Co-Directors
Miguel Marino, PhD
Miguel Marino, PhD is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, and with the Biostatistics group in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Harvard University. Dr. Marino maintains a broad statistical research program that focuses on the intersection of primary care and public health studies including utilizing novel statistical methodology to answer critical community and primary care research questions in health policy, health disparities and vulnerable populations, social determinants of health, health insurance monitoring, among others. Since 2013, Dr. Marino has been the Statistical Editor for the Annals of Family Medicine and he currently serves as the Publications Officer for the Health Policy Statistics section of the American Statistical Association. His body of research earned recognition in 2020 when he was selected by the National Academy of Medicine as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar.
John Heintzman, MD MPH MCR
John Heintzman is a Pittsburgh-born, Pacific Northwest transplant (20 years ago!) family doctor, and Associate Professor of Family Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Born in Pittsburgh with stop in Michigan for an undergraduate degree and Philadelphia (Temple University) for medical school, he then landed at Oregon Health and Science University for training in full spectrum family medicine. Early in his career after residency, he observed the primary care disparities his Latino patients experienced, and set out to acquire some research skills to better understand what he saw, and understand how it could be changed. Early on in this journey, he met Miguel Marino, a like-minded scientist also at OHSU with complementary training with the quantitative methods to answer these questions. This partnership developed into a career-development award, and multiple NIH-funded projects examining the primary and preventive care received by Latino patients in community health centers. He also holds a role as Lead Clinician Scientist at OCHIN, a community non-profit IT corporation that serves community health centers nationwide. Outside of work, he loves spending time with his wife and boys, chasing fish and isolated stretches of wilderness in the Pacific Northwest, and trying to cook as many things over open fires as safety allows.
Faculty Collaborators
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Ana Quiñones, PhD
Ana Quiñones, PhD MS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at OHSU. Ana is a gerontologist trained in health services organization and policy from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.
Her research interests address racial and ethnic differences in age-related changes co-existing chronic disease (multimorbidity), and health care delivery changes designed to improve the management of chronic conditions for vulnerable older adults.
Ana’s work aims to understand disparities in health stemming from differential access to resources for disadvantaged populations and consequences for health and wellbeing in mid and late life. Currently, her work focuses on the development of and intersection between multimorbidity and disability and the role that specific multimorbidity combinations play in accelerating poor health outcomes among racially and ethnically diverse groups of older adults.
In her spare time, Ana and her husband enjoy cooking, hiking, and travel that engages with organizations that work to preserve ecosystems and wildlife habitat.
Steffani Bailey, PhD
Dr. Bailey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at OHSU. She received her MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University. Dr. Bailey completed her pre-doctoral training at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium (Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine track) and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. Dr. Bailey's research focuses on reducing disparities among groups most affected by tobacco use. Specifically, she is interested in understanding disparities in access and utilization of smoking cessation assistance within safety-net settings to inform cessation interventions. Outside of work, Dr. Bailey enjoys traveling to new places, discovering new restaurants and wineries, and spending time with her partner and their furry and feathered pets. Click here for more info
Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman, PhD
Dr. Vasquez Guzman (Qualitative Lead) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Estela trained at the University of New Mexico, where she specialized in medical sociology, race, and ethnicity. She has developed a strong understanding of the diverse factors affecting racial/ethnic health inequities both within and outside of the health care system. Her involvement with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center for Health Policy, Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) and the State Priorities Partnership (SPP) has provided an interdisciplinary training influential to her multi-dimensional understanding of racial/ethnic health and healthcare disparities. Dr. Guzman has specific interest in social-cultural-structural-humanistic curriculum for medical students and residents as well as investigating inequities in medicine, health, and health delivery among Native American and Latinx communities. Currently, through two grants, she is analyzing the structural factors impacting cervical cancer and documenting Latina women’s unique lived experiences. She utilizes a range of qualitative methods including interviews, focus groups, and case study data. As a first generation Latina immigrant indigenous scholar, she aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice from an equity and inclusion perspective because we all win when we have a compassionate, representative, and humanistic healthcare system. Outside of work, you can find Estela running, dancing, hiking, swimming and/or doing arts and crafts. She also enjoys traveling and cooking authentic Oaxacan food with her mother and family.
Meet The Team
Jennifer Lucas, PhD, MPH
Jennifer Lucas, PhD, MPH, graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostatistics concentration), after which she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the OHSU Department of Family Medicine. She currently directs the Latino Equity portfolio lead by Drs. Heintzman and Marino. She loves working with the teams at OHSU and OCHIN to produce relevant and timely papers and presentations to share with the research and clinical communities. She lives in Portland, OR and likes cats, reading, and hiking.
Jorge Kaufmann, ND MS
Jorge Kaufmann has been a PRIMER Lab team member since 2017. Introduced to the lab while pursuing his MS in biostatistics at Oregon Health and Science University, he was immediately drawn to its people and the importance of the work they were doing to advance health disparities research. Jorge’s analytic work, presentations, and writing are influenced by his prior clinical work as a naturopathic physician and history teaching medical sciences. His biased discernment of coffee and robust appreciation for food and gathering are significantly associated with being the son of Cuban and Mexican immigrants. He likes to ride his bicycle up long, steep roads, too. Pa’lante!
Tahlia Hodes, MPH
Tahlia went to Mount Holyoke College for her undergraduate degree in statistics and attended UCLA for her MPH in biostatistics. After graduating she worked as a statistician in maternal health at the University of Southern California. Now she works in the family medicine department at OHSU and loves being able to learn and apply statistical techniques to interesting and challenging health questions. In her spare time she likes playing board games and competing in Ultimate Frisbee tournaments.
David Ezekiel-Herrera, MS
David is a health researcher with a focus on health equity and statistical analysis. He holds an MS in biostatistics from the University of Washington and a BA in public health from UC Berkeley. Previous to this position he has worked as a graduate research assistant at UW’s Collaborative Health Sciences Coordinating Center and as a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California. In his free time he likes spending time with his partner Carlina and their two cats Chesco and Chico as well as playing capoeira Angola and traditional Mexican music.
Steele Valenzuela, MS
Steele diligently spends his time managing electronic healthcare record (EHR) data by the millions. When he's not coding in the statistical computer language R, he's assisting Principal Investigators by applying statistical methods to their research studies, which has included studies in clinician burnout, heart disease, healthcare utilization, medical education, and cancer screening tools, to name a few. Steele's passions and interests lie in Medicaid and health insurance for those whom are poor and underserved, bridging the research gap in statistics education and mentorship, and Native/indigenous health. In his free time, he enjoys working out with kettlebells, playing ping pong, and baking or cooking. Ask him about chili and cinnamon rolls.
Roopradha Datta, MPH, BDS
Roopradha Datta, MPH, BDS is a graduate of the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University (OHSU-PSU) School of Public Health, with a Master’s in Public Health (Health Promotion track focused on Epidemiology). She has a Bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from India, and was a practicing dentist there until she moved to the US in 2013. Since 2018, she has been a project manager for Dr. John Heintzman and Dr. Ana Quiñones at the OHSU Department of Family Medicine. She enjoys solving multifaceted problems by applying investigative acumen in bringing together the different functional pillars of the projects. Prior to OHSU, she worked in the research area of a private health consulting firm in Portland, OR. During her free time, she loves spending time with her husband and daughter, and exploring the picturesque Pacific Northwest.
Dang Dinh, MS
After majoring in Physics and Chemistry, I happily landed on statistics and hold a MS in statistics at Oregon State University. I joined family medicine department at OHSU right after graduation and I am interested in analyzing EHR data to understand health equity and policy intervention. In my free time, I enjoy DIY my house, reading and playing ping pong.
Jun Hwang, MS
Jun Hwang is a biostatistician in the Department of Family Medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University. His interests include semi- and non-parametric statistical theory, and how machine learning and data-adaptive methods can be used responsibly to promote equity. Jun's previous work in Philadelphia, Seattle, and DC includes research in education policy and clinical trials. When he’s not in front of a computer, he can be found attending (and occasionally performing in) shows around Portland while attempting to preserve what’s left of his hearing.