Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship

Janis Sethness, MD, MPH (she/her)
1st Year Fellow

Janis Sethness is an adolescent medicine fellow as well as a Health Services and Quality of Care research fellow. She completed her Med-Peds residency at Baylor College of Medicine in 2017 after attending medical school at University of California, San Francisco, where she participated in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US). As part of PRIME-US, she also obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to medical school, she studied community health and international relations with a focus in global environment at Brown University.

Janis’ research interests focus on improving health outcomes for transgender and gender diverse adolescent populations by developing supports during the transition process from pediatric gender clinics to adult care. She also does quality improvement work related to adolescent confidentiality and information sharing through electronic medical records and patient portals. She is excited for the opportunity to take part in the excellent training and mentorship offered by the Health Services and Quality of Care research fellowship, which will allow her to expand foundational research skills and support her career development as a clinician-scientist.

Melissa Martos, MD
2nd Year Fellow

Melissa Martos is a current Health Services and Quality of Care research fellow as well as a pediatric hematology/oncology fellow. She previously studied environmental science at UC Berkeley prior to earning her medical degree at UC San Francisco, after which she came to Pediatrics residency at Seattle Children’s. Her interests are in investigating disparities in oncology and serious illness communication, with the ultimate goal of partnering with community partners to develop interventions that improve quality of care for those that prefer a language other than English. She is grateful for the opportunity to build a foundation for a meaningful research career under the guidance of excellent mentorship as part of this fellowship.

Casey Lion, MD, MPH
2011-2013

Casey Lion is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of general pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is an NIH-funded researcher focusing on improving the quality of health care for children from low income, minority, and limited English proficient families, with a current emphasis on communication between providers and families. Her methodological expertise relates to rigorous evaluation of quality improvement interventions.

Dr. Lion's undergraduate degree was in English from Princeton University, and she attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. Her interest in health care disparities and improving health care for children in lower resource settings prompted her to pursue a Master in Public Health degree at the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her residency training in pediatrics in 2010 and her quality of care research fellowship in 2013, both at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Institute. In addition to her research, she also precepts pediatric residents in continuity clinic, the newborn nursery, and on the general pediatric inpatient service.

Bibliography

Arti D. Desai, MD, MSPH
2012-2014

Arti Desai completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine, and pediatric residency at Stanford University/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. She then completed the UW Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship with a Master of Science degree in Health Services from 2012-2014.

Dr. Desai’s research focuses on two main areas: (1) developing a testing innovative team-based models of care for children with medical complexity; and (2) developing patient-reported outcome measures to assess quality of care and health-related quality of life outcomes for pediatric populations. Dr. Desai completed an AHRQ-funded K08 Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Mentored Clinical Investigator Award and an AHRQ-funded R21 to develop and test a novel cloud-based care plan for children with medical complexity. She holds a Certificate in Human-Centered Design, and enjoys mentoring other faculty and students in qualitative research, improvement science, and applying human-centered design principles to health services research.

Bibliography

Faisal S. Malik, MD, MSHS
2013-2016

Dr. Malik is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington (UW), an Investigator at the Center for Child Heath, Behavior and Development (CCHBD) at Seattle Children's Research Institute, and a pediatric endocrinologist at Seattle Children's Hospital.

As an investigator, Dr. Malik leads the Improving Diabetes Outcomes Lab focused on improving patient health and health care quality in youth and young adults with diabetes. He is currently involved with multiple studies designed to examine and improve health outcomes in youth and young adults with diabetes.

Dr. Malik is the Co-Director of the UW Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship Program. He is also the Director of Research and Medical Co-Director of the UW Achieving Health in Emerging Adults with Diabetes (AHEAD) Program.

Bibliography

Carolyn C. Foster, MD, MSHS
2015-2017

Carolyn Foster completed her medical degree at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts after completion of undergraduate studies in biology at Columbia University in New York. Her medical school thesis focused on the characterization and ideal treatment for children with vascular limb anomalies. She additionally studied the care experience of children with craniofacial anomalies. She received her pediatric residency training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital followed by a year as chief resident. During residency, she received a APA Young Investigator Award to study the hospital-to-home transition of care for children with medical complexity. She joined the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship with an interest in studying what constitutes high quality patient-centered care for children with medical complexity and how this care paradigm can be aligned with current and future delivery systems to optimize value for patients and their families. Dr. Foster is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Academic General Pediatrics and Primary Care at the Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Bibliography

Mersine Bryan, MD, MPH
2016-2018

Mersine Bryan completed her bachelor’s degree at Indiana University and her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her pediatric residency training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. After residency, she practiced as a hospitalist and urgent care physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Based on her clinical experience, she became interested in the quality of care for general pediatric illness that transition across the spectrum of care, from outpatient to inpatient. Dr. Bryan completed General Academic Pediatric Fellowship funded by the National Service Research Award (NRSA) and earned her Masters of Public Health in Health Services at the University of Washington. During her NRSA fellowship, she developed an additional interest in the quality of health information online and how pediatricians can expand their sphere of influence to provide high quality health information to families. She received the Academic Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award to pursue a project to understand how parents and adolescents access health information online. Through the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship, Dr. Bryan continued to conduct research aimed at maximizing the quality of care for general pediatric illnesses and how to effectively convey this information to families across different modalities. Dr. Bryan is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Medicine and General Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Bibliography

Sarah Connell, MD, MSHS
2017-2019

Sarah Connell completed her bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University and her medical degree at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She trained in Pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital and was awarded the Abraham B. Bergman Prize at Harborview Medical Center for her exemplary care and dedication to children’s advocacy. After completing her residency, she worked for two years as an outpatient pediatrician for Public Health — Seattle and King County. During her residency, she developed a strong interest in the effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on subsequent child development. She joined the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship to learn how to conduct intervention research. In particular, she studied how to assure that evidence-based solutions are implemented effectively and in ways that will have the greatest impact on mental health outcomes for vulnerable children.

Bibliography

Talya Miller, MD, MSPH
2018-2020

Talya Miller completed her bachelor’s degree and medical degree at the University of Arizona. She then moved to Seattle for her General Pediatrics training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is currently continuing her clinical training at University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital in the division of Pediatric Gastroenterology. She joins the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship to gain skills to conduct research in understanding access, quality, and outcomes of pediatric care within gastroenterology, with the goal of developing new methods and tools to translate these research findings into healthcare practice and policy. 

Bibliography

Kathleen Bonsmith, MD, MIPH, MS
2019-2021

Kathleen Bonsmith completed her Bachelor’s degree at Washington State University and attended the University of California, Davis for her Master’s degree. She also attended the University of Sydney, Australia for her Masters of International Public Health degree. She completed her Medical degree at the University of Washington and stayed in Seattle for her General Pediatrics training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. During her residency she developed an interest in hospitalist medicine and ways to standardize and optimize clinical care. She joins the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship to gain the research skills needed to investigate the utilization and impact of digital technology on point-of-care clinical decision making and outcomes, with the goal of improving access to evidence based medicine for children both in the US and abroad.

Bibliography

Anisha Srinivasan, MD, MS
2020-2022

Anisha Srinivasan completed her bachelor’s degree at Stanford University and medical degree at the University of Vermont. She completed her pediatric residency and fellowship in developmental-behavioral pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She joined the health services and quality of care research fellowship with a strong interest in improving access to developmental-behavioral care for minoritized populations. As a fellow she examined sociodemographic disparities in pediatric specialty care referral scheduling. She also examined administrative barriers to accessing autism diagnostic evaluations. Dr. Srinivasan is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, Davis and the MIND Institute.  Her research focuses on integrating developmental-behavioral pediatrics care into safety-net primary care settings.

Timothy Ohlsen, MD

2021-2023

Tim Ohlsen is an Acting Instructor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Institute. Dr. Ohlsen completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by pediatric residency at the University of Utah/Primary Children's Hospital. Following this, he moved to Seattle for clinical fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Seattle Children's Hospital. He completed the Pediatric Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship in 2021-2023 to learn mixed methods research from the experts at Seattle Children’s, and to participate in foundational research to jumpstart his career as an early stage investigator. His research interests include financial toxicity in pediatric cancer care, geographic disparities in care delivery and outcomes, and cancer supportive care. He has obtained extramural funding from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research to support his work. Dr. Ohlsen hopes his research can help to better characterize the financial challenges faced by patients and families during cancer care, and develop interventions to mitigate these effects through treatment and into survivorship.

Bibliography

Jason Lau, MD
2022-2024

Jason Lau completed his bachelor's degree at Tufts University and medical degree at the University of Massachusetts. He moved to California for his General Pediatric training at the University of California, Davis. During residency, he developed an interest in the impacts of climate change on health as well as clinical informatics. He joins the Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship to gain research skills needed to investigate adaptation solutions that address the effects of worsening heat and air quality on the marginalized communities.