Collaborative for Program Evaluation and Implementation Science: Northern Kentucky University, Greater Cincinnati Region

The Collaborative for Program Evaluation and Implementation Science harnesses the power of data to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities using improvement science. Our work meets the unique needs of our partners, who want to advance their programs or policies to transform individual lives, systems, and communities. An interdisciplinary working group, we have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to serve as your evaluation and research partner with particular subject matter expertise in public health, healthcare, and health innovation.

Current Projects

Kentucky 1115 Medicaid Waiver Demonstration

Sponsor: KY Cabinet for Health and Family Services
July 2020 to June 2021

The Kentucky Department of Medicaid Services proposed a Substance Use Disorder demonstration project as part of its larger application for a Section 1115 demonstration project, "Kentucky Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health" (KY HEALTH), to buttress its ongoing efforts to address the opioid crisis. This plan would increase beneficiary access to providers offering Substance Use Disorder treatment services and to expand treatment benefits available to enrollees, thereby increasing utilization of SUD treatment services.

Owen County Collaborative for Addiction Treatment Initiative

Sponsor: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
September 2019 to August 2022

The Owen County Collaborative Addiction Treatment Initiative (OCCATI) is an HRSA-RCORP funded consortium of Northern Kentucky community partners invested in addressing substance use disorder and healthcare gaps in Owen County.

Carroll-Owen Partnership Extension

Sponsor: Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
January 2020 to September 2021

This initiative, co-funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the State Justice Institute, supports efforts to strengthen epidemiologic surveillance and public health data infrastructure, implement effective community-level opioid overdose prevention activities, and establish or enhance public safety, public health, and behavioral health collaborations.

Realworks Contingency Management for Substance Use Disorder

Sponsor: Realworks
January 2020 to July 2021

Funded through RealWorks, this study examines the potential for a 12-month electronically-based contingency management protocol to enhance recovery in the substance use disorder and alcohol use disorder populations.

Faculty

Valerie Gray Hardcastle

St. Elizabeth Healthcare Executive Director of the Institute for Health Innovation
Vice President for Health Innovation
(859) 572-5376
hardcastle@nku.edu

Valerie Gray Hardcastle is the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Executive Director of the Institute for Health Innovation and Vice President for Health Innovation at Northern Kentucky University. As the ED/VP, she advocates on behalf of the region, serves as a thought-leader around health policy, pursues an aggressive externally funded research program, promotes the transdisciplinary work of health innovation across the institution, and attracts talent to NKU and the region in the healthcare ecosystem. Previously, she served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then as the Academic Director for the Weaver Institute for Law and Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, she served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then as the Academic Director of the Weaver Institute for Law and Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati. Before coming to Cincinnati, Hardcastle served as Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech as well as Head of the Department of Science and Technology in Society and Director of the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech. An internationally recognized scholar, Dr. Hardcastle is the author of five books and over 210 articles. She received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in cognitive science and philosophy from the University of California, San Diego.
Danielle McDonald

Professor, Criminal Justice
859-572-5592
mcdonaldd1@nku.edu

Dr. McDonald has experience evaluating mental health and substance abuse programming in the correctional system as well as community-based programs for prevention and post release from the criminal justice system. Her research interests include the areas of community corrections and reentry, female inmates, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as service learning and student philanthropy. Currently, she is serving as the program evaluator for the Owen County Collaborative for Addiction Treatment Initiative. See website for further information.
Gary Ozanich

Associate Professor of Practice in Health Informatics
859-572-1397
ozanichg1@nku.edu

Gary is director of Northern Kentucky University’s program in health informatics. Previously, he was the national co-chair of the Interoperability and Health Information Exchange workgroup for the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and was national chair of the HIMSS HIE Committee. He has conducted extensive research and consulting projects on health information exchange structure, interoperability, services, and sustainability, as well as projects examining care coordination and transitions in care. His current projects include working on the interoperability strategy for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, applying novel clinical decision support solutions in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and working on the electronic health record reporting project. He has a private sector background which includes more than 12 years as a vice president on Wall Street where he was an analyst of the technology and telecommunications industries. Dr. Ozanich also worked as a consultant at Booz-Allen.
Philip Moberg

Associate Professor, Psychological Science
(859) 572-1913
mobergp1@nku.edu

Dr. Moberg earned his Ph.D. in industrial, organizational, social, and quantitative psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At NKU, he serves as Director of the M.S. program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, where he instructs graduate seminars in univariate and multivariate statistics and research methods, psychological measurement and assessment, scientific survey research, and program evaluation in community engagement projects. His research interests include workplace abuse, aggression, and bullying; psychological measurement; and workplace health and well-being.
Xiaoni Zhang

Professor, Business Informatics and MBI Program Director
859-572-6408
zhangx@nku.edu

Xiaoni (Joannie) Zhang (PhD, Computer Information Systems) is Professor of Business Informatics at NKU. She is the director of Master of Business Informatics Program. Her areas of research include the behavioral perspective of technology adoption, health data analytics, and healthcare research methods. Her current research focuses on substance/opioid use disorder, how to use mobile health applications to promote health and wellness to college students. Recently, she mentored several student projects on developing wearable health technology, as well as worked on improving the accessibility of psychiatric consultation to rural and underserved communities by establishing a collaborative telepsychiatric nursing program in a rural primary care clinic. The grant projects she involved in the past include “A Study on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus for Patients among Medicaid Beneficiaries in Kentucky” and “Assessment of the Medicaid Transformation Grant”.