Improving Chronic Illness Care
Improving Chronic Illness Care

Staff

Ed H. Wagner, MD, MPH, MACP
Dr. Wagner is Director of Improving Chronic Illness Care, a general internist/epidemiologist, and director of the Seattle-based MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at the Group Health Research Institute of Group Health Cooperative. His current research interests include the development and testing of population-based care models for diabetes, frailty in the elderly and other chronic illnesses; the evaluation of the health and cost impacts of health promotion/disease prevention interventions; and interventions to prevent disability and reduce depressive symptoms in older adults. He has written two books, authored more than 200 publications, and is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine.
 
Brian Austin
Brian Austin helped to develop the original proposal for the ICIC program, and currently serves as its deputy director. He is Associate Director of the MacColl Institute, and has been at the Group Health Research Institute of Group Health Cooperative in various capacities for over 25 years. His areas of interest include implementing population-based care initiatives in primary care settings, the development of expert systems and practice team redesign efforts.
 
Michael Von Korff, ScD
Dr. Von Korff is a co-investigator for the ICIC program and a scientific advisor to the MacColl Institute.  He is Senior Investigator at the Group Health Research Institute of Group Health Cooperative, where he has worked since 1983.  His major research interests are the management and outcomes of depression and of chronic pain among primary care patients, patients with comorbid chronic conditions, and determinants of disability and health care use in these patient populations. He has worked on a series of World Health Organization studies, and most recently the World Mental Health Surveys.   He is a Fellow of the Society for Behavioral Medicine and the Association for Health Services Research.

Judith Schaefer, MPH
Judith Schaefer is a senior research associate at ICIC and the MacColl Institute, and director of the Quality Allies Self-Management Support Learning Community. She directed the Self-Management Support Learning Community, New Health Partnerships: Improving Care by Engaging Patients, an RWJF-funded program at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Ms. Schaefer co-chaired the Self-Management Workgroup for the Bureau of Primary Health Care’s Health Disparities Collaboratives. She is a faculty member with the Institute for Healthcare Communication, and is a “T” trainer for Stanford Patient Education Research Center’s Chronic Disease Self-management Program.  Her research interests are evidence reviews of health services interventions, program development in patient self-management and patient-provider communication, and community awareness of chronic illness.
 
Robert Reid, MD, PhD
Dr. Reid is Associate Investigator for the ICIC program and a scientific advisor to the MacColl Institute.  He is Associate Medical Director for Preventive Care at Group Health and Associate Investigator at its Research Institute. His research and administrative roles revolve around developing and testing innovations to optimize the delivery clinical preventive services in Group Health’s enrolled population. Robert is also Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Services at the University of Washington, Adjunct Professor of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.
 
Katie Coleman, MSPH
Katie Coleman is a research associate at the MacColl Institute where she is exploring various methods to help primary care practices improve chronic illness care efficiently. She has recently led a trial to develop, implement, and evaluate a toolkit and coaching effort to improve clinical quality and financial stability in safety net organizations.  Coleman works with collaborators at the Commonwealth Fund and Qualis Health to help safety net practices in five U.S. regions become patient-centered medical homes. She also serves on the Group Health Medical Home evaluation team and works with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces for Quality communities to support ambulatory quality improvement.
 
Dona Cutsogeorge, MA
Dona Cutsogeorge is a writer contributing to ICIC, MacColl Institute, HMO Research Network, and Group Health Research Institute projects. She collaborates with scientists, programmers and designers to create health services research websites and learning materials.  Her interests include the application of preventive care research to clinical practice and organizational knowledge management.
 
Sherry Lauf
Sherry Lauf is Business Manager of the MacColl Institute and the ICIC program. She has worked at Group Health for the past 19 years, holding various positions in office management and research administration. She previously worked for the University of Missouri School of Medicine as a departmental administrator. Her interests include research contract negotiation and financial system design.
 
Adele Clark
Adele Clark is an administrative coordinator for the MacColl Institute and ICIC, providing assistance and support to the national program office. She oversees program outreach efforts and plays a key role in event planning.
 
Rick Perrault
Rick Perrault is an analytical assistant providing technical decision support for ICIC and the MacColl Institute, as well as serving as Program Assistant to the group visit program at Group Health.  He plays a major role in the development and maintenance of electronic communication efforts for multiple groups, assists with budget operations, print design, web production, and the advancement of ICIC's bibliographic database.
 
Susan Bennett
Susan Bennett is the MacColl Institute's Program Coordinator. She is responsible for developing, negotiating, and monitoring project budgets, and serves as liaison with ICIC projects.