PEACH Team
PEACH Faculty Mentors
Director of PEACH
Gary Freed is the Percy and Mary Murphy professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and professor of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He currently serves as Associate Chair for Government Relations in the Department of Pediatrics and as Director of Research in the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion at the Michigan Medical School. Dr. Freed has more than 30 years of experience in children's health services research. He has been the principal investigator of numerous federal, state and foundation-funded grants, and of the first pediatric health services research fellowship program funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The current focus of his research is child health equity. In 2023, he launched two new programs for which he serves as Director: the Program for Equity in Adolescent and Child Health (PEACH) and the Michigan Child Health Equity Collaborative (MI-CHEC). PEACH and Mi-CHEC are first-of-their kind programs designed to examine and address potential inequities in the care of children and adolescents.
Email: gfreed@med.umich.edu
Associate Director of PEACH
Susan Woolford’s clinical and research interests focus on behavioral interventions in the clinical setting for the treatment of obesity, particularly for severely obese adolescents. Her research explores the delivery of weight management interventions and outcomes from multidisciplinary obesity care. In particular, Dr. Woolford’s work focuses on the use of communications technology to enhance patient engagement and adherence to treatment recommendations. In recognition of her innovative work in the area of childhood obesity, Dr. Woolford has received awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics and from the Society for Adolescent Medicine.
The current focus of her research is child health equity. In 2023, she launched two new Programs for which she serves as Associate Director: the Program for Equity in Adolescent and Child Health (PEACH) and the Michigan Child Health Equity Collaborative (MI-CHEC). PEACH and Mi-CHEC are first-of-their kind programs designed to examine and address potential inequities in the care of children and adolescents.
Email: swoolfor@med.umich.edu
PEACH Faculty Consultant
Fola Odetola is an Associate Professor in the Division of Critical Care Medicine. His research interests focus on the optimization of health care delivery to critically ill and injured children through process evaluation, including health technology assessment within the pediatric critical care unit, and outcomes assessment.
Dr. Odetola earned his medical degree MB.CHB from the College of Health-Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Dr. Odetola’s graduate medical training included pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at the University of Michigan. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also obtained a Masters of Public Health degree in Health Care and Prevention. He is a graduate of the health services research fellowship in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
Email: fodetola@med.umich.edu
PEACH Faculty Consultant
Joyce Lee is a pediatrician, diabetes specialist, and clinical and health services researcher. She is very interested in the notion that human-centered design and design thinking combined with emerging technologies – such as mobile technology, data visualization, and social media – can transform the research enterprise and the delivery of clinical care.
Dr. Lee attended Brown University for her undergraduate education, the University of Pennsylvania for her medical degree, and she completed her internship and residency in General Pediatrics at the Boston Combined Residency Program (Children's Hospital, Boston, and Boston Medical Center). She is one of just a few individuals across the country to complete dual training in Pediatric Endocrinology and Pediatric Health Services Research. In addition, she received her Masters in Public Health degree from the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan.
Email: joyclee@med.umich.edu
Faculty Statistical Consultant
Niko Kaciroti is a Research Scientist in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biostatistics. He received his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan. Since then he has collaborated in multidisciplinary research at the University of Michigan, nationally, and internationally with a focus on the pediatric population.
Dr. Kaciroti serves as the statistical editor for the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Behavior Nutrition and Physical Activity. He serves in the Board of Directors of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation. Dr. Kaciroti is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and the Society for Pediatric Research.
Email: nicola@umich.edu
PEACH Consultants and Staff
Cori Davis
Quality Improvement Team Leader
Cori Davis is an improvement specialist supporting collaboratives and projects focused on child health equity with Drs Freed and Woolford. Cori has over a decade of experience designing and leading quality improvement efforts to amplify and accelerate social change. Cori believes that improvement science is accessible to all and loves supporting people with diverse skillsets and backgrounds learn about and implement improvement science to make meaningful change. Outside of work, you can find Cori acting as an uber driver and domestic coordinator for her daughter, Peyton. She also enjoys gardening, exploring new restaurants or wineries, listening to podcasts, and traveling to warmer climates.
Email: ahrecori@umich.edu
Cheyney Dobson, Ph.D.
Program Manager, PEACH
Cheyney Dobson currently manages PEACH as part of a team led by Drs. Woolford and Freed. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. She has extensive experience conducting and managing research collaboratively and independently focused on inequality as a qualitative sociologist. She is excited to bring this experience to bear in supporting those working in the realm of pediatric care ask questions about equity, collect data, and generate change where it’s needed.
Email: dobsonc@umich.edu
Richard Eikstadt
Lead Data Architect
Richard Eikstadt earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering from Ohio University in 1994. He has worked at the University of Michigan since 1998, authoring or co-authoring numerous papers relating to nephrology and data science. He is skilled in extracting data from the electronic health record and organizing that data to answer important research questions.
Email: eikstadt@med.umich.edu
William Gillespie
SQL Data Analyst
William Gillespie is a data architect for PEACH and other programs launched by Drs. Freed and Woolford. He assists researchers and clinicians by investigating and retrieving electronic health records (EHR), defining data dictionaries, performing statistical analysis, and creating data visualizations. He enjoys automation of EHR tasks and creating dashboards and visualizations for end users. He holds a Master of Science in computer programming from Eastern Michigana Univisersity. He has previously worked in health technology at U of M, programming in military contracting, and teaching English as a second language. In his free time, he has interests in photography and foreign languages.
Email: wegilles@med.umich.edu
Michael J. Happy
Web Project Manager
Michael J. Happy is the website project manager for PEACH and other programs launched by Drs. Freed and Woolford. After serving seven years as a U.S. Navy journalist, he received his Bachelor of Arts in social studies from Towson University in Maryland and then started a professional journalism career that took him to CBS Sports, The Detroit News and The New York Times. For 13-plus years before joining PEACH, he worked as the digital content manager for FOX Sports Detroit. When he's not working, Michael loves to spend time with his bride, Shannon, relaxing at their cabin near Alpena. He also enjoys hanging out with his two adult children, Louis and Amanda, and telling stories about his angel, Shaun.
Email: mhappy@umich.edu
Sheng Koivu
Lead Administrative Assistant
Sheng is the lead administrative assistant for the equity programs launched by Drs. Freed and Woolford. She joined the Child Health Evaluation and Research Center in 2016 as an administrative assistant, providing support to the Division of General Pediatrics, and planning continuing medical education activities. Sheng holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Oakland University. In her free time, Sheng enjoys spending time with her family.
Email: shengk@med.umich.edu
Harlan McCaffery, M.S.
Statistician
Harlan McCaffery earned his MS in Biostatistics from Northwestern University in 2018. As a statistician at University of Michigan since 2018, he has worked in the Department of Pediatrics, the Center for Human Growth and Development (CHGD), and the Statistical Analysis of Biomedical and Educational Research Group (SABER), coauthoring dozens of manuscripts on a range of health topics. He is skilled with data manipulation, visualization, and advanced statistical methods including mixed effects modeling, multivariate analysis, and survival data analysis, with a special focus on longitudinal studies. He very much enjoys learning from and supporting health researchers at U of M.
Email: hmccaff@umich.edu
Julie McCormick
Program Manager, Equity Programs
Julie McCormick is the lead project manager for Equity Programs launched in 2023 by Drs. Freed and Woolford. She has nearly two decades of clinical and research project management experience, as well having served as a senior research scientist at Pfizer and an IRB coordinator at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration. Julie brings this considerable experience to the team to help guide PEACH’s development and implementation, as well as advise PEACH project leads in individual projects as needed. Julie loves traveling with her family and spending time outdoors. Her hobbies include costuming for community theater shows and shark fishing.
Email: mccormj@umich.edu
Jessamyn Ressler-Maerlender, M.P.H.
Quality Improvement Specialist
Jessamyn Ressler-Maerlender is a Continuous Improvement Specialist at Michigan Medicine Children's and Women's hospitals. Her work focuses on reducing harm from hospital acquired conditions, patient and employee experience, equity issues, and safe transitions of care. Previously, Jessamyn was Director of NICU Innovation at March of Dimes, creating and disseminating best practices in neonatal family centered care. Jessamyn received her Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, lives in Ann Arbor, and is a Michigan State Spartan at heart.
Email: jessamyr@umich.edu
Jennifer Stout
Quality Improvement Specialist
Jennifer is a quality improvement specialist who supports PEACH and other initiatives led by Drs. Woolford and Freed. She was introduced to improvement science through her nursing experience at University of Michigan Health System. Jennifer has worked as an inpatient nurse for over 10 years, most recently on a Medical Intensive/Step Down unit. She has multiple years of experience working with free and charitable clinics and serving as an anti-human trafficking advocate, specifically in the field of education for healthcare providers. Jennifer loves to rollerblade and travel in her free time.
Email: jlstout@umich.edu