Statewide Advisory Board Members
Beth Birch
Director of Victim Services at The Abuse Network
Shawn Bookhammer
Director of Nursing, CRNP at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital
Kathy Buckley
Council of State Governments Contractor
Paula A. Bussard
Chief Strategy Officer (Ret.), The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
Ms. Bussard has been at HAP for 30 years. Prior to that she worked at Carlisle Hospital with responsibility for planning marketing and public relations. Ms. Bussard received her Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Rhode Island. Ms. Bussard lives in the Carlisle area and has served as an elected member of the Carlisle Area School District board of directors since December 2007.
Kim Cicon
Emergency Department Service Line Director and Trauma Program Director at Penn Highlands
Laura Coates
(Site Champion) Unit Director Emergency Department, UPMC Susquehanna Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital
Lisa Davis
SAFE-T Center Rural Site Outreach Advisor; Director, Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, Penn State University
Stephanie Delaney
Joann Goodman
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Terri L. Hamrick
Hamrick Consulting, Leadership Solutions
Kevin Harter
Director, Center for Medical Innovation and Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship, Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology (College of Medicine) and Business Administration (Penn State Harrisburg)
Inventor, Entrepreneur, Educator. Thirty++ years experience as entrepreneur, investor and CxO at information, healthcare and life sciences businesses. Deep board level experience including Chairman and committee leadership at private and regulated firms. Entrepreneurship and private equity lecturer. Volunteer for several technology, economic development and education-related initiatives.
Michelle Henry
First Deputy Attorney General in the Office of Pennsylvania Attorney General
Prior to her appointment at the Office of Attorney General, Henry served as the First Assistant District Attorney of Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. She was appointed Bucks County District Attorney in 2008 and served in the position for nearly two years.
Over the course of her 20 years as a prosecutor, she has prosecuted murderers, rapists, armed robbers, drug dealers and child abusers. Henry received her undergraduate degree from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, and received her law degree from Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, PA.
Alicia Kozakiewicz
Advocate, The Alicia Project, AliciaProject.org
Kevin Lehman
Detective (Ret.), Richland Township Police Department
Former Field Supervisor of the Cambria Co Drug Task Force. Served on the Attorney Generals Drug Task Force Advisory Board. Served on the Cambria Co. SERT Team as a Hostage Negotiator and a Sniper since 1999. Adjunct Professor at Mount Aloysius instruction on “Interview and interrogation”. Founding member of the Cambria County Sexual Assault team. A Member of the Pennsylvania, Child Advocacy Center Committee.
Nina Lindemuth
(Site Champion) RN, Emergency Nurse at UPMC Susquehanna Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital
Lindsey Mauldin
Director of the Office of Social Programs at the PA Department of Human Services
Matthew Romania
Director of Nursing at UPMC Susquehanna Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital
In 1996 Matt graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His Bachelor of Science in Nursing was earned at Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 2000. It was at the Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania he received his Nursing Management Certificate in 2002.
Matt serves on three nursing school advisory councils providing insight to nursing educators on the education needs of future healthcare professionals. He sits as an advisor to several community-based advocacy groups that deal with the opiate crisis, women’s and children’s advocacy and health promotion in rural communities.
Babs Sheaffer
Medical Advocacy Coordinator, pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
Candy Sonnenberg
(Site Champion) RN, Emergency Department, J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital
Lindsay Vaughan
Executive Director, Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association
Beth Zakutney
Sexual Violence Prevention Program, PA Department of Health
SAFE-T Center Team
Sheridan Miyamoto
PhD, FNP, RN
Principal Investigator
Director
Sheridan Miyamoto is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and is a faculty member of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network at Penn State University. Dr. Miyamoto received her Ph.D. in Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. Her clinical work as a Nurse Practitioner at the UC Davis Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation Center focused on providing health and forensic services to children in Northern California. She supported six rural sites through live telehealth sexual assault consultations, allowing children to receive quality care within their own community. Miyamoto’s research interests include utilizing administrative databases to improve risk tools to identify children at risk of maltreatment, identification and prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children (trafficking), and the use of telehealth technology to improve sexual assault forensic care in rural communities. Miyamoto is the principal investigator of the Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Telehealth (SAFE-T) Center, a project funded by the Department of Justice to enhance access to quality forensic services in underserved communities.
Daniel Perkins
Co-Investigator
Evaluation Team Lead
One of Daniel’s primary areas of focus is in fostering the well-being of military service members and their families through the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. As Director of the Clearinghouse, he is able to facilitate the translation of science into action by providing comprehensive. science-based programs and technical assistance to professionals working with military families.
Daniel is also interested in hybrid evaluations of preventions and interventions, resiliency, implementation science and community-based prevention addressing youth substance abuse issues. Two other key projects Daniel has worked on include PROSPER and the Air Force’s implementation of the Zero Suicide Systems Approach. Daniel looks forward to continuing his work assisting with the systematic adaptation of evidence-based programs in military communities.
As a prevention research scientist over the past 16 years, Daniel has authored 79 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a recent recipient of the W.K.K. Kellogg Community Engagement Award for the northeast region. He became interested in prevention research because of its alignment with Extension and the mission of the Land Grant University. Daniel particularly likes working with the Prevention Research Center because he gets to collaborate with colleagues who are innovative and willing to take risks.
On the SAFE-T project, Daniel will lead and oversee the process evaluation team.
Lorah Dorn
PhD, CPNP
Co-Investigator
Dr. Dorn is a Professor at The Pennsylvania State University College of Nursing and Department of Pediatrics. She is a recognized expert in puberty and behavioral endocrinology with a particular emphasis on adolescence. In addition to her clinical experience working with adolescents, her doctoral work focused on biobehavioral research in various issues of adolescent development.
For the SAFE-T project, her expertise will be used to target adolescent specific needs in the provision of forensic sexual assault care. Dr. Dorn is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner who has held faculty positions in colleges of nursing (University of Pittsburgh, Penn State) and at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center she was professor of pediatrics and director of research
in the Division of Adolescent Medicine. Dr. Dorn will work with Dr. Miyamoto and the PA Forensic Nurse Planning Council to develop curriculum related to advanced topics in forensic evaluation of adolescent and special populations. Additionally,
Dr. Dorn will provide valuable scientific and developmental input for the program.
Dennis Scanlon
PhD, MA
Co-Investigator
Dennis Scanlon is Professor of Health Policy and Administration in the College of Health and Human Development and Director of the Center for Health Care and Policy Research at The Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on understanding the role of measurement, incentives, quality improvement and individual and organizational behavior change for improving important health care outcomes, including clinical quality, patient experience and economic efficiency. Dr. Scanlon was recently named Distinguished Professor at Penn State. Dr. Scanlon has served on several national, local, and international advisory panels for organizations such as AHRQ, NQF, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the European Commission. He is currently serving as the Principal Investigator for the evaluation of the RWJF’s Aligning Forces for Quality program and is a co-investigator of an AHRQ Center of Excellence award focused on understanding healthcare delivery systems and the degree to which they adapt Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) evidence. Dr. Scanlon is a frequent speaker to academic, policy and practice audiences. Scanlon completed a bachelor’s degree at Villanova University, earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a doctorate in health services organization and policy at the University of Michigan.
Diane Berish
PhD, MA
Co-Investigator
Statistics Lead
Diane Berish is Assistant Research Professor in the College of Nursing and the designated statistical consultant for students and faculty in the College.
She has a PhD. from Miami University in and has over 15 years of research and teaching experience.
Hui Zhao
PhD, MS, MS
Co-Investigator
Business Lead
Dr. Hui Zhao is an Associate Professor and Charles and Lilian Binder Faculty Fellow in the department of supply chain and information systems at the Smeal College of Business, Penn State University, University Park. Her research focuses on healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chains, collaboration in decentralized supply chains, information sharing, and supply chain contracting. Most of her recent work has been focused on pharmaceutical supply chains, healthcare innovation, and hospital operations. Examples of her work include Fee-for-service contracts and information sharing in pharmaceutical distribution, using purchase contracts to resolve drug shortage, drug innovation policy/regulations, using artificial intelligence to manage online pharmacies, and clinic overbooking strategies. Her research has appeared in top journals in her field such as Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, IIE Transaction on Healthcare Systems Engineering, and Interfaces. She has also authored invited chapters on healthcare supply chains for two books (by SIAM and John Wiley & Sons, respectively). Prior to joining the faculty of Smeal, Hui had been on faculty with the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University for a number of years. She is a member of the Academic Council for Healthcare Supply Chain Research for AHRMM (Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management). She has worked with companies like AmeriSource Burgen, IntegriChain, CVS, Caterpillar, Proctor and Gamble. Hui has taught extensively on topics such as business analytics, supply chain analytics, quantitative business decision making, and healthcare supply chains at the undergraduate, MBA, and PhD levels. She is also the PhD coordinator of the Supply chain and Information System Department at Smeal College of Business.
Cynthia Bittner
RN, BS
Project Director
Clinical & Administration
Cynthia Bittner joined the SAFE-T Center project in June 2017 and serves as the project manager primarily for clinical and administrative aspects of the center. She works closely with Dr. Miyamoto, the other investigators, the SAFE-T project manager for research and evaluation, the Telehealth (IT) Support Team, the SAFE-T clinical coordinators, the TeleSANE team, the Advisory Board, and current and prospective partner hospitals to manage the successful attainment of the program goals. Cynthia holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Business Logistics and Nursing. She has over 9 years of experience in clinical nursing in both acute care and community-based settings. She has 7 years of experience as a Nursing Supervisor for a large, multi-site, pediatric medial group. Cynthia’s interest in a career in forensic nursing began as a Nursing undergrad, where she learned of the field through extra coursework. Cynthia sought out and completed both SANE-A and SANE-P base training courses and served in a volunteer capacity at the local Children’s Advocacy Center where she assisted pediatricians in providing over 100 forensic medical examinations. Prior to returning to school to earn a second degree in Nursing, Cynthia spent three years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Cynthia was a management consultant within PwC’s Supply Chain Management division.
Elizabeth Thiede
BSN, RN
Project Support
Bio
Faith Mong
BSN, RN, SANE-A, SANE-P
Clinical Education & Training Coordinator
Bio
Sarah Watson
MA
Project Manager
Prior to joining the SAFE-T Center in May 2019, Sarah was employed as a mental health therapist for over a decade specializing in working with populations that that are impacted by trauma, including sexual assault survivors, active duty and veteran service members, and survivors of chronic childhood abuse and neglect. Sarah has transferred her skills from her counseling work to the world or project management where she can also utilize her knack for coordination, organization and planning while continuing to follow her passion of helping survivors of sexual assault.
Elizabeth Wright
Post Doctorate Appointment
After receiving her BSN from the Penn State College of Nursing, Liz pursued her MS/PhD in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar. Her researched primarily focused on the long term health impacts of violence against women, specifically the impact of partner violence on cardiovascular disease risk. While in Philadelphia, Liz was employed as a clinical nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She also served as a hotline crisis counselor for the Centre County Women’s Resource Center in State College.
Thomas Rodgers
BS
Telehealth IT Support
Bio
Jonathan Essick
BA, BS
IT Manager
Jonathan joined the SAFE-T Center in June of 2019 as the IT Manager. After graduating from Penn State with a BA in Psychology in spring of 2010, Jonathan returned to the State College area in 2012 to begin working the College of Health and Human Development IT unit. While there Jonathan obtained his BS in Information Sciences and Technology. Jonathan later transitioned to working for the College of Liberal Arts in an IT Research Consulting position before joining the SAFE-T Center team.
Todd Durant
BS
Multimedia Specialist
Todd comes to the College of Nursing from AccuWeather where he spent almost 12 years as a Television Development Artist. Todd spent time there creating weather shows for television markets all across the U.S. as well as developing software and tools for stations to use on-air.