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Douglas W. Elmendorf, Ph.D., is Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served as Dean of the Kennedy School from 2016 to 2024 and was previously Director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2009 to 2015.Elmendorf has held senior economic positions with the Federal Reserve Board, the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and the Treasury Department, where he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy. He is a widely respected economist who has deep knowledge of many of Abt’s core research areas, including health care policy and approaches to increasing economic security.Elmendorf is the author of more than 30 publications and has testified before Congress on economic issues 50 times since 2005. 

Olga Zues, a health-system and financing specialist, has 20 years of experience in international development. She focuses on the design and implementation of comprehensive reform strategies to strengthen health systems and public finance management. Her expertise includes benefits design to move towards universal health coverage, arrangements to support efficiency gains and service delivery improvements, innovative payment mechanisms, sustainability strategies, and institutional development. She has worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development – now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – and numerous ministries of health, finance, justice, and education.

Sarah J. Shoemaker-Hunt has more than 15 years of experience as a health services researcher and implementation scientist. As an experienced pharmacist, she brings a practice-informed lens to her role conducting mixed-methods studies and evaluations and delivering technical assistance and quality improvement projects for federal health agencies. They include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Clients also include non-governmental organizations. Sarah is the Abt client account lead for AHRQ.

Dr. Hannah Thomas, a sociologist and geographer, brings over 20 years of experience in qualitative and mixed methods research addressing housing and economic inequality. Her work has ranged across the fields of housing, guaranteed income, workforce development, the racial wealth gap, community development, mortgages, and asset building. Dr. Thomas has worked with a range of clients from federal agencies such as the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Health and Human Services, to cities, states, and non-profits. She brings a participant and implementation orientation towards her research and helps produce methodological solutions in service of the end users of programs and policies.

Dr. Stephanie Frost has over 15 years of experience working in public health research and evaluation, in areas including program evaluation, communications formative research, and evaluation technical assistance. Dr. Frost specializes in chronic disease prevention and management but has also leveraged her technical skillset to lead projects focused on adolescent health, the opioid epidemic, and Veteran-related disability. Having worked at the federal, state, and local levels and having produced research products for a range of audiences, she brings a strong understanding of the different informational needs across stakeholder groups and the importance of translating research to build capacity and facilitate program improvement. With a background in the social determinants of health and assessing the contextual factors influencing public health and public health programs, Dr. Frost also applies an implementation science lens to her work and has led multiple implementation-focused studies.  Her work has helped clients identify and address research and practice gaps, implement workflows, assess program impacts, and reach key audiences with critical public health-focused information and resources. Through her work she has also developed numerous reports, briefs, informational materials, presentations, and peer-reviewed publications.

Maria Francisco has over three decades of professional experience focusing on global health issues and health care delivery systems in low- and middle-income countries. She has held positions in the public and non-profit sectors, serving in senior advisory, management, and leadership roles for a wide range of initiatives to advance universal health coverage goals and ensure equitable access and financial protection. She brings leadership in the areas of public health program and policy development, having worked extensively in maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and health systems strengthening programs throughout Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. She has led large multi-country flagship programs for USAID as a senior advisor for child health and immunization. She served on strategic multilateral fora for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, GAVI Health System Strengthening, and Community Integrated Management of Childhood Illness. She also served in senior technical roles with USAID in Kenya and Vietnam. As an implementing partner, she provided technical direction in health systems strengthening and equity-centered programming under USAID’s Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator (HSSA), Quality Assurance Project, MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity, Acting to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | East, and the Maternal and Child Survival Program.

For more than 20 years, Jeffrey Conrad Wuorinen has focused on bridging divides and convening partnerships to take on intractable social, economic, governance, and environmental problems. Through his work in 100 countries, he has helped to mobilize more than $8 billion in capital and capacity investment into economic, social, and environmental infrastructure across the global south.  Wuorinen has worked at the grassroots level with some of the world’s most underserved and overburdened communities and he has advised at the highest levels of governments and international organizations.

Meghan Hendricksen, Ph.D., MPH has more than a decade of healthcare research and project management experience, with expertise in gerontology, long-term care, and discrimination in health care settings. She has extensive experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research for federal, state, and nonprofit clients, ranging from interviewing nursing home staff and residents to conducting complex quantitative analyses of large datasets like the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Her skills include data and team management across multiple complex projects, developing data collection instruments, as well as the production of research protocols and training research teams.

Jennifer S. Riggs, Ph.D., brings her extensive research, policy, and nursing experience to improve care for all patients, especially older adults. Her clinical area of expertise is Medicare-certified home health and home and community-based care for diverse adults and older adults with multiple co-occurring chronic conditions and complex care coordination needs.

John Heermans is a climate change expert with 12 years of experience in strengthening and accelerating mitigation and adaptation action to reduce climate impacts. He has worked with national and sub-national governments, bilateral and multilateral development organizations, national and international climate funds, and the private sector to set, implement, and achieve ambitious climate commitments. He has extensive experience with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Frameworks, including the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) through climate change policy, planning and financing and mainstreaming climate action to national development plans, public budgeting processes and international support programs.