounted eye tracking).