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Sarah J. Shoemaker-Hunt has more than 15 years of experience as a health services researcher and implementation scientist. As an experienced pharmacist, she brings a practice-informed lens to her role conducting mixed-methods studies and evaluations and delivering technical assistance and quality improvement projects for federal health agencies. They include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Clients also include non-governmental organizations. Sarah is the Abt client account lead for AHRQ.

Meghan Henry is a social science researcher with over 15 years of experience in public policy and program evaluation, specifically in the fields of housing and homelessness and the intersection of homelessness and education. Henry has extensive experience leading evaluations, including large data collection efforts, conducting qualitative data collection, data analysis, and outcome evaluations. As project director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, she has considerable experience synthesizing large amounts of information to make the data accessible and actionable for federal, state, local, and philanthropic clients.

Laura Blake has more than 20 years of experience in leading scientific programs and research in the environmental science and policy domain. She has deep expertise in surface water quality restoration and protection and has spent her career designing and implementing scientific studies to support efforts to protect human health and aquatic environments. She has significant knowledge of Clean Water Act rules and regulations and has extensive experience supporting federal and state regulatory programs with implementation of and compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.

Kate Stillman is a technical leader with more than 25 years of experience in program design, systems thinking, evidence generation and use, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and project management. She has deep experience in global development with specialties in health systems strengthening, infectious and vector-borne diseases, maternal and child health, and sustainability. She drives Abt’s efforts to strengthen the generation, management, and use of high-quality data to inform decisions and improve program quality.

Moira Forbes is a health policy leader with over 25 years of experience working with state and federal agencies on Medicaid and CHIP policy and operations. She focuses on providing time-sensitive, evidence-based analysis to support policymaking, operational planning, and program evaluation. She has worked with a wide range of health care stakeholders including providers, employers, public and private payers, foundations, trade associations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other health and human services agencies, state legislatures, and Congress. These diverse experiences help her provide well-informed insights for clients at all stages of the program lifecycle.

Shelby Hickman is a mixed methods research and evaluation professional with 14 years of experience in program evaluation, training and technical assistance, and analysis of criminal and juvenile justice administrative data. Dr. Hickman has expertise in overseeing studies funded by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. She has experience in causal inference methods for both random assignment and quasi-experimental designs. Additionally, she is proficient in qualitative methodologies, such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, cognitive interviews, and observations. Hickman is also an expert in forced labor and human trafficking.

Marianne El-Khoury is a seasoned manager of global health programs. At Abt, she has held senior management and technical roles on USAID-funded projects in health systems strengthening and private sector health. She has also led research and evaluation studies in maternal and child health, and health financing.El-Khoury is currently the Deputy Director of the $209 million Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project, USAID’s flagship project in integrated health systems strengthening. She provides overall leadership, management, and oversight of project activities across more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. She also serves as the Global Development representative for Abt’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Diane Paulsell is an applied social scientist with more than 20 years of experience designing, conducting, and overseeing mixed-methods policy-focused research, including national multi-site studies. She has also led rapid cycle learning and program improvement efforts with a variety of human services programs and a foundation-funded research program on family supportive services. Her areas of expertise range from early care and education to parenting, family engagement, youth development and family supportive policies and programs, including nutrition.

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.