Our Team
Meet the CCHE team and learn about our values.
As part of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, CCHE collaborates with investigators, biostatisticians, and programmers. In addition, we maintain affiliations with nationally recognized experts who serve as evaluation advisors.
Natasha Arora, MS
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Natasha has interests in quantitative analysis, mixed-methods evaluations, implementation evaluations, and clinical quality improvement. She recently led the evaluations of several telehealth-related learning collaboratives and the implementation evaluation for the Kaiser Permanente medical-legal partnership. She also practices clinically as a speech-language pathologist with a focus on early language development in children. Natasha has a BA in applied mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MS in speech-language pathology from the University of Washington.
Lauren Baba, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Lauren has a background in health policy, government relations, and community benefit. Her interests include cultural safety, community-driven coalitions, and innovations in healthcare delivery and reimbursement. Lauren earned her MPH from University of Washington and her BA from Rice University.
Emily Bourcier, MPH, MHA
Manager, Evaluation Division
Emily joined CCHE in 2002 and brings collaborative leadership and evaluation consulting experience focused on initiatives that tackle the systemic roots of injustice and the social determinants of health. She brings more than 15 years of experience evaluating initiatives to improve health equity using mixed-methods designs, and facilitates strategic learning about community health investments. In addition to her management role, as a principal investigator, Emily oversees several of CCHE's large-scale, multi-year evaluations. Emily holds a BA in biological sciences from Smith College, and an MPH and MHA from the University of Washington.
Diana Charbonneau, MIT
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Diana has a background in education and teaching, research, project management and evaluation of large-scale initiatives, including those focused on health impact assessments, healthy food access, and youth leadership. Her work is driven by a focus on equity and transformative collaborations across disciplines. Diana earned her master’s degree in teaching and her bachelor’s degree in cultural geography, both from the University of Washington.
Allen Cheadle, PhD
Former Director & KPWHRI Senior Investigator
Allen was CCHE's director from 2011 to June 2018. His interests include methods of community-based research, evaluations of comprehensive community initiatives, and the evaluation of clinical and community systems change initiatives. Allen seeks to continue and expand CCHE’s work in evaluating community initiatives, working with foundations to build the capacity of community-based organizations, and helping safety-net organizations improve the care they provide in underserved communities. Allen holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about Allen’s research interests and experience.
Grant Clark, BA
Communication Consultant
Grant has worked the past 25 years in variety of positions within the communications, marketing, public relations, and media relations fields, including seven years with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. A graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in journalism, he has also worked as a freelance writer with more than 4,000 bylines.
Crystal Dinh, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Crystal has a background in public health programming, research, and stakeholder engagement. Her interests include analyzing health disparities, advancing health equity, and data analysis. Crystal earned an MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health with a concentration in Global Health and Health Disparities.
Nelly Evans, MPP
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Nelly has a background in education, public policy, and program implementation. Her research interests include school and community-based health initiatives, nutrition programs, sustainable agriculture, and the built environment. Nelly earned her Master of Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her BA in political science and German from Linfield College.
Eric Goemer, BA
Research Support Specialist
Eric provides administrative support to the CCHE team and its projects. His interests include public health policy and health disparities. He earned a BA in journalism and public relations from the University of Minnesota.
Sparrow Harness
Research Support Specialist
Sparrow has a background in administrative support, financial processing, and elder care. Their passion for equity, inclusion, and diversity has led them to promote advancements in workplace accessibility throughout their career. Their interests include linguistics, disability activism, and the improvement and normalization of end-of-life care. They have an AA in English from Whatcom Community College.
Faiza K Hassan, MPH
Learning and Evaluation Associate I
Faiza joined CCHE in 2023. She has a strong background in actively promoting health equity and community-based participatory research and initiatives among underrepresented populations. Additionally, she comes with a strong reputation in relationship building, stakeholder engagement and qualitative methods.
Erin Hertel, MPA
Senior Evaluation & Learning Consultant
Erin has a background in public policy, advocacy, project management and evaluation. Her interests include how communities work together to improve population health and influence policy, as well as how health systems are responding to the changing environment and patient needs. Erin earned her master's in public affairs from the University of Washington.
Abby Isaacson, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Abby brings expertise in program evaluation, data management systems, and project management in clinical and community research settings. Some of her favorite work in public health has been in direct service with youth and families through HIV/AIDS programming, hunger prevention and corner store initiatives in Tacoma, Denver and Boston. She aims to bring a health equity, continuous improvement and prevention mindset to her work. Abby earned her BA from the University of Puget Sound in International Political Economy, and MPH from Boston University with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Maggie Jones, MPH
Director
Maggie became CCHE's director in July 2018. For several years she provided oversight of CCHE’s portfolio of evaluation projects as CCHE associate director. She leads many of our large scale evaluation efforts related to community health improvement, clinical quality improvement, health policy, health equity, and public health training programs. Maggie’s work has focused on providing health-related organizations with the information, tools and resources they need to more effectively achieve their goals and build their evaluation capacity. She holds a BS in business from the University of Minnesota and an MPH from the University of Washington.
Kate Katzman, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Kate has a background in global health, mixed methods clinical research studies, and community-based evaluation across a range of settings. Her recent work has focused on adolescent health, in particular the role of schools in promoting the health and well-being of teens. Kate earned her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her BA in political science from the University of Michigan.
Elena Kuo, PhD, MPH
Senior Evaluation & Learning Consultant
Elena has been a part of the CCHE team since 2011, and enjoys supporting a wide range of projects from KPs Educational Theater, Thriving Schools, and Food Security initiatives to exploring clinic-based firearm injury prevention strategies, and supporting tech companies to evaluate healthcare innovations. She has a long-standing passion for DEI advocacy, health education, and addressing inequities in access, education, and outcomes for marginalized communities. She earned her MPH and PhD from the University of Washington’s public health epidemiology program and her BS from Emory University.
Trang Le, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Trang has a background in mixed-methods and community-based participatory research, including evaluations of programs and initiatives that promote health of women and children. Her interests include using data for community advocacy and health systems transformation. She received her MPH in community-oriented public health practice from the University of Washington.
Carly Levitz, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Carly has a background in quantitative analysis and special interest in communicating results in ways that engage stakeholders. Her research interests include reducing disparities in quality of care and health outcomes. Carly earned her MPH from the University of Washington’s Health Metrics and Evaluation program and her BA in medical sociology and statistics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Melita Lynch, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Melita has a background in health education, quality and process improvement, and project management with experience working collaboratively with stakeholders to develop and manage chronic disease and health equity programs. Her research interests include promoting health equity and reducing disparities in care access and health outcomes. She completed her MPH from the University of Washington.
Juno Matthys, MBA
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Juno has been a part of the CCHE team since 2009, and has worked on a wide variety of projects. Her work has mainly focused on evaluating community based obesity prevention, school based health, clinical-community linkage programs, and Kaiser Permanente community health investments. She earned a BS in health ecology from the University of Nevada, Reno and holds an MBA in healthcare management from WGU.
Xero Nazarova, BA
Research Specialist
Xero has an eclectic background which includes writing, organizational systems, communication, and creation of and work on Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity initiatives. They are passionate about intersectional social justice, personal growth, and community support. Xero has a BA in psychology and has started a master’s program for therapy, after which they intend to complete a doctorate for human sexuality- and gender-focused research.
Lina Piñero Walkinshaw, MPH
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Lina has a background in qualitative and mixed-methods research and evaluation of national and local programs and policies that promote healthy, equitable, livable communities. Lina brings content area expertise in nutrition security programming and food and nutrition policy, with experience working across social determinant of health topic areas. Lina received her MPH in community-oriented public health practice from the University of Washington, and her BA in Sociology, Anthropology, and Spanish from Carleton College.
Monika Sanchez, MSc
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Monika has a background in economics, public policy, education, and community research. Her interests include health and wellness in schools, early childhood and family support, and cross-sector community collaborations. Monika received her master’s degree from the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Lisa Schafer, MPH
Senior Evaluation & Learning Consultant
At CCHE, Lisa manages a number of evaluations related to philanthropic grantmaking and clinical quality improvement. Her past experience includes evaluation of a malaria prevention intervention in rural Ghana and a project targeting metabolic syndrome among Latino communities in Idaho. She received her MPH in community-oriented public health practice from the University of Washington.
Sarah Terry, MPA, MLIS
Evaluation & Learning Associate
Sarah is interested in the ways that policy and practice changes contribute to thriving communities. She has a background in youth development, where she focused on equitable, participatory approaches to evaluation, and in public and academic libraries. Sarah has master's degrees in public policy and library and information science from the University of Washington, and a BA in political science from Reed College.
Melissa A, Trapp Petty, PhD, CHES
Manager, Evaluation Division
Melissa has a background in public health, government, military, and technology. She has been a researcher and analyst for more than 20 years. Her research interests include health education and equity, infectious disease, community health improvement, medical interventions in chronic conditions, and evaluation of clinical practice. Melissa earned her PhD from Walden University.
CCHE Team Members
Natasha Arora
Emily Bourcier
Diana Charbonneau
Allen Cheadle
Grant Clark
Crystal Dinh
Nelly Evans
Eric Goemer
Sparrow Harness
Faiza K. Hassan
Erin Hertel
Abby Isaacson
Maggie Jones
Kate Katzman
Elena Kuo
Trang Le
Carly Levitz
Melita Lynch
Juno Matthys
Xero Nazarova
Monika Sanchez
Lisa Schafer
Sarah Terry
Melissa Trapp Petty