Alumni Board

Mervin Alexander, MPH
Public Health '24

Mervin Alexander is currently the Medical Education Coordinator II in Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he manages operations for both emergency medicine graduate and undergraduate medical education programs. He earned his Master of Public Health from the Jefferson College of Population Health in 2024, where his capstone focused on improving adolescent adherence to asthma medication through smartphone interventions. Through the Department of Family Medicine, he also presented a poster on exploring the link between pain perception and hospital-related stress in patients with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) at the 2024 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo. 

Mervin holds a BS in Public Health from Drexel University, a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Villanova University, and is a member of the Delta Psi Chapter of Delta Omega Honororary Society in Public Health.  With a background in public health, healthcare administration, and political science, he is passionate about health communication, care delivery innovation, and promoting health equity. He is excited to support the JCPH alumni community and contribute to initiatives that foster student success and system-level change.

Tolulope O. Aloba, MPH
Public Health '24

Tolulope Aloba is recent graduate of JCPH with a Master of Public Health (MPH).  He has a strong background in clinical research, having served as a Clinical Research Assistant at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and as a Public Health Assistant with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He participated in the Erasmus+ KA171 ICM (International Credit Mobility Program), where he concentrated on transforming urban environments into smart and healthy cities through the Jefferson Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities under the mentorship of Dr. Katie DiSantis. His capstone project focused on increasing clinical trial participation among racial and ethnic minorities. Tolulope is passionate about public health and committed to improving the lives of individuals and communities. "I'm excited to contribute to the Alumni Board and help further its vision," states Tolulope. 

Beverly I.  Anaele, MPH 
Public Health '20

Beverly I. Anaele, MPH is a public health advisor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Public Health Law Services. There, she co-coordinates the Public Health Law Fellowship, a training program for those seeking field experience. Beverly graduated from JCPH in 2020 with a master’s in public health. She has since been a passionate advocate for all things public health. Beverly strongly believes that every individual—regardless of their field—can benefit from public health principles. For that reason, she can often be seen encouraging students and partners to pursue an MPH, particularly at Jefferson, where possible. Beverly hopes to connect with more prospective students to support recruitment at this remarkable university.

Khalid Azzam, MBBS, FACP, FRCPC, CPE, MS-HQS 
Healthcare Quality & Safety Management, International Track '19 

Dr. Khalid Azzam is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and holds the position of Physician-in-Chief at Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His previous roles at McMaster University include the Assistant Dean for Continuing Health Sciences Education and the inaugural Associate Dean for Continuing Professional Development.

Dr. Azzam's academic pursuits extend beyond his executive leadership role. He is involved in the continuum of medical education at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing health professions education. His focus areas include change leadership, quality improvement, patient safety, and diagnostic excellence. Clinically, Dr. Azzam specializes in general internal medicine, providing inpatient and outpatient care, supervising learners and integrating point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) for diagnostic applications.

Holding an MBBS in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Rajasthan, India, Dr. Azzam furthered his expertise with an MSc in Healthcare Quality and Safety Management (International Track) from the Jefferson College of Population Health. He completed his Internal Medicine training at the University at Buffalo in 2002. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and is currently the Governor of the Ontario Chapter. Dr. Azzam is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in Internal Medicine and General Internal Medicine and is a Certified Physician Executive by the American Association for Physician Leadership. 

Catherine Freeland, PhD, MPH 
Doctor of Population Health Science '23

Catherine Freeland is the Associate Director of Public Health Research at the Hepatitis B Foundation. Catherine received her PhD at Jefferson College of Population Health, with a concentration in Health Behavior Science and a dissertation on addressing low hepatitis B birth dose uptake in Nigeria. She led the effort to incorporate values and preferences for people with lived experience within the updated 2024 World Health Organization Guidelines and continues to focus on addressing barriers to hepatitis B elimination globally.

Gabrielle Gennotti, PhD, MPH 
Doctor of Population Health Science '24 

Dr. Gabrielle Geonnotti is a Patient Access & Affordability manager at Johnson & Johnson for the oncology business. Prior to this role she worked in patient engagement research at J&J, and before that, at leading academic medical centers in Philadelphia and Boston supporting clinical operations, community health initiatives, and clinical and translational research projects. Dr. Geonnotti completed her doctoral degree in Population Health Sciences at Jefferson College of Population Health 2024. Her research focused on the impact of obstetrical unit closures on severe maternal health outcomes in Pennsylvania. At the University, she was also a teaching assistant for the Master of Public Health program and worked on RAPIDIRON, a clinical trial based in India studying the acceptability of IV iron treatment for anemia in pregnant women. Additionally, she holds a Master of Public Health from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK and a Bachelor’s in Public Health from The George Washington University. 

Greg Langan, DHSc, LSW, MPH 
Doctor of Health Science in Population Health '24

Dr. Greg Langan is the Administrative Director for Addiction Medicine at Cooper University Health Care where he works to expand services in New Jersey for Persons with substance use disorders. Additionally, he is an adjunct instructor in public health. He has a dual Master’s in Social Work and Public Health from Temple University and a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University as well as being Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Dr. Langan graduated from JCPH in 2024 as a member of the initial cohort for the Doctoral of Health Sciences in Population Health program. His passion lies in improving healthcare services. His professional experience includes Federal, State, and philanthropic grant management and healthcare expansion centered on HIV and infectious disease program development/provider education. He has worked on numerous New Jersey statewide initiatives and learning collaboratives focused on developing the capacity of service providers to meet the health and social needs of diverse populations. 

Tejal Naik, MD 
Adjunct Faculty
Entrepreneur-in-Residence 

Dr. Naik's role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence focuses on bringing together healthcare professionals, students and industry stakeholders committed to  creating innovative solutions to complex healthcare challenges. Dr. Naik's  goal is to enhance the healthcare experience through empowering healthcare professionals with entrepreneurial skills and intrapreneurial opportunities. The intention is to build a community of intrapreneurs within Jefferson who are dedicated to becoming both problem-seekers and problem-solvers. His vision is for a transformative initiative focused on principles of innovation and intrapreneurship. His leadership ensures that  students will continue to advance into emerging leaders equipped with the mindset and skills to navigate an ever-evolving healthcare landscape.

Dr. Naik graduated from Sidney Kimmel Medical College in 2016 and completed his internal medicine residency in 2019. He is currently a hospital medicine physician at Methodist Hospital and is board certified for clinical informatics. While at Jefferson, Dr. Naik served as Clinical Lead and Senior Product Manager with the former Digital Innovation and Consumer Experience (DICE) group and the Digital Technologies team at IS&T. During this time, he played a key role advancing numerous clinically oriented projects in the digital health and tech innovation space.

Janice Nissen, BSN, MBA, MS 
Population Health '19

Janice (Jan) is both a health care professional and a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive, who has developed commercialization strategies at two multinational pharmaceutical companies, Merck, and Abbott Laboratories.  This work included numerous first-in-class products with market leadership and favorable outcomes for patients.  She led an enterprise-wide, global strategy of incorporating patient input into the companies’ value chain, from discovery through patent expiry, resulting in products that were more relevant, valued, and accessible. 

Jan served on the executive committee of a non-profit board in Nicaragua, Clinica Verde.  She is currently consulting with the NIH Foundation on patient engagement strategies to support their public-private partnerships, and building a first of its kind educational curriculum for nurses interested in a life science career with the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs.  She is also serving as an advisor to Press Ganey on customer experience in clinical trials.

Jan has a BSN from University of Illinois Medical Center, MBA from Lake Forest College and a Masters in Population Health from Thomas Jefferson University.  She also serves on the Medical Reserve Corp in Pennsylvania.

Billy Oglesby, PhD, MBA, MSPH, FACHE
Ex officio

Dr. Oglesby is a population health strategist, scientist, and results-driven leader with more than 25 years of consulting and operational experience improving population health outcomes, driving operational efficiency, and expanding access to prevention and care services.  He has worked with payors, providers, academic medical centers, life science companies, digital health firms, government agencies, community organizations, and other stakeholders to drive meaningful and sustainable population health improvement across a continuum of upstream and downstream initiatives.

As the Humana Dean of the College of Population Health,  he leads all functions of the College, including program growth and evaluation, enrollment management, faculty development and oversight, research expansion, alumni engagement, student support services, and philanthropic efforts. He works with key leaders across the Jefferson enterprise and with stakeholders locally, nationally, and globally to develop new academic initiatives that promote healthcare quality and patient safety, improve operational effectiveness and efficiency, and advance public and population health.

Ashwini D. Sharan, MD, MSQHS
Healthcare Quality & Safety '21 

Dr. Sharan is Chief Medical Officer for Medtronic Neuromodulation.  He joined June 2022.  He plays a key role in shaping the strategic direction of innovation and evidence plans, helps guide physician, society relations, and education engagements.  He also serves as a medical advisor to the business and interacts with the medical community to identify current and future business opportunities.

In addition, he is also employed part-time at Thomas Jefferson University where he still works as Professor of Neurological Surgery and Neurology at Sidney Kimmel Medical.  Dr. Sharan’s is a board certified neurosurgeon trained and has been faculty for 22 years, has performed over 8000 operations, and treated over 25000 patients.    He has trained and graduated 33 residents and 8 fellows and mentored over 70 medical students.  All of his fellows have pursued academic careers and one is already the head of his department. 

Dr. Sharan is an internationally recognized authority on functional neurosurgery, particularly for his contributions to the growing field of epilepsy surgery. Dr. Sharan also takes a keen interest in spine surgery, deep brain stimulation, intra-thecal pumps, and spinal cord stimulators. Dr. Sharan has been the co investigator on three NIH grants, investigating the safety of MRI for patients with implanted DBS systems, genetic influences of human epilepsy, and studying the roles of place and grid cells in human spatial navigation and memory. He is was the largest surgical enroller in the DARPA RAM project.  His work has been published in Neurology, Neurosurgery, Spine, Epilepsia, and Neuromodulation. He has been cited over 17,900 times and his H-index is 72 and produced over 200 peer reviewed publications.

Dr. Sharan has previously served as the Past President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and the Past President of the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS.) He is a founder of multiple companies in the Neuromodulation space including Cerebral Therapeutics, Mudjala Medical, and previous company Intellect medical.  He was born in Patna, Bihar.  He lives in Southern New Jersey with his wife, Kanu Priya Sharan, a breast cancer oncologist, and two children, Isha Priya and Maansi Dayal.  His real passion in life is watching movies with his wife and his daughters.

Michele Sharp, EdD, MA
Health Policy '21 
Chair

Michele Sharp is Vice President of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility at Purdue Pharma, where she oversees the company's communications strategy, stakeholder engagement, and social impact initiatives. Prior to her work at Purdue, Michele served in communications leadership roles at the Connecticut Hospital Association and the American Association for Cancer Research. She is a Peabody Award-winning former journalist with over 25 years of experience in communications.

Michele earned a BA in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College, an MA in Journalism and Public Affairs from The American University, a graduate certificate in Health Policy from Jefferson College of Population Health, and a Doctor of Education and Organizational Change from Baylor University. 

Silpa Thomas, MS
Health Data Science '24

Silpa Thomas is a Business Data Analyst at Curasev, an HME/DME software company, where she specializes in reporting and analytics while also assisting with support and implementation. She earned her MS in Health Data Science from Jefferson College of Population Health in 2024. Her capstone project focused on developing a Revenue Cycle Management Dashboard to help DME providers gain valuable insights into their reimbursement processes. Silpa is passionate about leveraging data to drive informed decision-making in healthcare

Karen Walsh, DHSc, MS, MBA  
Adjunct Teaching Assistant Professor 

Dr. Karen Walsh is System Director Performance Measurement, Improvement & Analytics at Main Line Health and is also adjunct faculty at JCPH. As a seasoned healthcare leader in data science and analytics, she has been able to successfully implement and manage enterprise strategic healthcare initiatives. She has detailed expertise of statistical methods and predictive modeling, healthcare data, and different episode grouping methodologies. Her most recent research is around multiple sclerosis (MS) and focuses on geographic variation in MS care, quality, value, and predicting clinical endpoints. Dr. Walsh earned her Doctorate in Health Sciences (DHSc) from University of Indianapolis with a focus in Statistics and Data Science, MS from Northwestern University in Predictive Analytics, and has an MBA from Pennsylvania State University.