Health Equity Initiative
Historically, many patient communities are underrepresented in research and have been left out of the development of measures and methods for health technology assessment.
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) advances health equity when it reduces health disparities by aligning access and affordability of healthcare technologies and services with the differing needs and values of diverse patient populations, especially those who are most marginalized.
As the U.S. moves toward a value-based healthcare system, the data inputs and evidence base used to drive this shift must reflect the diversity of patients and represent the different values that patients hold for their health and healthcare.
Patient engagement and innovation of methods can move us closer to achieving health equity.
The Center's Health Equity Initiative, a two-year endeavor, aims to propel multi-stakeholder dialogue on optimizing healthcare valuation. The goal is to acknowledge diversity, mitigate existing health disparities, and foster fair access to care.
Guided by the Center for Innovation & Value Research's scientific leadership and a collaborative steering committee, various programs are underway. This multidisciplinary team, spanning health equity, clinical effectiveness, patient preferences, HEOR methods, HTA, and data analytics, drives the initiative.
Key participants also include payers, purchasers, and employer communities, with special emphasis on stakeholders of color—patients, advocates, and care providers—taking a lead role.
Project Objectives
The Center is engaging advisors and stakeholders to explore formative questions:
How do we ensure that the data and methods used for HTA adequately account for the diversity of patients?
How can HTA meet the urgent need to reduce health inequities in our society?
Without explicit attention to these issues, HTA runs the risk of continuing or exacerbating inequity.
Through this initiative, the Center for Innovation & Value Research seeks to embed health equity throughout our research projects, educational offerings, and patient and stakeholder engagement activities to catalyze action in the development of methods in HTA that promote equity in health access and outcomes.
Publications & Resources
STEERING COMMITTEE
Tammy Boyd, JD, MPH, is Vice President, Federal Advocacy and Strategic Alliances and a member of the Senior Leadership Team at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). She provides strategic leadership for engagement on Capitol Hill and with the Executive Branch. She is responsible for the development, execution, and advancement of ACS CAN's mission impact at the federal government level, developing strong relationships with patient and provider organizations. She leads the ACS CAN federal relations team, the Judicial Advocacy Initiative, and is responsible for impacting federal public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone.
Previously, Tammy served as Chief Policy Officer and Senior Counsel for the Black Women's Health Imperative (BWHI), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and wellness of Black women and girls. There, she was responsible for implementing BWHI's national advocacy program and led federal government affairs, representing the organization before Congress, the White House, and federal deparments.
Along with past government affairs roles, including Johnson & Johnson, Tammy held positions on Capitol Hill. She served as Legislative Director fore the late Congressman John Lewis, handling Ways and Means Committee issues with a strong healthcare focus, and as Legislative Assistant for Congressman Bennie Thompson, managing healthcare and economic development issues. Tammy was an instrumental leader in the legislative efforts to establish the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Tammy is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the American, National, and Mississippi Bar Associations. Born and raised in Mississippi, she attended Tuskegee University before earning a Master's in Health Policy and Management from Emory University and J.D. from Washington College of Law at American University.
Vakaramoko (Karam) is currently the Health Economics Lead (Director) int he Global Value and Real-World Evidence (GVRWE) group at Otsuka. He oversees the design and implementation of economic modeling activities for all Otsuka products. Karam graduated with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Population Health) at the University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and completed a coveted post-doctoral fellowship in health economics and decision sciences at the Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health – McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada). He served one term on the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) Health Equity Initiative Steering Committee from 2021 - 2023 and currently represents Otuska in the advisory board for the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR). Prior to joining Otsuka, he spent a decade in academia (FAMU & UF) where he served as an Assistant Professor of Health Economics and Outcomes Research and Director of an Applied Pharmacoeconomics Online Masters program at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Amy M. Duhig, PhD is Senior Director, New Product Planning, Value and Evidence Generation in U.S. Medical at Takeda. She has over 20 years of consulting, digital biotech, and biopharmaceutical company experience, both on scientific and commercial sides of the business. At Takeda, she is responsible for leading health economics and outcomes research for the U.S. pipeline. Prior to Takeda, she was Executive Director of Value Evidence at Cognoa, a digital diagnostic company for behavioral health, and was responsible for evidence generation and payer marketing. Regarding consulting, Amy was Vice President of Strategic Market Access and Intelligence at Xcenda. In this role, Amy was responsible for leading a team to deliver on U.S. market access services, payer agency, and primary research with payers, providers, and patients. Amy also led the Outcomes Research team at Xcenda. Prior to consulting, Amy held roles in health economics and outcomes research departments in mid- and large-size pharmaceutical companies, providing strategic and tactical support within a variety of therapeutic areas. Her experience includes work on U.S. and global products, small and large molecule assets, as well as specialty and orphan products. She has worked on products from Phase 1 to those late in their lifecycle.
Amy earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Florida. She completed her clinical internship at the University of Miami, Department of Pediatrics, Mailman Center for Child Development and a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University.
Dr. Karen Mancera-Cuevas has a professional background which includes previously working in leadership positions at academic centers emphasizing clinical, public health, and community-based participatory research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University. Additionally, she has engaged with the public in recent state-wide governmental public health efforts in Illinois. Her more than 25 years of professional experience also encompasses varied non-profit and policy-level settings. Programs developed under her leadership addressed chronic disease health disparities in diverse communities of color, specifically targeting women and children at the community-level.
She has Master's level degrees in Public Administration (MS) and Health Policy (MPH) from DePaul University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Additionally, she earned her Doctorate of Public Health (DrPH) from Walden University and is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). Dr. Mancera-Cuevas is Chair-Elect, Program Committee Member and Policy Reviewer for the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), a delegate of the Coalition for National Health Education Organizations (CNHEO), an Associate Editor of Progress in Community Health Partnerships (PCHP), and Regional Committee Trustee for the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE).
Dr. Mancera-Cuevas is of Colombian/Chilean descent. She enjoys spending time with her family, doing gardening, yoga, and crafting in her free time. She is also a mom of four pets (a cat, dog, and two birds).
Jacquelyn McRae, PharmD, MS is Director of Policy and Research at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) focused on advancing policy and research in health equity and the value of medicines. Dr. McRae graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy from Mercer University and a Master of Science in Applied Health Economics and Outcomes Research from Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. McRae previously completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in health economics and outcomes research and population health. In addition to her responsibilities at PhRMA, Dr. McRae studies pharmaceutical health services research and intersectionality as a PhD Candidate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Eberechukwu Onukwugha, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and is the Executive Director of Pharmaceutical Research Computing at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and French from the University at Albany, State University of New York, a Master of Science in agricultural and applied economics as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in economics (concentration: econometrics) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Dr. Onukwugha completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She was a recipient of the PhRMA Foundation’s Post-Doctoral Fellowship in health economics and outcomes research.
Dr. Onukwugha’s research interests are in cost analysis, health disparities, and medical decision-making by individuals and institutions. She has approximately 20 years of experience conducting health economics and outcomes research using administrative medical and pharmacy claims, hospital discharge, and prospectively-collected data. She uses linked data to investigate the role of contextual (e.g., hospital, physician, and geographic) factors in explaining health outcomes and processes of care. She examines the costs and health outcomes associated with health-related decisions as well as the institutional and environmental context framing individuals’ health-related decisions. The health-related decisions of interest include the decision to receive guideline-recommended treatment, self-care following a hospital discharge, and healthcare resource utilization among adults diagnosed with chronic conditions.
Dr. Onukwugha has authored or co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed articles in health economics and outcomes research. Her research has been published in journals such as Cancer, Ethnicity & Disease, JCO: Clinical Cancer Informatics, PharmacoEconomics, Neurology, Value in Health, Journal of Hospital Medicine, Medical Care, Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, Journal of Oncology Practice, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Medical Decision Making. Dr. Onukwugha is an Editorial Board member for PharmacoEconomics and an Associate Editor for Ethnicity & Disease. She co-chairs the scientific review committee for the PhRMA Foundation’s Value Assessment and Health Outcomes Research program.
Recently named among Fortune's 40 Under 40 in Healthcare, Dr. Lauren Powell is the President & CEO of The Equitist, LLC and concurrently serves as the Vice President, US Health Equity & Community Wellness for Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In this role she spearheads efforts to drive health equity through Building trust, and investing in building generational community wellness in diverse under-resourced communities across the US.
For more than a decade, Dr. Powell has been immersed in broad and progressive leadership positions where she’s been unapologetically outspoken about racial injustices and health inequities. Her professional and personal experiences spearheading equity efforts in healthcare, state government, academia, and public health, make her a nationally sought after leader, speaker, and consultant on all things health equity.
Formerly the Director of Health Equity for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Dr. Powell was the youngest Black woman and the first with a PhD to serve in this powerful role where she led statewide strategic plans and initiatives towards pushing Virginia’s 8.5 million residents closer to health equity.
Dr. Powell has an established track record as a community-engaged, social epidemiologist with doctoral training on leveraging data for equity. She earned a Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical and Population Health Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Powell deeply values mentorship and community engagement. She actively seeks opportunities to help mold and encourage the next generation of leaders in health equity.
Prior to her graduate school matriculation, she held positions coordinating clinical research studies at a number of prestigious medical institutions including: The Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Powell has been featured on several national and international news sources and outlets including: Marie Claire, Politico, The Guardian, Huffington Post, NPR, BBC, CNBC, PBS NewsHour, NowThis, Newsy, and Cheddar.
Dr. Jacob ‘Jake’ Quinton, MD, MSHS, FACP is a primary care internist and a medical officer for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) where he leads the equity strategy for the Patient Care Models Group (PCMG) and designs and implements value-based payment models focused on specialty care and interactions between primary care clinicians and specialists. Before CMMI, Jake completed a fellowship in general internal medicine and health services research at UCLA in the National Clinician Scholars Program and was an NIH-funded health disparities researcher focused on Medicaid managed care organizations. He trained in primary care - internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital and before entering medicine was a high school science teacher in New Orleans, LA.
Ashley is a Co-Founder and the President of Sick Cells, and the youngest sibling of her family. Her older brother and Co-Founder of Sick Cells, Marqus Valentine, had sickle cell anemia, Hgb ss. Growing up, Ashley spent much of her childhood charming hospital playroom attendants while Marqus was frequently hospitalized for pain crises, fever, and multiple complications from SCD. As an adult, Ashley completed her Master’s in Research Methods from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She focused on disparities in healthcare for people with SCD in London.
Ashley became the President of Sick Cells in 2017. She was able to transition into a full-time role in 2018. Since then, Ashley and her brother have achieved great milestones with the SCD community including successfully leading the SCD community in its first-ever ICER review, building coalitions to advocate for federal legislation to be signed into law, testify at the FDA about the importance of drug development, and more.
Nelly Ganesan is deeply passionate about ensuring that all individuals receive the right care at the right time, regardless of their race, gender identity, or financial situation. She has 20 years of experience working in the quality and value space with special expertise in care models focused on better care, better health, and lower costs and the use of patient-reported outcomes to enhance consumer experience for their entire care journey. She is currently involved in supporting various organizations in their strategic efforts to integrate equity and measurable outcomes.
Most recently, Nelly served as the Executive Director of Health Equity and External Affairs for Morgan Health. Morgan Health is a business unit within JPMorgan Chase focused on improving the quality, affordability and equity of individuals with employer-sponsored insurance. Within this capacity, Nelly worked to advance equitable care among JPMCs employees and the communities where they live and work. Nelly joined Morgan Health after working at Avalere Health for 10 years providing advisory services support to a variety of clients including health plans, life sciences, employers, patient groups, health systems and foundations in the areas of quality, health equity, care transformation and measurement. Prior to joining Avalere, Nelly was at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, focused on population health and hospital-based quality improvement.
Nelly has a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology and Global Health from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Economics from the University of Oregon.
Melanie Ridley, Chief Program & Development Officer, is an experienced fund development professional with a background in writing and communications, research and health needs assessment, and project management. Ridley is an Institute for Healthcare Improvement-certified Improvement Coach; her professional focus has been community-based health care, public health, quality improvement, value-based care, and building capacity for health care safety net delivery systems.
Ridley served as Director of Fund Development for Essential Access Health, a statewide association in California advancing sexual and reproductive health; she managed a full lifecycle of federal and state grans and funder relationship management. Ridley formerly worked with Mental Health America supporting state mental health planning councils and state policy and advocacy initiatives.
Ridley holds a bachelor’s degree in community nutrition from the University of California, Davis.