Recent Graduates

Xi Cen

Xi Cen joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2013. She received a B.S. and an M.S. in Statistics from Xiamen University in China, as well as an M.A. in Economics in San Francisco State University. Xi is interested in health economics, quality of care and health disparities. Before coming to Rochester, she worked at UCSF Medical Center on evaluating health resource utilization in neurosciences clinics. Xi also interned at Amgen Global Health Economics Department, where she focused on an independent project evaluating the burden of skeletal related events on health recourse utilization among cancer patients with bone metastasis. She is currently working on racial disparities in Nursing Home care and impacts of state policies.

Michael Chen

Michael Chen joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2011. He completed his undergraduate studies in economics and community health at Brown University.  Michael worked in community organizing, affordable housing advocacy, and public health consulting throughout the New England states. Michael is primarily interested in maternal and child health as well as household and family demography. In addition to working toward the development of his dissertation, Michael enjoys spending time with his family and supporting his hometown team, the Toronto Raptors.

Twylla Dillion

Twylla Dillion joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2011. She has a BA in Health and Society from The University of Rochester and an MBA from St. John Fisher College. She is interested in the complementary infant nutrition, breastfeeding, obesity, patient-provider relationship and social determinants of health.

Viji Kannan

Viji Kannan joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2010. She graduated from Emory University, with a MSPH in Health Policy and Management and  the University of Georgia, with a BBA in Management Information Systems,.  Her research interests include health choices and decision making, public opinion, media message framing, health communication, and psychology theory, pharmaceuticals, food, wellness, built environment, and healthcare utilization & access. Teaching interests are psychology theory, and statistics.  Viji’s dissertation examines the phenomenon of care-seeking delay among people experiencing a myocardial infarction.  Lack of success in intervening to reduce delay has prompted delay researchers to call for the use of psychology theory to explain patient delay.  Viji’s dissertation identifies values, regulatory focus, and executive function theories as potential explanations for MI care-seeking delay.

Tiffany Lee

Tiffany Lee joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2014. Prior to entering the department, she received her BA and MPH from the University of South Florida. She also previously worked for a managed care organization for the quality department. Her research interests include quality assurance reporting, healthcare information technology, rural health and integrated delivery models.

Mechelle Sanders

Mechelle Sanders is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she majored in psychology and sociology. After graduating, she completed a teaching fellowship through the NYC Board of Education. She has worked on several NIH funded studies in the areas of cancer screening disparities, patient portals, and provider--patient communication about physical activity. Mechelle’s research interests include racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes; as well as health information technology (HIT) use in underserved populations.

Ming-Ting Yang

Ming-Ting Yang joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2020. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Physical Therapy from National Taiwan University. Prior to joining the doctoral program, Ming-Ting worked at the Population Health Research Center at National Taiwan University School of Public Health to assist in evaluating the hospitalization experiences and unmet discharge needs from patient-and-family centered care perspectives. He was also a practicing Physical Therapist providing home and community-based services (HCBS). For his doctoral research, Ming-Ting aims to investigate the outcomes and quality of HCBS, and the impacts of relevant policies on the stakeholders.

Wenhan Guo

Wenhan Guo (Wenhan_Guo@URMC.Rochester.edu) joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2019. He received a BA and a MA in Health Policy from Nanjing Medical University, and earned a MS in Biostatistics from Columbia University. His research interests include long-term care and post-acute care, end of life quality of care, health finance, and health disparities. Wenhan loves travelling, basketball, cooking, and kayaking on Finger Lakes.

Zijing Cheng

Zijing Cheng (AKA. Flora) joined the HSR & Policy Ph.D. program in 2020. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Health Policy, Financial Economics, and Mathematics from the University of Rochester in 2018; and a Master of Science degree in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2020. Her research interests include health economics, health financing, the use of technology in the improvement of health outcomes, and the quality of care for aging and vulnerable populations.

Teraisa Chloros

Teraisa Chloros joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2013. He earned a Bachelor's in Medical Informatics with a concentration in psychology from Rochester Institute of Technology.  She continued her education at the University of Rochester and earned a Master's in Medical Informatics with a concentration in public health. Teraisa’s research interests include the electronic medical record, patient portal utilization and patient outcomes. She plans to investigate how technology in the medical field affects patient behavior.

Tianwen Huan

Tianwen Huan joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2018. She completed her undergraduate studies in Public Administration at Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, and received a master degree in Administration Management from Fudan University in China, as well as a M.S. in Statistical Practice in Boston University. Her current research interests include health economics, health disparity and statistical modeling, etc. In her spare time, Tianwen enjoys hiking and traveling.

Zhi Pan

Zhi Pan earned her Master of Science in biostatistics from Columbia University. After graduation, she worked for the Prevention Center and Center for Health Behavior Research at the University of Pennsylvania, and also received her MPH degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests focus on improving quality and outcomes of healthcare. Outside of work, she enjoys music, reading, swimming, and cooking.

Yunna Xie

Yunna Xie joined the HSR & Policy PhD program in 2015. She received her Bachelor's degree in Dentistry from West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University, and Master of Science degree in Health Economics from Heidelberg University. Yunna's research interests are focused mainly on application of machine learning especially deep learning in healthcare, physician decision making, and implementation of new clinical interventions.