Rhonda Aubrey, BSN, MHI
Co-Director and Lead, Health Business
Rhonda is Senior Health Business Director for Health Ecosystem at Dell Medical School. Prior to joining Dell Medical School, Rhonda managed a California health care network of eight Federally Qualified Health Centers for over 20 years as Chief Operating Officer of Community Health Center Network, growing from 1,300 to 140,000 covered Medicaid lives. She has developed expertise in cost drivers and motivating factors for health plan partners as well as achieving improved health outcomes by the provider network. Rhonda has a background in both Nursing and Business and holds a Masters in Healthcare Innovation that supports her passion for building new models to address chronic challenges in the health care environment and promote greater health.
Nicole Clark, MBA
Lead, Program Launch
Nicole is Director, Strategic Partnerships at the Dell Medical School. She builds strategic partnerships with industry, community and government agencies to strengthen Dell Med translational research and the broader health ecosystem. She graduated with an MBA from Texas State University. Her previous work includes managing graduate medical education programs.
Maria Cowley-Morillo, BS
Research Associate
Maria is a Research Associate in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School. Born and raised in Austin, TX, she recently graduated the University of Texas with a BSc in Psychology. As an undergrad, she acquired over four years of research experience, primarily focusing on how to get individuals to play a larger role in their own healthcare. Within Factor Health she has most recently been working on the Social Connection program, which seeks to improve isolation among the elderly population. Through this work she is influencing care for the most vulnerable in our community.
Laura Gougeon, Ph.D.
Research Director, Health Programs
Laura moved from Canada to join our Factor Health team and brings strong systems thinking and applied community-based research experience from Brazil and Canada. Her background in nutrition and dietetics comes from an undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees in the field, followed by an academic position in the Human Nutrition department at a university in the Atlantic Canada. Passionate for systems change, she became the lead scientist in a community-based research group within the Alberta’s public health authority to test innovations for healthy communities. Now, as the Research Director for Factor Health, she will collaborate with our experienced interdisciplinary team to oversee the research-focused activities, ensuring their fidelity and quality in the projects.
Julia Guerra, M.Sc.
Research Associate II
Julia has 17 years of experience working in the academic, government and private sectors. She obtained an M.Sc. from Oxford University (U.K.) in Evidence-Based Social Interventions, a certificate in Training for Social Scientists at the Said Business School and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Monterrey. Julia lived in Mexico, Florida, France and England before moving to Austin. Julia’s role in Factor Health includes supporting the research and operational needs of program launches and conducting data collection.
Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., R.D.
Advisor and Co-Investigator, Youth Health Program
Deanna M. Hoelscher, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., C.N.S. is the John P. McGovern Professor in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences and founding director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus. Deanna’s research interests include child and adolescent nutrition, school-based health promotion programs, dietary and physical activity assessment methodology, evaluation of child obesity policies, and dissemination of school health programs.
Elizabeth Jacobs, M.D., MAPP
Advisor, Clinical Value & Assessment
Liz is Chief of Primary Care at the Dell Medical School. She also serves as associate chair for research in the Department of Internal Medicine. Her research focus has been investigating disparities in health care, specifically in minority populations. She is recognized as an expert on developing accessible and culturally competent care for diverse populations. She attended medical school at UCSF, trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars fellowship.
Mini Kahlon, Ph.D.
Director and Founder
Mini is the founding Vice Dean for Health Ecosystem at Dell Medical School, Associate Professor of Population Health and the Director of Factor Health. A behavioral neuroscientist, she trained at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where later, she led efforts to accelerate the translation of research for impact as the Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI). In addition to leading the Factor Health platform, she supports innovations across Dell Med that deliver health in the landscape of people’s lives integrating this “Healthscape” pillar with the traditional clinical, research and education missions. Learn more.
Lisa Kirsch, MPAff
Advisor, Policy
Lisa is the Senior Policy Director for Dell Medical School where she leads health policy research and analysis to support innovations in health care delivery and payment. She holds a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Dell Med, she worked for more than 13 years at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program policy issues. She also served as the chief deputy Medicaid/CHIP director, where she oversaw the policy department and the development and implementation of the more than $10 billion Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program under Texas’ 1115 health care transformation waiver.
Allison Marshall, PhD, MPH, MSSW
Research Manager, Youth Health Program
Allison is a Research Program Manager on the Factor Health – Youth Health Nutrition Education and Exercise Program. Allison’s background includes social work, public health, and international trade. She has a passion for community-based work using a strengths-based perspective and enjoys research and working with children and families. She has 7 years of experience in health promotion research and is motivated by opportunities to leverage research to inform practice in hopes of working towards a more equitable future.
Courtney Mulligan, MA
Program Manager
Courtney is a Program Manager at Dell Medical School. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The College of New Jersey and a Master’s degree from The University of Sheffield, England. Courtney brings experience in research program coordination and management from positions held at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine and Dell Med’s Department of Population Health. She is an active member of Dell Med’s Culture Council and Diversity, Climate & Engagement Committee. Driven by her commitment to improving health equity in the Austin community, she is excited to support the planning and daily operations for Factor Health’s innovative community-based initiatives and health interventions.
Katherine Sebastian, RN, MPH
Research Manager
Kate is a research program manager in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School. She has over 15 years of experience in clinical research coordination and management, including implementing research interventions in rural and low-income communities.
Donald E. Wesson, MD, MBA
Advisor, Chronic Kidney Disease
Donald Wesson is Professor of Medicine, Texas A&M College of Medicine, Dallas, TX. He is a thought-leader in academic medicine, an internationally recognized researcher in kidney acidifying mechanisms, an expert in community-based interventions, and a long-time advocate for improving the health of communities through focused, data-driven population health initiatives. He has translated insights from his basic science studies to clinical studies that examine the role of nutrition in population health and its kidney-protective benefits. As a part of the Factor Health team, he serves as advisor for Factor Health programs that intervene in chronic kidney disease.
