Nihaarika Sharma, M.S.W., M.P.H.

Nikhita Allam

Research Associate

Nikhita Allam is a research associate at L&M Policy Research with experience in population health consulting, economic evaluation and health policy analysis, grant writing, and public health equity research. At L&M, Ms. Allam performs quantitative and qualitative evaluation for federal clients including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as well as private client research contracts. Using both STATA and SAS, Ms. Allam works with survey data, Medicare claims data, and publicly available datasets providing analytical support to the L&M team.

Lauren Blatt

Senior Researcher

Lauren Blatt is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research. She has spent nearly 20 years using qualitative and quantitative research methods and analyses to inform, evaluate, and improve health care programs and performance. Ms. Blatt is also experienced in developing outreach, education, and application and decision-support materials and tools for a variety of target audiences and has conducted hundreds of key informant interviews, in-depth cognitive and usability interviews, focus groups, and small group discussions with consumers, Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers, health care providers, and other professionals.

Michael Cavanaugh, M.A.

Senior Researcher

Michael Cavanaugh, M.A., is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research. Mr. Cavanaugh is an expert in facilitating community-based participatory research and evaluation with tribal communities, ethnography, and qualitative research methods. He has extensive experience leading interviews and focus groups with hard-to-reach populations on a range of sensitive issues including food security, intergenerational trauma, substance use, mental health, early childhood education, and child welfare.

Ann Cheng, M.P.H.

Research Assistant

Ann Cheng, M.P.H., is a research assistant at L&M Policy Research. Ms. Cheng has experience conducting survey research, in-depth interviews, and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. At L&M, she currently assists with an online consumer health research survey contracted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to better understand the attitudes and behaviors of Marketplace-eligible populations during the Open Enrollment period.  Additionally, Ms. Cheng recently assisted with a consumer research project to improve Marketplace Tools, Outreach, and Education Programs and provided support to CMS to review and triage public comments to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) CY 2024.

Sally Crelia, M.P.H.

Senior Research Director

Sally Crelia, M.P.H., is a senior research director at L&M Policy Research. She has extensive experience in various methods of qualitative research, including designing, conducting and analyzing results from cognitive and in-depth interviews, small group discussions, focus groups, and key informant interviews, in English and in Spanish. 

Colleen Dobson, M.S.

Senior Researcher

Colleen Dobson, M.S., is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research with over a decade of experience conducting qualitative research to support health care communication and evaluation projects, with a particular focus on Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace. Ms. Dobson has conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews and focus groups with consumer audiences including Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers, Marketplace enrollees, uninsured individuals, and individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions. She has also led key informant interviews and focus groups with consumer groups, providers, and state and local government.

Julia Doherty, M.H.S.A.

Senior Research Director

Julia A. Doherty, M.H.S.A., is a senior research director at L&M Policy Research. Ms. Doherty has over 30 years of experience in health care management, policy, and research. She held executive posts in a health maintenance organization, a major academic hospital, a community health center, and a management consulting firm prior to joining L&M.

Amanda Dranch

Research Assistant

Amanda Dranch is a research assistant at L&M Policy Research with qualitative research experience in sociology and health policy. At L&M, she provides support in client management, environmental scans, developing and executing qualitative research protocols, and conducting primary data collection with health care consumers, providers, and other stakeholders. She primarily contributes to projects aiding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Mei-Chia Fong, Ph.D.

Senior Researcher

Mei-Chia Fong, Ph.D., is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research with eight years of post-doctorate applied research experience. Her expertise includes population and social demography; survey research; social psychology; medical sociology; health systems and services; health disparities and equity; policy analysis; and evaluation research.

Lisa H. Green, Ph.D.

Founding Principal

Lisa H. Green, Ph.D., is a founding principal of L&M Policy Research and brings over two decades of experience as a health services researcher focused on health care access, quality and costs for populations covered under federal health care programs. Dr. Green has a particular interest in how these programs impact overlooked communities and the role of health care reform in reducing long-standing health and health care disparities.

Judy Gutierrez, M.H.A.

Researcher

Judy Gutierrez, M.H.A., is a researcher at L&M Policy Research. She has extensive experience in project management, health administration, data collection, and working to advance health equity for marginalized communities. At L&M, Ms. Gutierrez collaborates closely with project teams, leading and supporting various qualitative research studies and ensuring project deliverables are completed. She supports the designing and executing of research protocols, including primary data collection with health care consumers in Spanish and English. Currently, Ms. Gutierrez supports consumer testing research projects for Healthcare.gov, utilizing focus groups, in-depth interviews, and small group discussions to enhance web tool usability and develop effective communication strategies.

Chelsea Hipwell, M.P.H.

Research Associate

Chelsea Hipwell, M.P.H., is a research associate at L&M Policy Research. Ms. Hipwell has experience working on qualitative public health research in both English and Spanish with an emphasis on improving equitable access to health care. At L&M, Ms. Hipwell supports consumer testing research by preparing moderator guides and testing materials, as well as by notetaking, analyzing transcript data, and writing reports for projects that explore web tool usability features on various health insurance platforms through in-depth interviews and focus groups to gain the perspectives of beneficiaries, caretakers, and marketplace consumers.

Margaret Edder Johnson, M.B.A.

Director

Margaret Edder Johnson, M.B.A., is a director at L&M Policy Research. She has over 25 years of experience in federal and state health care policy, research, and management. She brings skills in primary research data collection, including leading key informant interviews with providers, payers, consumers, and employers; conducting in-depth formative and cognitive interviews with consumers; and moderating focus group discussions with consumers and providers.

Ferhat Q. Kassamali, M.Sc., M.P.H.

Senior Researcher

Ferhat Q. Kassamali, M.Sc., M.P.H., is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research. He joined L&M in 2009 and has over two decades of experience in financial analysis and modeling, strategic planning, business processes, data analytics, prospective payment systems, program evaluation, and general health care policy and research. Mr. Kassamali has extensive project management experience having successfully managed numerous multi-year projects, as well as project teams involving multiple subcontractors.

William Lane

Senior Researcher

William P. Lane is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research. He has more than 25 years of experience in organizational strategy and operations, managed care operational assessments, and formative and evaluative research, including key informant interviews and case studies with consumer groups, providers, government agencies, and consumers across a range of health care topics. Notable project work includes coordinating the first health insurance conferences in India and Egypt, several managed care evaluations for participating in the Medicare or Medicaid programs, and assessing communications strategies for a number of products involving targeted populations in order to increase the use of services, particularly preventive health care.

Anna Lloyd

Research Assistant

Anna Lloyd is a research assistant at L&M Policy Research. Ms. Lloyd has experience conducting qualitative research in public health and health policy. At L&M, she supports projects through environmental scans, in-depth interviews, focus groups, literature reviews, and report analysis and writing. Ms. Lloyd currently assists with consumer research and usability testing on web tools and content for Medicare Decision Support for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Alyson Emily Marano, R.N., B.S.N., M.P.H.

Senior Researcher

Alyson Emily Marano, R.N., B.S.N., M.P.H., is a senior researcher at L&M Policy Research with more than twenty years of experience working on public health policy issues and conducting program evaluation for a variety of audiences, including Medicare and Medicaid eligible populations as well as the uninsured and populations experience health disparities. Ms. Marano is skilled in qualitative research, including the design of studies as well as leading key informant interviews with providers, payers, consumers, and employers; conducting in-depth formative and cognitive interviews with consumers; and moderating focus group discussions with consumers and providers.

Madelyn J. McDonald, M.P.H.

Research Coordinator

Madelyn J. McDonald, M.P.H., is a research coordinator at L&M Policy Research. She has expertise in substance abuse research and treatment, behavioral health, health policy, population health, and qualitative research with vulnerable populations. Ms. McDonald has extensive project management experience, having successfully managed numerous multi-year projects spanning government, academia, and private institutions. Her recent work includes supporting a regulation and comment analysis project on physician payment and Medicare Advantage for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a project for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) offering research and analytic support with qualitative research on billing practices of inpatient psychiatric facilities.

Heather McPheron, M.P.H.

Director

Heather McPheron, M.P.H., is a director at L&M Policy Research. She has over 15 years of consulting experience in health care delivery, policy, and payment innovation. In her role, Ms. McPheron focuses on program planning and management, evaluation of new models of payment and care delivery, and regulatory analysis. She specializes in data analysis, working with large qualitative datasets, and primary data collection.

Elizabeth Moeller

Research Assistant

Elizabeth Moeller is a research assistant at L&M Policy Research. Ms. Moeller has experience conducting in-depth interviews, survey research, and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data. At L&M, she currently assists with consumer research for the 2024 Open Enrollment (OE) outreach and education campaign contracted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and has worked on a series of projects aimed at gathering consumer reactions and responses to notices regarding loss/denial of Medicaid coverage, the Information Architecture (IA) of the Learn educational content on the Marketplace’s website, and understanding underinsured/uninsured women’s health priorities. Ms. Moeller also provides support in primary data collection and analysis for the ongoing ACO REACH model evaluation contracted by CMS.

Our Team