Staff

Jeannette Beaver

Jeannette Beaver is the Finance Manager for the Center for Evidence-based Policy. Her major responsibilities are to oversee the administrative procedures and financial affairs of the Center and to support the Department Administrator and Leadership Team in the areas of finance and accounting management, grants and contracts management, and financial strategic planning.

Prior to joining the Center, Jeannette was the Management Services Officer for the UC San Diego Rady School of Management where she was in charge of the financial, human resources and facilities and space planning units of the school. She also served for four years as the Business Operations Manager for the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering under the leadership of Dean Frieder Seible. Jeannette was responsible for managing a $3.5M annual operating budget in addition to $60M in endowments, $10M in foundation funds and $20M in faculty startup funds. In addition, Jeannette served for over 3 years as the fiscal specialist in the UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology. In this role, she was responsible for the department’s payroll, finance and accounting, and contracts and grants management.

MYLIA CHRISTENSEN

Mylia Christensen is the Assistant Director of Planning for the Center for Evidence-based Policy. She is currently the Project Director for the Medicaid Evidence-based Decisions Project.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Christensen was a Vice President at AON Employee Benefit Consulting. She also served for six years as the Administrator of the State of Oregon’s Public Employees’ Benefit Board, responsible for Oregon’s largest employee benefit program. In the early nineties Ms. Christensen was a Vice President of Operations and Regional Director for the Oregon Health Plan enrollment broker project with Benova, Inc.

Ms. Christensen has extensive strategic planning experience within healthcare organizations. She was the Director of Program Development and Physician Services for Legacy Portland Hospital System and the Administrator of Women’s Health Services at Good Samaritan Hospital. In her career she has worked in almost all facets of healthcare from clinical settings to hospital and healthcare system management, strategic planning and administration.

ED CLARK, MD

Ed Clark is a consultant on medical imaging (radiology) at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. In this capacity he authors most of the MED reports on imaging topics and contributes to several other reports.

Dr. Clark practiced radiology in Portland, Oregon from 1975 through 2006 in both hospital and outpatient settings. He retired from active clinical practice in 2006.

Dr. Clark received a Masters of Health Administration degree from the University of Colorado in 1994. He served as Northwest Medical Director for HealthHelp from 2001 through 2004. In that role, he worked with insurance companies to try to reduce the number of inappropriate imaging studies being requested by physicians. He currently reviews cases for insurance companies on coverage issues and does peer review for insurance companies and attorneys.

KATHRYN CLARK

Kathryn Clark is the Administrative Coordinator for the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. In this role she assists the program with organizational outreach and support, and coordinating a yearly series of meetings.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Clark managed an eco-lodge outside of Granada, Nicaragua. While there she worked to find and develop a sustainable fresh water supply for the hotel and local population. Ms. Clark also co-founded CITIES Project High School, a project-based charter school serving at-risk youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. CITIES Project High School was founded upon the conviction that true education occurs in the context of community rebuilding. Ms. Clark served as both an administrator and teacher responsible for curriculum development, compliance reporting and operations.

Ms. Clark earned a B.A. in Global Studies and Spanish at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She spent a year (2001–2002) of her undergraduate education enrolled in an international honors program at the Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands.

PAM CURTIS, MS

Pam Curtis is the Assistant Director of the Center for Evidence-based Policy. She works on policy application, consensus building and directs the Center’s work in engaging diverse healthcare stakeholders in the Effective Health Care Program (EHC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Ms. Curtis is also a consultant to public and private organizations on organizational and policy development, consensus building and management.

Prior to working at the Center, Ms. Curtis served as a policy advisor to two-term Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber on children’s issues and human services. In this role Ms. Curtis authored the Governor’s initiatives on juvenile crime prevention and early childhood education. Prior to joining the Governor’s staff, Ms. Curtis was the Interim Director and Field Manager for the Oregon Commission on Children and Families. She has additional professional experience in local government and the private sector fields of substance abuse, adoption, child abuse prevention, youth development and policy and organizational development. Ms. Curtis has authored articles and reports on policy coordination, mental health system reorganization, alcohol and drug treatment improvement and comprehensive planning.

Ms. Curtis holds a Masters degree from the University of Wisconsin, and has received several honors for her work. Among them, the Mental Health Award for Excellence, State of Oregon 2002; the Distinguished Service Award, Citizen’s Crime Commission, 2001; and the Outstanding Service Award, Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, 1999.

LANDON DONSBACH

Landon Donsbach is the Office Manager at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of many facets of the Center including administrative support, network/computer support, telephone support, special projects, and the Center’s web presence, both public and proprietary.

Prior to accepting the position at the Center, Mr. Donsbach worked for over 10 years at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, participating in and administrating a Women’s and Children’s Health Care Research Program with Elizabeth McGlynn, a nationally recognized expert on the issue.

Mr. Donsbach has an A.A. in Commercial Music Performance and a B.A. in English Literature.

MARTHA GERRITY, MD, MPH, PHD

Martha Gerrity is a Clinical Evidence Specialist at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. Her primary assignment is to the Medicaid Evidence-based Decisions (MED) Project where her responsibilities include assisting participating states’ in identifying and prioritizing topics for review, developing key questions related to the topics, reviewing and evaluating evidence, writing policy relevant reports summarizing the evidence, and facilitating participants access to other resources that might inform their policy decisions. Dr. Gerrity works closely with other project staff to assure that MED reports and those produced by outside vendors adhere to appropriate methodology and quality standards and provide education regarding research evidence.

Dr. Gerrity is also an academic general internist at Oregon Health & Science University where she is Professor of Medicine and a staff physician at the Portland VA Medical Center. She continues to see patients on the inpatient wards and in the primary care clinic at the Portland VA Medical Center. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for patients with chronic medical conditions in primary care settings, medical education, and measurement and survey research. Her educational activities include teaching and evaluating evidence-based medicine (EBM) skills. She has been faculty for many national and international workshops on EBM and has served as the Chairperson of the Society of General Medicine’s Evidence-Based Medicine Task Force from 1999 - 2002. In 2004, she and William Tierney, MD became Co-Editors of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Dr. Gerrity graduated from Northwestern University’s Honors Program in Medical Education, a 6-year combined BS/MD program, in 1980. After an internal medicine residency at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Dr. Gerrity pursued fellowship training through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Clinical Scholars Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). During her 8 years at UNC-CH, Dr. Gerrity completed a MPH in epidemiology and a PhD in education. She returned to Portland and OHSU in 1993 to do faculty development and program evaluation for the School of Medicine’s major curriculum revision.

MARK GIBSON

Mark Gibson is Deputy Director of the Center for Evidence-based Policy.

Mr. Gibson served as Chief of Staff to Oregon Senate President John Kitzhaber from 1985-1993. In this role Mr. Gibson supervised the staff of the Senate and advised the President on the full range of issues considered by the Senate. During this time Mr. Gibson participated directly in the drafting and passage of the groundbreaking Oregon Health Plan. From 1995-2003 Mr. Gibson served as Policy Advisor for Health, Human Services, and Labor to Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon. In this role he led Oregon’s numerous health initiatives from Worker’s Compensation Reform to creation of the Oregon Children’s Health Insurance Program as well as reorganization and expansion of the Oregon Health Plan. Most recently Mr. Gibson led the effort to enact the Practitioner Manager Prescription Drug Plan and served as Co-Chair of the Reforming States Group.

In addition to his work with the Center, Mr. Gibson is currently a program officer for the Milbank Memorial Fund.

Cathy Gordon, MPH

Cathy Gordon is a Program Administrator at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. Her primary focus is engaging healthcare stakeholders in the Effective Health Care Program (EHC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). In this role she assists stakeholders to develop health care topics for consideration by AHRQ for comparative effectiveness or effectiveness research reviews, and provides staff support and guidance to increase interface between stakeholders and scientific processes.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Gordon worked as a Research Associate for the John M. Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communication Science Center at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). The Eisenberg Center develops plain language summaries of comparative effectiveness research reviews for the Effective Health Care Program. Ms. Gordon oversaw and conducted qualitative research activities with various stakeholder audiences including consumers, clinicians and policymakers. Ms. Gordon’s previous research experience includes work on a number of NIH funded clinical trials, as well as social services and health policy research. She also has a background in clinical care where she worked in allied health for more than 20 years.

Ms. Gordon has a Master’s in Public Health in Health Education/Health Promotion.

LORE JOPLIN, MPA

Lore Joplin is a Senior Program Director and Policy Manager at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. In this role she is an active leader in engaging diverse healthcare stakeholders in the Effective Health Care Program (EHC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Prior to her position at the Center, Ms. Joplin was the National Director of Policy and Planning at the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI), where her work included managing a national project focused on implementing evidence-based practices in corrections, and providing technical assistance to state and local public safety systems. Her background also includes work as a senior policy and budget analyst for the Department of Community Justice in Multnomah County, Oregon and a program evaluator for Oregon Judicial Department. Ms. Joplin has authored articles and reports on evidence-based practices in corrections and the courts, organizational development, and collaboration in systems planning.

Ms. Joplin holds a Master’s in Public Administration.

VALERIE KING, MD, MPH

Valerie King is a Clinical Evidence Specialist at the Center for Evidence-based Policy’s Medicaid Evidence –based Decisions (MED) Project and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. From 2005 through 2008 she was the Associate Director of AHRQ’s Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center at OHSU. Dr. King also works as an investigator for the Oregon EPC.
Dr. King has been an author of and served as an advisory panel member and peer reviewer for AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center evidence reports as well as several other systematic reviews. She serves on the AAFP’s Commission on Science, and chairs its Subcommittee on Clinical Practice Guidelines. She was a delegate to the 2006 NIH Consensus Conference on management of abnormal cervical cytology and histology and to the 2008 NICHD workshop on electronic fetal monitoring. She also serves as the AAFP liaison to ACOG’s obstetrical practice bulletins committee.

Dr. King has degrees from the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she also completed residency training. From 1995 through 1997 she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UNC and subsequently completed a fellowship in health services research at that institution. She was an Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit in the UK from 1998 to 1999, studying the application of evidence in maternity care and decision-making. She moved to OHSU in 2004 and completed a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Faculty Scholars fellowship in 2007 that focused on evidence and decision-making.
Dr. King is board certified in both Family Medicine and General Preventive Medicine. She is the director of the combined Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine residency program at OHSU. She also works with the Family Physicians Inquiries Network to help clinicians ask and answer pertinent clinical questions and develop evidence-based patient education materials from those answers and serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Family Practice.

John A. Kitzhaber, MD

John Kitzhaber is the Director Emeritus for the Center for Evidence-based Policy. He was born in Colfax, Washington on March 5, 1947. He graduated from South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon in 1965. He attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, graduating in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in biology. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland, Oregon, and served his internship at General Rose Memorial Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Following his internship, he settled in Roseburg, Oregon where he practiced emergency medicine for over 15 years. In 1978 Dr. Kitzhaber was elected to the Oregon State House of Representatives. In 1980 he was elected to the first of three terms in the State Senate and served as Senate President from 1985 to 1993. His legislative career was marked by active leadership in the areas of public education, community development, environmental stewardship and a wide variety of health care issues including: long-term care, resource allocation and uncompensated care. While Senate President he authored and implemented the groundbreaking Oregon Health Plan. In 1994 he was elected Governor of the State of Oregon and was reelected to a second term in 1998. In January 2003 Dr. Kitzhaber began serving as President of the Estes Park Institute, which conducts six annual educational conferences for community hospitals.

Dr. Kitzhaber serves as the Director Emeritus for the Center for Evidence Based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He holds an endowed Chair on Health Care Policy with The Foundation for Medical Excellence, an Oregon based public, nonprofit educational foundation.

On January 13, 2006 Dr. Kitzhaber launched The Archimedes Movement - committed to building a meaningful opportunity for engagement through which the growing concern over our health care system can be channeled into effective action The goal is to create not only the vision for a more equitable and sustainable system but also the tension necessary for its realization.

Dr. Kitzhaber is an avid fly fisherman and white water rafter. He has one son, Logan, and resides in Portland, Oregon.

HEIDI KRIZ, MPH, RD

Heidi Kriz is a Research Associate for the Medicaid Evidence-based Decisions (MED) Project at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. Her primary responsibilities include complex information retrieval, filtering and analysis, critical appraisal, synthesis of information, and report writing. Ms. Kriz also coordinates the MED Clearinghouse.

Prior to her position at the Center, Ms. Kriz worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the Nutrition Assessment Department on the Women’s Health Initiative study. She did an internship and worked as a Clinical Dietician at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. She has also worked as coordinator for the nutrition and treatment adherence programs in three outpatient HIV/AIDS clinics in Spokane, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Ms. Kriz graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Idaho, and has a Master’s of Public Health with a focus in epidemiology and healthcare administration from Barry University. She is a registered dietitian and has practiced in a variety of in-patient and outpatient settings. She was a recipient of a Paul Allen Foundation grant to provide nutrition services to Hispanic clients living with HIV/AIDS in rural Eastern Washington counties. Ms. Kriz was also selected to present at the 2007 American Public Health Association’s annual conference on “Empowerment models for Latina women to negotiate condom use.”

ALISON LITTLE, MD, MPH

Alison Little is the Director of Clinical Affairs at the Center for Evidence-based Policy, and also serves as Director of the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP). Prior to joining the Center in July 2006, she was the Medical Director of the Health Services Commission for the State of Oregon, which is the public body that created and maintains the Prioritized List of Health Services. This list forms the basis of the Medicaid benefit package in the state of Oregon, and in her role there she was responsible for leading the Commission towards a more evidence-based process of prioritization. For a portion of this time she also served as acting Medical Director of the Oregon Medical Assistance Programs.

Prior to that time, Dr. Little served as medical director of a health plan in central Oregon for seven years, assisting with the growth of the company from a staff of two to over 150. That health plan included managed Medicaid and Medicare products, as well as a commercial line. In her role there she was responsible for quality assurance, utilization management and pharmacy and therapeutics, as well as serving as medical director of the regional Independent Practice Association. Before entering this administrative role, she had a rural family practice in northern Minnesota and central Oregon.

Dr. Little graduated from Pacific University and Medical College of Wisconsin. She completed a residency in Family Practice in Washington state in 1988, and earned a Masters in Public Health at the University of Washington in 1998.

KAY MATTSON, MPH, MSW

Kay Mattson is a Research Associate at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. Her primary focus is engaging healthcare stakeholders in the Effective Health Care Program (EHC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). In this role she assists stakeholders to develop health care topics for consideration by AHRQ for comparative effectiveness or effectiveness research reviews, and provides staff support and guidance to increase interface between stakeholders and scientific processes.

Prior to joining the Center Ms. Mattson worked in planning and program management in health care, human services and low-income housing for over 18 years. She served as the Program Director for the State of Oregon’s Public Employees Benefit Board’s employee health clinic and wellness program where she oversaw a ten-fold increase in employee health screenings and the development of a statewide agency wellness program. She also served as the Program Planning Manager for the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP) where she focused on projects to stabilize persons with disabilities, the homeless, the elderly and families in affordable housing in collaboration with area social service and behavioral health agencies. At HAP Ms. Mattson also served as co-planner on the Supportive Services Plan for the successful Housing and Urban Development HOPE IV grant which launched the re-development of Columbia Villa, Oregon’s largest public housing development. Most recently she has focused on international health and the areas of community health assessments, water, sanitation and hygiene, cross-sector collaborations and evidence-based interventions.

Ms. Mattson has a Master’s in Public Health in International Health and a Master’s in Social Work in Planning, Administration and Management. Her recent international work includes work in, or on behalf of, Indonesia, El Salvador and Haiti. She currently serves as a Public Health Advisor to Oregon State University’s Engineers Without Borders chapter’s water project in El Salvador, and the Portland Professional Chapter’s project in Haiti.

NAOMI PIERCE

Naomi Pierce is the MED Research Assistant II for the MED project at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. In this role she assists the Clinical Evidence Specialist’s team in research and report production. She also assists in MED Clearinghouse posting and updating activities. Ms. Pierce joined the Center in November 2006 as the Administrative Coordinator for the Consumer and Prescriber Grant Program and in May 2008 moved to the MED project as Administrative Coordinator prior to her current position as research assistant.

Previously, Ms. Pierce was the Drug Use Research Management Administrative Program Specialist for Oregon State University’s College of Pharmacy at OHSU. Her background in administrative support ranges from national companies to family owned businesses, including The Skanner Newsgroup in North Portland. She also provides occasional grant and business consulting for non-profit economic and educational programs in underserved areas of Portland.

Ms. Pierce has a B.A. in Communication Arts and an M.A. in Education, both received from Montana State University.

Lynn Rosenberg

Lynn Rosenberg is an Administrative Coordinator at the Center for Evidence-based Policy as part of the Effective Health Care Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In this role she assists the program with organizational outreach and coordinating a yearly series of meetings.

Before coming to the Center, Ms. Rosenberg traversed the country by automobile and spent a month in Costa Rica volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary. She also worked as an events coordinator for Red Hen Press, a publicity assistant for Process Media in Los Angeles, and as a Respite Worker mentoring emotionally disturbed youth in the greater Chicago area.

Ms. Rosenberg graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Psychology from Occidental College after which she earned a Certificate in Book Publishing from the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute.