Co-Director
Carolyn Audet, PhD
Associate Professor of Health Policy
Associate Director, Center for Clinical Quality and Implementation Research
Dr. Audet is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and the Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2008 she joined the Institute for Global Health as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and began research on barriers to HIV testing and treatment uptake in Mozambique. As a faculty member, she has received funding from ViiV Health Care to pilot a male engagement in antenatal care services in rural Mozambique (2011-2014), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (through a sub-contract from UCSF) to assess a Positive Prevention clinical training intervention (2010-2014), a career development award (K12) from Vanderbilt University to gather information on traditional treatment practices in South Africa and increase traditional healer referrals of patients with suspected mental illness, TB, HIV, and diarrhea in Mozambique (2012-2015), and the National Institutes of Health (National Institute for Mental Health K01 Award) to assess feasibility of engaging traditional healers as HIV treatment partners in Mozambique (2015-2019), and an NIMH R01 award to study the impact of couple-based care and treatment for HIV-positive partners expecting a child (2017-2022). Her research has led to changes in national health policy. Traditional healers, recently recognized as potential allies in health care delivery, use low-literacy patient referral forms piloted by her team in 2012-2013. Male partners, traditionally excluded from antenatal, delivery, and post-natal care in Mozambique, are now formally invited to participate in couples-based services, including HIV counseling and testing after a pilot intervention increased male engagement, leading to higher proportion of women testing for HIV, accepting treatment (if positive), and delivering at the health facility. Working with the Ministry of Health and PEPFAR framework, Dr. PEPFAR framework, Dr. Audet is testing new education and counseling systems to safely and effectively engage family members in the HIV care of patients.
Co-Director
Amanda S. Mixon, MD, MS, MSPH
Associate Professor of Medicine, Section of Hospital Medicine
Director, Vanderbilt Implementation and Quality Improvement Core
Dr. Mixon is an Associate Professor who joined the Vanderbilt faculty and the VA Tennessee Valley Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Care Center in 2010. She graduated from Earlham College with a BA and from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center with an MD degree. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine, VA Quality Scholars Fellowship, and Masters of Science in Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her research interests focus on care transitions, the effect of social differences on readmission rates, medication errors across care settings, and de-prescribing in patients with polypharmacy. Her research is funded by VA Health Services Research & Development, PCORI, and NIH and has led to notable invitations including serving as an expert for the WHO’s Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medications without Harm. Dr. Mixon is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Vanderbilt Scholars in T4 Translational Research (V-STTaR) K12 career development program.
Assistant Director
Lyndsay A. Nelson, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, CCQIR Scholarly Series
Dr. Nelson is a Research Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health. She is a social/health psychologist who has helped lead large, multi-site, behavioral clinical trials to improve diabetes management in both federally qualified health centers and academic medical centers. Dr. Nelson also has expertise in patient and stakeholder engagement, and in the design and usability of technology-delivered interventions. Broadly, her research goals include designing digital tools that effectively engage underserved patients to help reduce health differences and implementing these tools in routine clinical care. Dr. Nelson has received extensive training in implementation science through the Vanderbilt Scholars in T4 Translational Research K12 program and the Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health. She is a core faculty member in Vanderbilt’s Center for Diabetes Translation Research, the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center, and the Vanderbilt Center for Effective Health Communication.
Updated 6/23/2025