Meet Your Mohawk Valley PHIP Staff
John May, MD Program Lead and Primary Investigator Dr. May has over 25 years of experience with Department of Health-funded initiatives. He has successfully led state and federally sponsored programs in occupational health, community-based intervention, worksite wellness, safety training, and community health surveillance. He is responsible for organizing the collaborative, overseeing all phases of its activity and evaluation. He works directly with the program coordinator to assure that the project meets goals in a timely manner. He will assure regular and accurate reporting to the board, the community, and the Department of Health.
Aletha Sprague PHIP Supervisor Aletha Sprague is the Supervisor for the Population Health Improvement Program grant. Mrs. Sprague has six years of experience with coordination of NYSDOH contracts, work plans and reporting procedures from her role as a coordinator of the Tobacco Control Program in Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie counties. She will be responsible for organizing and publicizing the Mohawk Valley PHIP board and stakeholder activities and participating in community meetings. Mrs. Sprague will work closely with Drs. May and Strogatz and the NYSDOH to assure timely execution of the program plan.
David Strogatz, PhD - Co-Investigator and Lead Epidemiologist Dr. Strogatz is the Director of the Center for Rural Community Health within Bassett Research Institute of Cooperstown, New York. His graduate training in chronic disease epidemiology was completed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he served on the faculty in Public Health at the University of North Carolina and the University at Albany, State University of New York before coming to Bassett in 2011. Much of his research experience has involved rural populations in eastern North Carolina and upstate New York, in projects addressing the diagnosis and management of chronic conditions, worksite health promotion and injury prevention, and community-based efforts to increase physical activity and healthy diet. His role in PHIP will include providing technical assistance for implementation and evaluation of programs and policies and analyses of primary and secondary data for tracking progress toward Prevention Agenda goals.
Paul Jenkins, PhD Lead Biostatistician Dr. Jenkins leads the Bassett Research Institute Computing and Statistics Center. He has many years of experience in data handling, analysis, and reporting for a wide variety of state and federally funded projects. He will provide design oversight and execution of analytic work of the data coordination and the Evaluation Teams.
Anne Gadomski, MD. MPH Lead Evaluator Dr. Gadomski heads the Bassett Evaluation Studies Team. In recent years she has evaluated several Department of Health smoking-cessation projects. She leads the evaluation team for the NIOSH-designated Northeast Center for Occupational Health. She will monitor measures of overall MV PHIP progress and productivity. She will design the social network analyses. She will oversee production of logic models and timelines for all Prevention Agenda Pilot Projects. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association.
Melissa Scribani, MPH Evaluation Statistician Ms. Scribani has statistical expertise and considerable experience with the Bassett Evaluation Studies Team. She will assist with assessment of the MV PHIP board and stakeholder activities. She will assist Dr. Gadomski with analyses of evaluation measures and will conduct social network analysis, including interpretation of network maps. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association.
Nancy Tallman Research Coordinator Ms. Tallman is a research coordinator with the Bassett Evaluation Studies Team and has years of experience in the collection of survey data and evaluation reporting. She currently leads data collection for a multi-state study of commercial fishing hazards. She will assist Dr. Gadomski with the evaluation of MV PHIP progress and the production of logic models and project timelines. She will assist with assessment of board member and stakeholder activities and preparation of the social network analysis. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association.
Stephen Clark - Administrator Stephen Clark is the Administrative Director for the Research Institute and the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH). Mr. Clark has 16 years of experience as a Research Manager for Bassett Medical Center. He will be responsible for oversight of budget and contracts and will work with Mrs. Sprague and Drs. May and Strogatz to assure that the team has the resources needed to allow for timely execution of the program plan.
Melinda Nieves, MBA Assistant Administrator Melinda Nieves is the business manager for the Bassett Healthcare Network Research Institute. In her position, Melinda is responsible for contracts and grants administrative/financial management, departmental budgeting including assisting principal investigators and project coordinators with preparing their project budget proposals and monthly budget reviews, database management, payroll review, and other office management functions. Prior to her current role, Melinda served as a health services research project coordinator where she worked on the evaluation and improvement of practice performance and health care provider well-being and resilience at Bassett Medical Center, as well as various other projects focusing on implementing innovative ways to improve the patient care delivery system as a whole. This included, but was not limited to, using mobile health technology as a means to deliver high quality patient care for asthma patients, assessing team based care delivery systems, shared decision making, etc. She has experience in quality improvement research, survey development and administration, and mixed methods research. Melinda holds an MBA degree from the American Intercontinental University and has worked in various roles in the health care industry for the last 16 years.
Anna Gleboff Jr. Research Data Analyst Anna Gleboff is a current graduate student at SUNY Albany, completing her Master s in Public Health degree. Previously she worked as an epidemiology intern in sub acute care where she developed and managed a database of healthcare personnel in accordance with NYSDOH guidelines to assist in the reporting of flu vaccination status. While studying at UCLA, Mrs. Gleboff was a consulting and data analytics intern at Resolution Economics LLC where she performed statistical and damages analysis in employment, antitrust, and wage and hour disputes for Fortune 500 organizations. She graduated SUNY Stony Brook with a degree in Economics and a minor in Applied Math and Statistics.
Bonita Gibb Research Assistant Bonita has her Bachelors of Science in psychology from Utica College. Her previous research experience includes studies in nostalgia, art perceptions, odor perceptions, and canine palatability preferences. Her role is to coordinate and document findings at board and stakeholders meetings, assist Mrs. Sprague in execution of work plan deliverables and assist Drs. Strogatz and Jenkins in execution of knowledge gap survey. She is actively involved in stakeholder recruitment, CLAS projects, and communications.
Felicia Johnson Research Assistant Felicia Johnson is a Research Assistant for PHIP. Her bachelors training in Plant Science with a concentration in Horticulture was completed at the State University of New York at Cobleskill in 2011. Much of her research experience has been in agricultural settings, including projects related to land restoration on military training lands throughout the United States as well as yield and performance of feed crop varieties on large dairy farms in the Central New York and Northern Pennsylvania region. Her role will be to coordinate and document findings at board and stakeholders meetings, assist Ms. Sprague in execution of work plan deliverables and assist Drs. Strogatz and Jenkins in execution of knowledge gap survey.
Marcia Kozubek Research Assistant Marcia previously directed Otsego County youth in Reality Check, helping teens organize antitobacco campaigns. In that role she recruited volunteer leaders and drafted work plans that garnered state approval for youth projects. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Otsego County Unit of the American Cancer Society, assisting a local board of directors in raising more than $80,000 annually for cancer research. For a time Kozubek also served as the assistant director of public relations for Hartwick College. As a Research Assistant working with PHIP, she will document findings at board and stakeholder meetings, assist Mrs. Sprague in execution of work plan deliverables and assist Drs. Strogatz and Jenkins in execution of knowledge gap survey. Education: B.A. Degree in Fine Arts, Baldwin- Wallace College, Berea, Ohio