Office of Research Leadership Team

Amanda Breeden
Amanda Breeden, MA, CRA, (she/her/hers) is the Associate Chief, Research Operations and Sponsored Programs and Research Office in the Office of Research where she provides oversight to a team of grant management, grant accounting, grant contracts and research operations staff. In addition to working in lean-driven grant administrative and operations, Amanda spent years as a grant writer and awardee and served as a peer reviewer for federal grant applications. She holds the CRA certification.

Kym Fash
Kym Fash, CRA, CCRP, (she/her/hers) is the Associate Director of the Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO). She has been working full time in grants administration since 2007 and has experience with multiple funders, including NIH, NASA, NSF, ASPR, AHRQ, and various other federal, foundation and industry partners. Kym also oversees the contracts group within SPARO.

Deborah Rinehart
Deborah Rinehart, PhD, (she/her/hers) is the Associate Director of the Research Methods Core and a senior research scientist in the Center for Health Systems Research in the Office of Research at Denver Health and an associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado. Dr. Rinehart’s research utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods to develop and evaluate the impact of behavioral health interventions and healthcare services. Her research focus is on improving sexual and reproductive health among populations who experience disparities, improving treatment engagement and retention among newly induced buprenorphine patients and patients with methamphetamine induced psychosis, and on research to reduce harm related to substance use.

Kelley Mancine
Kelley Mancine, MBA, (she/her/hers) is the Associate Director of Research Operations, where she oversees the Clinical Trials Services Team and the Shared Research Staffing team, research lab services and all research data capture services. With a love of A3 process improvement and lean management, Kelley strives to find efficient solutions to complex research processes and to manage her team with a people-centered approach.

Laura Jean Podewils
Laura Jean Podewils, PhD, (she/her/hers) is the Associate Director of Learning Health Systems and Evaluation in the Center for Health Systems Research, where she manages a team of biostatisticians, epidemiologists, data analysts and research associates. She also provides mentorship to PhD and MPH students as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Podewils’s research focuses on addressing social and structural barriers to health, including housing and food insecurity, barriers related to identity, language, culture and justice involvement.