Elliot M. Stone Memorial Internship
Elliot M. Stone led the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium from its inception in 1978 until his untimely passing in April 2005. Elliot was a true visionary and leader in the Massachusetts healthcare community and in the effort to enhance technology to improve quality of care.
To honor his memory, the MHDC Board of Directors established a Memorial Fund. This Memorial Fund was designated to support the work of promising graduate students doing research on the uses of health information. The EMS Memorial Fund supported an annual precepted internship for a graduate-level student in a health systems-related degree program. Each internship generated a project report, analysis, or publishable paper on a topic demonstrating the use of health data or health information technology for the improvement of the healthcare system, healthcare delivery, or health status of communities.
The Elliot M. Stone Memorial Fund supported six students throughout the life of the fund:
Jenna Sirkin, 2011-12
Jenna Sirkin is studying for a Doctorate degree in Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her project is a survey of community health centers to determine the extent of their electronic health record implementation and ability to meet the meaningful use criteria. She has a Master's degree from Brandeis University in Social Policy, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Spanish from Tufts University. She is the co-author of the book "Breaking the Poverty Cycle: The Human Basis for Sustainable Development", based on research she conducted in Mexico.
Nakhle Tarazi, MD, 2010-11
Nakhle Tarazi, MD completed a Master of Science degree in Health Informatics at Northeastern University. His project was designed to study the impact of electronic health record (EHR) systems on patients, via conducting interviews with patients to learn about their experience of care. Dr. Tarazi is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist in the Steward Health Care System, and until recently was chief of the OB/GYN Department at Caritas Norwood Hospital. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree and Bachelor’s degree from the American University of Beirut, and began practicing in the US in the late 1980s.
Sean Lunde completed an MBA/MPH program at the Boston University Graduate School of Management. Sean conducted a qualitative study of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of EHR implementation. Sean served as a medic and emergency care sergeant in Iraq from 2001-05, and led the adoption of an IT-based medical logistics system. He was selected as the only Europe-based soldier to represent the Army at the 2004 Presidential Inauguration. He was a researcher and policy analyst at the William Joiner Center and the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services. Sean has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UMass-Boston.
Jaffy Phillips, 2009-2010
Jaffy Phillips completed a Masters in Public Health at the BU School of Public Health. Jaffy's project is related to behavioral health, specifically looking at the barriers to inter-operability for behavioral health services. The study researches the use of electronic health records in behavioral health through literature review and interviews with subject matter experts in the field. The Consortium’s Behavioral Health Forum has served as an important resource for this project. The final report addresses implementation and adoption of health information technology among behavioral health providers. Jaffy's undergraduate degree is a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Amherst College (including junior year abroad in Kenya), and she has an M.A. in Somatic Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder.
Natasha Khouri, 2008-2009
Natasha Khouri received a Masters of Science in Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. Natasha's project is on the topic of health disparities. Specifically, she has examined the implementation of the new race and ethnicity reporting requirements for hospitals in Massachusetts. The methodology is a survey of the hospitals to determine how they are implementing these regulations, how they impact providers, and how the accuracy of the data is ensured. This issue is of particular interest, as it relates to the state's health care reform initiative and reducing racial and ethnic disparities is one of the Health Care Quality and Cost Council's three primary goals. Natasha's undergraduate degree was an A.B. in History and African Studies at Duke, and she subsequently did an intensive Spanish language study in Guatemala.
Neel Shah, MD, 2007-2008
Neel Shah was the first Elliot M. Stone Intern selected for the program. He has now completed a Master of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as well as a Doctor of Medicine degree at Brown University. Neel worked on the Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration project, contributed to the reports that were produced during the September 2007 – June 2008 period, and co-authored a paper entitled “Can We Resolve the HIT Privacy Conundrum? The Massachusetts Experience.” Neel presented his findings to the Consortium’s annual conference on June 6, 2008. Neel’s undergraduate degree was a B.S. in Neuroscience at Brown, and while an undergraduate he served as an emergency medical technician, as well as an intern in the New Jersey State House. Dr. Shah went on to form a non-profit organization, Costs of Care, that seeks to inform physicians about the costs and benefits of various therapy alternatives.
