Center for Healthcare Excellence
The Center for Healthcare Excellence (CHE) is committed to working collaboratively with our partners to transform public health systems and improve the health of communities. The program has experience in a wide variety of content areas related to public health and health care, and offers expertise in evaluating health programs, analyzing health-related data, coordinating and facilitating multi-agency projects, providing training and technical assistance to a variety of community organizations and public-sector agencies, and conducting human service needs assessments. In addition, CHE operates a Survey Research Unit experienced in telephone and in-person interviewing and a Geographic Information Systems lab with broad capabilities. CHE specializes in projects which focus on health promotion, disease prevention, quality improvement, community-based participatory research, and ecological approaches to investigating the social determinants of health behaviors and health outcomes. The program values a collaborative, participatory approach to research and evaluation, and has collaborated on projects that examine health and wellness in diverse communities.
Leadership
Julia Heany,
Ph.D.
Program Director
Center for Healthcare Excellence
(517) 324-7349
jheany@mphi.org
As Program Director, Dr. Heany provides scientific, fiscal, and managerial oversight of the operations of the Center for Healthcare Excellence at MPHI. She is the principle investigator on several of the Center’s studies and projects, including the Multi-State Learning Collaborative, Public Health Agency Accreditation Finance Study, BCBS Active Living Minnesota Evaluation, Improving Performance in Practice Evaluation, and Zero to Three Secondary Prevention Evaluation projects. In addition, Dr. Heany directs MPHI-CHE’s Geographic Information Systems Lab. Dr. Heany completed her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2005. Dr. Heany’s research interests involve identifying ways communities can support family health and wellbeing through studying the interconnections between multiple levels of the human ecological context. More specifically, Dr. Heany has worked in the areas of the legal response to violence against women, the prevention of child maltreatment, and child and family policy. Dr. Heany’s expertise includes empowerment evaluation and community based research using multi-method, multi-level design. She has experience working closely with clients and partners to shape research and evaluation projects, designing research and evaluation plans, designing instruments and data collection procedures, managing data collection, conducting statistical analysis and using qualitative analytical techniques, and disseminating results. In addition, Dr. Heany has three years teaching experience in higher education, having taught Psychology of Women, Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, and Introduction to Psychology.
Key Contacts
Shannon Laing
Program Coordinator
Center for Healthcare Excellence
(517) 324-7344
slaing@mphi.org
As a Program Coordinator, and over six years of experience with the Survey Research Unit, Ms. Laing has expertise in survey research, qualitative/quantitative research methods, sampling, focus groups, and evaluation. Ms. Laing receives her Master of Social Work in Organizational and Community Practice in May 2009.
Kanchan Lota
Accreditation Coordinator
Center for Healthcare Excellence
(517) 324-8340
klota@mphi.org
Kanchan Lota received a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Environmental Health and Epidemiology from Boston University. Ms. Lota is a Program Coordinator and has expertise in geographic information systems, local public health accreditation, project management, and multi-state collaboratives.
Beth Ann Whitaker
Research Associate
Center for Healthcare Excellence
(517) 324-7341
ewhitake@mphi.org
Beth Ann Whitaker received her Masters in Business Administration from Villanova University and her Masters in Sociology from Michigan State University. In addition, Ms. Whitaker is working toward her Ph.D. in Sociology with an expected completion date of December 2009. Serving in her role as Program Coordinator, Ms. Whitaker’s areas of expertise are in qualitative research methods, survey research, and project management.