CMHSR Research Staff Directory
Elizabeth Aaker, BA - Research Coordinator
Consults on data analysis for multiple center projects, including the Family Options Project. Assists in preparation and writing of funding proposals. Leads efforts to collaborate and coordinate internal research agendas with DMH and other outside agencies. Has recently implemented and programmed Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) software for the DMH Consumer Satisfaction Survey.
Research Interests: Evolution and development of innovative research methodologies. Translation of research into comprehensive, usable forms for policy makers. Mental health policy change at both state and federal levels.
Phone: (508) 856-8745
Email: Elizabeth.Aaker@umassmed.edu
Jodi Adams, MA – Research Coordinator
Collaborates with the clubhouse research team in all aspects of clubhouse related research projects. Coordinates project activities for the Mental Health Agency Research Network, an effort to develop a statewide network for research collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Research Interests: Adult and child mental health, translational research, and suicide prevention.
Phone: (508) 856-8814
Email: Jodi.Adams@umassmed.edu
Karen Albert, MS – Project Director II
Manages the Family Options Project, which includes evaluation and implementation studies of a family-centered wraparound intervention for families living with parental mental illness. Oversees all aspects of research projects including development of research protocols, preparation of IRB documents, recruiting research participants, and training of research interviewers.
Research Interests: Evaluation of mental health services for families. Violence and mental illness. Co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
Phone: (508) 856-8725
Email: Karen.Albert@umassmed.edu
Jonathan C. Clayfield, MA, LMHC – Project Director II, Assistant Director of Development & Training of the Massachusetts Mental Health Diversion & Integration Program
Manages the statewide DMH Consumer Satisfaction Survey. Provides Crisis Intervention & Risk Management of Emotionally Disturbed Persons training to police and criminal justice personnel. Provides technical assistance to organizations interested in developing mental health diversion programs. Leads effort in developing a mental health attitudinal assessment tool to help gauge changes in police attitudes toward persons with mental illness in response to the mental health crisis trainings.
Research Interests: Mental health and law. Mental health crisis training of law enforcement. Diversion of offenders with mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into appropriate treatment. Employment of consumers in research and training roles.
Phone: (508) 856-8721
Email: Jonathan.Clayfield@umassmed.edu
Nathan E. Cook, MA - Research Coordinator II
Coordinates the Risk Needs Study which is part of the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Initiative. Trains new research staff on interviewing and qualitative coding procedures. Conducts interviews with juvenile justice personnel regarding how they assess youth for risk of violence and treatment intervention needs. Manages databases - including data entry, cleaning, error checking, and analysis. Provide technical assistance to juvenile justice agencies regarding screening and assessment procedures.
Research Interests: Psychological development in adolescence, mental health problems among juvenile justice involved youth, risk and needs assessment in juvenile justice, psychopathy and psychopathic traits in youth.
Curriculum Vitae
Phone: (508) 856-4263
Email: Nathan.Cook@umassmed.edu
Susan Phillips, BS - Center Research Coordinator II
Coordinates dissemination and presentation of Center research findings and materials. Provides specialized design and software skills to center studies and creates all dissemination materials. Manages multiple center staff and allocates on-going support for center projects.
Research Interests: Dissemination and presentation of research findings and materials. Coordination of undergraduate internships. Consumer satisfaction with services in inpatient settings. Working with consumers as researchers in an academic setting.
Phone: (508) 856-8739
Email: Susan.Phillips@umassmed.edu
Suzanne Garverich, BA – Research Coordinator II
Coordinates site visits and data management for the Observational Descriptive Study of IRB Practices. Assists in development and on-going analysis of qualitative data.
Research Interest: Ethics in research. Processes of group decision making. Qualitative data analysis.
Phone: (508) 334-0548
Email:
Suzanne.Garverich@umassmed.edu Bernice Gershenson, MPH – Data Analyst
Manages and analyzes data looking at arrest patterns among youth in the mental health systems. Provides analytical support to the Family Options Project. Conducts secondary analysis of data from the National Evaluation Study.Works large public and private datasets. Expertise working with Access, SAS, SPSS and N6 software.
Research interests: Service needs of parents and children with mental illness. Services needs of families with parental mental illness. Services for transition age youth with mental illness. Involvement of transition age youth with the criminal justice system. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Phone: (508) 856-6946
Email: Bernice.Gershenson@umassmed.edu
Jack Grillo - Research Assistant
Provides on-going assistance to the Observational Descriptive Study of IRB Practices by facilitating data entry, and assisting with other office tasks. Participates in the Consumer Workgroups to disseminate information and review new proposals for human subject protection. Participates in the Central Massachusetts Area Research Monitoring Committee. Co-Chair of the Consumer Advisory Council.
Research Interests: ICCD Clubhouses, Consumer mental health and advocacy, Rehabilitation.
Email: John(jack)@umassmed.edu
Shannon M. Maney, MA - Project Manager
Provide technical assistance for Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument (MAYSI-2) and MAYSIWARE (electronic version of the MAYSI-2) users world-wide. Currently working on a new version of MAYSIWARE for Windows Vista.
Research Interests: Malingering, psychopathy, competencies, criminal responsibility, risk assessment, juvenile justice, and sex offenders.
Email: nysap@umassmed.edu
James McDonald, Jr, AS - Departmental Assistant
Presents to police and first responders at various trainings and conferences regarding their interactions with persons with mental illness in crisis. Provides on-going assistance to center studies by facilitating data entry, replication of materials and other office tasks.
Research Interests: The interaction between persons with mental illness and police and first responders.
Phone: (508) 856-8739
Email: James.McDonald@umassmed.edu
Richard Rondeau, MS - Research Coordinator II
Provides training and technical assistance for the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument (MAYSI-2) as part of the Models for Change System Reforms in Juvenile Justice.
Research Interests: Mental health screening and assessment. Community re-entry programs. Predicting recidivism in juveniles offenders.
Phone: (508) 856-8740
Email: Richard.Rondeau@umassmed.edu
Kristen Roy-Bujnowski, MA - Research Associate
Serves as Coordinator of Research for the Massachusetts Mental Health Diversion and Integration Program. Provides specialized data analysis for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.
Research Interests: Legal and criminal justice issues in mental health services delivery. Program evaluation. GIS applications for mental health services and criminal activity. Promotion of healthy lifestyles for persons with severe and persistent mental illness. Vital statistics surveillance.
Phone: (508) 856-8723
Email: Kristen.Roy@umassmed.edu
Antonia Seligowski, BA-Research Associate
Conducts site visits and interviews study participants for the Observational Descriptive Study of IRB Practices. Assists in the analysis of qualitative data and data management.
Research Interests: PTSD in returning service members/family re-integration following deployment; risk and protective factors of postpartum depression during the antepartum period ; assessment and treatment of postpartum depression
Phone: (508) 856-8807
Email: Antonia.Seligowski@umassmed.edu
Lorna J. Simon, MA - Data Analyst
Conducts data analysis, presents results and provides specialized programming support to center faculty and staff.Consults on a wide variety of center studies.
Research Interests: Competing commitments in clinical trials. Evaluation of a pilot program to provide housing and other services to the chronically homeless. Institutional Review Board research. Criminal involvement of people with mental illness. Mental health issues of transition-aged youth. Prescription of opioids to people with psychiatric disorders presenting with pain to the emergency department. Mental health consumer satisfaction surveys. Research methods and statistics.
Phone: (508) 856-8720
Email: Lorna.Simon@umassmed.edu
Lisa M Smith, BA - Research Associate
Phone: (508) 856-8734
Kim Trettel Smith, MA, LMHC – Research Coordinator
Coordinates the Adaptation of Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) for Transition Age Youth Project. Hires, trains, and supervises project interviewers. Provides support for a number of CMHSR projects with regards to database development, data analysis, dissemination and presentation of research findings and materials. Updates CMHSR Website.
Research Interests: Transition Age Youth, Families with parental mental illness. Violence and mental illness.
Phone: (508) 856-8735
Email:
Kim.Smith @umassmed.edu
Tara Zandi, BS - Research Associate
Coordinates site visits for the “Development of a Self-report Measure of Dual Diagnosis Capability for Addiction and Mental Health Programs”. Recruits participants and conducts interviews with mental health and addiction agencies throughout central Massachusetts to measure the program’s capacity for providing integrated treatment for co-occurring addiction and mental illness problem. Provides assistance with the “Observational Descriptive Study of IRB Practices” databases which involves data entry and error checking.
Research Interests: Effective and parallel treatments for persons suffering from co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems.
Recruits participants and collects data for a study of P
renatal and Postpartum Emotional Health Screening (PEHS) for women in Central Massachusetts.
Phone: (508) 856-8726
Email: s
Tara.Zandi@umassmed.edu
CMHSR Administrative Staff
Paul C. Newton - Academic Administrator
Provides administrative assistance to faculty and researchers in the preparation of all funding proposals insuring compliance with granting agency guidelines. Advises and assists research and administrative personnel in the areas of staffing, recruitment, counseling, compensation, and benefit policies and procedures. Provides information and guidance to faculty and postdoctoral researchers regarding internal and external funding opportunities and for the pre and post award activity relating to grant management. Represents the department at internal and external administrative meetings. Serves as liaison with other UMMS departments, such as Human Resources, Research Funding Services, and Financial Services.
Phone: (508) 856-8737
Email: Paul.Newton@umassmed.edu
Ginger Burke - Staff Accountant
Supports staff with grant and contract submissions. Monitors grants, contract awards, and the CMHSR department funds. Projects budgets for fiscal year planning.Monitors faculty and staff efforts on grants, contracts, and department funds. Prepares all payroll forms to correctly distribute personnel to their appropriate funding sources.
Phone: (508) 856-6577
Email: Ruth.Burke@umassmed.edu
Margaret A Duggan - Administrative Assistant
Supports the Acting Director of the Center for Mental Health Services Research. Serves as project administrator for the CMHSR: external and internal seminar series, faculty searches, team meetings, and other special assignments.Provides administrative assistance to the Director of Psychology, UMMS/UMMHC, in developing a psychology network within the University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care, and affiliated mental health centers throughout the Commonwealth.Coordinates the Psychology Internship Program, which is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. Coordinates the orientation and didactics schedules; processes all applications for enrollment, disseminating those applications to the internship supervisors for rating, and keeping a data base for the program. Provides information and statistics to be included in the APA annual report. Organizes applicant interviews, and administers the selection process for incoming interns.
Phone: (508) 856-5812
Email: Margaret.Duggan@umassmed.edu
Mary Jo Halloran - Administrative Assistant to Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Dept of Psychiatry, the Acting Director of CMHSR, and CMHSR and Psychiatry Faculty.
Acts as primary focal point and intermediary in communicating information to Faculty members in the Department of Psychiatry and CMHSR Faculty members. Draft, review, type, and distribute routine correspondence.. Calendar management for Vice Chair and Director of CMHSR. Assists Vice Chair with Clinical Research Leadership Committee by attending weekly meetings, recording Minutes, and gathering/distributing pertinent information/documentation as needed. Organizes and schedules: visits to the CMHSR, conferences, seminars, meetings, and interview schedules. Coordinates travel logistics for both Vice Chair and Director of CMHSR
Phone (508) 856-8738
Email: Mary-Jo.Halloran@umassmed.edu
Lillian Tartaglia, AS - Financial Assistant.
Offers highly experienced administrative and financial assistance to faculty and staff. Provides diversified and complex bookkeeping for all department accounts. Maintains computerized accounting systems for center funds.
Phone: (508) 856-8710
Email: lillian.tartaglia@umassmed.edu
Amy J. Thornton, BS - Administrative Support
Provides administrative assistance/support to the faculty on the Models for Change Project.
Phone: (508)856-8736
Email: amy.thornton@umassmed.edu
Sierra Williams - Research Assistant
Provides on-going support to various center projects. Assists in coordinating interview materials and distributing recruitment materials for the Family Options Project. Facilitates data entry and assists in multiple project tasks.
Research Interests: Consumer Satisfaction. Parental Mental Illness.
Phone: (508) 334-8734
Email: Sierra.Williams@umassmed.edu