Faculty Bios
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R. Paul Duncan, PhD, MS, BA (e-mail:
pduncan@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Duncan has been a member of the faculty since 1979. He is a nationally
prominent health services researcher, best known for his studies of
access to various forms of medical and dental care. In recent years,
much of his work has focused on health insurance and the uninsured.
Between 1999 and 2001, he served as Principal Investigator for three
major surveys examining health insurance circumstances in Florida,
Indiana, and Kansas. Dr. Duncan has published widely, including articles
in such prominent journals as Medical Care, and Health Affairs. In
1996, 1997, and 1998, Dr. Duncan was selected "Teacher of the
Year" by the department's graduate students. His current research
includes an evaluation of Florida’s Medicaid Provider Service
Network Demonstration Project, ongoing studies of dental care utilization,
and a study of the characteristics of high-cost hospital patients.
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Rada K. Dagher, PhD, MPH, BS (e-mail:
rdagher@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Dagher joined the faculty at the Department of Health Services
Research, Management, and Policy in 2007. She received her Ph.D. in
Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration with a supporting
program in Public Policy and Inequalities from the University of Minnesota
in July, 2007. Her dissertation investigated using panel data analytic
methods the work and family determinants of postpartum depression
among a cohort of employed women followed from childbirth through
the first postpartum year. Dr. Dagher’s research interests include
family and medical leave policies and postpartum mothers’health,
the work-family interface and workers’health, the determinants
of women’s mental health, and the health care response to intimate
partner violence. She has presented her research at several national
and international conferences including AcademyHealth, the American
Public Health Association, the Eastern Sociological Society, the International
Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, and the National Conference
on Health and Domestic Violence and won a number of awards including
the Best Student Poster Award at AcademyHealth in 2005. Full
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Louis C. Gapenski, PhD, MBA, MS, BS (e-mail:
lgapensk@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Gapenski joined the Program in 1988. He has published numerous
best-selling textbooks on health care finance, is a regular contributor
to the peer reviewed literature, and is the author of a popular self
study program published by the American College of Healthcare Executives.
On twelve separate occasions Dr. Gapenski has received a "Teacher
of the Year" award; the awards have come at the department, college,
and university levels. In addition to teaching here, Dr. Gapenski
holds visiting appointments at the University of Wisconsin and the
Medical University of South Carolina. Projects in progress include
the third edition of his healthcare financial management textbook
and research pertaining to the riskiness of alternative reimbursement
methods. |
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Allyson G. Hall, PhD, MBA, MHS, BBA (e-mail:
ahall@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Hall joined the University of Florida in 2003 and serves as the
Research Director for the University of Florida Center for Medicaid
and the Uninsured. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department
of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy. Currently she
serves as one of the investigators on a project to evaluate Medicaid
reforms in Florida. Prior to joining the University of Florida, Dr.
Hall worked for the United Hospital Fund, the Commonwealth Fund, and
served as an adjunct assistant professor at New York University. At
the United Hospital Fund she served as the principal investigator
on a qualitative research project that examined the quality of primary
care in New York City. She has also worked as a health care consultant
in Guyana and in Jamaica. Dr. Hall is interested in issues related
to access to care for vulnerable populations including Medicaid, the
health care safety net, and primary care delivery systems. Dr. Hall
holds a Ph.D. in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins University School
of Hygiene and Public Health. |
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Jeffrey S. Harman, PhD, MS, BA (e-mail:
jharman@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Harman joined the faculty in 2002. He received his Ph.D. in Health
Services Research, Policy, and Administration from the University
of Minnesota. His current research interests are in mental health
economics and access to mental health services. Dr. Harman recently
received a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the
National Institute of Mental Health to examine the relative role of
social and economic factors on the utilization of mental health services
by depressed elderly persons. Dr. Harman is also principal investigator
on a study designed to assess the effect of providing financial incentives
on adherence to scheduled therapy sessions by patients with major
depression at a low-income community mental health center. His research
has appeared in such journals as Medical Care, Psychiatric Services,
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, and the Journal of
General Internal Medicine. Dr. Harman is a member of the Academy for
Health Services Research and Health Policy, the Gerontological Society
of America, and the International Health Economics Association. |
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Christy Harris Lemak, PhD, MHA, MBA, BS
(e-mail: clemak@phhp.ufl.edu) Christy Harris Lemak has been with the Department since 1998. Her
primary areas of teaching include health care management and strategic
management. She serves as MHA Program Director. Dr. Lemak was awarded
the College's Faculty Leadership Award in 2005, its Teaching Excellence
Award in 2001, and the Department’s teaching award in 2003.
Dr. Lemak's research focuses on study of organizations serving vulnerable
populations. She has published in various journals, including Health
Services Research, Medical Care, Medical Care Research and Review
and Health Care Management. In addition, Dr. Lemak has experience
in healthcare management and strategic planning consulting. Dr. Lemak
serves as an elected member of the UF Faculty Senate, on the board
of a local indigent health care clinic, and in leadership positions
in the Academy of Management Health Care Management Division. |
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Christopher McCarty, PhD (email:chrism@bebr.ufl.edu) Christopher McCarty is a Survey Director of the University of Florida
Survey Research Center (UFSRC), a 75 station CATI lab that specializes
in large-scale health-related surveys. The UFSRC is among the largest
university-based surveys in the country and conducts surveys for the
state of Florida and for other states. McCarty has also served as
a consultant on survey topics in the Republic of Ghana, the Republic
of Mali, and Mexico. Over the past 25 years McCarty has had an active
research agenda in the area of social networks, specializing in personal
network research. These include the Reverse Small World, the Network
Scale-up Method and extensive research into personal network elicitation
techniques. McCarty’s most recent interests have focused on
structure in personal networks and how that relates to attitudinal
and behavioral outcomes. He has developed a software program called
Egonet for the collection and analysis of personal networks. He is
currently using Egonet to develop a personal network measure of acculturation
for migrants to Spain and the US. |
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Niccie L. McKay, PhD, BS (e-mail:
nmckay@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. McKay is a health economist who joined the faculty in 1997 and
served as Chair of the department from 1997-2003. Her research has
been published in a variety of journals, including Health Economics,
Inquiry, and Health Care Management Review. Research interests include:
linkages between costs and outcomes; magnitude and nature of administrative
costs; and factors influencing hospital uncompensated care. |
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Mary Peoples Sheps, BSN, MS, DrPH
(email: mpeoplessheps@phhp.ufl.edu) Mary Peoples-Sheps is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy. Dr. Peoples-Sheps received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Saint John College, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1969, a Master of Science in Nursing, with a major in Maternal and Child Health, from Boston University in 1973, and the Doctor of Public Health degree in Health Administration from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 1981. She practiced public health nursing throughout the 1970s. From 1981 until 1998, Dr. Peoples-Sheps was on the faculty of the UNC School of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health, Public Health Nursing, and Public Health Practice and Leadership, She also served the School as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and as the first Associate Dean for Public Health Practice. In 2004, she joined the faculty of UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions to develop infrastructure and to integrate public health programs, values, and concepts into the college. In 2006, she was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. For the past 25 years, Dr. Peoples-Sheps’ teaching, service,
and research has focused on surveillance of health problems and program
planning, evaluation and performance measurement, particularly in
behalf of mothers, children, and other vulnerable population groups. |
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Robert Weech-Maldonado, PhD, MBA, BS (e-mail:
rweech@phhp.ufl.edu) Dr. Weech-Maldonado joined the faculty in 2004. His research examines
the impact of organizational and market factors on access, quality,
and costs of care for vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly
and racial/ethnic minorities. He currently is the PI for a subcontract
with RAND/DHHS Office of Minority Health to develop a cultural competency
assessment tool for hospitals (CCATH). He was also the principal investigator
for an AHRQ-funded project examining racial/ethnic differences in
CAHPS® reports and ratings of care. Recently, he completed a project
funded by the Center of Rural Pennsylvania with the purpose of examining
the supply and demand of long-term care services in Pennsylvania.
In a NIA-funded project, he studied the impact of nursing home quality
on costs and financial performance. His research appears in journals
such as Health Services Research, Health Care Management Review, Journal
of General Internal Medicine, Health Services Management Research,
and Journal of Health Care Finance. |
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