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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.

Kristie McKinley is a federal IT and business development leader with more than 33 years of experience supporting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Dr. Michael Plotzke is a senior health economist with expertise in the area of Medicare payment policy, the organization of healthcare providers and quality measurement. His work typically involves the analysis of large datasets such as Medicare claims, assessment and enrollment data. Dr. Plotzke serves as principal investigator for multiple projects with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  On the “Home Health Prospective Payment System and Hospice: Analysis Support and Monitoring” project, Dr. Plotzke leads a team of researchers in analyzing trends in Medicare hospice and home health usage and constructing large-scale payment reform options for both benefits.  Dr. Plotzke also leads the “Evaluation of the Medicare Care Choices Model” project that evaluates a new payment model for end-of-life care that is being tested with 141 hospice providers.  This project involves analysis of existing administrative data and collection of new data through surveys of caregivers, surveys of hospice providers and in-depth case studies of hospice providers participating in the model.

Teresa Mota, BSN, RN is an Associate/Nurse Researcher and a sought-after clinical researcher on federal and state projects emphasizing aging, long-term care, and improving the care experience. Mota has an extensive clinical and health services research background in geriatric nursing, and she specializes in post-acute care, quality improvement (QI) and supporting community-based providers and stakeholders to assist them in the identification of best-practices, develop resources and tools, communications, and implementation of QI initiatives. Mota also participates in data collection, measurement, analysis, and reporting related to these programs.

Lauren Olsho is a senior health economist and evaluator with expertise in random assignment, quasi-experimental evaluation methods, economic modeling methodology, and advanced statistical and econometric analysis.Olsho’s primary research interests are in health, nutrition and health behaviors in vulnerable populations – including the elderly, the poor, program participants, minorities, arrestees and at-risk youth.Olsho recently served as principal investigator on a cluster random assignment evaluation of the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality On-Time Falls Prevention Initiative, a clinical decision support intervention to reduce falls in long-term care settings.

Melanie Metropolit is a public health strategist with more than 20 years of experience across federal health, research, and international development initiatives.

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.

Matthew Eby has over 20 years of leadership experience in supporting life science research and consulting for military, federal public health, and international agencies. His diverse career spans basic and applied research on environmental bioremediation, designing nanomaterials to combat antimicrobial resistance, and protecting our nation against bioterrorism. He also led federal and international agencies in modernizing public health systems and pandemic response efforts. Clients have included the Air Force, Navy, Army, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and United Arab Emirates. He  has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications with 1000+ citations. He also is an active supporter of local community initiatives that tackle affordable housing, food insecurity, and systemic poverty.

ZeAmma Brathwaite has over 20 years of experience partnering with private organizations and federal agencies to improve access to care and health outcomes for individuals and communities. A certified project management professional, Brathwaite has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary teams in the design, implementation, and evaluation of complex, large-scale transformation efforts using improvement science methods and tools to accelerate change.