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Executive Team

Mary Jo Pugh, PhD, RN

TORCH Program Director

Mary Jo Pugh Ph.D., R.N., is a retired Air Force nurse and Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is an investigator at the Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences Center of Innovation (IDEAS COIN) and the VA Salt Lake City where she leads the COIN focus area that aims to identify and mitigate health risks in Veterans across periods of vulnerability. Integrating her training as a Veteran, a nurse and a developmental psychologist, she has developed an epidemiological research program to examine the long-term sequelae and outcomes of military exposures. Early in her career she focused on outcomes associated with suboptimal quality of care in older Veterans. Over the past decade she has targeted her work using VA data to identify phenotypes in populations with complex comorbidity such as those with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and complex multi-symptom illness in Gulf War era Veterans. Dr. Pugh’s current work related to TBI includes longitudinal observational and prospective studies to identify the emergence of distinct neurodegenerative conditions such as cognitive impairment and epilepsy, and clusters of multimorbidity that may have similar or networked biological underpinnings. 

Erin Bouldin, MPH, PHD

Deputy Director Caregiver Research

Erin Bouldin, PhD, MPH is trained as an epidemiologist and health services researcher and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah and an Investigator at the Health Services Research & Development Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences (IDEAS) Center at the VA Health Care System in Salt Lake City. Her research is motivated by an interest in identifying factors that influence disability and function and intervening to reduce impairments and improve health and participation in an equitable way. Her work with the TORCH lab focuses on the experiences and service needs of people living with disabilities, injuries, amputations, and cognitive impairment and their family caregivers. She has a particular interest in services and programs that are delivered in home- and community-based settings and to Veterans living in rural areas.

Eamonn Kennedy, PhD

Deputy Director Advanced Modeling

Eamonn Kennedy is a Research Associate for the TORCH Lab in Salt Lake City in the Division of Epidemiology in the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. Eamonn completed his doctorate in physics in 2014, specializing in biomedical imaging, and undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Notre Dame, where he worked on novel protein sequencing platforms. Prior to joining the team, Eamonn served as a Senior Research Scientist at Brown University, where he applied statistical learning to computational questions in metabolomics and molecular information systems. Eamonn is honored to have the opportunity to join the TORCH team, and he is eager to apply his knowledge of biomedical imaging and statistical learning to improve veteran’s lives.

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Ace Adamson, DPT, BS

Research Scientist

Ace Adamson is a new Research Scientist for the TORCH team. He has a background in physical rehabilitation with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Utah Valley University and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Duke University. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah with an emphasis on Health Systems Innovation and Research. He has interests in healthcare economics, implementation, and access for underserved populations as well as social determinants of health. In his free time he enjoys playing sports with his sons and exploring the outdoors throughout the Southwest.

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Megan Amuan, MPH

Health Statistician

Megan Amuan is a Health Statistician and Data Analyst with 18 years of research experience at the VA. Her work encompasses many areas including the epidemiology, risk factors, outcomes and health services utilization of Post-9/11 Veterans. She has experience in sampling, collecting and compiling datasets, computing and analyzing statistical data, and applying statistical techniques such as ANOVA, Logistic Regression, Survival Analysis, GEE analysis, cluster analysis, hierarchical modeling and other statistical methods. Megan is motivated to work on research benefiting Veterans. Her father served as an Air Force pilot and was killed in the line of duty in a joint training mission with Green Berets in 1989.

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Ally Cirenza, RN

Graduate Research Assistant

Ally (Allison) Cirenza is the newest graduate research assistant for the Torch team. She is currently in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Utah. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Alabama and then went on to earn her nursing degree from the University of Utah. She has been working as a nurse at the Hunstman Mental Health Institute. Finding the time in between her professional endeavors, you will find Ally skiing, mountain biking, or doing yoga. Ally is looking forward to learning more about TBI's and other projects and participating in the impressive interprofessional collaboration on the team.

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Sreekanth Kamineni, MS

Database Analyst

Sreekanth Kamineni is a Database Analyst for the TORCH Lab in Salt Lake City in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. Sreekanth started his career as a programmer analyst in 2011 in Cognizant Technology Solutions company and later in 2014 moved to the USA to pursue an MS degree in computer science. In June 2015, Sreekanth completed his MS degree in computer science and graduated from Texas A&M Commerce University. He then joined the analytics team at Valley Behavioral Health in 2016. Sreekanth made significant contributions to Valley Analytics infrastructure. His skills and experiences are in database design and development, data analysis, SQL and ETL development, and scripting programming. He is honored to have the opportunity to join the TORCH team's research efforts to improve the lives of Veterans.

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Helal Mobasher, PhD

Data Scientist

Dr. Helal Mobasher is a Data Scientist at the University of Utah Department of Epidemiology. He received his Ph.D. in quantitative Sociology from Utah State University. His passion for data analytics, specifically healthcare analytics, led him to have a long-lasting career in Healthcare. Dr. Mobasher specialties are in managing large scale data, data modeling, data integration, data visualization, and data analysis. He has recently led a team of data analysts and developers to build an analytics department at Valley Behavioral Health. His current interests are in predictive analytics and machine learning using both data science programing languages and data visualization tools with advanced technological modules.

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Robert George

Research Analyst

Robert George is a Research Analyst for the TORCH lab in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah's School of Medicine. Robert holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and is a Marine Corps veteran. Robert's interesets include social psychology, machine learning and mental health counseling. Robert is excited to contribute to the TORCH team and to help advance research that can lead to a better understanding of the outcomes of military service and improve the lives of fellow veterans.

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Ali Roghani, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Ali Roghani is a postdoctoral researcher for the TORCH Lab in Salt Lake City in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah's School of Medicine. Ali completed his doctorate in Applied Demography in 2020, concentrating in longitudinal and life-course studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Before joining the team, Ali served as a researcher at the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, where he was involved in research projects regarding spatial segregation and racial academic achievement gaps. He feels fortunate to join the TORCH team to improve veterans' lives by examining brain injuries' long-term outcomes. 

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Amy Henion, MPH

Senior Research Analyst

Amy Henion, MPH has a background in public health research and epidemiology.  She has worked for the University of Utah, the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories, the American Cancer Society and the CDC. She attended college at the University of Rochester, earning a Biology degree.  Then she earned a Masters of Public Health in epidemiology from Emory University in Atlanta. Amy is a senior research analyst in the University of Utah’s Department of Epidemiology. She works to improve Veteran health as part of the eclectic Trajectories of Resilience, Community and Health (TORCH) team.  Amy is motivated to help improve the lives of veterans by examining the long-term outcomes of military experiences.

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Eleanor Gonzales, MPH

Senior Research Analyst

Eleanor Gonzales is a Senior Research Analyst for the TORCH team. Eleanor holds a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from Texas A&M University and completed a Master of Public Health from the University of Virginia in 2014. Before moving to Utah, she worked on practice transformation projects at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, providing research and operational support. She is interested in further developing her qualitative research skills and applying this knowledge to improve veterans’ lives.

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Andrea Kalvesmaki, PhD

Research Associate, Division of Epidemiology and Associate Health Fellow at the SL VAMC

Andrea Kalvesmaki is a Research Associate with the TORCH lab in Salt Lake City in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine and an Informatics Fellow at the Salt Lake Veteran Affairs Medical Center. She holds degrees in psychology, medical anthropology, and educational leadership and policy. Her research interests are in understanding the lived experiences of persons with disabilities, or people who support persons with disabilities, family and societal roles in health outcomes, and the impact of policy to support individuals and communities. As a Research Associate for TORCH, she supports mixed-method primary data collection and analysis for a variety of projects. As an Informatics Fellow her primary role is to support research for the Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research. Andrea has a sibling who is a Veteran and a sibling with a severe TBI and is devoted to improving the day-to-day experience for Veterans and all people living with any chronic conditions.

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Huong Nguyen, PhD

Data Scientist

Huong Nguyen is a Data Scientist for the TORCH lab in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Miami. Before joining the team, Huong served as a Research Associate at the Utah Education Policy Center where she worked on research design, statistical modeling, data analysis, and data management for educational evaluation research. At the TORCH team, Huong works on the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC) project to study the long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury, its diagnosis, and treatment among Veterans. Huong is excited to be part of the team that helps improve the lives of Veterans.

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Krista Ocier, PhD, MPH

Research Associate

Krista Ocier is a Research Associate for the TORCH team. She holds an MPH and PhD in Public Health from the University of Utah, with an emphasis in epidemiology and gerontology. Prior to joining the TORCH team in mid-2022, her research in age-related diseases and cancer epidemiology at the Huntsman Cancer Institute cemented her interest in, ultimately, improving the lives of older adults from all walks of life. She is excited to expand her research portfolio at TORCH, including areas such as TBI, Parkinson’s disease, and caregiving. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and training puppies.  

Michelle Orner joined the Torch team in February.  She has a Master of Public Health with a concentration in biostatistics and epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health.  She has over 22 years of experience working with both survey data as well as national VA databases, collecting, organizing, and managing the data and performing advanced statistical analyses.  She has worked on research projects related to racial disparities in healthcare, oral health, provider-patient communication, and operations projects relating to the implementation of Whole Health.  She is currently working on projects related to ALS and an evaluation of the VA Tele-EEG program.
 

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Samin Panahi

Graduate Research Assistant

Samin Panahi is a Graduate Research Assistant with the TORCH team at Western Institute for Biomedical Research. Samin holds a Master's degree in Sociology concentrating in Population Health and is a third-year Sociology doctoral student at the University of Utah. Before joining the team, Samin has served as a Research Assistant at both the Behavioral Sciences Department and the School of Medicine, University of Utah. Samin is honored to have this opportunity to join the team that helps improve the quality of life of Veterans with TBI.

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Shirin Saleh , MA, BS

Graduate Research Assistant

Shirin Saleh, a Ph.D. student in Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah and a Graduate Research Assistant in the TORCH Lab, specializes in epidemiology with a focus on neuropsychological outcomes following traumatic brain injuries, particularly in military settings. With a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master's in Psychometrics from the University of Tehran, Iran, Shirin's expertise lies in cognitive impairments and psychological consequences of war-related neurotrauma. She is also deeply committed to advancing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in healthcare, aiming to enhance patient-centered care by understanding patients' health conditions, goals, and unique care-related factors. Her work is driven by a passion for improving life quality for those affected by brain injuries through scientific rigor and a nuanced understanding of patient experiences.

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Darren Saunders

Administrative Assistant

Darren Saunders is an Administrative Assistant for the TORCH Lab, in the Division of Epidemiology of the University of Utah's School of Medicine. Darren is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, with a Hazards & Security emphasis. His interests include sustainable planning and development, history and culture, and global politics. He is pleased to support TORCH's mission of improving healing outcomes for veterans and the community.

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Kelsee M. Stromberg, MPH

Research Analyst

Kelsee M. Stromberg is a Research Analyst for the TORCH lab in Salt Lake City in the Division of Epidemiology in the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Public Health from the University of New England. Prior to joining the TORCH team, Kelsee worked in Pediatric and Oncology clinical trials, both focused on improving quality of life within clinical outcomes in longitudinal research.  Kelsee is a proud wife to her husband who serves in the United States Air Force and has seen first-hand the sacrifice that military members, veterans, and their families make in serving their country. She is dedicated to research that links data to life stories, which goes on to change outcomes and improve lives.

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Margaret Wells

VA Health Science Specialist

Margaret Wells is a VA Health Science Specialist at South Texas Veterans Health Care Systems and a Research Associate on Dr. Pugh’s team. She holds a Bachelor of Science in communication disorders and sciences. She works on projects examining post-military health outcomes, mild cognitive impairment, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). She interacts directly with survey and interview participants in this role and as an associate for IMaP (“Improved Understanding of Medical and Psychological Needs in Veterans and Service Members with TBI”) and the San Antonio VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center TBI Model Systems a program of research for longitudinal assessment of rehabilitation and functional outcomes of Veterans with TBI.

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Abigail White

Research Analyst

Abba (Abigail) White is a new Research Analyst for the TORCH team. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Colorado Mesa University, and plans to pursue her Masters degree in Cognitive and Motor Neuroscience or Public Health at the University of Utah. She has worked as an intern for the TORCH team since the summer of 2020, and was a barista at Mountain Air Roasters. She greatly appreciates the TORCH team staff, and looks forward to furthering the understanding of the brain and quality of health care in Veterans. In her free time she enjoys downhill skiing, triathlon, playing the piano, and spending time with her friends.