Center for Health Systems Research (CHSR)

  • Holly M. Frost, MD FAAP, is the Senior Director of the Center for Health Systems Research, a Senior Research Scientist, and Pediatrician at Denver Health. She is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado. Her work focuses on using Learning Health Systems and research to rapidly improve care for patients. Her personal research portfolio focuses on pragmatic trials for antimicrobial stewardship and best practices for management of common outpatient infections including acute otitis media and conjunctivitis.

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  • Deborah Rinehart, PhD 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 research to reduce harm related to substance use.

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  • Aiden Gilbert, MPA (she/her/hers), is a Research Associate in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Aiden supports a variety of studies related to substance use disorders, sexual health and family planning, and antibiotic stewardship.

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  • Karina Duarte, MPH, is a Research Associate at the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Karina manages and supports research activities for health-related projects, including recruitment, data management and analysis, and administrative tasks.

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  • Laura Jean Podewils, PhD, 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. Her research focuses on addressing social and structural barriers to health, including housing and food insecurity, barriers related to identity, language, and culture, and justice involvement.

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  • Michael Joshua Durfee, MSPH, is the Biostatistics Manager in the Center for Health Systems Research, where he provides analytics support and oversees quantitative research on several grant and operationally supported projects. His research focuses on maternal health, chronic opioid therapy, housing, and diabetes prevention.

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  • Abbie Steiner, MS MPH, is the Lead Epidemiologist in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, she provides research and evaluation services for teams across Denver Health, with a strong focus on public health and refugee, immigrant and newcomer health. She also serves as the lead evaluator for Denver Health’s Equity Blueprint.

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  • Amy Buros Stein, PhD, is a Lead Biostatistician in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Amy is responsible for designing studies, analyzing data with advanced statistical methods, and interpreting results of observational and clinical data in research.

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  • Thomas Gray, MSW MPH, is a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Thomas supports project coordination, design and implementation of research and evaluation, and application of quantitative and qualitative methods for analysis and interpretation of data.

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  • Nancy Wittmer, MPH, is a Senior Research Data Analyst in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Nancy queries, analyzes and reports data in areas of research, health equity and quality improvement.

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  • Silvia Gutierrez-Raghunath (She/her/hers), MBA, is a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Health Systems Research. She is working on several programs to assist with all phases of implementations of bilingual Spanish/English research studies: certified Patient Navigator, Diabetes Coach, qualitative data methods, facilitating focus groups, developing and doing data collection through surveys, conducted recruitment and assessment interviews. She had a variety of experiences both in community-based programs and research. Her main research/project interests are working to improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations. Silvia has spent more than 27 years’ experience working with Latino population in Colorado.

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  • Amy Keith, MPH (she/her/hers), is a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Health Systems Research. In this role, Amy supports pediatric infectious disease research projects specializing in IRB compliance, REDCap database management, participant enrollment, and other administrative duties.

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  • Alia Al-Tayyib (she/her), PhD, MSPH, is a Senior Research Scientist with the Public Health Institute at Denver Health and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Al-Tayyib's primary interests lie at the intersection of infectious diseases and vulnerable populations. Her research has focused on addressing the social, behavioral, and structural determinants of risk and developing interventions to keep people engaged in care. The overarching goal of her work is to reduce the spread of infections, decrease substance use, and improve public health.

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  • Joshua T.B. Williams, MD is a General Pediatrician at Denver Health and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Williams studies vaccine hesitancy and delivery, with a focus on understanding determinants of hesitancy in diverse communities and designing interventions to increase vaccination equity. Also, as a Co-Investigator on Denver Health's Vaccine Safety Datalink team, Dr. Williams leads studies to evaluate vaccine safety in coordination with 12 other healthcare systems nationwide.

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  • Ro Periera

Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO)

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

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  • Dan Walker, CRA, (he\him\his) is the Lead Grant Analyst in the Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO). In this role, he manages Denver Health’s use of Cayuse (pre-award) and Infor (post-award) for sponsored program/grant management. Dan also leads all external grant fiscal audits, including Denver Health’s annual federal Single Audit.

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  • Kym Fash (she/her pronouns), CRA, CCRP, is the Associated 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.

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  • Sarah Haley, MBA, CRA, is the Grants Manager in the Sponsored Programs and Research Office where she manages a team of five Grant Analysts and Senior Grant Analysts.  In this role, Sarah also manages approximately $20M in grant funding from pre-award to grant closeout.

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  • Rowan Hollinshead (they/them), CRA, is a Grants Manager in the Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO). They manage a team of five Grant Accountants and one Time & Effort Administrator as well as a small portfolio of projects for which they are responsible for sponsor invoicing and financial reporting.

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  • JT Beaman (he/him/his), is a Grant Accountant in the Sponsored Programs & Research Office (SPARO). His primary responsibilities are sponsor invoicing and financial reporting for grants and sponsored programs within the following departments: ACUTE, CHS, Laboratory, Nursing, OBGYN, Office of Education, Orthopedics, Radiology, and Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety Research.

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  • Matthew Manuel Espinoza, BS, is the Contracts Coordinator for the Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO) where he maintains the SPARO contract database and coordinates all incoming and outgoing grants and contracts

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  • Richelle Johnson (she/her/hers), MBA, is a Senior Grant Accountant. She works predominantly with the Denver Health department of Public Health and her focus is preparing monthly invoices with a primary emphasis on responding to the requests of the sponsors and the department. She also works on researching and resolving internal Grant Accounting departmental closeouts and related entries.

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  • Gail Leidigh, CRA, is a Sr. Grant Financial Analyst in the Sponsored Programs and Research Office. Gail supports the ACUTE, Nursing, OB/GYN, Office of Health Equity, Center for Health Systems Research, Office of Research, Pediatrics, and Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety departments. She is also the administrator for the Greenphire gift card system and assists with Cayuse administration.

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  • Wyatt Nelson is a Grant Accountant in the Sponsored Programs & Research Office (SPARO). His primary responsibilities are sponsor invoicing and financial reporting for grants and sponsored programs within the following departments: Behavioral Health, Emergency Medicine, Medicine, Office of Research, Operations, Pediatrics, Public Health, RMPDS-Poison Center and Surgery. He is also responsible for preparing payment requests for Federally Sponsored Grants.

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  • Denise Queen, JD, (she/her/hers) is the Grants Contract Manager in the Sponsored Programs & Research Office (SPARO). In this role, she serves as the primary central services contact regarding all sponsored projects and research related agreements.

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  • Dawn C. Ramirez is the Senior Time and Effort Administrator within the Sponsored Programs and Research Office (SPARO). She is responsible for coordinating all effort reporting compliance on behalf of Denver Health. She is instrumental in ensuring effort is reported timely and accurately; providing routine reporting to departments; answering questions and providing training; and resolving and escalating issues as appropriate.

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  • Patricia (Trish) Rea, CRA (she/her/hers), is a Grant Financial Analyst for the Department of Medicine and Behavioral Health. She provides pre-award support to Principal Investigator’s submitting proposals to federal and non-federal sponsors for grant funding – budgeting, Cayuse, sponsor portals, submissions and post-award support – contract reviews, purchasing requisition approvals, invoice approvals.

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  • Karon Schleigh, MSA, CRA, (she/her) is a Sr. Grant Accountant in the Sponsored Programs & Research Office (SPARO).Karon’s primary responsibilities are invoicing and financial reporting for sponsored programs and grants in Ambulatory Care Services, Community Health Services and Outpatient Behavioral Health Services.

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  • Megan Stevens, MBA, is a Grant Financial Analyst within the Sponsored Programs and Research Office supporting non-clinical trials projects for the CHS department. In this role, Megan assists with grant submissions, monitors project expenditures to meet DHHA and sponsor guidelines, and is the support resource for policy and regulation adherence.

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  • Charis Tatman, BSBA, is a Senior Grant Accountant in the Sponsored Programs & Research Office (SPARO).Her primary responsibilities are sponsor invoicing and financial reporting for grants and sponsored programs within the following departments: Clinical Trials, Office of Medicine & Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety.

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  • Erika Tovar, BA, is the Grant Analyst for Emergency Medicine, Laboratory, Orthopedics, Paramedics, Radiology and Surgery. In this role she guides departments in proposals submissions, awards, and project setups.

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  • Tamara Wilde

Research Operations

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

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  • Kelley Madden (She/her/hers), MBA, is the Associate Director of Research Operations, where she oversees the Clinical Trials Services Team and the Shared Research Staffing Team, as well as 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.

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  • Andrew Schaff (He/Him/his), MPH, is a Research Associate in the Research Operations branch of the Office of Research. Andrew provides support for several research software used at Denver Health, including REDCap, Qualtrics, and ORCiD.

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  • Amber Alcaraz

Clinical Trial Services

  • Tyson Peppler (He/Him/His), BS, CRA, is a Clinical Trials Grant Analyst in Denver Health’s Research Operations office. His responsibilities include the facilitation of new industry clinical trial start-ups and the financial analysis of ongoing industry clinical trials. Operationally, Tyson ensures study teams have thought critically about study feasibility at Denver Health and teams are aware of all study resources provided by the Office of Research.

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  • Natalia Alejandro (she/her/hers), BS, is a Clinical Trials Sr Analyst in Denver Health’s Research Operations office. Her responsibilities include the facilitation of new clinical trial start-ups and the financial analysis of ongoing clinical trials, particularly those with federal and non-industry funding. Operationally, Natalia ensures study teams have thought critically about study feasibility at Denver Health and teams are aware of all study resources provided by the Office of Research.

Shared Staffing Services

  • Rachel Miller (she/her/hers) is a Research Project Manager. Rachel supports Research Operations with developing research infrastructure and standard operating procedures for research staff as well as developing and training staff under our Shared Staffing Model. In addition, Rachel supports research under the direction of Dr. Connie Price on special pathogens in the Biocontainment Unit. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Theresa Morin (She/her/hers), MA, is a Research Project Manager. In this role, Theresa oversees all aspects of Dr. Holly Frost’s research projects including budget management, regulatory organization, and study intervention implementation. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Monica Martinez, MS, is a Research Project Manager for the OB/GYN and In-Patient Pediatric Department. In this role Monica manages and provides oversight for various research related programs as assigned; mentors and supervises staff, cross-functional team members and indirect contributors conducting participant and data management; and all other research administrative duties for the department. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Misha Brtnikova (she/her/hers), is a Research Project Coordinator. Misha supports Drs. Simon Hambidge, Joshua Williams, and Laura Hurley on projects related to vaccine safety and community perceptions towards vaccines. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Ileana Barron, MD, MPH (she/her/hers), is a Research Associate. Currently, her role is focused on conducting subject-related activities and database management. Specifically, she supports Dr. Haley Ringwood on research around sleep and obesity in Mexican American toddlers. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Karen Uvina (She/her/hers) is a Research Assistant in the Office of Research. In this role, Karen manages and monitors data for various projects as well as complete various community-based research/evaluation objectives. She is part of the Research Operation’s Shared Research Staffing Model.

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  • Lucy Dorado Arredondo (She/her/hers) is a Medicine Research Assistant Intern for the Diabetes Prevention Program at Denver Health, which works in conjunction with Vuela por Salud. Lucy provides data entry and data cleaning support to these projects working in a variety of data collection programs (Excel, Smartsheet, and REDCap).