Center for Research on Health Care

Data Center Resources

Other Resources

Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Scholars Program

Institute for Clinical Research Education

Center for Research on Health Care (CRHC) Data Center
Suite 200,
200 Meyran Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3221
Phone: 412-692-4873
E-mail contact:
dcweb@pitt.edu

Data Center: Team Members

To view the structure of the Center for Research on Health Care (CRHC) Data Center, click here. To find out more about our team members, click on the names listed below.

Director

Doris Rubio, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Biostatistics, Nursing, and Clinical and Translational Science

Specialties: Measurement; structural equation modeling.

Doris Rubio joined the faculty in 2002 as the director of the Data Center. In this role, she has dramatically expanded the services offered. The Data Center now works on over 200 projects a year, and the Data Center team has grown dramatically from 7 faculty and staff members to over 30 members. Dr. Rubio co-directs the Clinical Research Scholars Program, which was initially funded through the Roadmap K12 mechanism. She directs two cores in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (the Design, Biostatistics, and Clinical Research Ethics Core and the Evaluation Core), and she also leads other data management cores and data coordinating centers. She has maintained consistent productivity, as evidenced by her publication record and her mentoring of more than 50 graduate students, 6 postdoctoral scholars, and 5 junior faculty members. Dr. Rubio's research focuses on alcohol use and depression in women.

Phone: 412-692-2023
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: rubiodm@upmc.edu
Website

Faculty

Kaleab Abebe, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Specialties: Longitudinal analysis; multisite clinical trials; simulation.

Kaleab Abebe joined the faculty in 2009 as an assistant professor of medicine in the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He works with the Clinical Research Scholars Program, providing biostatistical support and training for clinical researchers. In addition, he is a statistician with the CRHC Data Center. His research interests focus on identifying methods to explain treatment-by-site interaction in multisite clinical trials.

Phone: 412-246-6931
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: abebekz@upmc.edu
Website

James Bost, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Biostatistics, and Clinical and Translational Science

Specialties: Health services research; performance measurement; psychometrics; nonparametric statistics; survey design and analysis; obesity assessment.

James Bost joined the faculty in 2005 as an associate professor of medicine in the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He has worked with numerous investigators on grant applications and analysis projects and is the lead statistician on two large multisite trials: CRISP II (Consortium of Radiologic Imaging Studies of Polycystic Kidney Disease) and SNAP (Study on Nutrition and Acute Pancreatitis). He also serves as a statistician for the Design, Biostatistics, and Clinical Research Ethics Core of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).

Dr. Bost has extensive experience with clinical trials research, observational studies, analysis of large datasets, the creation and psychometric assessment of new instruments, and large-scale data collection efforts. Before joining the Data Center, he worked for several years as a lead statistician on the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation (BARI) trial; helped develop the University of Arkansas Medical School (UAMS) Memory Research Coordinating Center renewal; and worked on trials involving patients with stroke, knee surgery, and skin cancer. As the associate director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, he led the effort to collect body mass index (BMI) data from 450,000 students in the state—a project that entailed standardizing the data collection protocol across all schools, developing a data entry and verification system, overseeing data entry, and publishing results for an annual report as well as for state and national media.

Dr. Bost also has extensive experience developing uniform data collection protocols and combining data from different sources. As assistant vice president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Research Unit, he worked with clinical experts to develop consistent measures for cardiovascular health, diabetes, and preventive health. He was also responsible for taking health maintenance organization (HMO) performance data from Medicaid HMOs and determining which data could be used for comparisons across plans and how to develop a uniform reporting and rating system using data collected with different algorithms. For the Medicare Health of Seniors Survey and the NCQA Provider Recognition Program, he developed approaches to risk adjustment that included combining data to report overall results and determine thresholds of acceptable performance and legitimate differences.

Phone: 412-246-6932
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: bostje@upmc.edu
Website

(Joyce) Chung-Chou Chang, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine and Biostatistics

Specialties: Survival analysis; regression diagnostics; statistical methods in medicine.

Joyce Chang's research focuses on developing models to analyze the effects of covariates on failure time distributions. Her research also focuses on methods to assess the model goodness of fit in health services research and clinical trials. Dr. Chang has developed several residuals for analyzing the appropriateness of the Cox proportional hazards model. She is currently working on developing a general survival regression model for the analysis of survival in patients who have undergone liver transplantation and on developing a generalized competing risk model for the analysis of data concerning patients who are waiting for a liver transplant.

Phone: 412-692-4868
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: changj@pitt.edu
Website

Sunday Clark, ScD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science

Specialties: Study design; survey design and analysis; secondary data analysis; clinical trials.

Sunday Clark joined the faculty in 2007 as an assistant professor of medicine in the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology in the Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. Clark provides methodologic support and training for clinical researchers. Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, she was an instructor of medicine and public health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and was director of emergency medicine research at New York–Presbyterian Hospital.

Phone: 412-246-6958
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: clarks2@upmc.edu
Website

Terri Collin Dilmore, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Specialties: Measurement; psychometrics; evaluation; survey design.

Terri Collin Dilmore joined the faculty in 2009 as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Dilmore provides methodologic and statistical support for clinician researchers, particularly in the areas of education and evaluation. Her research interests include survey development, psychometric testing, and use of higher-order statistical methods in education research.

Phone: 412-864-3025
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: collinvl@upmc.edu
Website

Douglas Landsittel, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine

Specialties: Classification and modern regression methods; model complexity; occupational and injury epidemiology; cancer detection and biomarkers; simulation and computational methods.

Doug Landsittel joined the faculty in 2009 as an associate professor of medicine. His primary responsibilities at the CRHC Data Center are to coordinate statistical activities, supervise related operations and staff, and collaborate with a wide range of investigators through the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He will also be teaching multiple courses for the Institute for Clinical Research Education. Previously, Dr. Landsittel held appointments at Duquesne University, at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), and in three different divisions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) in Morgantown, West Virginia. At UPCI, he was the associate director of biostatistics. At the CDC/NIOSH, he served as the team leader of the Division of Safety Research in the Analysis and Technical Evaluations Branch, as the acting chief of the Analysis and Field Evaluations Branch, as the senior statistician for the Health Effects and Laboratory Division of the Biostatistics Branch, and as the senior statistician for the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. He has published about 65 papers and frequently serves as a grant reviewer for numerous institutes within the CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Defense.

Phone: 412-864-3019
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: landsitteldp@upmc.edu
Website

Charity Moore, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Biostatistics, and Clinical and Translational Science

Specialties: Health services research (including research on rural health); statistical methods in clinical research; clinical trials; complex survey sampling; analysis of secondary data.

Charity Moore joined the faculty in 2007 as an associate professor of medicine in the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She provides statistical support and training for clinical researchers, particularly those in the Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Scholars Program. Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Moore was an assistant professor of medicine and biostatistics at the University of North Carolina.

Phone: 412-246-6961
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: moorecg@upmc.edu
Website

Staff

Administrative Assistant

Joanna Barr

Specialties: Administrative assistance; quality assurance.

Joanna Barr is the Data Center's administrative assistant, and she also performs quality assurance testing on Data Center applications. She has been working for the Data Center since July 2008 and was hired on a permanent basis in 2009. Before that time, she was an investor relations analyst at Wilshire Associates, a finance firm. Joanna received her bachelor of science degree in business management from Duquesne University.

Phone: 412-864-3263
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: barrj@upmc.edu

Data Analysts

Elan Cohen, MSP

Specialties: Analysis of large longitudinal and hierarchical datasets; statistical programming.

Phone: 412-864-3014
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: cohened@upmc.edu

Diane Comer

Specialties: Data analysis.

Since 1995, Diane Comer has been performing data analysis for investigators, initially using the SAS Software System and more recently using SPSS. She holds a bachelor of arts degree and has completed some coursework in the Department of Biostatistics in the Graduate School of Public Health.

Phone: 412-692-4896
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: comerdm@upmc.edu

Jie Li, MS

Specialties: Data analysis, measurement, psychometrics, survey design and analysis, simulation study, and geographic information science (GIS)

Jie Li has been working on GIS for spatial data analysis and mapping design. She holds MS in Research Methodology and Cartography. She graduated from University of Pittsburgh. She has experience in SAS, SPSS and ArcView for statistical analysis and spatial data analysis.

Phone: 412-246-6955
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: lij5@upmc.edu

Data Core Manager

Terry Sefcik, MSIS

Specialties: Database design and development.

Since 1988, Terry Sefcik has obtained a wealth of diversified computer experience in an academic research environment, including database development, applications programming, supervision and training of data management staff, and coordination of PC education. She holds a master of science degree in information science, and her areas of expertise include tracking systems, tablet PC-based data management systems, and processing large medical databases.

Phone: 412-692-4851
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: sefcikth@upmc.edu

Data Managers

Deljo Ann Gannon

Specialties: Data entry; data management.

Del Gannon started working for the Division of General Internal Medicine in August 1991 as a data entry specialist. She then moved on to the Center for Research on Health Care in November 1998. Del has worked on various research studies, starting with Syncope 3, Pneumonia, Length of Stay, EDCAP, and RAYS. Del's responsibilities include data management, database development, form development, tracking data forms, entering data, verifying data, and making appropriate changes to the database as necessary. She also supervises and assigns tasks to students hired to do data entry.

Phone: 412-692-4718
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: gannond@upmc.edu

Linda Quinn

Specialties: Data management.

Linda Quinn has been a member of the Data Center staff since 1997. She is experienced in database development, form development, and data management. She is proficient in various software packages, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Visio, and EndNote. She is also responsible for the accounting operations of the Data Center.

Phone: 412-692-4869
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: quinnlc@upmc.edu

Fern Schwartz

Specialties: Data entry; data management.

In June 2008, Fern Schwartz started as a systems programmer III in the CRHC Data Center, specializing in database development. Before joining the CRHC Data Center, she had worked since 1990 as a data manager in the Epidemiology Data Center at the Graduate School of Public Health. Her responsibilities include data entry and verification, database development, form development, and data management. She is proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access.

Phone: 412-586-9624
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: schwartzf@upmc.edu

Financial Administrator

Nicole Kaefer

Specialties: Office administration.

Nicole Kaefer is the Data Center's financial administrator. She joined the University of Pittsburgh in April 2007. She received her bachelor of science degree in finance and minored in mathematics. Nicole plans to pursue a master's degree in business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business.

Phone: 412-692-2023
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: KaeferND@upmc.edu

Information Systems Manager

Tim Bragg

Specialties: Database design and development.

Since 1996, Tim Bragg has been involved in building software using various programming languages and in data application development, database management, supervision and training of staff, and hardware and software maintenance. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics with a minor in computer science. His areas of expertise include database and data application design, Web site design, and application development using MS Visual Studio.

Phone: 412-692-4898
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: braggtj@upmc.edu

Senior Research Program Coordinator

Glory Koerbel, MSN, RN, CDE

Specialties: Adult education program development; diabetes management and education.

Glory L. Koerbel, MSN, RN, CDE, joined the CRHC Data Center team in July 2008. With 28 years of experience as a nurse educator, she has designed and implemented educational programs for a variety of professional and consumer groups, and she has recently coordinated both inpatient and outpatient research studies for the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. At the CRHC Data Center, she serves as a resource for other project coordinators and research staff and provides consultative services to both staff and investigators requesting experienced coordinator input. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh and earned a master's degree in nursing from Duquesne University. Her special interests include diabetes care and education and health-related quality of life.

Phone: 412-802-6714
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: koerbelg@upmc.edu

Systems Administrator

Donald Grimm

Specialties: Server and workstation administration.

Donald Grimm is responsible for the administration and security of 12 servers that are used for Web serving, file sharing, database warehousing, statistical data analysis, E-portfolio, and course streaming video. He is also responsible for workstation and user support for the Division of General Internal Medicine, the Center for Research on Health Care (CRHC), and the CRHC Data Center, comprising over 200 devices. He has been with the University of Pittsburgh since 1997 and has been in a systems administrator role since 1992.

Phone: 412-692-4855
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: grimmdw@upmc.edu

Systems Analysts

Andrew Cherep

Specialties: ASP.NET 2.0 and C# in Visual Studio, JavaScript, CSS, AJAX, and SQL Server.

Andrew Cherep is currently working with the Data Center to design and develop new Web pages in ASP.NET, C#, and SQL 2005. He earned a BS in information science with a minor in computer science at the University of Pittsburgh, and he has experience in various information technology fields, including help desk, Unix server hardware, network support, and database administration. Andrew swam for the Pittsburgh Panthers from 1997 to 2000. He is an avid outdoorsman and a proud new father.

Phone: 412-692-2693
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: cherepae@upmc.edu

Jason Kojtek, MSIT

Specialties: Web development.

Jason Kojtek is responsible for designing and developing Web applications for the Data Center. He is a graduate of Bloomsburg University, where he received two bachelor's degrees, one in music and the other in mass communications, and also earned a master's degree in instructional technology. His specialties include front-end Web design, flash development, and video and music production.

Phone: 412-246-6956
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: kojtekjc@upmc.edu

Desheng Li, MSEE

Specialties: ASP.NET, C#, VB, and SQL Server.

Desheng Li is using ASP.NET, C#, JavaScript, and SQL Server 2005 to create, update, and troubleshoot Web pages for the Data Center. He received a BS degree in computer science from Wuhan University of Technology and an MS degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Phone: 412-586-9620
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: lid@upmc.edu

Jinghua Ou

Specialties: Web development.

Jinghua Ou is responsible for designing and developing Web applications for the Data Center. She has experience in systems analysis, software application design, code implementation, and quality assurance, and she holds a BS degree in computer science from James Madison University in Virginia.

Phone: 412-246-6926
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: ouj@upmc.edu

James Palmer

Specialties: Database development.

Jim Palmer assists in the design, development, maintenance, and installation of complex automated research and clinical database applications for multiple research studies and departments. He also assists in the creation of reports used to assist study teams in tracking and follow-up of subjects. He develops and maintains Microsoft Access applications using Visual Basic for Applications and SQL Server databases. He earned a BS in management information systems, with a minor in management and with SAP certification, from Penn State Behrend University.

Phone: 412-864-3352
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: palmerjv@upmc.edu

Shelley Rowe

Specialties: Database and Web development.

Shelley Rowe specializes in the design, development, and management of Access applications, and she focuses on programming database-driven applications. She earned her BS from the University of Pittsburgh, where she majored in information science with a minor in French.

Phone: 412-246-6925
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: rowesa@upmc.edu

Xiuyun Shen, MS

Specialties: Web Development

Xiuyun Shen designs, develops and maintains complex, web based medical research database applications and MS SQL Server databases for multiple research studies. She has earned a Master of computer science degree from Georgia State University.

Phone: 412-605-1563
Fax: 412-586-9672
E-mail: shenx@upmc.edu

Timothy VanDyke

Specialties: Web development.

Tim VanDyke is designing, creating, and updating Web applications for the Data Center. His specialties include Web design, flash development, layout, and graphic design. He received a BA in communications with a concentration in public relations from Geneva College.

Phone: 412-692-4854
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: vandyketl@upmc.edu

David Yankovich

Specialties: Web development.

David Yankovich is using ASP.NET, C#, JavaScript, and an SQL Server 2005 backend to create, update, and troubleshoot Web pages. He says that CSS is currently a learning process, but he is picking it up quickly. He graduated from Penn State Behrend University with a bachelor's degree in management information systems and a minor in management. He recently moved to Pittsburgh from Jacksonville, Florida.

Phone: 412-692-4871
Fax: 412-246-6954
E-mail: yankovichdb@upmc.edu