Dr. Elizabeth Rula is the Executive Director of the Neiman Health Policy Institute. With over 15 years of experience leading health services and outcomes research, Dr. Rula strives to establish a strong scientific foundation and objective evidence regarding the value of health care services. Most recently, Dr. Rula was Executive Director of Research and Thought Leadership for Tivity Health where she led research to evaluate, innovate, and optimize the utilization and outcomes of health and wellness programs, including the flagship program SilverSneakers. In this role she fostered productive academic collaborations and spearheaded a thought leadership strategy to establish brand credibility based on rigorous science. Read More

Dr. Christensen is the Director of Economic and Health Services Research for the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute (HPI). Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor of Health Services Management at the University of Minnesota. He has over 20 years of experience as a health economist. Prior to working at the Neiman HPI, he led an interdisciplinary research team at the Center for Naval Analyses conducting research for various government agencies, served as the health economist for Children’s Minnesota hospital system and engaged in private consulting. Read More

Dr. YoonKyung Chung is a Principal Research Scientist at the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute.  Her main role in the HPI team is to lead and conduct research using large datasets to understand the value and role of radiology in evolving health care delivery and payment systems. With a background in economics, she has extensive experience exploring questions using quantitative methods: finding clear and accurate ways to understand and communicate how patient outcomes respond to how providers are delivering care in complex policy environments. Read More

Alexandra joined the ACR-NHPI team in May 2023 as a Senior Health Services Data Analyst. She brings with her over 5 years of experience in population health analytics and visualization development. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Biology from SUNY Fredonia, Alexandra worked as a Basic EMT and nurse assistant in rural WNY for 1 year before attending the University of Buffalo for her master’s in public health. Read More

Nichole Gay serves as the Neiman Institute's Business & Media Manager. Nichole fills two primary roles on the Neiman Institute team: first to manage the business activities and finances of the team. Second, to manage the marketing for the team, which includes media relations and promotional efforts for the Institute. Read More

Chi-Mei Liu serves as the Senior Biostatistician of the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute. Her research training steps into three fields: public health, outcome research, and health behavioral health education. Chi-Mei’s work is primarily quantitative in nature, involving analysis of large claim databases or national survey datasets. Read More

Casey Pelzl became a member of ACR-NHPI as a Biostatistician in April 2021. She joins the Institute with nearly a decade of experience in outcomes research, working alongside trauma surgeons from across the nation to improve the treatment and care of injured patients. Casey brings to the group a passion for learning and utilizing advanced statistical designs and epidemiological methodologies. Read More

Dr. Mikki D. Waid is an economist by training, her research currently focuses on utilizing Medicare and other health data to analyze a wide variety of topics related to radiology and health, in general. Mikki enjoys using her extensive research experience to write sophisticated econometric programs in order to answer complex questions. Read More

Joshua Hirsch, MD, is director of Interventional Neuroradiology, chief of the Interventional Spine Service, vice chair of Interventional Radiology Quality & Safety and associate Departmental Quality Chair at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has extensive experience in diagnosis, management and treatment of cerebrovascular disease, minimally invasive spine surgery and acute stroke treatment.

Dr. Pina C. Sanelli is a Professor of Radiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and Professor in Health System Science at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Dr. Sanelli serves as the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Radiology and Director of the Imaging Clinical Effectiveness and Outcomes Research (iCEOR) program at Northwell Health. Dr. Sanelli’s research interests are focused in clinical effectiveness and outcomes-based research in the context of health policy. Dr. Sanelli is a national leader and advocate for promoting clinical effectiveness and outcomes research focused on demonstrating the value of imaging in healthcare.

Pamela K. Woodard, MD, is the Hugh Monroe Wilson Professor of Radiology and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University, where she is also the Sr. Vice Chair and Division Director of Radiological Research Facilities. In this role she provides administrative oversight to the directors of the department’s eight research facilities. She is also Director for the Washington University Center for Clinical Imaging Research (CCIR) and a principal investigator on several NIH-funded research grants, including a T32 grant to train residents and fellows in translational imaging research. She serves on the ACR Board of Chancellors as the Chair of the Research Commission.

Dr. Gregory N. Nicola, MD, is a practicing radiologist subspecialized in neuroradiology. He currently serves as an executive leader of the Hackensack Radiology Group in Hackensack, New Jersey, as well as board member and finance chair for the Hackensack Meridian Health Partners Clinically Integrated Network. Dr. Nicola is a leader in the radiology community specifically in regards to health policy and economics issues, and currently serves as chair of the ACR Commission on Economics. He is the past ASNR advisor to the AMA RUC and a past two-time participant of the CMS/Acumen Resource Use Measure Committee. Aside from his leadership roles, he has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles pertaining to health policy and economics, as well as serves a frequent speaker at national medical conferences.

Robert M. Barr, MD, is a neuroradiologist, past president of the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR), and chair of the Novant Health Board of Trustees. He is past president of Mecklenburg Radiology Associates, former ASNR advisor to the AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee, and former chair of the ASNR Health Policy Committee. He currently serves as president-elect of the American Board of Radiology.

Dr. Richard Barth is Professor of Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine and serves as Radiologist-in-Chief, Emeritus the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University. Dr. Barth is a pediatric radiologist with specialty expertise in fetal imaging, pediatric ultrasound and body imaging. Dr Barth started the fetal MRI program at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and currently serves as Medical Director. He is also Medical Director for Pediatric Imaging at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco. Dr. Barth’s clinical and research interests include pediatric quality and safety initiatives, public advocacy to improve pediatric health, development of new fetal MRI applications, and pediatric applications of ultrasound contrast agents and elastography. He is past president and board chair of the Society for Pediatric Radiology. Dr Barth serves on the ACR Board of Chancellors as Chair of the Pediatric Radiology Commission.

Elizabeth Burnside, MD, MPH is a professor of radiology in the University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). Her degrees include an MD combined with a master's in Public Health as well as a master's degree in Medical Informatics. Her extramurally-funded research investigates machine learning to improve decision-making in breast imaging in the pursuit of improving the population based screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. Dr. Burnside has published over 120 peer review articles. Her transdisciplinary research is facilitated by affiliate appointments in the UW Departments of Industrial Engineering, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, and Population Health Science. Her leadership roles at UW, including SMPH Associate Dean, focus on team science fueling the evolution of research and care to converge and create a true learning health system.

Dr. Pandharipande is Professor and Chair of Radiology at Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center. She is a graduate of Cornell University, Cornell University Medical College, and the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at NYU, and an NCI-sponsored fellowship in cancer outcomes research and abdominal imaging at MGH. Dr. Pandharipande's research is centered in imaging, decision science, disease modeling, and cost-effectiveness analysis, with a primary focus in cancer outcomes. Dr. Pandharipande is also clinically active within the Abdominal Imaging Division at MGH, where she interprets imaging studies and trains residents and fellows.

Dr. Kurt Schoppe, MD is a diagnostic radiologist at Radiology Associates of North Texas. He has practical experience in healthcare payment policy, quality improvement, and patient safety. He has designed and implemented projects in both quality improvement and revenue cycle management for large single specialty physician practices and across hospital systems. He completed his residency at Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC and fellowship in abdominal imaging and interventional radiology at Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC. He is currently the ACR RUC advisory and at-large member of the Neiman HPI Advisory Board.

Jacqueline A. Bello, MD, FACR, is board certified by the American Board of Radiology, with a CAQ in Neuroradiology. In 2016, Dr. Bello received the New York Roentgen Society Distinguished Radiologist Award. She is a past president of the NY Roentgen Society, NY State Radiological Society and the American Society of Neuroradiology. She currently chairs the AMA Council on Medical Education and is the Chair of ACR Board of Chancellors. Her clinical focus is on adult and pediatric neuroradiology, medical education, quality and safety, and healthcare policy.

Etta Pisano, MD, is the Chief Research Officer at the American College of Radiology. Dr. Pisano is a professor in residence at Harvard Medical School and is the principal investigator for the Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST) involving 165,000 women. The study aims to compare 2D digital mammography to digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and determine if DBT is more effective at reducing advanced breast cancers.