Kimberly Brunisholz, Ph.D., M.S.T.

Kimberly Brunisholz, 2015 DSSF FellowHost Site: Intermountain Healthcare
Research Interests: Quality improvement and population health management within a learning healthcare system; program implementation and evaluation; diabetes prevention; and patient activation and engagement. 

Dr. Kimberly Brunisholz’ research has focused on quality improvement and program implementation and evaluation within a learning health care system. Her research projects include: examining the true value of combined mental health integration and the patient centered medical home on health care quality, utilization, and costs; evaluating the Diabetes Prevention Program utilizing the RE-AIM framework within a large integrated delivery system; and translating the effectiveness of computer decision support to enhance warfarin management for patients with chronic anticoagulation. She received her Ph.D. in public health in 2015 and her M.S.T. in science and technology in 2011 from the University of Utah. Her dissertation focused on diabetes prevention, translating practical interventions for the treatment of primary care patients with prediabetes. This fellowship position will allow Dr. Brunisholz to expand her work in program evaluation research to establish pragmatic study designs and analysis techniques for determining the impact and value of improving healthcare services delivery within the organization. Prior to her career in research, Kim was a member of the Canadian National Team in gymnastics and received a full NCAA Division I scholarship as a member of the Red Rocks gymnastics team within the University of Utah.

Ashish Rai, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., M.B.B.S.

Ashish Rai, 205 DSSF FellowHost Site: Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute 
Research Interests: Comparative effectiveness research; determinants of treatment decisions in cancer; cost and cost-effectiveness of cancer care; and payment innovations for oncology.

Dr. Ashish Rai recently received his Ph.D. in health services research and health policy (economics cognate) from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Atlanta.  His dissertation focused on the patterns and comparative effectiveness of management strategies in the Medicare population with follicular lymphoma.  As a DSS Fellow, Dr. Rai plans to examine the feasibility of alternative payment models for oncology and the implications of payment innovations on cost and quality of cancer care. During his doctoral training, Dr. Rai was active in several research projects at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, managed a global health initiative at the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD), and served as an ORISE Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prior to his doctoral training, Dr. Rai earned his M.S.P.H. degree from Emory University and his medical degree from University of Allahabad, India.

Safiya Richardson, M.D., M.P.H.

Safiya Richardson, 2015 DSSF FellowHost Site: Hofstra North Shore – LIJ School of Medicine 
Research Interests: Health informatics; healthcare quality and delivery; and implementation science


Dr. Safiya Richardson received both her M.D. and M.P.H. from Columbia University. In June of 2015, she completed her residency in internal medicine at North Shore - Long Island Jewish, and currently practices primary care as a clinician educator within the health system. During her medical and public health training she published research focused on cardiovascular and behavioral health. During Internal Medicine residency she developed a growing interest in health informatics and led a system wide project evaluating health care provider perceptions of clinical prediction rules. She is currently involved in a variety of projects within the health system, including deriving and validating a new clinical prediction rule, integrating a well validated clinical prediction rule into the health system’s electronic medical records, and usability testing of two electronically integrated clinical prediction rules. Dr. Richardson hopes to become a leader in the development of electronically integrated, evidence-based, clinical decision support tools and, as a result, to broadly impact provider behavior, reduce over utilization and improve patient outcomes.

Rachel Schwartz, Ph.D.

Rachel Schwartz, 2015 DSSF FellowHost Site: Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute
Research Interests: Doctor-patient communication; social and emotional symptoms of Parkinson's disease; treatment adherence; cross-cultural communication; and healthcare disparities.

Dr. Rachel Schwartz received her Ph.D. in communication sciences and disorders in 2015 from McGill University in Montreal. Her past research focused on disentangling the experiential and expressive factors that contribute to the negative social perception patients with Parkinson's disease face. As a DSS Fellow, Dr. Schwartz will explore how elements of the doctor-patient medical encounter contribute to healthcare outcomes and quality of care for immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities.

Denny Yu, Ph.D., M.S.E.  

Denny Yu, 2015 DSSF FellowHost Site: Mayo Clinic
Research Interests: Health care systems engineering; human factors; sensors and devices.


Dr. Denny Yu is an assistant professor of health care systems engineering at Mayo Clinic. He completed his doctorate in industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan studying human factors in the operating room and his undergraduate degree in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley with a specialization in workplace injuries. Dr. Yu’s research links the areas of human factors, sensors and devices, and health systems engineering with applications in improving the safety of healthcare for both patients and medical professionals. Dr. Yu has ongoing projects in: quantifying surgeon and surgical team intraoperative workload, developing patient factors based workload models, and integrating wearable sensor devices to develop intelligent health systems. In conducting this work, he received the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, University of Michigan’s Distinguished Achievement Award, and the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics’ 2014 Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award. 

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