A change agent with a proven track record, Alison brings a powerful combination of forward thinking digital acumen and traditional marketing expertise to DentaQuest’s brand and business-to-consumer strategies. Under Alison’s leadership, DentaQuest is elevating the customer experience through digital transformation and data-driven decision-making. Prior to joining DentaQuest, Alison served in a number of senior marketing positions for national and international organizations including Staples.com and 1300 retail stores, Sears Canada, and BJ Wholesale Club. Alison also founded Corcoran & Associates, a marketing and strategy firm providing consultancy services to companies including Zipcar and The Princeton Review. She received her MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and her BA from Williams College.

Born in Tokyo, Alison has lived all over the world, including in Japan, Myanmar, South Korea, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Today she is firmly settled in Milton, MA with her husband, four children and two dogs.

Avery joined the DentaQuest Partnership (DQP) in June 2017. As the Editorial Content Manager, he focuses on content creation, manuscript and research brief development, strategic communications as they relate to Partnership activities, and works closely with key stakeholders to continue positioning the Partnership as a thought leader in oral health. He assists with research projects through the research and publication process, provides drafting assistance, and coordinates presentations, lectures, and keynote addresses.

With more than fifteen years of experience Avery brings a wealth of expertise to the Partnership. Prior to joining DQP, he spent four years with the State of Maryland Department of Health’s Office of Health Services. He has expertise in Medicaid, state and federal health policy, survey and research methodology, data analysis and strategic policy communications for different audiences. He has presented and published research on oral health, health disparities, LGBT intimate partner violence, HIV/AIDS, and the impact of the Affordable Care Act on state and federal Medicaid policy.

Avery received his BA and MA in Applied Sociology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he developed the first reliable and valid survey to measure intimate partner violence in the LGBT population. He earned a second MA in Critical Studies from the Maryland Institute College of Art where he focused on the contributions of artists to their communities in the wake of the AIDS crisis of the 1980’s.

Avery is based remotely in the Washington, DC area. 

Caroline Darcy is a Technical Assistance Project Manager for Safety Net Solutions (SNS). She oversees the data collection and analysis process, and develops findings, recommendations and enhancement plans for safety net clinics. Caroline also offers support to dental programs during the implementation phase of the practice enhancement process, providing sample policies, individualized financial/productivity goals, business plans, job descriptions, coaching and motivation. Additionally, Caroline performs needs assessments and environmental assessments for clinic startups and feasibility studies. Caroline also assists clients with DentaQuest Institute's Safety Net Solutions Dental Learning Center.

Prior to joining the Safety Net Solutions team, Caroline provided management of employees and sales skills to multiple organizations, including Accurate Elevator, The Cranberry County Chamber of Commerce, Harvard-Pilgrim Health Care, as well as her own business with the aging-in-place population. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emmanuel College in Boston.

Christine is a Practice Quality Improvement Measurement Coordinator on the Partnership’s Interprofessional Practice team.  She works on the MORE Care (Medical Oral Expanded Care) project which focuses on the integration of oral health activities into Primary Care offices as well as the coordination of referrals between Primary Care and Dental offices as well as a Telehealth pilot.  She is involved with the data collection and monthly reporting process and supports collaborative activities.

Christine previously held a role as a Quality Improvement Project Manager at DentaQuest working on disease management initiatives.

Christine graduated from Worcester State University in May, 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health. 

Cindy Hannon, MSW, is Measurement Systems Director for the DentaQuest Partnership.  In this role, Cindy is responsible for thinking about quality and safety primarily at the practice level. She works to help understand providers, both medical and dental, to think about health outcomes.

Prior to joining DentaQuest, Cindy worked with national policy leaders at the National Institute for Children's Health Quality (NICHQ) as Associate Project Director and Obesity Operational Lead. Cindy also served as Managing Director for the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center. Cindy is passionate about child and adolescent health and supporting the development of care teams’ capacity for continuous improvement.

Cindy holds a Masters of Social Work degree from the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work with a focus on children and adolescents and a Bachelors of Arts from Providence College. She is a graduate of IHI’s Improvement Advisor Program.

Da-Nell Pedersen serves as Strategic Communications Manager and is part of the team responsible for positioning the DentaQuest Partnership as the “leading voice” in oral health by articulating the impact and value of the DentaQuest Partnership’s programs and grant-making initiatives with internal and external stakeholders.  In this role Da-Nell delivers presentations and participates in activities around the country to increase awareness of the importance of oral health and share key findings from DentaQuest Partnership initiatives. 

Da-Nell joined DentaQuest in 2014 and worked under the Safety Net Solutions (SNS) program until December of 2018. During her tenure with SNS, she helped improve systems and processes that led to increased client engagement and satisfaction. Prior to joining DentaQuest, Da-Nell served as Oral Health Coordinator for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers (AACHC), Arizona’s Primary Care Association, where she coordinated their Advancing Optimal Oral Health in Arizona project. This role involved the provision of training and support to Community Health Center dental program staff and the facilitation of statewide partners meetings in an effort to advance statewide oral health coalition efforts.

Da-Nell received a Bachelor's Degree in Strategic Communications from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 2010 and a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Non-Profit Administration at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona in 2017.

Danielle is the Oral Health Value-based Care Training Specialist for the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement. In this role, she creates training programs designed to prepare payers and providers for the transition to value-based care in dentistry as part of the Oral Health Value-based Care (OHVBC) Training Academy. Danielle previously served as the Senior Project Manager for the Safety Net Solutions (SNS) initiative for the past ten years and will bring her experience in conducting in-depth practice analyses of dental clinic management and operations to the OHVBC Training Academy as well as her experience in the development and execution of SNS national training sessions in partnership with the National Network of Oral Health Access (NNOHA), state Primary Care Associations (PCAs), The James B. Edwards School of Dentistry at the Medical University of South Carolina, and various national oral health stakeholders.  In addition to value-based care, she specializes in creating and providing practice management resources, individualized financial/productivity goals, business plans, job descriptions, and providing coaching and motivation. She has presented at various national platforms on the following topics: dental program finances, using data to monitor dental program performance, strategic scheduling, front desk operations, creating a business plan and leadership.

Prior to joining DentaQuest, Danielle worked with multiple organizations, providing fiscal support and accounting expertise, including WB Mason, Spirited Sisters, Oscar Squared and Computerized Bookkeeping, LLC. 

Danielle received her Bachelor of Science in Business Management degree from the University of Phoenix in Arizona.

Dr. Eric P. Tranby is the Manager of Data and Impact in the Analytics and Evaluation team at the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, where he responsible for overseeing and conducting descriptive and predictive analytics using data from dental and medical claims and electronic health records.  His current research projects include the use of large healthcare claims databases to understand the impact of oral health on overall health, assess the impact of innovative clinical care models on oral health disparities, and to understand the reasons for hospital-based treatment of dental/oral health conditions.  He has a MA and PhD from the University of Minnesota.  Prior to joining DentaQuest, Dr. Tranby was a statistical and data analytics consultant, working with dental and medical insurance companies, academic institutions, medical publishers, and firms on the use of big data in population health, clinical trials, and workforce management to develop actionable insights and high-impact interventions.  He has also been an Assistant Professor, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in statistical analysis and research methods   He has authored, co-authored, or contributed to the completion of more than two dozen scientifc papers in a variety of fields. 

Gina joined Dentaquest in 2018 as the Events Coordinator, where she manages the Programs and Events for the DentaQuest Partnership and OPEN Network. 

Prior to joining the team, Gina worked for Partners Healthcare in Beverly, Massachusetts. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communications at Westfield State University.

As Director of Operations, Grandy oversees operations and administration in support of a common vision and mission for the Impact Division of DentaQuest which includes the DentaQuest Partnership and Innovation teams. Previously, Grandy served as the Manager of Programs and Operations for the DentaQuest Foundation. 
 

Prior to DentaQuest, Grandy worked for local United Way organizations in Massachusetts Bay and Greater Cincinnati for 8 years, providing programming and management support to help educate, attract and retain United Way’s top donors.  Prior to United Way, Grandy served as a United States Peace Corps business consultant in Oradea, Romania helping local NGO’s develop business plans and secure grant funding. She has a MBA and BBA from the University of Cincinnati. 

Ilya Okunev is a Senior Data Analyst with Analytics and Publication. In this role, he provides analytical, statistical and methodological support to the institute. Before joining the Analytics and Publication Group at DQI, he worked in the Business Analytics group under the direction of Hsing Min Sha. Over there, he led the development of successive new versions of the Fraud Waste and Abuse Model, helping to streamline the process by which the Fraud Prevention and Recovery Team identified suspicious billing patterns and wasteful practices.

Ilya joined the team in January of 2017 and has been working to identify and analyze treatment outcome measures in National and Regional Medicaid Databases. Current projects include development of dental performance metrics and cost-effectiveness of novel preventive procedures. He has a BS in Biophysics from Brandeis University as well as an MA in Statistics from Columbia University.

Julie Hawley, PhD, CAE is the Director of Analytics and Evaluation at the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement.  In this role, she is responsible for working with the team to create and implement a strategy to transform data into knowledge that can be used to elevate oral health’s visibility, inform policy, care, community, and financing system decisions, and increase awareness about Partnership impacts.

Dr. Hawley comes to DentaQuest with extensive experience in evidence-based healthcare, medical/dental research & analytics, implementation science, scientific publishing, association leadership, and advocacy.  Dr. Hawley served as the executive director of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry, and has had leadership roles in evidence-based healthcare with the American College of Chest Physicians as well as the American Dental Association.  She served as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Evidence-Based Practice for Dental Hygienists, and editor of the textbook Evidence-Based Dentistry for the Dental Hygienist, both published by Quintessence Publishing.  Dr. Hawley has received research and programmatic grants from from the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, the National Library of Medicine, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and has an extensive track record of peer-reviewed scientific publications.  She has served in leadership roles with the Friends of NIDCR, and the American Association of Dental Research Ethics Committee and Council on Government Affairs.

Dr. Hawley received her PhD from Harvard University’s Biological and Biomedical Sciences program, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.  She is an executive scholar of the Nonprofit Management Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and is a Certified Association Executive.  She is also a fellow of the NIH Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health and a fellow of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.

Kassandre Danger currently serves as Operations Analyst for the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement. Kassie joined the team in March 2018 as the Operations Coordinator, where she manages the finances and contracts for the Partnership.

Prior to joining the team Kassie worked at a Medicare Compliance company in North Reading, Massachusetts. She received her bachelors degree in Nutritional Science from the University of Massachusetts: Lowell.

Katie is responsible for supporting Rob Compton in all aspects of his role as Executive Director of the DentaQuest Institute as well as supporting the Institute team by providing program support, developing meeting materials, planning events and meetings as well as developing reports and presentations.

Prior to joining the Institute, Katie spent 3.5 years at Integrated Genetics (previously known as Genzyme Genetics); a division of LabCorp, where she was the senior administrative assistant to the Marketing division.  She supported two Associate Vice Presidents, several Directors and Product Managers for both the Reproductive and Oncology marketing brands.  She was responsible for assisting with new hire trainings, managed all aspects of both Reproductive and Oncology Advisory boards, prepared Speaker and Attendee agreements, assisted with the planning and follow-through of the National Sales Meetings, and assisted the Event planner with trade shows.

As a Grants and Programs Associate, Katinka provides strategic and program support to grantees and partner organizations across Oral Health 2020, the Community Response Fund, and the Executive Director’s Fund. Prior to joining DentaQuest, she worked in communications, strategy development, and project management at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston Public Health Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Senate.

Katinka holds an MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, an MS in health communication from Boston University, and a BA from Bowdoin College, where she majored in Government and Legal Studies.

Kelli Ohrenberger currently serves as the Manager of Interprofessional Practice for the DentaQuest Partnership. In her role, she oversees projects and programs related to medical/dental integration and coordination. She has been with DentaQuest since 2008 in different project management roles, providing day-to-day oversight of several of the organization’s initiatives, including the Medical Oral Expanded Care program.

Prior to joining DentaQuest, Kelli spent three years working in a community hospital setting where she served as part of the Public Affairs and Marketing team. Kelli earned a master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Emerson College in Boston.

In his role as Director of Network Strategy, Matt oversees the Foundation's role as backbone support for a national generative social impact network of more than 1,000 members, organized to transform healthcare to a fully person-centered, health outcomes-driven system. Matt previously served as Manager of Grants and Programs, working to develop stronger connections with grantees and partners and implement Foundation program strategy. Prior to that, he was in the role of Grants and Programs Associate. Before joining the DentaQuest Foundation in 2011, Matt was the Manager of Client Services for Ellipsis Enterprises, a grant-funded academic publishing and meeting planning consultant, where he worked closely with foundations to plan and implement symposia and conferences. Matt also served as an editor on six multi-author, cross-disciplinary volumes spanning such topics as the future of physics, and the nature of infinity.

Matt is currently a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where his research interests are focused on how social change strategies result in public policy that promotes great social justice. Matt received a Master of Public Administration from the Institute of Public Service at Suffolk University's Sawyer Business School. He also holds a dual degree in Philosophy and Political Science from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Dr. Monopoli leads grant making activities, coordinates best evidence, community input, and various data sources on improving health outcomes to design and manage strategies for the prevention of oral disease, health systems impact, and community-based solutions to oral health problems.

Dr. Michael Monopoli is a graduate of the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. He received Master of Public Health and Master of Science degrees from the Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Monopoli also completed a fellowship in Geriatric Dentistry at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and the Veterans Administration. Dr. Monopoli served as the dental director of the Office of Oral Health for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Dr. Monopoli is presently the Executive Director for Grants Strategy of the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement in Boston, MA. At the DentaQuest Partnership, Dr. Monopoli leads grant making activities and strategies to advance systems change by supporting a growing aligned national network to improve oral health and promoting health equity. Dr. Monopoli also works across the DentaQuest Enterprise and with external entities, including federal and state government agencies, academia, other health organizations, and community groups to establish, promote and provide support to partnerships and collaborations that can impact positive oral health policy nationally. Dr. Monopoli is a past President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD).

As a Grants and Programs Associate, Parrish provides program support to the DentaQuest Partnership’s grant-making strategy and supports partner organizations engaged in the implementation of the Oral Health 2020 initiative.

Prior to working at DentaQuest, Parrish worked 13 years with community-based organizations, non-profits, health systems, and municipalities providing training and capacity building with a focus on public health, equity, and youth advocacy. With a BA from St. Andrews University, Parrish brings a focus on grassroots mobilization and a systems-change approach in conversations around the social determinants of health with a particular interest in workforce and policy.

As the Healthcare Data Exchange Specialist, Rebekah is a member of the DentaQuest Partnership’s Person-centered Care Team, and is focused on the design and development of technology and data protocols which support value-based care and interprofessional initiatives. Rebekah has taken on the challenge of identifying and implementing innovative solutions for quality improvement, and healthcare data exchange, while meeting the needs of the clinical end-user.

Rebekah has a background in quality improvement, community health, and safety net dental clinics. She previously held a role as a Quality Improvement Project Manager at DentaQuest, working on disease management and teledentisty initiatives. Prior to joining DentaQuest, she provided training and technical assistance on community health center dental operations and ran several primary care and oral health integration projects at the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

She is a graduate of Rockford University and holds a Master of Science degree in Public Affairs with a concentration in International Relations, and a graduate certificate in Women in Politics and Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Dr. Sean G. Boynes is a Dentist Anesthesiologist who received his D.M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a three year residency in anesthesiology from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  He currently serves as Executive Director of Person Centered Care at the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement overseeing national programs and initiatives focused on the integration and coordination of person centered care, developing and implementing value based oral health strategies and operations, and evaluating and testing metrics through meaningful oral health measurement.  

A prolific author and speaker, he has been recognized by many organizations for his work in health policy and clinical care, that include: the National Health Service Corps featured him as one of the 40 top clinicians for their 40th Anniversary Celebration, the South Carolina School Nurses Association named him recipient of the Distinguished School Services Award, the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation lists him as a Dentist of Distinction, and he was given the President’s Award from the National Network for Oral Health Access.  Dr. Boynes is dedicated to making care better and providing opportunities to empower individual to expect a system of dependable health.

As the Learning and Digital Experience Manager, Susan is responsible to develop, manage and execute all learning strategy and content, technical applications and platforms, and DentaQuest Partnership knowledge dissemination through digital outlets to meet the Partnership’s goals and objectives.  She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Partnership’s learning content and technical systems through team collaboration, project planning, content development and synthesis, technology development, training development and delivery, program marketing, vendor management, and evaluation of impact to internal and external stakeholders. 

Prior to joining the Institute, Susan spent many years in Business Readiness and Change Management roles within the Insurance and Financial Services industries working for The Hartford, MassMutual and Deloitte and Touche LLP. In these roles she was responsible for new application deployment including needs assessment, development of training and communication plans and strategies, project management, creation and delivery of web-based and instructor-led training materials, and post-implementation assessment. Susan also gained formal consulting experience while working as a Management Consultant for Accenture.

Susan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing from Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. While at Bryant, she was an active member of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.

Trenae Simpson is the Manager of Grants and Programs at the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, formerly the DentaQuest Foundation. In this role, Trenae works with a team of two Grants and Programs Associates who support the development and implementation of its relational grant-making strategy and works most closely with national grantees and partners across the country. Leveraging a more engaged approach to grant-making, the grants team provides funding, strategic guidance, capacity-building opportunities, and targeted learning focused on health equity and social justice.

Prior to joining DentaQuest in 2014, Trenae was a Research Assistant at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, a membership organization that provides professional development opportunities and knowledge resources for corporate citizenship practitioners. She contributed to monthly blogs and the development of the Center’s knowledge tools.

She received her Masters of Business Administration from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University. Her professional interests continue to be focused on social justice, equity, and community engagement.

In her Project Coordinator role, Vuong supports the coordination of projects across all DentaQuest Institute programs and other teams by assisting with tasks as needed for the management of all activities and deliverables in the project. In addition, Vuong is responsible for the administration of the DentaQuest Institute learning accreditation process.

Vuong graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Concentration in Asian Studies.  Prior to joining the DentaQuest Institute, she worked at the Boston VA Healthcare System in the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center as the research assistant for 2 years. There she focused on the CSP578 PRESERVE trial (Prevention on Serious Adverse Events Following Angiography) and performed study related and administrative tasks for the investigation team.

Vuong pursued her Master's in Public Health at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science (MCPHS) University at the Boston campus.

Yara is a health economist, a policy analyst, and a dentist.  She joined the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement (Partnership) as a Biostatistician in 2019. As a member of the Analytics and Evaluation Group, she is working with the Partnership to improve the oral health care system using data and analytics to inform the decision-making process. 

She earned her Ph.D. in health policy from Brandeis University where she evaluated a Medicaid dental managed care program. She was a Senior Research Associate at Brandeis University before joining Harvard University as a Research Fellow. Dr. Halasa-Rappel has over 14 years of experience conducting research in the United States and internationally.  Her research focuses on health financing, costing of health care services, cost of illness, modeling, economic evaluation of health and health-related projects, and cost-effectiveness. She is the author of over 45 articles, policy briefs, and book chapters including a policy brief exploring the role of ACOs in integrating oral and medical health, a cover story comparing caries risk assessment tools, and an article on the impact of poor oral health on employment. She co-authored key publications on topics related to the global human and economic burden of diseases, the cost-effectiveness of new health technologies, and the cost of expanding healthcare coverage to vulnerable populations.