Key Staff Bios

John McKinlay, PhD, FACE

Founding Director and Senior Vice President
Co-Director, Health Services and Disparities Research
jmckinlay@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Dr. McKinlay is an internationally respected health services researcher/social epidemiologist, with long-standing interests in professionalism, help-seeking behavior, primary care doctoring and clinical decision making. His interest in the help-seeking behavior of the poor spans over 30 years. He has authored, co-authored or edited over 400 professional papers and 17 books.

• Ph.D. in Medical Sociology, Department of Sociology, King's College, Aberdeen University, Scotland
• BA, University of Wellington, New Zealand

• Non-medical influences on clinical decision making
• The social origins of health disparities, especially the influence of physician decision making
• Social epidemiology and epidemiologic field methods
• Urologic epidemiology, endocrinology and pre-diabetes/diabetes
• Health services research and healthy public policy
• The future of primary care

• NIH Merit Award (“for investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior”) 1987-1992, renewed 1992-1997
• American Psychological Association (For Distinguished and Pioneering Contributions to Research on Women's Health), 1994
• Leo G. Reeder Award (For Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology) American Sociological Association, 1995
• Listed in American Men and Women of Science Citation Classics (Several papers among the most frequently referenced in the discipline)
• Buckeye Lecturer, American Society of Andrology, Louisville Kentucky, April 2000.
  NIH Matilda White Riley Lecture (2008)
• American Sociological Association's Distinguished Career Award (For the Practice of Sociology), 2008
• Consultant in Epidemiology, Division of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School), 1975-present
• Formerly Professor of Sociology, Research Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Boston University (1971-1995)

Anna Slavin, BS

Chief Financial Officer
aslavin@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Anna Slavin joined the NERI senior management team in June of 1994. As NERI's Chief Financial Officer, she is responsible for all aspects of NERI's financial management. As NERI has expanded, Ms. Slavin has helped to manage its rapid growth by developing accounting and operational policies, procedures and information systems to respond to and comply with the requirements of its various funding agencies and industry sponsors.

• BS, Business Administration, Northeastern University
• Extensive experience in government accounting, financial reporting, consulting and management
• Worked for more than 10 years in public accounting with Grant Thornton in Boston prior to joining NERI

Sonja McKinlay, PhD

Co-owner and President
smckinlay@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Sonja McKinlay, with her husband, John McKinlay, founded NERI in 1986. As President, Sonja McKinlay has led the organizational growth of the company while at the same time pursuing her own widely-recognized research interests. Her commitment to the highest intellectual and scientific standards has been at the core of NERI’s growth into an internationally respected, independent research organization.

• Ph.D., Kings College, Aberdeen University, Mathematical Statistics
• M.Sc. (with Distinction), Kings College, Aberdeen University, Mathematical Statistics
• M.A. (Honors), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Languages

• Clinical trial methodology and implementation
• Co-authored Successful Randomized Trials: a Handbook for the 21st Century (Editors: M. Domanski & S. McKinlay, 2009)

• Faculty Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study (1976-79)
• M.A. (Honorary Degree), Brown University (1983)
• Founding Fellow, American College of Epidemiology
  

Sharon Tennstedt, PhD

Vice President, Behavioral and Social Science Research
Director, Center for Scientific Integrity
stennstedt@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Dr. Tennstedt has worked at NERI since 1987 and has conducted many types of surveys, observational studies, and behavioral intervention trials on a range of health and health care issues. As Director of NERI’s Center for Scientific Integrity, she is responsible for NERI’s Quality Systems Manual and Standard Operating Procedures and serves as the Research Integrity Officer and Federalwide Assurance Signatory Official, overseeing the NERI Institutional Review Board.

• PhD in medical sociology, Boston University
• MSN in mental-health nursing, Case Western Reserve University

• The design, methods, and operations of multi-site studies
• Pediatric heart disease
• Aging
• Advance care planning
• Ethical issues in nursing care
• Safe driving for older adults
• Improving provider-patient communication
• Urology and urogynecology

• Past member (2005-2009) of the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research for the National Institute of Nursing Research
• Adjunct faculty appointment at the Boston University School of Public Health
• Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America
• Serves on the editorial boards and as a reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed journals
  

Lisa Marceau

Vice President, Media and Communications Research
Co-Director, Institute for Health Services and Disparities Research
lmarceau@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Ms. Marceau manages NERI web and print publications, the development and distribution of media programs, and public relations. NERI media programs have ranged from widely viewed NOVA broadcasts, educational videos, CD ROM, DVD and web-based education and training programs. Ms. Marceau also co-directs the Institute for Health Services and Disparities Research which focuses on comparative effectiveness, use of new media technologies in research and dissemination and understanding the root causes of disparities at the macro level (healthy public policy).

• MPH, Boston University
• Long career working in occupational, environmental, and public health organizations and companies.

• The improvement of population health and the way in which health system interventions can produce meaningful change
• The dissemination to target audiences of high quality research through 21st century media technologies
• Comparative effectiveness
• Organization and system contributions to health disparities
• The use of factorial experimental methods to understand variations in care
• The future of primary care practice

• Media programs developed under Ms. Marceau’s executive direction have won:
  • 3 Telly Awards
  • Cine Golden Eagle
  • Videographer Award
  • Aesculapius Award
  • Member, Silver Telly Council
  • Member, Project Management Institute

Rebecca H. Li, PhD

Vice President, Clinical Research 
rli@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Dr. Li oversees all clinical research operations and NERI’s clinical trials service. In addition, she is currently overseeing the TOPCAT trial – a large global Phase 3 study of heart failure.

• PhD in biomolecular and chemical engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• Director at Wyeth Research working in the Translational Research Department focusing on efforts to successfully incorporate pharmacogenomics into clinical trials
• Group head in the Bone Biology and Tissue Repair department at Genetics Institute

• Cardiology and cardiovascular research
• Orthopedics
• Oncology
• Neurology
• Pediatrics
• Rare diseases
• Biomarkers
• Pharmacogenomics

• Adjunct Associate Professorship at Brown University, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology
  

Andre B. Araujo, PhD

VP, Epidemiology
aaraujo@neriscience.com

Role at NERI
Dr. Araujo oversees the development and implementation of state-of-the-science epidemiological research. Current projects include several large observational cohort studies, pharmacoepidemiologic investigations, and initiatives for developing patient-reported outcomes. The work spans several therapeutic areas including endocrinology, frailty, geriatrics, pain, osteoporosis, and urology. He is Co-Investigator on the landmark Massachusetts Male Aging Study and the Registry of Hypogonadism in Men as well as Principal Investigator of the Boston Area Community Health/Bone Survey.

• MA in sociology, Boston University
• PhD in epidemiology, Yale University School of Public Health
• More than 10 years of experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of epidemiologic studies

• Epidemiology of male musculoskeletal issues
• Endocrinology of male aging

• Pre-doctoral National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award in the epidemiology of aging
• Member of scientific committees for the International Society of Men’s Health
• Member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and The Aging Male