Rebecca Butcher
Director
Rebecca Butcher, MS, MPH, has led the CPDE team since October 2022 after serving as Assistant then Associate Director starting in 2018. Rebecca joined CPDE in 2011 following 20 years in healthcare delivery, education and research, receiving her Master of Science from Boston University and MPH from the University of NH. Since coming to Dartmouth, Rebecca has led multiple grant- and non-grant funded projects and evaluations supporting faculty and programs at Dartmouth College, Geisel and TDI, Dartmouth Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and State of NH. With expertise in research and evaluation design and qualitative and mixed methods data collection and analysis, she was promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 2021. Her work is grounded in principles of implementation science, complex systems research, and utilization-focused evaluation frameworks. Throughout her career, Rebecca has used evidence-based conceptual and theoretical models to guide inquiry, problem identification, analysis, and translation of results to guide improvements for individuals, providers, and systems.
Sharon O'Connor
Associate Director
Sharon O'Connor has a MS in Clinical and Health Services Research from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and an MBA from Boston University. With over 30 years of experience as project manager and research professional, Ms. O'Connor provides program leadership in research design and evaluation, including questionnaire, data collection, and analysis design and planning. A skilled analyst and communicator, she has worked in diverse work environments requiring high levels of collaboration and teamwork in private, public and non-profit agencies. Ms. O'Connor specializes in translating quantitative and qualitative data into clear, concise evidence and actionable results.
Karen Schifferdecker
CPDE Faculty Advisor
Karen Schifferdecker, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. A medical anthropologist, she has extensive experience overseeing and conducting evaluation projects in institutions, clinical sites, and community-based settings using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She has evaluated grant- and non-grant funded studies for over 25 years and widely disseminates results from these evaluations. Examples of her grant- and contract-funded experience include evaluating community interventions through the Center for Disease Control Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, creating patient-reported outcome measures through a PCORI-funded project, and examining variations in end-of-life quality among minority patients in an American Cancer Society funded project.
Nancy Boyer
Senior Research Associate
Nancy Boyer, PhD, MSW, has a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in social work and sociology from Boston University. Prior to joining CPDE, Nancy worked in academic and non-profit settings as a researcher and evaluator. Nancy started her career as a geriatric social worker providing therapy to residents of skilled nursing and long-term care facilities and consultation to staff to support individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. She later pursued a doctoral degree focusing her research on aging policy, dementia research, HIV and aging, and caregiving. More recently Nancy was a senior leader at a large global non-profit organization, leading three business units: research and evaluation, equity, diversity and inclusion, and data security. Nancy has over 20 years of experience in research and evaluation, including expertise in mixed-methods research, evaluation design and implementation, learning agenda development (e.g., logic models, theories of change), project management, grant writing, and equity and inclusion.
Kathleen Carluzzo
Senior Research Associate
Kathleen Carluzzo graduated with a Masters of Science in Healthcare Research from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Since 2010, she has contributed to a variety of qualitative and quantitative research projects at Dartmouth. She has demonstrated skills in survey design, database development, research project management, grant writing, and conducting focus groups. She has experience analyzing a variety of primary and secondary data, including those from clinical, claims, survey, patient-reported, and qualitative sources.
Catherine Denial
Research and Evaluation Associate
Catherine Denial earned her MS in Measurement and Evaluation from American University in 2022, and her B.A. in Anthropology from The George Washington University in 2011.
Before joining the CPDE team, she worked in disaster response and recovery, bringing years of community-centered practice and project management expertise. As an evaluator, she has done evaluation work with several disaster response and environmental non-profits in designing logic models; conducting focus groups, interviews, and surveys; and presenting results to stakeholders.
Linda Kinney
Research and Evaluation Associate
Linda earned her Master of Public Administration degree at Penn State University. She has many years of experience in managing research studies and has worked for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of Maryland, Veteran’s Health Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, VT, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. She has worked on studies of vulnerable populations, including survivors of sexual assault, people with end stage cancer, and people who use opioids. The skills that she brings to her work at CPDE include conducting interviews and focus groups, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and report writing.
Erin Knight
Research Scientist
Erin Knight earned her PhD in education from the University of California, Riverside. In her previous work, she conducted research on the education of students with developmental delays and evaluated the effectiveness of academic and social/emotional school-wide systems. In her work at CPDE, Erin has been involved in projects using mixed-methods approaches. She has contributed to these projects in various ways, including through survey and interview/focus group guide development, data collection and analysis, and report writing. Her skills include identifying program goals, analyzing quantitative data, and writing grants and reports.
Meghan Longacre
Senior Research Associate and Lecturer
Meghan Longacre, PhD, earned an MS and PhD in Family Studies and Human Development from The University of Arizona. An accomplished qualitative and mixed methods researcher, Meghan's research portfolio includes 20 years of research on socioecological influences on child, adolescent, and family health behaviors, with her most recent work focused on childhood obesity and childhood cancer survivors. Within CPDE, Meghan consults on research projects, mentors junior evaluators and researchers, and oversees implementation of qualitative and mixed methods evaluations.
Sidney May
Research and Evaluation Associate
Sidney May earned her PhD in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College. Sidney brings expertise around quantitative methodology and data analysis, with strengths in psychometrics and mixture modeling. Sidney also has experience conducting qualitative and mixed methods research and evaluation. As an applied researcher, Sidney is passionate about synthesizing theoretical and empirical knowledge to help stakeholders answer complex and diverse questions. Sidney is committed to advancing equity and using data to challenge systems of oppression and marginalization.
Sidra Sheikh
Research & Evaluation Associate
Sidra Sheikh joined CPDE in 2023. She is a PhD candidate at Temple University in Policy, Organizational & Leadership Studies, where her research focuses on urban education, school culture, and school safety. She has a Master of Arts in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Rutgers University. Prior to joining CPDE, she worked as a research associate at the University of Maryland, and as a high school social studies teacher in Newark, NJ. Sidra has demonstrated skills in collecting ethnographic fieldnotes, conducting interviews, qualitative data analysis, writing reports, and instructional design.
Bich Tran
Research and Evaluation Associate
Bich Thi Ngoc Tran, PhD, joined CPDE in 2022. She earned a doctorate degree in Education Policy from University of Arkansas, a M.A. in Political Science from Illinois State University, and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Asian University for Women. In her previous work, Bich conducted empirical research at the local, state, and international levels in gifted education and identification, virtual schooling, public opinion, educational leadership, and higher education. She brings this education research background, strong quantitative analysis skills, and project management support to the CPDE team and our partners.
Chris Tirrell
Research and Evaluation Associate
Christopher Tirrell holds a PhD in sociology from Northeastern University. In his previous roles, he collaborated on interdisciplinary research teams investigating the changing nature of work and employment relations in the United States as well as efforts to promote gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Joining CPDE in 2023, Christopher brings a skillset that includes expertise in mixed methods research, interviewing, qualitative data analysis, report writing, and research project management.
Danielle Vaclavik
Research and Evaluation Associate
Danielle Vaclavik earned her PhD in Community Psychology from DePaul University. In her previous work, she conducted research and evaluations with religious ministry organizations, homelessness service providers, and youth mentoring organizations. In her work at CPDE, Danielle is involved in a variety of projects using mixed methods approaches. She has contributed to these projects in various ways, including through survey and interview/focus group guide development, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. She earned a M.A. in Community Psychology from DePaul University and a B.A. in Psychology from Butler University.
Jennifer Wenner
Senior Research Associate
Jennifer Wenner, PhD earned her PhD in Development Science from North Dakota State University. She comes to the CPDE team with over 10 years of evaluation experience as both an internal and external evaluator, working in non-profits primarily serving children and adolescents. Her previous roles and research have focused on adolescent development, teacher best practices, and education, supporting non-profits in their development of evaluation processes. She brings expertise in survey design, conducting interviews and focus groups, logic model design, evaluation capacity building, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and project management.
Virginia Reed
Director Emerita
Virginia Reed, PhD, MPH, Emerita Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine. She came to Dartmouth after spending many years in health care practice and consulting. She specializes in evaluation research, particularly in areas relating to medical and health care education. She has spoken extensively about implementing change in health care and about achieving cost efficiency. As a principal in the Center for Educational Outcomes at Dartmouth, a precursor to CPDE since 1997, she led evaluations for a wide range of local, national, and international programs. Dr. Reed's recent research has been in the area of learning experiences and in research methodology.