Previous Affiliates

Matt is a PhD student in the economics track of UCLA's interdisciplinary health policy program. Matt's research interests are in health econometrics and industrial organization, and his research focuses on improving healthcare efficiency and quality. Matt previously worked as a statistician at Tufts Medical Center, Harvard School of Public Health, and Precision Health Economics, and also served as an adjunct instructor at Tufts University where he taught courses in health economics and policy.

Miguel is a PhD student in UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. Miguel's research interest include health services research and healthy aging. His doctoral research focuses on measuring the association between sleep disturbances and neurodegenerative diseases. Miguel attained a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA. He previous worked as a project manager in UCLA's Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research.

Ashley Hopkins is a PhD student in the Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy & Management. She is interested in exploring how healthcare organizations consider the characteristics of their consumer bases in the design of transformation models and related benefits, so that the models/benefits are equitable to the consumer base. Previously, Ashley served in strategic roles throughout the healthcare industry including consulting firms, state health departments, commercial insurers, and academic health systems where she worked to develop business strategies, optimize workflows, and make sense of complex policies, regulations, and business processes. Ashley holds a BA in Health & Societies and Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH from Yale University.

Nadia Akram, MSW, is the program coordinator for the UVAS Consortium. Her research interests include the implementation and evaluation of health system-based interventions and improving quality of care for older adults. Nadia currently also manages the Companion Care Program, a volunteer program at UCLA Santa Monica’s Geriatrics Unit. She received her Masters in Social Work from USC and BA in Psychology from Cal State University Northridge.

Dr. Neal Dexit is a Resident in UCLA's David Geffen School of Meidicine. They have helped support UVAS in the Reducing Non-guidelines Concordant Telemetry for Patients in Non-intensive Care Unit Hospital Settings project.

Dr. Zoe Trutner was a previous medical student at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. During her medical training she spent time supporting various projects at UVAS; Evaluation of the Association between 30-day Readmissions and Receipt of Home Health Services in Geriatric Patients; Reducing the Prescribing of Antipsychotics for Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and its Related Dementias (ADRD).

Dr. Preeti Kakani was a medical student in UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine that led the analysis for Evaluating the Effects of the Ambulatory Transition to Telemedicine at UCLA Health on Chronic Disease Management project.

Dr. Alast Ahamdi was a medical student in UCLA'S David Geffen School of Medicine that helped in the Reducing Pre-operative Testing for Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery project.

Bryanna was a pre-medical student that had worked with us in the past on the Reducing Imaging for Low-Back Pain with Behavioral Economics Nudges project.