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Our team

Valerie L. Ward, MD, MPH

Senior Vice President, Pediatric Health Equity Strategies
Director, Sandra L. Fenwick Institute

Dr. Ward provides leadership, vision, and strategic oversight for Boston Children’s Sandra L. Fenwick Institute. Dr. Ward co-created and directs a leadership program for emerging and current healthcare leaders called the Fenwick Leadership Development Fellows Program; and she co-directs a faculty research fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital called the Pediatric Health Equity Fellowship.

As both a nationally and an internationally recognized leader in addressing pediatric health outcomes for all children, she leads strategic clinical initiatives and research innovations to improve pediatric healthcare delivery; and is asked to speak internationally on these topics. She has been invited to provide her expertise by representing Boston Children’s in a new initiative at the American Academy of Pediatrics on health equity scholarship, and in her role as the associate director for Health Services Research at the Children’s Hospital Association. Dr. Ward continues to work clinically as a pediatric radiologist at Boston Children’s.

Disclosures: Dr. Ward is the associate director for Health Services Research at the Children’s Hospital Association, and the co-leader of the Health Equity Core and health equity advisor for the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Research Network.

Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH

Associate Director for Policy, Sandra L. Fenwick Institute 
Senior Associate in Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Lois Lee’s clinical and academic work focuses on pediatric emergency medicine, health equity, and health policy as a physician at Boston Children’s Hospital. At Harvard Medical School she is the founder and co-director for the course, “Social Change and the Practice of Medicine.” Dr. Lee has published seminal research on pediatric emergency medicine, health equity, and health policy. She has published research related to the association of poverty with health outcomes, improving care for patients with limited English proficiency, and the effects of legislation on health outcomes. She has also published on workforce development for women in medicine and implicit bias and skills for caring for diverse patients.

Dr. Lee has a long track record of health policy and advocacy work. She was a co-lead on the teams that helped pass the Massachusetts booster seat and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) laws. She was a Nick Littlefield Health Policy Fellow at the Network Excellence for Health Innovation in 2017. During this time, she served on the health policy staff for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). She is the inaugural director of the Academic Pediatric Association’s (APA) Health Policy Scholars Program. Her passion for improving child health drives her clinical care in the emergency department, research, teaching of trainees and faculty, and advocacy work in health equity.

Ravi R. Thiagarajan, MBBS, MPH

Associate Director for Research, Sandra L. Fenwick Institute 
Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Critical Care
Callaghan Family Chair in Cardiac Intensive Care

Dr. Ravi Thiagarajan is a staff physician in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is interested in exploring social and clinical mechanisms that lead to health care disparities and building health care policies that improve outcomes for all children based on these findings.

Dr. Thiagarajan obtained his medical degree at the University of Madras, Tamil Nadu, India, and subsequently moved to the United States to complete residency training in pediatrics, and fellowship training in pediatric critical care and pediatric cardiology.

He has cared for Boston Children’s patients since 1998 and earned a Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2005. His research interests are in studying short and long outcomes of critical illness in children, especially those requiring mechanical circulatory support.

Howard Brightman, ScD, PE, CSP, CIH
Co-Director for Leadership Project Management

Howard is the founding director of Boston Children's Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), which formed in October 2014. He received his undergraduate engineering degree from Tufts University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University School of Public Health in Environmental Health Science and Industrial Hygiene. 

Howard has over 40 years of combined engineering, project management, and consulting experience. As a licensed professional engineer, he has spent his career assessing and mitigating safety risks by applying human factors engineering, public health, and Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Prior to his current role, Howard was the executive director of Environmental Health and Safety. As a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Howard has led or coached many successful process improvement projects here at Boston Children’s. Howard contributes his expertise to the Fenwick Institute by supporting the Fenwick Institute’s Leadership Development Fellows Program. In his free time, he enjoys working on his family’s Christmas tree farm and fixing things in his shop.

Melicia Whitley, MM
Senior Administrative Director

Melicia Whitley supports the Fenwick Institute as an organizational partner with the director and associate directors to develop, execute, and monitor strategic planning to advance the Institute’s three focus areas: pioneering research, leadership development, and setting the standards for care. Before joining Boston Children’s Hospital, Melicia was the associate director for Finance and Research Administration at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research, where she managed the finance team and oversaw the overall fiscal, operational and administrative management of two international NIH HIV clinical trials network awards (cooperative agreements).

Patrice Melvin, MPH
Senior Health Data Analyst

Patrice Melvin, MPH, Biostatistician IV and Senior Health Equity Analyst, is part of the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion and Fenwick Institute team. She has been collaborating with researchers across the hospital for over 14 years working as a biostatistician at the Program for Patient Safety and Quality (PSQ) and, more recently, at the Center for Applied Pediatric Quality Analytics (CAPQA). She has expertise in the design, analysis, and evaluation of clinical research and quality improvement projects. She has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods and enjoys working with large national benchmarking databases including the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS). Patrice has a special interest in research related to health equity, disparities in care, and social determinants of health.

Stephanie Tuttle, MS, PMP
Project Manager

Stephanie Tuttle is a project manager at the Fenwick Institute, specializing in health equity research and process improvement. With over five years of experience leading clinical research projects across diverse health care settings, Stephanie brings a unique combination of expertise in research management and a deep commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. She holds a degree in Family Studies with a focus on child advocacy and family policy, as well as a Master’s degree in Child and Adolescent Psychology. Stephanie is driven by the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to live a healthy life, regardless of their background.

Mia Umali, BA
Clinical Research Assistant

Mia Umali is a clinical research assistant at the Fenwick Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychological Science from the University of Vermont, where she graduated from in 2023. At the Fenwick Institute, Mia assists with study procedures for several studies relating to pediatric health equity. Mia is passionate about equitable healthcare access and is excited to contribute to research that aims to eliminate barriers for patients and families at Boston Children's Hospital and beyond.

Soana Pierrette
Senior Administrative Associate

Soana Pierrette is the senior administrative associate the Sandra L. Fenwick Institute at Boston Children’s Hospital. She brings over 10 years of administrative experience with expertise in operations, scheduling and project coordination. As an experienced healthcare professional, she’s very hands-on in her leadership skills. Prior to her current role, she excelled as a unit coordinator, project coordinator and the lead senior practice coordinator at Mass General Brigham.

 

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