Who We Are

Research Team

Columbia University School of Nursing

Patricia Stone, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

Patricia Stone is the Centennial Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Center for Health Policy at Columbia Nursing. Her program of research is aimed at understanding cost and quality outcomes, specifically health care-associated infections (HAI). As principal investigator (PI), Stone oversees all aspects of this study, in collaboration with Andrew Dick, PhD at RAND, and leads the Columbia Nursing team.

Leah Estrada, BSN, MA, RN, CPN

Leah Estrada is pursuing a PhD in Nursing at the Columbia University School of Nursing. Her research interest is palliative care health disparities in older adults, and she is analyzing SIMP-EL study data for her dissertation.

RAND

Andrew Dick, PhD

Andrew Dick is a Senior Health Economist at the RAND Corporation. He has expertise in the development of methods and empirical applications of quality assessment with a focus on applied econometric methods for drawing casual inference. As co-PI, he oversees all aspects of this study, in collaboration with Patricia Stone, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, and leads the RAND team.

Denise Quigley, PhD

Denise Quigley is a Senior Health Policy Project Manager at RAND. She is a co-investigator on this study.

Mark Sorbero, MS

Mark Sorbero is a Senior Project Associate at the RAND Corporation. He serves as the lead programmer at RAND for this study.

Tadeja Gracner, PhD, MS

Tadeja Gracner is a Health Economist at the RAND Corporation and is a statistician on this study.

Expert Consultants

Susan Mitchell, PhD

Susan Mitchell is an expert geriatrician with an interest in the integration of infection management and palliative care in nursing homes. She is a co-investigator on this study.

Susan Miller, PhD, MBA

Susan Miller is a Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice (Research) at the Brown University School of Public Health Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. Her research focuses on nursing home end-of-life care and long-term care quality and utilization, with expertise in using large datasets and Medicare claims files.

Advisory Board

Sherrie Dornberger, RN, CDONA, FACDONA

Sherrie Dornberger is the Executive Director of the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long‐Term Care (NADONA/LTC) and have worked in the field of Long‐Term Care for over 30 years. She also serves on the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic‐Resistant Bacteria.

Lona Mody, MD, MSc

Lona Mody is a Professor of Internal Medicine within the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Care Medicine at the University of Michigan and Principal Investigator of the Infection Prevention in Aging Research Group.

Vincent Mor, PhD

Vincent Mor is the director of the Center of Long-Term Care Innovation & Quality at Brown University School of Medicine. He is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher and the recipient of multiple grants to evaluate the impact of programs and policies in aging populations and in long-term care, including patient outcomes in nursing homes.

Naushira Pandya, MD, CMD, FACP

Naushira Pandya is a geriatrician and endocrinologist and Chair of the Geriatrics Department and Director of the Geriatrics Education Center at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is the current President of AMDA (The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine).