Former Team Members
Cam Coleman, M.D., attended the University of Virginia for undergrad, majoring in Human Biology. He spent a gap year managing an ER scribe program in Northern Virginia where he developed an i
nterest in health IT after observing the impact of EHR’s on clinical workflow and healthcare delivery. He returned to UVA for medical school and cultivated his interest in Informatics by researching clinical documentation in the EHR. After completing his intern year in Internal Medicine at UNC, he was excited to accept a post-doctoral fellowship position with the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP), funded by a T-15 grant from the NIH/NLM, where he is pursuing a Masters degree in Biomedical and Health Informatics. His current research interests include EHR usability, Natural Language Processing, Human Factors, and Quality Improvement. More broadly, he is interested in leveraging health IT in new ways to improve healthcare delivery by improving system efficiency and increasing provider engagement (decreasing physician burnout and restoring joy in practice).
Erin Wallace is a second-year Professional Masters (PSM) Student in Biomedical and Health Informatics. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina in 2014. In the past, she has worked with the Genome Analysis Facility as a Research Technician. Currently, she works with the High-Throughput Sequencing Facility as a Project Coordinator, where she manages large, complex projects and develops solutions to sample quality and sequencing issues. Additionally, she is completing a bioinformatics internship where she utilizes R Studio and Python scripts to analyze diverticulitis data for differentially expressed genes present in population subgroups. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Erin’s interests in infectious disease epidemiology have grown and she plans to work at an organization dedicated to infectious disease management after completing her PSM. Her other interests are in precision medicine, anti-microbial resistance, and the use of telemedicine to reach vulnerable communities in rural locations. In her free time, Erin is an aerialist and loves to hike in the mountains whenever possible.
Ashlyn Zebrowski is a first year graduate student in Biomedical and Health Informatics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For the last 10 years, Ashlyn worked for Johnson & Johnson, where she held various positions in Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality Compliance, Procurement, and Business Development. Focused on digital health innovation, Ashlyn relocated to Switzerland in 2015, where she held roles of increasing responsibility in External Manufacturing and External Innovation within J&J’s Hospital Medical Device Division. Ashlyn led strategic external innovation programs specific to intraoperative medical technology. In 2018, she took leadership of the organization’s strategy and development of external partnerships for value-added services in clinical and non-clinical use-cases. Ashlyn has extensive experience working with medical device software, image-guided surgical platforms and visualization equipment for minimally invasive surgical procedures, robotics for the operating theater, imaging and templating technology, 3D printing, patient and HCP applications, and digital and non-digital solutions spanning the ecosystem of healthcare organizations. Ashlyn’s research interests include digital solutions for healthcare professionals, patients, and healthcare systems. She is interested in intraoperative technology, digital applications, and methods of data utilization within the clinical space, focusing on patient pathways and the leveraging of data and informatics to improve clinical decision making and quality of care.
Ashlyn holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey, holds a Six Sigma/Process Excellence Green Belt, and is a certified Project Management Professional.
Paige Ottmar is a second-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After completing her bachelor’s degree in cognitive neuroscience from Northwestern University in June of 2016, she moved 
to North Carolina to pursue a dual master’s degree in information science and health administration from the School of Information and Library Science and the Gillings School of Global Public Health, respectively. Previously she worked as a health IT and data analytics consultant at Technical Research & Consulting, Inc. in Weston, CT, where she studied how big data gleaned from EHR could be used to solve various population health issues. Currently, she also works as a Qualtrics consultant at the H.W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science, providing guidance on the various aspects of study recruitment, implementation, and analysis for UNC faculty, staff, and students.
Yuxiao Yao is currently a second-year student pursuing a master’s degree in Information Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her B.S. in Information System and Information 
Management at Tianjin University in China. As a data enthusiast, her research interests focus on Data Analysis, Data Mining, Health Informatics and Machine Learning. After graduation, she plans to work as a data scientist and improve herself personally and professionally. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming and photography.
Cassie (Songzi) Liu graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in East Asian Studies, following years of vigorous interdisciplinary training in the social sciences, humanities, and quantitative 
methods. At UNC, she pursues a graduate degree in Information Science with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction. Her interests in Healthcare IT include usability issues in system designs, mobile health applications, and natural language processing for healthcare applications. She is currently working closely with Dr. Saif Khairat on the Telemedicine for Urgent Care Evaluation Project. Upon the completion of her MSIS, Cassie plans to pursue a Ph.D. in her areas of interest.
Terika McCall is a PhD student in the Health Informatics program. She completed her BS in Healt
h Science Education at the University of Florida, MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, and MBA in Management at Wake Forest University. In the past, Terika worked in different roles on various federally-funded public health research studies. Among her research interests is the use of mobile technology for the management of chronic health conditions in underserved populations.
Tanzila Zaman is a first-year Professional Masters (PSM) Student in Biomedical and Health Informatics. She received her bachelors of science from University of North Florida in 2014. In the past, she has worked in
multiple healthcare facilities focusing on direct patient care, and her most recent job was working as a part of Cord Blood Clinical Trials Program at Duke University Health System. Upon completion of her PSM, she plans to work at a healthcare facility to improve patient care through telehealth. In her free time, she likes to travel, try new foods, and spend time with her family.
Elaine N James, MSN, RN-BC, CLNC, is in the DNP program in Health Care Systems at UNC. Currently, she works full-time in home health. Prior to starting the DNP program in Health Care Systems, she transitioned from
a full-time position as a Business Intelligence Analyst II to a supplemental position with WakeMed Health and Hospitals. She received her BSN in Nursing and MSN in Nursing Administration from East Carolina University. She received an associate degree in Information Systems from Pitt Community College. Elaine has 31 years of nursing experience in Gynecology/Gynecology Oncology, Obstetrics, Labor and Delivery, and Newborn Nursery as well as in other areas of administration. She is certified as a legal nurse consultant, as well as board certified in Informatics Nursing. Elaine serves on the First Impressions Team and Emergency Medical Response Team for Summit Church.
Samantha Russomagno graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. with her bachelors of science in nursing (BSN) in 2014 and moved to North Carolina shortly after to begin he
r professional nursing career. Since, she has been a nurse at Duke University Hospital on a pediatric inpatient unit that serves cardiothoracic, surgical, solid-organ transplant, gastrointestinal, and neurology patients. In August 2015, she started the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner track and is currently in her final year of the program. She is doing her DNP project on improving postpartum depression screening in the outpatient pediatric setting while developing and concurrently implementing a referral algorithm for at-risk mothers. Samantha is a certified pediatric nurse and has served as a clinical instructor for the pediatrics course for Duke University School of Nursing’s accelerated BSN program. Within the UNC School of Nursing, she has served as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate pediatrics coarse and as a graduate research assistant on a HRSA-funded grant. Upon graduation, Samantha hopes to practice as a pediatric nurse practitioner as well as teach nursing at a university level or continue research on improving patient safety.
Karthik Adapa is a 1st year Ph.D. student in health informatics and an MPH student in the department of health policy and management, Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is a medical graduate and has a master’s degree in public policy. Karthik’s research interests are telehealth, big data analytics, and healthcare delivery.
Christina Smith is a Master’s student in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University in
2014 where she majored in Biology and Romance Languages. Her interests are in health care costs and utilization, cost-effectiveness, and access to care for underserved populations and the uninsured. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a clinical research assistant at the North Carolina Women’s Hospital. She has also worked with the Sheps Center for Health Services Research on projects investigating opioid related hospital utilization in North Carolina. She is expected to receive her Master’s of Science in Public Health in Health Policy and Management in May 2018.
William Crosby is a 1st year Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) track, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Florida in 2012. He enlist
ed in the Air Force in 1998 and received his commission in 2012. His assignments have included the 690th ISS Kelly Air Force Base (AFB), Texas; NATO Programming Center Glons, Belgium; 426th IOS Vogelweh, Germany; Orlando, Florida; and 633rd MDOS Langley AFB, Virginia. Prior to starting his DNP he was a valued member of the Pediatric Clinic at Langley AFB Virginia, where he supported daily operations of 19 pediatric primary care and sub-specialty providers ensuring “Trusted Care” was provided to >32,000 beneficiaries. He is a Certified Pediatric Nurse, Pediatric Advanced Life Support Instructor, and Basic Life Support Instructor.
Victoria Rand graduated with her B.S. in Biochemistry with Honors and Distinction in Chemical Rese
arch from Tennessee Technological University in May 2017. While in college, she studied abroad at the University of Cambridge in England and worked as a research student in the Osheroff Laboratories at Vanderbilt University. At UNC Chapel Hill she is a Professional Science Master’s student in the clinical track of the Biomedical and Health Informatics Program. Upon completion of this degree she will enter medical school to earn her MD in order to become a practicing physician.
Thomas Newlin is a Professional Science Masters student in the Biomedical and
Health Informatics Clinical Track. He graduated from Indiana University – Bloomington in May 2017 with a BS Biology. Upon completion of his PSM, he plans to attend medical school to earn his M.D.
Tahiti Choudhury graduated with a BS in Biology from North Carolina State University. She is working on a second degree and is currently completing her BSN
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She developed a strong background in research while working at BASF. She has worked extensively with EMR, specifically EPIC, in various clinical settings. Her current research project involves examining the usability of EPIC for the Intensive Care Unit. She was President of both the Pre-Nursing and Pre-PA clubs at NC State and is currently the Service Chair for the Minority Nursing Student Association at UNC-CH. She is driven by the desire to help those who do not have access to healthcare and aims to serve her community through nursing. In her spare time, she mentors Pre-Nursing students at UNC-CH as well as children at the Boys and Girls Club. She plans on getting her DNP in the future.