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Judith R. Lave, PhD
Director
lave@pitt.edu

Dr. Judith R. Lave is the Director of the Pennsylvania Medicaid Policy Center. Currently, she is a Professor of Health Economics, Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management (HPM) and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. Her illustrious professional career has been focused on studying reimbursement policy for various healthcare providers. She is the author of more than 140 scientific publications. Dr. Lave was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy for Social Insurance and is a Distinguished Fellow of Academy Health.

Between 1978 and 1982, Dr. Lave was the Director of the Office of Research at the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). In this position, her responsibilities included researching and directing the statistical report development on the Medicaid Program. She also served as a Commissioner for both the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

Dr. Lave has also been an integral part of multiple activities of the Institute of Medicine that have addressed issues related to Medicaid. She was a member of the Committee that wrote the 1986 landmark report: Improving the Quality of Nursing Homes.

Monica R. Costlow, JD
Senior Policy Analyst
costlow@pitt.edu

Monica Costlow is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Pennsylvania Medicaid Policy Center. She holds a BA in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Healthcare Policy and Management. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law with an Advanced Certificate in Health Law. In 2004, she was a Health Science Fellow with CORO and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation focusing on patient safety. Ms. Costlow was previously employed as a legal intern for West Penn Allegheny Health System and as a compliance consultant for a multi-specialty physician practice.

Howard B. Degenholtz, PhD
Faculty Member
degen@pitt.edu

Dr. Howard Degenholtz is an Associate Professor of Health Policy & Management, and an Associate Director of Research, Center for Bioethics and Health Law at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Degenholtz is a health services researcher who focuses on long term care and aging. He recently received a K01 award from the National Institutes of Aging (7/1/02 to 6/30/07). This funding supports his on-going research on quality of life of nursing home residents. He is a member of the Academy for Health Services Research and the Gerontological Society of America.

Rachel L. Garfield, PhD
Faculty Member
rachelg@pitt.edu

Rachel Garfield, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Prior to joining the faculty at the Graduate School of Public Health, Dr. Garfield held positions as a policy analyst in Medicaid/uninsured policy and research consultant for hospital operations and management. Dr. Garfield’s current research focuses on state health financing, Medicaid and SCHIP policy, and the politics of health policy in the United States. Her recent work examines how state spending and policy outcomes for low-income populations respond to state fiscal crises and politics. Other work investigates the political dynamics of policy development and implications of interagency interaction in state mental health policy. Dr. Garfield received her Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University and holds an M.H.S. in health policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Aiju Men, MS
Research Analyst
amen@pitt.edu

Aiju Men is a Research Analyst at the Pennsylvania Medicaid Policy Center. She is also employed as a Research Analyst at the University of Pittsburgh. Her main focus is data management and statistical analysis. Ms. Men earned her Masters degree in Statistics at Texas A&M University. She previously worked in the student loan industry for five years in Austin, Texas, where she gained expertise in complicated data manipulation and predictive modeling.

Jackie Cipa
Graduate Student Assistant
jmc147@pitt.edu

Jackie Cipa is a Graduate Student Assistant at the Pennsylvania Medicaid Policy Center. She received her Bachelors degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University and is currently an MPH candidate in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. She previously held a staff position within the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, worked as a student assistant for the Health Policy Institute, and was a summer executive resident at Gateway Health Plan.