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Dr. Fiona Mactaggart is a multi-disciplinary technical advisor with more than 10 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL); infectious disease control; and public health. As a co-lead of Abt's MERL portfolio, she draws on complexity theory and scientific methods to help clients test what works, discover why it works, and provide timely evidence-based recommendations to inform important decisions about policy and practice. Mactaggart contributes to business development, programme delivery, and thought leadership. She works in five key areas: monitoring (e.g., design of digital tools and visualisation platforms) research (e.g., cross-sectional survey design), evaluation methodologies (e.g., contribution analysis), learning (e.g., portfolio level evidence-informed strategic decision making), and cross-cutting MERL capabilities (e.g., adaptive management and GEDSI). Mactaggart has worked extensively in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Sean McClellan, Ph.D. is a mixed-methods researcher with over a decade of experience in full cycle health services research. He has experience managing research projects, developing analytic designs, cleaning and analyzing administrative data, fielding rigorous surveys, conducting qualitative interviews, and communicating findings in plain language.

Sarah Gibson is a project-management specialist with 23 years of experience in public policy research. She has more than 20 years of experience managing complex projects, implementing random assignment studies and researching and analyzing policy for clients such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is proficient in project management, including resource management, budgeting and quality control.

Elizabeth Giardino’s evaluation and technical assistance work on housing, community development, asset building, and government innovation policies and programs promotes opportunity and healthy outcomes for people across the U.S. Giardino specializes in leading teams, strategic planning, and relationship building, and has proven expertise in incorporating community-based participatory research into technical assistance engagements.

Adam Schaefer has over 16 years’ experience developing and managing environmental epidemiology research and evaluation projects. He is an expert in the health impacts of environmental exposures and has worked on both national and international projects, focusing on infectious disease, toxicology, health surveillance, and One Health. Before coming to Abt, Schaefer was a researcher at Florida Atlantic University. He has published numerous epidemiological studies in peer-reviewed journals.

David Kaz, a principal associate in Abt’s Social and Economic Policy Division, has nearly 20 years of experience providing technical assistance, training, research, and policy analysis. He has worked on a wide range of programs and policies that affect low-income populations. He has directed, designed, and conducted both large- and small-scale, multi-faceted technical assistance projects for federal and state agencies and other clients and stakeholders. Clients have included the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service, Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, King County, and the City of Seattle. He has worked on workforce legislation with members of Congress.

For media inquiries, please contact: All_Editorial@abtassoc.com Lindsey Freeze has worked in external affairs for nearly 20 years, leading brand, editorial, and advocacy strategies for global development organizations. She has produced multimedia coverage of health barriers and innovations in more than 30 countries. Her work with photojournalists, filmmakers, and issue experts has won awards and led to coverage in such news outlets as The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, the BBC, The Telegraph, Devex, and other media worldwide.

Jodi Anthony, ScD, is a social epidemiologist with over two decades of mixed-methods evaluation, strategic consulting, and technical assistance experience focused on improving health for women, children, and families. Dr. Anthony brings expertise from her work with a variety of federal agencies, including Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Office of Population Affairs. She also has worked with health systems, foundations, city and state governments, universities, and community coalitions.

Anika Vartan has more than 20 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating public health and international development programs to improve access to—and quality of—health care, and increase community participation in social, economic, and political life. Vartan’s expertise is in mixed-methods and qualitative research, project management, health policy analysis, capacity building, adult education and technical assistance, organizational assessment and development, and community-driven development. She has supported the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Federal Drug Administration (FDA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Department of State (DOS) clients.