Our Team
Our team is principally based in the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, at the Geisel School Medicine.
Researcher Team
Paul J. Barr, MSc, PhD
Paul is an associate professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and a member of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, trained in quantitative and qualitative methods. His research portfolio includes the development and implementation of measures of shared decision making (SDM), the user centered design and evaluation of patient and caregiver facing interventions to support SDM, and the communication of medical information to promote self-management. Paul is a recipient of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Patient and Family Engagement award, through which he launched the Open Recordings research group in 2015. Outside of work, Paul can be found chasing his two children up mountains and trying to keep up with them as they ski back down. He coaches elementary school soccer in Lebanon, NH, teaches science at Mount Lebanon Elementary school as part of the Four Winds program, and is an avid furniture-maker in the Dartmouth Woodshop.
Reed Bratches, PhD, MPH, MALS
Reed Bratches is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education. His research focuses on how we communicate information to family caregivers, with a focus on medication-related information. Outside of work, Reed can be found with his family, biking, and golfing.
Craig Ganoe, MS
Craig is a researcher in human-computer interaction (HCI) design. He received his MS in Computer Science from Virginia Tech in 1998 with a focus on HCI and has primarily worked in academic research since. His research interests currently focus around design of software support for local community and caregiver engagement as well as the design of user interface affordances for group awareness in shared decision making - with the goal of designing usable software that better enables connections within families and local communities. Craig is an avid hiker who first visited the Upper Valley of NH/VT in 1994 and after returning many times since was proud to make it his home.
Salar Khaleghzadegan, MPP
Salar Khaleghzdegan is a PhD student at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, focusing his research on the impact of barriers within dynamic relationships among patients, care partners, and clinicians during clinical encounters. His primary interests lie in understanding how these barriers contribute to sub-optimal care and the pivotal role of patient-centered communication and shared decision-making in enhancing these relationships. Additionally, he explores the emergence and management of medical uncertainty during discussions among patients, care partners, and clinicians. Salar is particularly passionate about utilizing tools from disciplines such as linguistics and data science to analyze recordings of clinical encounters, aiming to advance the basic science of patient-provider communication.
Prior to joining TDI, Salar served as a Research Data Analyst at the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In this role, he investigated the impact of teamwork, coordination, leadership, and communication on patient safety and quality. Salar holds an MPP from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) School of Public Policy, along with a BS in Biological Sciences and a minor in Sociology from UMBC.
Outside of work, Salar enjoys experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen and hiking.
Alejandra Martínez, PhD
Alejandra Martínez holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). Her doctoral thesis aimed to understand healthcare in the interaction between pregnant migrant women and health professionals in Chile’s public health system. Her main research interests are power dynamics, patient-centered care, and shared decision-making.
Alejandra enjoys running, cooking, and visiting new cafes to spend time and read.
Lisa A. Mistler, MD, MS, FAPA, FASAM
Lisa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine. She has a MS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT, and subsequently attended medical school at the University of Vermont. For many years she has been an attending psychiatrist at New Hampshire Hospital, with a 5 year stint at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital in Worcester MA. During this time she also developed a research career, obtaining an MS in Health Services Research at The Dartmouth Institute while serving as a VA Quality Scholar 2006-2008. She was the content expert for development of SAMHSA’s antipsychotic medication decision aid, as well as consultant in developing SAMHSA’s Medication Assisted Treatment decision aid. What has kept her engaged and passionate is the ability to help disempowered patients with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, rediscover the power they have in order to live the lives they envision for themselves. The common thread tying her career activities together has been working side-by-side with patients to maximize their autonomy in making life decisions. In her clinical work, she helped people gain the knowledge, skill, and capacity to manage their illnesses – to effectively take back power so they can be in the driver’s seat of their lives. By focusing on the clinical interview and the power of engagement and communication, she taught medical students and psychiatry residents to gain the therapeutic deftness to work with patients in a much more patient-centered way that supports autonomy. She is now a Research Postdoctoral Fellow on a T32 working with the Barr lab exploring key aspects of clinician-patient communication that facilitate engagement and behavior change.
Lisa enjoys running and hiking with her English Springer Spaniels, Freddie Mercury and Clyde, and traveling to unusual destinations with her husband.
Lisa Oh
Lisa Oh is a Research Scientist at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH). She earned her Master of Science in Computer Science from Dartmouth College, where she developed a novel hierarchical Graph Convolution Network for predicting the binding interfaces between antibodies and antigens. Her primary interest lies in leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance human wellbeing.
At CTBH, Lisa is instrumental in developing software applications that not only assist patients in managing their physical and mental health but also facilitate the collection and analysis of health-related data. Her research primarily revolves around the application of various machine learning techniques to predict indicators related to mental and physical health, thereby delivering tailored interventions through technological solutions. Additionally, she explores the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to evaluate clinic visit dialogues so as to better understand and predict patients’ subjective experiences during their visits, thereby supporting healthcare providers to more effectively cater to each patient’s specific needs.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Lisa enjoys spending time with her cats, Sirius and Lily. She is an avid snowboarder and enjoys creative activities such as playing piano and guitar, drawing and crocheting.
Wambui Moraa Onsando, MD, MPH
Wambui Moraa Onsando is a PhD student at The Dartmouth Institute and prior research assistant at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health. Born in Kenya, Moraa graduated with an MD from St. George’s University in Grenada before attaining her MPH from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Her masters culminated in a project exploring the widespread implications of medical tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa and an internship that examined the obstacles faced by women in the peripartum period suffering from opioid addiction. As a former Health Equity Research Fellow, she worked with PIs in the Health Equity and Advocacy lab to explore housing, food insecurity and discrimination as social determinants of health. She is passionate about understanding how barriers to an optimal provider-patient relationship, and the applications of patient centered communication in an ever-changing healthcare delivery landscape, can help bridge health equity gaps. Moraa enjoys music and unwinds by playing guitar and ukelele. She has 2 dogs and a craft obsession for every season.
Sue Tarczewski, CCRP
Sue is a research coordinator for Open Recordings, a group researching and promoting the use of recording clinic visits for patient use. She is certified as a clinical research professional by the Society of Clinical Research Associates. Sue is deeply interested in learning how behavioral interventions may improve patient engagement, with a goal of improving patient outcomes. Her professional background includes over 15 years as a clinical research coordinator at Norris Cotton Cancer Center. At NCCC, she focused on solid tumor trials, primarily in gastrointestinal cancers. In her spare time, Sue is an avid reader, loves hiking with her spoiled-rotten dog, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Sullivan County Humane Society.
Garrett Wasp, MD
Dr. Garrett Wasp is a medical oncologist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Lebanon, NH. Dr. Wasp specializes in the treatment of Head and Neck Cancer and Sarcoma. He is also an Assistant Professor at The Geisel School of Medicine where he studies communication and decision-making in the treatment of cancer and during end-of-life care decisions. Dr. Wasp is particularly interested in identifying ways to improve serious illness conversations between patients, their families, and oncology clinicians. Strategies include healthcare system implementation and refining scalable, digital tools that assist patients and clinicians in ensuring what matters most to patients and families is heard by their care team.
Renata W. Yen, PhD, MPH
Renata is a health services researcher at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and the Department of Biomedical Data Science at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. She works on the OpenRecordings team under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Barr. Her research focuses on patient-clinician communication, particularly for patients with lower health literacy or who are socially disadvantaged.
She completed her PhD in Health Policy & Clinical Practice at Dartmouth in 2023. For her PhD, she studied how to measure clinician use of plain language in healthcare encounters and the impact of shared decision-making interventions for socially disadvantaged populations. Before moving into research, Renata worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health associate, tracking transmission of communicable diseases at a health department in St. Petersburg, Florida. Renata received a Masters in Public Health from Dartmouth in 2016 and a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Biology & Society and Development Sociology from Cornell University.
Outside of work, Renata spends her time with her husband and two kids in their yard or otherwise outside. She is a novice gardener and also makes a decent lasagna.
Interns
We are always seeking energetic, dedicated, and passionate individuals to join our team of interns. Those with experience in computer science, user-centered design, clinical trial implementation, and mixed-methods research are especially encouraged to apply. Please visit our “Contact Us” page if you are interested in hearing more.
Stephen Adjei, Undergraduate
Stephen Adjei is a junior at Dartmouth College and a pre-med student majoring in Biomedical Engineering, modified with Computer Science. As an undergraduate intern, he works on the UI/UX design for the iPath by OpenRecordings app and works on UI/UX and backend development for HealthPal. On campus, Stephen is an undergraduate researcher at Kasper and Jacobson Lab, a Dartmouth robotics competitive programmer, a staff writer for the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, and a cartoonist for The Dartmouth Newspaper. Stephen hopes to pursue a career in medicine after college and is interested in exploring the intersects between machine learning and medicine. Stephen enjoys art, reading, philosophy, and open-source large language models.
Sachi Badola, Undergraduate
Sachi is a sophomore at Dartmouth College double majoring in Biochemistry and Sociology on the pre-med track. She is interested in pursuing a career in neurology, genetics, or oncology. As an undergraduate intern, she is involved with patient and caregiver recruitment for the VOICES3 project and involved in learning and assisting with qualitative data analysis and modifying existing patient-doctor communication coding schemes. She is passionate about preventive health care models, health policy, and providing patients of all ages with the power and tools to make more informed decisions about their health. Outside of OpenRecordings, you can find her singing with her a cappella group The Dartmouth Dodecaphonics, playing piano, hiking, podcasting, and tutoring.
Gabriel Brigham, Undergraduate
Gabriel is a sophomore at Dartmouth College studying Psychology and Sociology. As an undergraduate intern, Gabriel is responsible for the recruitment of study participants, maintaining records of participant interactions, and providing input on how to better the preliminary stages of the research. After college, Gabriel hopes to attend medical school and become a physician. Outside of his work with VOiCE3, Gabriel is involved heavily with pre-medicine pursuits, being on Dartmouth's Nathan Smith Society leadership board and serving as president of Dartmouth's Primary Care Progress club.
Ash Chinta, Undergraduate
Ash is a junior at Dartmouth College studying Neuroscience. As an undergraduate intern, they hope to improve communication between patients with dementia, caregivers, and clinicians through the VOiCES project. Their hobbies include writing, traditional dance, taking photos of everything (but especially ducks), and reading weird stories.
Diane Chen, Undergraduate
Diane is a junior studying Biology and Global Health, with an interest in medicine. As an undergraduate intern with OpenRecordings, she works with REPLAY and other studies. Outside of OpenRecordings, she is involved with the Dartmouth Outing Club, the Life Sciences Greenhouse, and Hanover Community Kitchen. She also enjoys hiking, drawing, and photography.
Anya Ramrakhiani, Undergraduate
Anya Ramrakhiani ('27) is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College studying Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track. After college, she hopes to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery. As an intern with Open Recordings, she recruits patients for the REPLAY study and documents participant interactions. Outside of research, she is involved in Dartmouth EMS, peer tutoring, and serves as a captain of the Dartmouth Running Team.
Fatma Al Arbawi, Undergraduate
Fatma Al Arbawi is a Research Assistant at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH). Her role is centered around recruitment calls for the REPLAY study and documents participant interactions. She is a Dartmouth undergrad majoring in Biomedical Engineering. In addition, she is currently developing a minimally-invasive medical device and startup called Flowrev to detect and prevent recurrent ischemic stroke and has a patent pending on this device. She is also leading a bioinformatics project aiming to create a visual and predictive model for tumor mutation progression using genomic data. Prior to joining CTBH, Fatma was a research intern at Thayer Engineering, working under mechanical engineer Emily Monroe and Dr. Heiko Pohl on a project examining gastroenterology’s environmental impact. Outside of academics and research, Fatma can be found playing soccer in Leverone, campaigning her published book “The Voiceless Dream” and writing the sequel or locked up in Fairchild studying.
Patient and Caregiver Partners
The insights offered by our patient and caregiver team members are essential to the success of our research.
Click the link below to learn more about how you can engage patients and caregivers in your own research:
Patient Engagement Workbook
Roger Arend, BSCE
Patient Advisor, DHMC
Roger is a retired Civil Engineer/Geologist/Digital Cartographer. He retired after a career as a business owner/partner with companies doing research and mapping throughout the Arctic and North America, Australia and Asia. In his retirement he has served as the patient voice on several hospital committees and on research projects with the Dartmouth Institute.
Terry Grigsby, Patient Advocate
Terry volunteered to be a team member in the hopes that she could help people with cancer also deal with clinical depression. She has a master’s degree in education and was a reading specialist and 504 case manager in Lebanon, NH for 23 years. After retirement, she was active in the Red Cross and Listen, a thrift store which raises funds for people who need assistance with everything from food to heating to housing. Since Covid, she has become quite the birder, with three feeders she keeps stocked year round. She also enjoys gardening. When she was told that she would need to find a “quiet” hobby, she was introduced to a fellow cancer survivor, and has knitted several hundred scarves for the Haven, a shelter for the homeless in White River Junction, VT. Her greatest joy is spending time and spoiling her five grandchildren.
Sheri Piper
Sheri is a retired administrative assistant from Michigan with a background in medical terminology and medical records. She has experience with audio recordings with her primary care physician, so she has a strong interest in this type of availability for patients who, like herself, can have difficulty remembering details from doctor visits. This tool enables patients to take a more active role in their patient care.
Sheri moved to Nevada at the end of 2019, where she has fallen in love with the weather. Her hobbies include reading, singing, and dog sitting.
Phyllis Whitney, Patient Family Advisor
Phyllis is a retired adult education program administrator. She, also, holds a certificate in gerontology. She is a Massachusetts native who spent several years in the Upper Valley and has now retired here to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She enjoys reading, cooking, travel, walking and the arts.