Team
Study Leads
Heidi L. Allen, MSW, PhD
- Project Lead
Heidi L. Allen, MSW, PhD is an Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, and is a nationally recognized expert on Medicaid policy. She was a leading investigator on the landmark Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, the first randomized trial to examine the impact of a health insurance expansion on uninsured adults in the U.S. She has extensive experience with primary data collection and advising states on Medicaid policy.
Jamie Daw, PhD
- Project Lead
Jamie Daw, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is a quantitative health services researcher whose work focuses on the role of state and national policy in supporting maternal health. Her studies on health insurance and the impact of the ACA on access to care and health outcomes for reproductive-aged and pregnant women have been published in leading medical and policy journals. She is currently working on multiple projects to understand how clinical- and policy-level interventions can be used to improve postpartum health.
Kristen Underhill, JD, DPhil
- Project Lead
Kristen Underhill, JD, DPhil is an Associate Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. Her expertise is in both law and public health, including legal research, survey methods, and qualitative data collection. She has worked on multiple state and federal health law issues and was a lead investigator of the independent evaluation of the Medicaid § 1115 waiver program in Kentucky.
Staff
Zohn Rosen, PhD
- Project Team
Zohn Rosen, PhD is a Lecturer in Health Policy and Management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Rosen is an experimental psychologist, and is currently an investigator on a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. He has a long history of managing large-scale research projects, and extensive experience in regulatory matters related to conducting studies in the US.
Student Alumni
Erica Eliason, MPH
Erica Eliason, MPH is a Social Policy Analysis and Economics PhD candidate at Columbia University School of Social Work. She served as a Research Assistant for the PAHS team in the summers of 2019 and 2020. She is currently working on a variety of research projects around health insurance eligibility policies in the United States and access to care for pregnant women and childbirth outcomes.
Emma Kaishian, BA
Emma Kaishian is a Master of Public Health Candidate in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She served as the Project Coordinator for the PAHS team from 2019-2020. She has experience with both qualitative and quantitative research projects and is particularly interested in racial disparities within healthcare.
Amanda Spishak-Thomas, LCSW, MSW
Amanda (“Mandi”) Spishak-Thomas, LCSW, MSW is a Social Policy Analysis and Economics PhD student, focusing on health policy under the guidance of Dr. Heidi Allen. She served as a Research Assistant for the PAHS team in summer 2020. Motivated by her extensive clinical social work experience, her research interests focus broadly on health care policy, behavioral health, women’s health and poverty, with an emphasis on reducing health disparities.