JBA's experienced and highly skilled senior staff are well-equipped to address the informational needs of public and non-profit organizations across a broad range of content areas. With advanced degrees in fields including psychology, public health, education, child development, anthropology, and political science, JBA's senior consultants combine substantive knowledge of Federal and state health and human services programs with competency in both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

James Bell, M.A. Founder and President

James Bell has more than 35 years of experience designing and conducting national program evaluations designed to fulfill decision-makers' needs for performance measurement information. Most evaluations have addressed innovations in health care, such as the first Medicaid managed care demonstrations in the early 1980s. In recent years, he has focused on evaluating the clinical outcomes and cost of integrated services for persons living with HIV/AIDS and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. He was the Principal Investigator for the Coordinating Center for the HIV/AIDS Treatment Adherence, Health Outcomes and Cost Study, a cooperative research effort jointly funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). For the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Mr. Bell recently directed Best Practices in Conflict of Interest for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews and for Recommendation-making Panels. Mr. Bell has also conducted health care evaluations for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (DHHS), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Defense (Health Affairs) as well as several other federal and state agencies responsible for health care programs.

Mr. Bell has directed more than 20 evaluations for the NIH over the past three decades. He led the latest full-scale national evaluation of the U.S. Human Research Subjects' Protection Program for the Office of Extramural Research. He directed evaluations of the Shared Use Scientific Instrumentation and General Clinical Research Centers Programs for the National Center for Research Resources. He also assisted the National Cancer Institute with a congressionally mandated evaluation of the National Cancer Research Program (Measure of Progress Against Cancer) and the National Cancer Advisory Board with a related strategic plan for cancer research (Cancer at a Crossroads.)

Before founding JBA in 1979, Mr. Bell was a Research Associate at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., where he was a senior member of the Program Evaluation Studies Group that developed a highly regarded method of planning and implementing multidisciplinary program evaluations that employ logic models and combine quantitative and qualitative methods. Mr. Bell received his M.A. in Political Science from California State University at Northridge and his B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Elyse Kaye Executive Vice President

Elyse Kaye founded JBA's children and family services practice area in 1988. She has had over 25 years of experience directing program evaluation, applied research, and technical assistance projects for Federal and state government agencies. Ms. Kaye has directed studies on foster care, adoption, child abuse and neglect, family preservation and support, and service integration and collaboration. For the past ten years, she has directed JBA's project to provide Evaluation and Technical Assistance for the Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstrations for the Children's Bureau, a component of the Administration for Children and Families. For this project, Ms. Kaye has provided guidance and support to states in developing rigorous program evaluations and has prepared several documents that synthesize evaluation findings from state title IV-E waiver demonstrations. In addition, Ms. Kaye also serves as Corporate Monitor for the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Children's Bureau's Family Connections Discretionary Grants.

Ms. Kaye directed JBA's six-year study on the Implementation of Family Preservation/Family Support Programs (later renamed the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program). In this capacity, she conducted case studies in 10 states and 20 counties to assess planning and collaboration efforts, program implementation issues, and system- and individual-level outcomes. She prepared a synthesis report and topical papers on collaboration and consumer involvement. In addition, she previously directed the National Survey of Current and Former Foster Parents.

Senior Staff

James P. DeSantis, Ph.D. Vice President

James DeSantis has more than 20 years of research and evaluation experience and for nine years has served in JBA's child welfare practice area. His efforts have focused on child welfare, child and adolescent development, technical assistance services, prevention services, and integration of services across the child welfare, substance abuse treatment, and criminal justice domains.

Dr. DeSantis currently directs JBA's contract for the Children's Bureau to perform a Cross-site Evaluation of Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Centers and National Resource Centers. He also provides corporate oversight for a contract with the Office of Family Assistance to provide Adaptable Evaluation Training and Technical Assistance for Healthy Marriage, Promoting Responsible Fatherhood and Tribal/TANF Child Welfare Grantees. For several years, he led two evaluation technical assistance projects for the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families. One project, still being performed by JBA, delivers technical assistance to build the evaluation capacity of agencies implementing demonstration projects in the areas of foster care and adoption, child abuse and neglect prevention, abandoned infants, training child welfare workers and promotion of healthy marriages. The other contract was a project that included evaluation technical assistance as well as cross-site evaluation activities with the Early Head Start/Child Welfare Services Demonstration Grants. For the Arizona Department of Economic Security, he directed the statewide Evaluation of the Arizona Families in Recovery Succeeding Together (F.I.R.S.T) Program. Dr. DeSantis was trained as a developmental psychologist and has a particular interest in adolescent development and the issues facing youth as they transition out of the child welfare system.

Cheryl McDonnell, Ph.D. Director

Cheryl McDonnell joined JBA's public health practice area in 1998. She has over 25 years of experience in applied research and program evaluation and has expertise in managing large-scale, multi-site evaluation, data collection, and analysis activities. Dr. McDonnell's project experiences span the program areas of substance abuse/mental health, child and adolescent development, prevention services, health care services, and research program administration. Dr. McDonnell is currently the Senior Scientist for the evaluation of the Immunize Kansas Kids program, which was designed to increase the rates of recommended childhood immunizations in Kansas. She is also the Task Order Leader for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Dense Data Display: Information Design in Primary Care Systems, a study of the usability of electronic health records. Dr. McDonnell also serves as the Senior Analyst for the cross-site evaluation of the Mental Health HIV Services Collaborative programs, guiding the multi-site approach to analyses of evaluation data assessing the integration of mental health, substance abuse, and medical (HIV-related) services at eight study sites. She is also the analyst for an Avon sponsored study of factors affecting return mammography rates. Dr. McDonnell provides analytical support for other JBA projects including the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Replication of Demonstrated Effective Prevention Programs and the evaluation of the Administration for Children and Families Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program.

With a doctorate in Experimental (cognitive) Psychology, Dr. McDonnell has a particular interest in conducting applied health research. For NICHD's Prevention Research Branch, she directed JBA's Coordinating Center for Family Management of Childhood Diabetes (Type 1) Study, a multi-site trial of a behavioral intervention targeting improved adherence and glycemic control among adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. In related efforts, she recently completed an evaluation of obesity prevention efforts in young children as the Principal Investigator for the Cross Site Evaluation of the Little Voices for Healthy Choices program and she is currently serving on the data collection protocol advisory board for the NICHD sponsored NEXT Generation Health Study. Prior to joining JBA, Dr. McDonnell served as the Director of the Coordinating Center for the Agricultural Health Study, the largest prospective cohort study conducted to date on the health effects of pesticides on agricultural workers and their families.

Elliott Graham, Ph.D. Director

With 15 years of experience in applied research, program evaluation, and evaluation technical assistance, Elliott Graham works in JBA's child welfare practice area. Dr. Graham currently serves as Project Director for JBA's contract to provide evaluation technical assistance to Children's Bureau child welfare discretionary grantees, through which he oversees technical assistance activities conducted on behalf of dozens of Federal grantees implementing projects in the areas (among many others) of comprehensive family assessment, services for substance-exposed newborns, nurse home visitation, and the recruitment of foster and adoptive families. He also serves as Deputy Project Director for JBA's contract with the Children's Bureau to provide evaluation technical assistance to States with Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstrations. In addition, Dr. Graham provides ongoing evaluation support services under a contract with the Office of Family Assistance to provide technical assistance to Federal grantees throughout the country implementing projects that promote and support healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood.

Dr. Graham's other areas of professional experience include evaluating community-based child maltreatment and substance abuse prevention programs; creating logic models; and technology applications in evaluation, including State Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Dr. Graham received a Doctorate in Education, with a concentration in evaluation studies, and a Masters of Planning from the University of Minnesota.

Jennifer Dewey, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate

Jennifer Dewey, who joined JBA's child welfare practice in 2009, has over 15 years of experience in evaluation, applied research, training, and technical assistance. Dr. Dewey is currently the Project Director for the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Children's Bureau's Family Connections Discretionary Grants, where she leads a team of JBA staff in designing and implementing a cross-site evaluation protocol, along with providing technical assistance to local evaluation activities. The Family Connections Project is one of several projects funded by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, authorized by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. This project is designed to help children who are in or are at-risk of entering into foster care reconnect with family members by developing and implementing grant programs in the areas of kinship navigator programs; programs utilizing intensive family-finding efforts to locate biological families and reestablish relationships; programs utilizing family group decision-making meetings; or residential family treatment programs.

Prior to joining JBA, Dr. Dewey was a Technical Director at ICF Macro, where in addition to business and organizational development, she directed three core studies and oversaw ongoing training and technical assistance to 60+ local evaluation teams for a multi-site evaluation of a SAMHSA-funded systems of care program. Dr. Dewey served as Director of Internal Evaluation at Learning Point Associates, a nonprofit organization providing research-based expertise, resources, and professional development to educators and policymakers. She has worked for the Center for Prevention Research at the University of Kentucky and for Andersen (formerly Arthur Andersen). Dr. Dewey holds a Doctorate in Applied Experimental Psychology, with a program evaluation specialization, from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She has published in multiple journals, conducted over 45 professional conference trainings and presentations, and is a 2007-2009 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner.

Carol Hafford, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate

Carol Hafford, who joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2002, has more than 15 years of experience in applied research, program evaluation, and technical assistance. Dr. Hafford works primarily in the program areas of child welfare, prevention services, and service collaboration, coordination, and integration. She currently serves as the Deputy Director for the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Children's Bureau's Implementation Centers and National Resource Centers. Dr. Hafford also provides evaluation technical assistance to discretionary grantees that are implementing comprehensive family assessments and coordinating the delivery of TANF and child welfare services. Previously, she directed the Evaluation of the Court Teams for Maltreated Infants and Toddlers for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and managed the National Evaluation of the Quality Improvement Centers for the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Children's Bureau. Dr. Hafford has worked on multiple projects involving children and families, including the replication of an effective neglect prevention program, implementation of tribal family preservation and support services, an evaluability assessment of state court improvement reforms, development of performance measures for independent living programs, and the Child and Family Services Reviews.

Prior to joining JBA, she served as a federal project officer for evaluations on national and community service, youth development, service learning, and non-profit capacity building. Dr. Hafford received her degree in applied anthropology from Columbia University and has conducted ethnographic research on the children of immigrants and transnational families, youth homelessness and transitional living services. She has a particular interest in vulnerable populations and cultural competency in health and human service delivery and recently authored an article on sibling caretaking in immigrant families.

Matthew Shepherd, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate

With more than 15 years of experience in applied research, program evaluation, and evaluation technical assistance, Matthew Shepherd serves in JBA's child welfare practice area. He is Deputy Project Director for the Adaptable Evaluation Training and Technical Assistance Project funded by the Office of Family Assistance. In this capacity, Dr. Shepherd oversees the provision of evaluation-based technical assistance to more than 200 Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees and provides high level research services, including report writing, for OFA Management. In addition, Dr. Shepherd supports several nationwide technical assistance projects for the Children's Bureau. One project is developing an evidence-based curriculum for Healthy Marriage and Healthy Relationships that can be used by non-profits and extension programs at little or no cost. Other projects develop evaluation capacity among social service organizations implementing demonstration projects that improve child welfare by building Healthy Marriages in underserved communities, and in post-adoption families.

Dr. Shepherd's other areas of professional experience include: evaluating community-based mental heath programs; childhood hunger; policy analysis; health services research; creating logic models; conducting advanced statistical analysis; and presenting information to audiences in a way that is easy to understand. His past experiences include being a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. Senate, and leading several national initiatives. Dr. Shepherd has received several awards for his research activities, and earned his Doctorate in Community/Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis in research and evaluation from the Wichita State University.

Kim Keating, M.Ed. Senior Research Associate

Kim Keating joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2006. Ms. Keating has 15 years of experience in program evaluation and social science research. She has managed and contributed to several national research projects that address program performance and evaluate the achievement of intended outcomes for low-income and at-risk children and families. Ms. Keating's areas of expertise include child welfare and Head Start program research, large-scale data collection, training, and project management. As the Project Manager for the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program, she provides oversight and planning for a cross-site evaluation of the process and outcome goals achieved by six grantees funded by the Children's Bureau. Ms. Keating is a member of JBA's Evaluation Technical Assistance for Children's Bureau Discretionary Grantees project team. In this capacity, she provides evaluation technical assistance to the Collaboration between TANF and Child Welfare to Improve Child Welfare Program Outcomes grantees and Post-Adoption Marriage Education grantees. In addition, Ms. Keating recently offered program evaluation technical assistance and support to Office of Family Assistance discretionary grantees through JBA's contract to provide Adaptable Evaluation Training and Technical Assistance for Healthy Marriage, Promoting Responsible Fatherhood and Tribal/TANF Child Welfare Grantees.

Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Keating managed the Program Information Report (PIR) data collection on behalf of the Administration for Children and Families' Office of Head Start. Ms. Keating managed all phases of the reporting process, including instrument development, ensuring alignment of the survey content with the Head Start Program Performance Standards, participating in working groups with senior Federal officers, and providing recommendations for modifications to Federal staff. Ms. Keating's analyses and summaries of the annual PIR data were used to inform program policy and funding decisions and were reported to Congress, the public, and a wide variety of stakeholders. Ms. Keating received a M.Ed. in Counseling and Human Development from George Mason University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Michelle Beaulieu Pillen, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate

Michelle Beaulieu Pillen joined JBA's HIV/AIDS practice area in 1998 and offers a combined 19 years of experience in program development and evaluation at the community, state, and Federal levels. She is skilled in qualitative data collection, analysis, and synthesis, and has worked with administrators, clinicians, and consumers to evaluate behavioral health interventions for people living with HIV/AIDS who are dually diagnosed with mental illness and substance abuse. As a Senior Management Team Member for the Mental Health HIV/AIDS Services Collaborative (MHHSC) Program, she leads qualitative evaluation activities involving 16 community-based organizations expanding capacity to provide coordinated mental health and other support services to racial/ethnic minorities experiencing HIV/AIDS. Dr. Pillen has also worked on program evaluations related to treatment adherence, health outcomes, and service utilization. She represents JBA as a Program Reviewer for SAMHSA's National Registry of Programs and Practices (NREPP) Program and serves as a Behavioral and Social Science Volunteer (BSSV) as part of a national HIV prevention technical assistance program directed by the American Psychological Association (APA) Office on AIDS.

Prior to joining JBA, Dr. Pillen developed, implemented, and monitored evaluation activities for applied research projects focusing on substance abuse treatment and child welfare interventions. With a Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology from DePaul University, Dr. Pillen has conducted psychotherapy for adults, children, and families, and has a particular interest in cultural competency and collaborative research.

Jill Filene, MPH Senior Research Associate

Jill Filene joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2004. Ms. Filene has more than a decade of experience in applied research, program evaluation, and technical assistance. She has primarily worked in the areas of child welfare, child and adolescent development, and prevention services. Ms. Filene currently manages the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Replication of Demonstrated Effective Prevention Programs (Family Connections), which consists of process (fidelity), outcome, and cost-effectiveness components. In addition, she works on JBA's project to provide evaluation technical assistance to agencies implementing demonstration projects in the areas of adoption, child maltreatment prevention (i.e., home visitation), and training of child welfare workers. She has also worked on a cross-site evaluation of four child welfare Quality Improvement Centers.

Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Filene worked as a research fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she worked on replication studies, a meta-analysis of parent training programs, and provided evaluation technical assistance to statewide effectiveness trials of evidence-based child maltreatment prevention programs. Ms. Filene has extensive experience conducting systematic literature reviews and synthesizing research findings regarding child maltreatment, including reviews of home visitation programs, child maltreatment prevention programs, school-based child sexual abuse prevention programs, and risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse perpetration. She has worked on the evaluations of several national home visitation models. Ms. Filene received a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a focus on maternal and child health. She has particular interests in the prevention of child maltreatment, dissemination of evidence-based programs, and implementation research.

Pirkko S. Ahonen, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate

Pirkko Ahonen joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2009. Dr. Ahonen, an educational psychologist, has nearly a decade of applied research and program evaluation experience. She currently provides support for the Adaptable Evaluation Training and Technical Assistance for Healthy Marriage, Promoting Responsible Fatherhood and Tribal/TANF Child Welfare Grantees project as well as the Evaluation Technical Assistance for Children's Bureau Discretionary Grantees project. Prior to joining JBA, her research and evaluation work has primarily been in the field of education, including areas of education innovation, professional development, and learning styles; as well as national program evaluations related to comprehensive school reform and public school choice. Dr. Ahonen has also conducted research on other topics such as homelessness, resilience, and gender. She has a broad experience base with issues of human development arising from her counseling background as well as years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in human development.

Dr. Ahonen holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology with a concentration on research methodology and an earlier M.S. degree in counseling, marriage and family therapy. She received her doctorate from the University of New Mexico where she also completed two years of post-doctoral work focused on program evaluation.

Steven Knickrehm, M.A., M.B.A. Senior Research Associate

With over 25 years of experience in applied research, program administration, program evaluation, and university teaching, Steven Knickrehm works in JBA's public health practice area. He is currently Co-Project Director for a JBA project that is analyzing the existing conflict of interest (COI) polices and practices of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and will define best practices in that area to serve as a guide as the Agency restructures its approach to COI. Mr. Knickrehm also brings experience as the Co-Project Director of a recent JBA information technology project for the American Battle Monuments Commission. In that effort, Mr. Knickrehm led the analysis of the Commission's existing, worldwide data management systems and the creation of a plan to implement new systems for greater organizational effectiveness and efficiencies.

Mr. Knickrehm also brings a great deal of organizational and analytical experience from a 21-year career as a senior administrator and assistant professor at James Madison University (JMU) in charge of its central planning functions. During his time at JMU, Mr. Knickrehm was the principal author of the University's Strategic Plan, 8 biennial Capital Budget Proposals, 4 biennial Operating Budget Proposals, and supervised the creation of a Physical Master Plan for its new technology campus. He also planned and created JMU's administrative program review procedures, authored its first protocol, and directed program reviews that analyzed the operating procedures and made recommendations for improvements for 8 administrative units. Mr. Knickrehm was also an assistant professor of Health Sciences at JMU.

Kate Lyon, M.A. Research Associate

Kate Lyon joined JBA in 2007 and has eight years of experience in program evaluation, applied social science research, and evaluation technical assistance. She has contributed to numerous projects in the areas of child welfare, education, mental health, substance abuse prevention, community development, and environmental sustainability. At JBA, Ms. Lyon provides evaluation technical assistance to discretionary grant programs funded by the Children's Bureau and Office of Family Assistance. She is a member of the team that is conducting a cross-site evaluation of the Children's Bureau's Family Connection grant programs. In addition, Ms. Lyon manages the Evaluation of Delaware's Promoting Safe and Stable Families Consultation and Support Program. She has also collected data for the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Replication of Demonstrated Effective Prevention Programs (Family Connections) and the Evaluation of Court Teams for Maltreated Infants and Toddlers.

Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Lyon was a survey statistician for the United States Census Bureau where she managed components of the data collection process for the American Time Use Survey, a national household telephone survey. While at the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University, Ms. Lyon conducted a needs assessment related to Native American suicide for the Arizona Department of Health Services and served as the project manager and principal analyst for a program evaluation of a tribal youth wellness court program. Ms. Lyon holds a Masters in Applied Anthropology from Northern Arizona University.

Nicole M. Miller, MSW Research Associate

Nicole Miller joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2007. She has over 10 years of experience in child and family services focusing in the areas of child welfare, child protection, and child and adolescent mental health. Ms. Miller currently provides support for the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Technical Assistance and Evaluation of the Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects and the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program. In addition, she has conducted data collection for the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Replication of Demonstrated Effective Prevention Programs (Family Connections) and the Evaluation of the Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start "Little Voices for Healthy Choices" Initiative. Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Miller provided oversight and technical assistance to foster care service providers for a public child welfare agency. In addition, she spent six years supporting the Children's Bureau's federally mandated Child and Family Services Reviews and Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews. With a background in clinical social work, Ms. Miller also has experience providing counseling and crisis intervention services to children and adolescents with mental health needs and women with high risk pregnancies. Ms. Miller holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Simmons College.

Grace Atukpawu, Ph.D. Research Associate

Grace Atukpawu joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2009 and has 8 years of experience in social science research in the fields of child welfare, education, and psychology. She currently provides support for the Training of Child Welfare Agency Supervisors in the Effective Delivery and Management of Federal Independent Living Services for Youth in Foster Care grantee cluster through JBA's contract to provide Evaluation Technical Assistance to Children's Bureau Discretionary Grantees. In addition, she works with Children's Bureau grantees for the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Family Connections Discretionary Grant Program. Prior to joining JBA, Dr. Atukpawu conducted research on the identity development and future orientation of foster care youth transitioning from the foster care system to independent living, as well as the role of independent living programs in supporting emancipation outcomes. With a background in psychology and clinical social work, Dr. Atukpawu also has experience providing counseling services to children and adults with mental health needs. She worked with abused and neglected children as a Social Worker for the Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles, California. In this role, she provided case management services to children and families in kinship care, foster homes, and group homes. She is also a trained Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for youth in foster care. Dr. Atukpawu received both a Doctorate in Educational Psychology, with a focus on child and adolescent development and a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, as well as a Masters degree in Social Work from UCLA.

Joanna DeWolfe, M.A. Research Associate

Joanna DeWolfe joined JBA's child welfare practice area in 2008. She has over 10 years experience in applied social science research and evaluation of programs serving children and families. Ms. DeWolfe currently works on the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Children's Bureau's Training and Technical Assistance Network, which focuses primarily on the National Resource Centers and Implementation Centers. Ms. DeWolfe also provides evaluation technical assistance to grantees implementing demonstration projects in the areas of adoption, and child abuse and neglect prevention, in addition to Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees funded through the Office of Family Assistance. Prior to joining JBA, Ms. DeWolfe provided support to several research and evaluation projects, including Head Start's Family and Child Experiences Survey, Design Option for Studying Head Start Enhancement Efforts through Planned Variation, Head Start Research to Practice Project, Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Quality Assurance Study, and the Head Start National Reporting System. Ms. DeWolfe received a Masters degree in Family and Community Development from the University of Maryland.

Lauren Kass, MSW Research Associate

Lauren Kass joined JBA in 2006 and has four years of experience in social science research, evaluation technical assistance, and child and family services. Her areas of expertise include the evaluation of Head Start and Early Head Start programs, child maltreatment prevention and treatment programs, and community-based family strengthening organizations. Ms. Kass currently provides support to two Administration for Children and Families contracts: the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Replication of Demonstrated Effective Prevention Programs (Family Connections) and the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program. Ms. Kass also provides evaluation technical assistance to Abandoned Infants Assistance discretionary grantees funded by the Children's Bureau. She has engaged in data collection and analysis for JBA projects including the National Cross-Site Evaluation of the Zero to Three Court Teams for Maltreated Infants and Toddlers and the Evaluation of the Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start "Little Voices for Healthy Choices" Initiative. Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Kass participated in evaluations of both Head Start and Parents Anonymous® programs in St. Louis, Missouri. These evaluations focused on client outcomes including parental stress and quality of life, as well as client satisfaction. Ms. Kass holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis.

Chi Connie Vu, M.A. Research Associate

Chi Connie Vu joined JBA in 2009 and has five years of experience in applied social science research design, program evaluation, grant writing, and capacity building technical assistance. She has worked in a variety of areas including mental health, non-profit capacity building, community and organizational development, and human resource development. At JBA, Ms. Vu provides evaluation technical assistance to discretionary grant programs funded by the Office of Family Assistance. Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Vu was a research associate for the Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research where she took a lead role in conducting research for a jointly funded NIMH/SAMHSA project on promoting effective practices among mental health consumer-run organizations. This project involved designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research with over 300 mental health consumers in Kansas. Additionally, she conducted a longitudinal assessment of the different types of technical assistance provided to mental health consumer-run organizations in Kansas since 2004. This research has helped identify the primary organizational capacity needs of these organizations. Ms. Vu is a Community Psychology doctoral student and holds a Masters in Psychology from Wichita State University.

Natasha Driver, M.H.Sc. Research Associate

Natasha Driver joined JBA in 2009 and currently works on JBA's contract for the Evaluation of the Mental Health HIV Services Collaborative Program and the Mental Health Care Provider Education in HIV/AIDS Programs (MHCPE) III Training, Data Processing, Analysis and Reporting as well as the Kansas Health Initiative. Ms. Driver has been working on public health and research projects since 2000 and has experience in conducting research in the areas of clinical medicine, clinical trials, and public policy. Ms. Driver has three years of HIV surveillance research experience and has implemented a study to examine the feasibility of enhancing HIV surveillance in antenatal clinics in India. Prior to joining JBA, Ms. Driver was a consultant at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington, DC. At PAHO, she primarily reviewed HIV and STI data from 25 years in over 35 countries and the Americas into databases which were analyzed and displayed in reports. Ms. Driver holds a Master degree in Epidemiology and Community Health from the University of Toronto.