Our Community
Students in the Health Policy PhD Program at Vanderbilt have dedicated one-on-one access to their mentors. Mentors will be assigned based on research interests and all primary faculty members are currently accepting new students. They also work closely with their mentor's lab teams, comprised of other faculty, staff and students. In addition, there is collaboration with institutes and centers associated with the department including the Institute for Medicine and Public Health, the Center for Child Health Policy, LGBT Policy Lab, Emerging Infections Program, among others.
Our PhD students also have the opportunity to take advantage of all Vanderbilt has to offer, including a robust alumni network, exciting events and seminars, career development and networking services, and numerous affinity groups and student associations.
Current Students
 | Emma Achola-KothariAdmitted Year: 2021 Dissertation Title: The role of networks and serious illness in Medicare Advantage disenrollment Dissertation Committee: Drs. Laura Keohane (chair), Stacie Dusetzina, John Graves, and David Stevenson Research Interests: Medicare Advantage, post-acute care, health care quality, health care delivery, and access to care for all |
Emma Achola-Kothari is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Prior to attending Vanderbilt, she spent four years working in federal health policy in Washington, D.C. First, she spent two years working as a research assistant at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). While at MedPAC, she worked on issues related to low-value care and coverage policy in the Medicare program, long-term care hospitals and accountable care organizations. She then worked for two years at the American Medical Group Association, where she focused on regulatory issues surrounding physician payment policies. Her research interests focus on beneficiary experiences of care within the Medicare program, specifically in Medicare Advantage, as well as post-acute care issues. Additionally, her research seeks to improve health care access for all and delivery of care for Medicare beneficiaries with complex medical needs. Emma received her Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies from Duke University. | |
| Primary Advisors: Laura Keohane, PhD | |
 | Robert BesawAdmitted Year: 2021 Dissertation Title: Examining Value-based Care and Outcomes for Older Adults With Cancer Dissertation committee: Drs. Stacie B. Dusetzina (Chair), Carrie E. Fry, Arjun Gupta, and Andrew D. Wiese Research Interests: Prescription drug policy, access to medicines, cancer outcomes research, pharmacoeconomics, Medicare, aging adults, financial toxicity, palliative and end-of-life care |
Rob Besaw is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy. His research interests focus on how health policies influence the uptake and costs of medicines. He is particularly interested in how the financial toxicity of cancer treatments and medicines affect vulnerable populations and their families. Rob received a BA in Health Studies & Anthropology from Michigan State University before obtaining an MPH from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. After Emory, Rob first spent time in Washington, D.C., working on streamlining processes to develop and increase access to HIV and liver fibrosis therapies. He then moved to Boston where he conducted cancer epidemiology and outcomes research before finally transitioning to manage a complex portfolio of cancer clinical trials. | |
| Primary Advisor: Stacie Dusetzina, PhD | |
 | Hannah CrookAdmitted Year: 2021 Dissertation Title & Description: Payment Reform for Vulnerable Populations In this dissertation, I evaluate the impact of value-based payment programs on three vulnerable populations: those dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, pregnant women, and Medicaid beneficiaries. Using various quasi-experimental and descriptive methods, I examine the effects of bundled payments and Accountable Care Organizations on healthcare costs and quality outcomes for these groups. |
Dissertation Committee: Drs. John Graves (Chair), Carrie Fry, Melinda Buntin, and Laura Keohane Research Interests: Health care payment reform, value-based payment, health-related social needs and risks, rural health, state and local health policy. Hannah Crook is a PhD candidate in Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. She is interested in researching new ways of paying for health care that encourage high-value care, lower costs and better patient outcomes. She is also interested in how value-based payment programs can address social and societal risks to health. Hannah received a Bachelors of Science in Public Health with a major in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, she was a research assistant at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy, using mixed methods research to study health care payment and delivery reform. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crafts and being outdoors. | |
| Primary Advisors: John Graves, PhD and Carrie Fry, PhD | |
 | Glory DhanarajAdmitted Year: 2024 Research Interests: Rural health care, access to rehabilitation services, telehealth and post-acute care |
Glory Dhanaraj is a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Glory is a speech-language pathologist, board-certified in swallowing and swallowing disorders, with clinical experience across acute care and post-acute care facilities. She is interested in studying access to rehabilitation services in rural communities and understanding the impact of rehabilitation services utilization on outcomes and quality of care. Glory graduated with a B.S. in Speech Pathology from Sri Ramachandra Medical College in India and an MS in Speech Pathology from Syracuse University, NY. She worked as a clinician and health care administrator at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston, MA. She worked on a project with the Missouri Department of Health to study access to medical speech pathology services in Missouri’s small rural hospitals. In addition, she served as adjunct faculty at Missouri State University working with undergraduate and graduate students. She enjoys reading, cooking and playing board games. | |
| Primary Advisor: Laura Keohane, PhD | |
 | Sharon FernandezAdmitted Year: 2023 Research Interests: Access to care for all, quality of care, optimal health for all
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Sharon is an MD/PhD student at Vanderbilt. She was previously a research consultant for the Lewin Group in Washington, D.C., where her projects included state Medicaid waiver updates and an evaluation of a Medicare value-based payment model. She also supported efforts to provide emergency funding and support to states and territories amid the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically focusing on home- and community-based services for older adults and people with disabilities. Through her combined degree, Sharon hopes to provide care to underserved patients while conducting public health research that will help improve access to and quality of care for all patients. Sharon serves as co-director of Shade Tree Clinic, Vanderbilt’s free clinic, in 2023-24. She received her B.A. in leadership & public policy with a minor in biomedical ethics from the University of Virginia. She enjoys exploring the outdoors, playing the cello, singing with the medical school a cappella group and hosting game nights with friends. | |
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 | Emmaline KeeseeAdmitted Year: 2023 Research Interests: Long-term care, aging, rural health, health economics Emmaline is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy. Before coming to Vanderbilt, she earned an MSPH in Health Policy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. |
While at UNC, she worked for the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research on several projects related to rural hospital financial stability. She also participated in research on unpaid caregiving in North Carolina and a community project aimed at supporting those aging independently in Chatham County. Emmaline is primarily interested in studying financial and workforce barriers to long-term care access, particularly within the context of rural and under-resourced communities. Previously, she earned a BS in Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health from the College of William and Mary. Immediately following, she completed an AmeriCorps service term in rural Eastern Montana, working with a county coalition on community-based efforts to reduce substance use and improve mental well-being. In her spare-time she likes to draw, try new food spots, read, show everyone pictures of her cat and be outdoors. | |
| Primary Advisors: Laura Keohane, PhD and David Stevenson, PhD | |
 | Ahra KimAdmitted Year: 2022 Research Interests: Differences in health and outcomes in different populations, social and societal risks and factors impacting health, infectious disease policy, substance use disorders
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Before starting the PhD program, Ahra was a senior biostatistician in the Department of Biostatistics at VUMC for five years. She primarily collaborated on infectious diseases projects, working with international databases to evaluate health outcomes of people living with HIV, as well as examining transmission patterns of COVID-19 and influenza in TN with the Vanderbilt Coronavirus Study and the CDC. She has also worked on various research projects with the Department of Psychiatry. Ahra has co-authored works published in journals such as the Lancet HIV, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and Pain Medicine. Ahra is interested in evaluating the effects of population health policies in reducing differences in health outcomes especially for minority groups. Ahra received an MPH with a concentration in biostatistics from Loma Linda University. Prior to that, she received a BA from the University of California Los Angeles. Ahra loves to play tennis, spend time outdoors with her dog, cook and bake. | |||
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 | Kun-Woo Rafael KimAdmitted Year: 2022 Research Interests: cost-effectiveness analysis, decision science, population health Kun-Woo Rafael Kim is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. |
His primary interest is in applying decision science to health policy decision-making. Before joining Vanderbilt University, he worked as a research trainee at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, investigating the cost-effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for the dementia population. As a summer graduate fellow, he trained in cost-effectiveness analysis methodologies at the Center for Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) of Tufts Medical Center. Kun-Woo received a Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a Master of Public Health degree with a Comparative Effectiveness Outcomes Research certificate from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Kun-Woo likes to take a walk, read poetry and practice Kendo, Japanese/Korean fencing, in his free time. | |
| Primary Advisor: John Graves, PhD | |
 | Chen LiuAdmitted Year: 2024 Research Interests: perinatal and postpartum health, health care access and utilization Chen Liu is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. |
She is interested in studying perinatal health care experiences and evaluating policy levers that aim to reduce differences in in maternal and infant health and outcomes. Prior to Vanderbilt, Chen was a research data analyst at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health working with the Postpartum Assessment of Health Survey (PAHS), the first-of-its-kind large-scale survey on the health and well-being of birthing people in the year after childbirth. Prior to that, she worked at BREATHE Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she supported data analysis for studies looking at the relationship between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and environmental factors. Chen received a Master of Health Science degree in Global Health Economics from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Global and Public Health Sciences from Cornell University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking and hiking. | |
| Primary Advisor: Ashley Leech, PhD | |
| Nana Addo Padi-AdjirackorAdmitted Year: 2021 Dissertation Title & Description: Connecting Communities: The Effects of Municipal Broadband on Health and Education Outcomes This dissertation explores the relationship between municipal broadband and outcomes in health services utilization and K-12 education. Through rigorous quasi-experimental methods, I examine the effects of Chattanooga’s EPB fiber broadband and related broadband access programs, highlighting the potential benefits of broadband access for underserved communities. Dissertation Committee: Drs. Kevin N. Griffith (Co-chair), Jessica S. Ancker (Co-chair), Carrie E. Fry, and Mark J. Chin Research Interests: Health economics, biomedical Informatics, digital health and optimal health for all. |
Nana Addo Padi-Adjirackor is a doctoral candidate in Health Policy & Health Services Research at Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on the intersection of health services and health information technology. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he worked as a Senior Project Manager on the Design and Implementation team at Viamo in Ghana, where he collaborated with organizations such as UNICEF, USAID, and the World Bank. In this role, he designed mobile curricula to train community health workers in rural Mozambique and developed mobile surveys to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on Malawi’s education system. Earlier in his career, Nana Addo was an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Nana Addo received a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Temple University and a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Nana Addo is a die-hard Sade fan and loves to cook. He enjoys painting, dessert and live music. | |
| Primary Advisors: Kevin Griffith, PhD and Jessica Ancker, PhD | |
 | Payton RobinetteAdmitted Year: 2024 Research Interests: political analysis of health care, health economics, decision analysis.
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Payton is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include political analysis of health care, health economics, social and political factors impacting health care and outcomes, and decision analysis. Payton previously spent three years serving as a Policy Advisor for former U.S. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, M.D., staffing him on health care spending, food is medicine interventions, the intersection of health and the environment, data privacy and interoperability, AI in health care, and health outcomes in Nashville. She also served as Chief Operating Officer for NashvilleHealth. In this role, she oversaw and managed the implementation of community health programs and initiatives to address Nashville's most pressing health challenges. Prior to this work, she obtained a B.A. in English literature and a M.A. in Medicine, Health and Society from Vanderbilt University where she also was a member of Vanderbilt's 2015 NCAA Division I National Championship and 2018 NCAA Division I National Runner-up tennis team. Payton is originally from Maryville, Tennessee. | |
| Primary Advisors: John Graves, PhD; Carrie Fry, PhD | |
 | Jason SellAdmitted Year: 2022 Research Interests: Mental Health Policy, Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Medications for Opioid Use Disorder, Medicaid, Incarcerated Population Health
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Jason Sell is doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy. His research interests focus on how state and federal health policy decisions impact the administration of mental health services and substance use disorder treatments within communities. He is particularly interested in how Medicaid coverage decisions impact individuals receiving medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). More broadly, Jason is interested in how mental health policies can better serve vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as those involved in the criminal justice system. Jason received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory University and subsequently received a Master of Letters in Management from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Prior to attending Vanderbilt, he spent multiple years as a data analyst at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS). While at ODMHSAS, Jason served as the lead evaluator of Oklahoma’s Zero Suicide initiative and conducted analysis of a residential and outpatient substance use treatment program for pregnant and postpartum women in Oklahoma. | |
| Primary Advisor: Carrie Fry, PhD | |
 | Robbie SkinnerAdmitted Year: 2022 Research Interests: Long-term care, aging, regulatory oversight, health care costs, health economics
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Robbie Skinner is a PhD student in Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, Robbie spent four years at Insight Policy Research (Insight) in Arlington, Virginia. While at Insight, Robbie analyzed certification and survey data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, assessing state efforts towards meeting regulatory requirements. He also studied the social and societal risks and factors among aging populations, among other projects. At Vanderbilt, Robbie is interested in the economics of long-term care, particularly how regulatory oversight and consumer choice in the nursing home market affects health outcomes. In 2018, Robbie received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Kennesaw State University. While at Kennesaw State, Robbie worked with a variety of local government agencies and small nonprofits, such as county aging services in assessing quality of life for senior citizens. He has published work in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research. | |
| Primary Advisor: David Stevenson, PhD | |
 | Tatum WatsonAdmitted Year: 2023 Research Interests: access to care for all, health-related social needs, cost-effectiveness analysis, quality of care
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Tatum Watson is a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Prior to attending Vanderbilt, she spent the past four years working in nonprofits, higher education, and community and county health departments to address social and societal health-associated risks and factors, Medicaid churn, and access to quality care. She primarily worked in rural and Hispanic communities across Southern Arizona and Colorado. Tatum received a BA in Public Service - Nonprofit Management and a Master of Public Administration in Public Policy from the University of Colorado Denver. Her research interests focus on evaluating how health policies encourage high-value care and reduce differences in social and health outcomes. In her free time, Tatum enjoys reading, playing intramural sports, spending time with her dog and traveling. | |
| Primary Advisor: Carrie Fry, PhD, and John Graves, PhD | |
 | Yang ZhangAdmitted Year: 2024 Research Interests: Decision Analytic Modeling, disease simulation, Vaccines, Health Economics, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
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Yang is a PhD student in the Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Her research interests include using decision analytic modeling to determine the cost-effectiveness of clinical interventions. She is also interested in modeling and simulations of infectious diseases to determine effective intervention strategies. Before starting her PhD, Yang worked as a research assistant at McGill University, focusing on vaccine policies and clinical trials. She also interned at the University of Montreal, where she led a cross-sectional study on dengue seropositivity among children in Brazil. Yang earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Waterloo in Environmental Studies with a minor in Economics, and her Master of Science in Public Health from McGill University, specializing in infectious diseases. Yang enjoys painting, working out and walking her pug in her spare time. | |
| Primary Advisors: Carlos Grijalva, MD, and Jinyi Zhu, PhD | |
Alumni |
Khrysta Baig, PhDGraduation Year: 2024 Dissertation Title: Value-based Insurance Design: An Evaluation of Insulin Cost-sharing Caps Research Interests: Value of Care & Medications, Incentive Alignment, Value-Based Design, Short- & Long-Term Affordability, Medicare, Employer-Sponsored Insurance (ESI), Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBM), Cardiometabolic Health | |
Khrysta Baig is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include policy and payment mechanisms for improving the value of care, especially in the Medicare program and for ESI plans. Her work currently looks at these topics through the lenses of obesity and diabetes. Baig was previously the director over a self-funded government ESI health plan—managing over $30 million in spending—where she used contractual efficiencies, incentive alignment, and data transparency to preserve rich benefits while producing substantial savings for taxpayers and plan members. She has served in various leadership roles for non-profit and government entities focused on health care value and affordability, PBMs and value-based formulary management, and employee health and well-being. Baig holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (‘14), where she also trained as a registered dietitian. Collective, she has over a decade of experience working on issues related to public health and health insurance, and she has first-author publications in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Reach Khrysta: Khrysta.Baig@vanderbilt.edu | |
| Primary Advisors: Melinda Buntin, PhD and Stacie Dusetzina, PhD | |
Dennis Lee, PhDGraduation Year: 2024 Dissertation Title: Mechanisms to Increase Buprenorphine Access Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA Research Interests: Health care access for all, costs and delivery, health system quality, vulnerable populations | |
Before coming to Vanderbilt, Dennis had collaborated on a variety of research projects at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. First, he joined the HQSS Commission, which culminated in a comprehensive report on health care system quality in 134 low- and middle-income countries. Afterwards, he conducted research at the department of Health Policy and Management, primarily working on comparing costs, outcomes and quality for Medicaid and heavily-subsidized private health insurance for low-income individuals and buprenorphine policy to tackle the opioid crisis. A unifying theme in Dennis’s work is the use of rigorous research to shed light on health care systems and policy on vulnerable populations. Dennis graduated with a degree in Economics and Statistics from UC Berkeley in 2016 and has since conducted analyses using methods found in epidemiology, biostatistics, econometrics, and machine learning. He has also published in journals such as The Lancet Global Health, Health Affairs, BMJ Open and Health Services Research. For fun (and pre-COVID), Dennis is a martial artist, having competed on UC Berkeley’s Taekwondo sparring team, and training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. | |
| Primary Advisor: John Graves, PhD | |
Nathaniel Tran, PhDGraduation Year: 2024 Dissertation Title: Multi-level Determinants of LGBTQ+ Health Across the Life Course Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy & Administration, University of Illinois - Chicago Research Interests: LGBTQ+ health, optimal health for all, population health, aging Nathaniel Tran is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy and graduate research associate with the Vanderbilt LGBTQ+ Policy Lab. | |
Tran's research examines the role of health and social policies in advancing LGBTQ+ health and outcomes. They use a variety of data (e.g. electronic health records, national surveys and one-on-one interviews) to understand how our laws, policies and cultural norms impact population health. Their dissertation research exams the role of provider, state, and federal policy on sexual and gender minority aging outcomes such as age-appropriate cancer screening and dementia risk. Their previous experiences include research at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, research as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Buenos Aires, and community outreach at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. They hold a bachelor's degree in Gender Studies and Spanish from Tufts University. | |
| Primary Advisor: Gilbert Gonzales, PhD | |
Students Resources and Support
Once you’re a member of this community, we want to make sure you have what you need to thrive and succeed. We understand that thriving looks different for everyone, which is why we provide resources that meet the physical, emotional, social and intellectual needs of our community. Below are some of the academic and social resources available at Vanderbilt.
