Category: Abacus

Mary Ryan Hawkins is a mixed-methods evaluator with over 14 years of experience. She is the Associate Director of Evaluation for the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS) where she implements and manages multi-level evaluation plans focused on … Read more

Shelly Maras is an Evaluation Research Scientist in the UNC Center for Health Equity Research where she works on a variety of projects in the Abacus Evaluation portfolio, including RADx-UP and ECHO. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at NC … Read more

Nader Mehri holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, a master’s degree in demography and a Ph.D. in Social Gerontology. He is an applied statistician and demographer who provides high-quality analyses and guidance to researchers in CHER and Abacus Evaluation. Mehri’s … Read more

Caroline Taheri (she/her/hers) is an Evaluation Research Assistant with the Abacus Evaluation team in the Center for Health Equity Research. In 2023, she earned her MPH in Health Behavior from the Gillings School of Global Public Health. While completing her … Read more

Caroline Hays (she/her) is an Evaluation Research Specialist with Abacus Evaluation in the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER). Hays has a Master of Public Health in Maternal, Child, and Family Health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, … Read more

Bianka Reese, Ph.D., MSPH, is an Evaluation Research Scientist with Abacus Evaluation in the Center for Health Equity Research where she supports the evaluation activities of the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS). She has over ten years … Read more

Samantha Hoelzer has over five years of combined experience in research evaluation and clinical trials. Prior to working at CHER, she managed research projects that explored how digital health interventions can be used to decrease health disparities between rural and … Read more

Abhigna Rao is a Student Research Assistant with Abacus Evaluation at the UNC Center for Health Equity Research and is pursuing her MPH in Health Behavior from the Gillings School of Global Public Health. She also serves as a Graduate … Read more

Nisha Baral earned her M.S. in modeling and simulation and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida. Her interest is in modeling complex adaptive systems using an agent-based modeling approach and data modeling techniques. She has … Read more

Bola Bilikis Yusuf is an Evaluation Research Assistant with the Abacus Evaluation team at the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. She earned a medical degree from Nigeria and a Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida. As … Read more

Rossana Roberts (she/her) is an Evaluation Research Assistant at Abacus where she primarily works on the RADx-UP (Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, Under-served Populations) program. She graduated from UNC’s dual degree program in 2020 with an MPH concentrating in maternal, child and family health from the Gillings … Read more

Amelia DeFosset leads the Evaluation team in Abacus Evaluation. Previously, she led the Health Equity and Evaluation Lab within the Center for Health Equity Research and was the Chief of Health and Policy Assessment with the Angeles County Department of … Read more

Chenguang Du serves as a Statistician on the Evaluation Team for CHER and Abacus. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Educational Research and Evaluation at Virginia Tech. His academic focus is on the quantitative methodology in social science research. His substantial … Read more

Tara Carr is a Research Program Manager of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program with the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. She earned her MPH and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Nutrition … Read more

Miranda Rain Wenhold is an Evaluation Project Coordinator with the Abacus Evaluation team in UNC’s Center for Health Equity Research. Wenhold also leads program development for the University of Pennsylvania’s Project for Mental Health and Optimal Development. Wenhold earned her … Read more

Jaimee Zeyzus serves as an Evaluation Project Coordinator for the Abacus Evaluation Team at the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. She transitioned to the School of Social Medicine from the School of Nursing, where she operated as a Project … Read more

Michelle Song is the Associate Director of Data Science & Analytics of Abacus Evaluation in the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER). Song leads the data management, analysis, visualization and overall data system design solutions for Abacus projects and contributes … Read more

Marlena Kuhn is an Evaluation Research Assistant within the UNC Center for Health Equity Research for the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program. She earned her MPH from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in 2021 and … Read more

Abisola Osinuga is an Associate Evaluator of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program at the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. She earned her Ph.D. in Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of Iowa. Her research … Read more

Jade Hollars (she/her) is an Evaluation Project Coordinator for Abacus Evaluation. She graduated with her MPH in Maternal, Child and Family Health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her interest areas surround health advocacy, family … Read more

Mary Wolfe McKinley, M.Sc., Ph.D., is the Associate Director of Research Innovation and Development at the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. She earned her Ph.D. in City & Regional Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she investigated transportation access to … Read more