AP-NORC Center Experts

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Caitlin Carroll Oppenheimer

Senior Vice President
Public Health
Phone: (301) 634-9344

Caitlin Carroll Oppenheimer is senior vice president of Public Health at NORC. Oppenheimer brings more 25 years of experience conducting research and providing support to federal and non-federal clients. She provides oversight and direction to the 80 staff and over $40 million per year of research projects housed in the Public Health Department. She also leads a multi-year project for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Office of Minority Health to provide research, evaluation, and communications support in support of the reducing health disparities the Medicare population.

Oppenheimer also directs a project for the HHS Office of Women’s Health to provide evaluation support broadly as well as conduct cross-site evaluations of several research portfolios. She has expertise in strategy and planning as well as evaluation research including qualitative data collection, establishment surveys, and evaluation of program data.

Prior to joining NORC, Oppenheimer was a senior associate at The Lewin Group and an analyst at Partnership for Prevention. She is an established health services researcher with several peer-reviewed publications including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Emergency Nursing, and Annals of Family Medicine. She is a member of the American Public Health Association.

Caitlin Carroll Oppenheimer

Senior Vice President
Public Health
(301) 634-9344

Caitlin Carroll Oppenheimer is senior vice president of Public Health at NORC. Oppenheimer brings more 25 years of experience conducting research and providing support to federal and non-federal clients. She provides oversight and direction to the 80 staff and over $40 million per year of research projects housed in the Public Health Department. She also leads a multi-year project for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Office of Minority Health to provide research, evaluation, and communications support in support of the reducing health disparities the Medicare population.

Oppenheimer also directs a project for the HHS Office of Women’s Health to provide evaluation support broadly as well as conduct cross-site evaluations of several research portfolios. She has expertise in strategy and planning as well as evaluation research including qualitative data collection, establishment surveys, and evaluation of program data.

Prior to joining NORC, Oppenheimer was a senior associate at The Lewin Group and an analyst at Partnership for Prevention. She is an established health services researcher with several peer-reviewed publications including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Emergency Nursing, and Annals of Family Medicine. She is a member of the American Public Health Association.

Adil Moiduddin

Senior Vice President
Health Care
Phone: (301) 634-9419

Adil Moiduddin is a Vice President working on issues at the intersection of health care and public health. Moiduddin works closely with NORC’s Executive Vice President for Research on business development and strategic initiatives related to health data, programs and policy. Moiduddin has 18 years of experience in health services research, consulting and program evaluation. He has extensive knowledge of federal and state programs to support health care financing and delivery with particular expertise in the health care safety net and health IT programs.

He also directs a multi-million dollar evaluation of 18 Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIAs) funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. These are projects led by community providers and other stakeholders aiming to improve health care quality, control health care costs and raise overall health. The interventions foster integration and communication across health care settings and help patients access health education, behavioral health and social support resources. Each project focuses on a population with conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease) that drive morbidity, mortality and health care costs in the United States.

The evaluation includes analysis of Medicare, Medicaid and private sector administrative data documenting cost and health care utilization. These analyses use a difference-in-difference or two cohort longitudinal design depending on availability of data, sample size and comparison group options. Moiduddin is also leading dozens of in-person structured interviews and focus groups with HCIA providers, community-based stakeholders, administrators, patients and caregivers.

Moiduddin directs smaller projects assessing population health interventions involving collaboration between health care providers, public health agencies and community-based organizations. He recently completed an evaluation of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Program (SHARP) for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and a Congressionally-mandated report on the use of health IT to address the needs of communities experience health disparities for the same office. He also recently completed a project using data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess differences in primary care visits between federally funded health centers and other providers. The study also looks at variation between primary care visits led by nurse practitioners and physician assistants compared to those led by physicians.

In addition to the funders mentioned above, during his career at NORC, Moiduddin has directed projects for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Congressional Research Service and many Agencies and offices within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Prior to coming to NORC, Moiduddin was a consultant for the Lewin Group. At Lewin, he conducted strategic planning, program evaluation and market analysis projects for government Agencies, biotechnology firms, and health care associations. He also served as an Analyst at ASPE’s Division of Health Policy. At ASPE he helped coordinate research activities across HHS and design the first ever national evaluation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Moiduddin regularly presents his work at academic conferences including those sponsored by AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association the American Medical Informatics Association, the Health Information Management Systems Society, and others. He has authored dozens of reports, white papers, peer reviewed articles, and book chapters. He is a member of AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association and the American Evaluation Association. He serves as a peer-reviewer for the American Journal of Managed Care, the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management and Health Services Research.

Adil Moiduddin

Senior Vice President
Health Care
(301) 634-9419

Adil Moiduddin is a Vice President working on issues at the intersection of health care and public health. Moiduddin works closely with NORC’s Executive Vice President for Research on business development and strategic initiatives related to health data, programs and policy. Moiduddin has 18 years of experience in health services research, consulting and program evaluation. He has extensive knowledge of federal and state programs to support health care financing and delivery with particular expertise in the health care safety net and health IT programs.

He also directs a multi-million dollar evaluation of 18 Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIAs) funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. These are projects led by community providers and other stakeholders aiming to improve health care quality, control health care costs and raise overall health. The interventions foster integration and communication across health care settings and help patients access health education, behavioral health and social support resources. Each project focuses on a population with conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease) that drive morbidity, mortality and health care costs in the United States.

The evaluation includes analysis of Medicare, Medicaid and private sector administrative data documenting cost and health care utilization. These analyses use a difference-in-difference or two cohort longitudinal design depending on availability of data, sample size and comparison group options. Moiduddin is also leading dozens of in-person structured interviews and focus groups with HCIA providers, community-based stakeholders, administrators, patients and caregivers.

Moiduddin directs smaller projects assessing population health interventions involving collaboration between health care providers, public health agencies and community-based organizations. He recently completed an evaluation of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Program (SHARP) for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and a Congressionally-mandated report on the use of health IT to address the needs of communities experience health disparities for the same office. He also recently completed a project using data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess differences in primary care visits between federally funded health centers and other providers. The study also looks at variation between primary care visits led by nurse practitioners and physician assistants compared to those led by physicians.

In addition to the funders mentioned above, during his career at NORC, Moiduddin has directed projects for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Congressional Research Service and many Agencies and offices within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Prior to coming to NORC, Moiduddin was a consultant for the Lewin Group. At Lewin, he conducted strategic planning, program evaluation and market analysis projects for government Agencies, biotechnology firms, and health care associations. He also served as an Analyst at ASPE’s Division of Health Policy. At ASPE he helped coordinate research activities across HHS and design the first ever national evaluation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Moiduddin regularly presents his work at academic conferences including those sponsored by AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association the American Medical Informatics Association, the Health Information Management Systems Society, and others. He has authored dozens of reports, white papers, peer reviewed articles, and book chapters. He is a member of AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association and the American Evaluation Association. He serves as a peer-reviewer for the American Journal of Managed Care, the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management and Health Services Research.

Michael López

Vice President
Education and Child Development
Phone: (301) 634-9525

Michael López, PhD, is a Vice President in the Education and Child Development department at NORC, where he provides strategic oversight and direction for the growing portfolio of early childhood research at NORC. López is a nationally recognized expert on early childhood research, with a particular emphasis on low-income or culturally and linguistically diverse populations. He has over 25 years of experience conducting applied policy research in the areas of early childhood care and education, children’s socio-emotional development, health and mental health, racial and ethnic disparities, cultural and linguistic diversity, and appropriate assessments for cultural and linguistically diverse dual language learners.

Prior to joining NORC, López worked as a principal associate at Abt Associates where he conducted and disseminated early childhood research spanning topics such as Head Start, state preschool, child care, and childhood obesity. Among his achievements, López co-led the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, a five-year, $5 million national center to conduct and disseminate research, informing Administration for Children and Families programs and policies supporting low-income Hispanic children and families. He also served as co-principal investigator on the National Study of the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program, where he oversaw the design and implementation of a nationally representative study describing the characteristics of children and families enrolled in MSHS, as well as program practices and services.

Earlier in his career, López directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evaluation team in the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1991 to 2005, where he developed and directed large-scale, national evaluation studies of federal programs—including the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey and the National Head Start Impact Study, the largest, nationally representative, randomized study examining the impact of Head Start on children’s school readiness—among others.

López has written numerous peer-reviewed research articles, reports, and briefs on issues related to early childhood, Head Start, early care and education utilization, and cultural and linguistic diversity issues, including the psychometrics of language, literacy, and classroom observational measures for young dual language learners.

López earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned his master’s degree and PhD in child clinical psychology at Michigan State University. López currently serves as a board member of the Highscope Educational Research Foundation and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Executive Leadership Board. He is also a member of the advisory committee supporting the PNC Grow Up Great early childhood initiative.

Michael López

Vice President
Education and Child Development
(301) 634-9525

Michael López, PhD, is a Vice President in the Education and Child Development department at NORC, where he provides strategic oversight and direction for the growing portfolio of early childhood research at NORC. López is a nationally recognized expert on early childhood research, with a particular emphasis on low-income or culturally and linguistically diverse populations. He has over 25 years of experience conducting applied policy research in the areas of early childhood care and education, children’s socio-emotional development, health and mental health, racial and ethnic disparities, cultural and linguistic diversity, and appropriate assessments for cultural and linguistically diverse dual language learners.

Prior to joining NORC, López worked as a principal associate at Abt Associates where he conducted and disseminated early childhood research spanning topics such as Head Start, state preschool, child care, and childhood obesity. Among his achievements, López co-led the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, a five-year, $5 million national center to conduct and disseminate research, informing Administration for Children and Families programs and policies supporting low-income Hispanic children and families. He also served as co-principal investigator on the National Study of the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program, where he oversaw the design and implementation of a nationally representative study describing the characteristics of children and families enrolled in MSHS, as well as program practices and services.

Earlier in his career, López directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evaluation team in the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1991 to 2005, where he developed and directed large-scale, national evaluation studies of federal programs—including the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey and the National Head Start Impact Study, the largest, nationally representative, randomized study examining the impact of Head Start on children’s school readiness—among others.

López has written numerous peer-reviewed research articles, reports, and briefs on issues related to early childhood, Head Start, early care and education utilization, and cultural and linguistic diversity issues, including the psychometrics of language, literacy, and classroom observational measures for young dual language learners.

López earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned his master’s degree and PhD in child clinical psychology at Michigan State University. López currently serves as a board member of the Highscope Educational Research Foundation and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Executive Leadership Board. He is also a member of the advisory committee supporting the PNC Grow Up Great early childhood initiative.

Kristina Hanson Lowell

Vice President and Senior Fellow
Health Care
Phone: (301) 634-9488

Kristina Hanson Lowell is a vice president and senior fellow in the Health Care Department at NORC.

She has more than 18 years of experience and policy expertise in the areas of Medicare and Medicaid, health information technology (IT), payment reform, chronic care improvement, and disability issues. Lowell has directed many large-scale quantitative and qualitative studies on behalf of state and federal government agencies, not-for-profit and consumer organizations, academic researchers, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and professional associations. These studies have included surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, and site visits with a focus on the general population, individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities, elderly and low-income populations, health-care providers, federal and state legislators, and other key policymakers. Among her ongoing projects at NORC, Lowell is serving as the Project Director of the evaluations of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and the Information Technology (IT) Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Prior to joining NORC, Lowell was a Research Director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on health IT, payment and delivery-system reform, and long-term care. Lowell directed a two-year project for the Markle Foundation designed to build an infrastructure for the development of better evidence on how payment reforms and health IT can be used to improve care and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions. While at Brookings, Lowell also helped coordinate the formation and launch of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a multi-stakeholder effort dedicated to fostering the implementation of quality measures across the range of long-term services and supports. Lowell was previously a senior analyst in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the Office’s Medicare Part D portfolio, including empirical studies of beneficiary savings, access, and program spending; monitoring and improvement of the Part D Plan Finder tool; and the launch of an on-line consumer resource on Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs. She served as a Part D liaison between the Office of the Administrator, other parts of the Agency and DHHS, Capitol Hill, and a range of consumer and stakeholder organizations. Prior to CMS, Lowell was a Senior Research Manager at Harris Interactive, where she directed large-scale quantitative and qualitative health-policy studies and surveys, including a gap analysis survey of people with and without disabilities. Lowell was also a Senior Policy Analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and disability policy. Lowell has served as an Instructor at Harvard College and as a Teaching Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lowell has published research in peer-reviewed publications on access to care under Medicaid, state variations in the coverage and delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse services under Medicaid managed care, public attitudes concerning mental illness, and innovative approaches to payment- and delivery-system reform such as accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Kristina Hanson Lowell

Vice President and Senior Fellow
Health Care
(301) 634-9488

Kristina Hanson Lowell is a vice president and senior fellow in the Health Care Department at NORC.

She has more than 18 years of experience and policy expertise in the areas of Medicare and Medicaid, health information technology (IT), payment reform, chronic care improvement, and disability issues. Lowell has directed many large-scale quantitative and qualitative studies on behalf of state and federal government agencies, not-for-profit and consumer organizations, academic researchers, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and professional associations. These studies have included surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, and site visits with a focus on the general population, individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities, elderly and low-income populations, health-care providers, federal and state legislators, and other key policymakers. Among her ongoing projects at NORC, Lowell is serving as the Project Director of the evaluations of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and the Information Technology (IT) Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Prior to joining NORC, Lowell was a Research Director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on health IT, payment and delivery-system reform, and long-term care. Lowell directed a two-year project for the Markle Foundation designed to build an infrastructure for the development of better evidence on how payment reforms and health IT can be used to improve care and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions. While at Brookings, Lowell also helped coordinate the formation and launch of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a multi-stakeholder effort dedicated to fostering the implementation of quality measures across the range of long-term services and supports. Lowell was previously a senior analyst in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the Office’s Medicare Part D portfolio, including empirical studies of beneficiary savings, access, and program spending; monitoring and improvement of the Part D Plan Finder tool; and the launch of an on-line consumer resource on Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs. She served as a Part D liaison between the Office of the Administrator, other parts of the Agency and DHHS, Capitol Hill, and a range of consumer and stakeholder organizations. Prior to CMS, Lowell was a Senior Research Manager at Harris Interactive, where she directed large-scale quantitative and qualitative health-policy studies and surveys, including a gap analysis survey of people with and without disabilities. Lowell was also a Senior Policy Analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and disability policy. Lowell has served as an Instructor at Harvard College and as a Teaching Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lowell has published research in peer-reviewed publications on access to care under Medicaid, state variations in the coverage and delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse services under Medicaid managed care, public attitudes concerning mental illness, and innovative approaches to payment- and delivery-system reform such as accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Don Jang

Vice President and Director
Higher Education Analytics Center
Phone: (301) 634-9415

Don Jang is Vice President and Director of the Center for Excellence in Survey Research and serves as its Director. He is responsible for overseeing all staff and operations in the CESR department; building and leading the survey analytics team to help transform data collections to meet the demands of information with respect to timeliness, quantity, and quality; and building and leading data analytics team to bring advanced analytics to all NORC project offerings.

Jang has over twenty years experience managing and directing large-scale national federal statistical projects and methodological research associated with federal statistics programs. He has broad experience across all aspects of statistics, including multivariate statistical modeling, data linkage of multiple survey and administrative data, statistical disclosure avoidance, adaptive survey design, real time survey data processing, sampling, estimation, and report and data file production.

Before joining NORC in 2016, Jang was director of Data Science and Statistics of Mathematica Policy Research, building and growing the group to have more than 50 statisticians and data scientists. Jang’s longtime commitment to supporting national Science Foundation’s NCSES programs has been dated back to his tenure at Mathematica. Jang had led all statistical tasks for the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) project since 1996. The SESTAT database integrates data collected through three national sample surveys supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), and the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). For that project, Jang has led all activities needed for statistical support of the SESTAT system, including linking multiple survey data; optimum sample allocation to meet a number of statistical precision goals; dynamic, streamlined, real time data processing for data editing, imputation, and model-based weighting production for large scale data collection, developing SESTAT variance estimation methodologies, constructing longitudinal weights for longitudinal data analysis, and providing general statistical consultations to NSF and data collection contractors.

Jang had been a member of the Statistical Evaluation Committee for the NSCG since its 2010 redesign based on American Community Survey (ACS) data for its sampling frame. As a committee member, Jang provided statistical advice to the NSF and Census Bureau NSCG statistical staff.

Jang previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at George Washington University and George Mason University. He is currently a board member of the Korean International Statistical Society and also a board member of Hope Nicaragua; he has served as an at large board member and methodology program and section chairs for the Washington Statistical Society.

Don Jang

Vice President and Director
Higher Education Analytics Center
(301) 634-9415

Don Jang is Vice President and Director of the Center for Excellence in Survey Research and serves as its Director. He is responsible for overseeing all staff and operations in the CESR department; building and leading the survey analytics team to help transform data collections to meet the demands of information with respect to timeliness, quantity, and quality; and building and leading data analytics team to bring advanced analytics to all NORC project offerings.

Jang has over twenty years experience managing and directing large-scale national federal statistical projects and methodological research associated with federal statistics programs. He has broad experience across all aspects of statistics, including multivariate statistical modeling, data linkage of multiple survey and administrative data, statistical disclosure avoidance, adaptive survey design, real time survey data processing, sampling, estimation, and report and data file production.

Before joining NORC in 2016, Jang was director of Data Science and Statistics of Mathematica Policy Research, building and growing the group to have more than 50 statisticians and data scientists. Jang’s longtime commitment to supporting national Science Foundation’s NCSES programs has been dated back to his tenure at Mathematica. Jang had led all statistical tasks for the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) project since 1996. The SESTAT database integrates data collected through three national sample surveys supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), and the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). For that project, Jang has led all activities needed for statistical support of the SESTAT system, including linking multiple survey data; optimum sample allocation to meet a number of statistical precision goals; dynamic, streamlined, real time data processing for data editing, imputation, and model-based weighting production for large scale data collection, developing SESTAT variance estimation methodologies, constructing longitudinal weights for longitudinal data analysis, and providing general statistical consultations to NSF and data collection contractors.

Jang had been a member of the Statistical Evaluation Committee for the NSCG since its 2010 redesign based on American Community Survey (ACS) data for its sampling frame. As a committee member, Jang provided statistical advice to the NSF and Census Bureau NSCG statistical staff.

Jang previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at George Washington University and George Mason University. He is currently a board member of the Korean International Statistical Society and also a board member of Hope Nicaragua; he has served as an at large board member and methodology program and section chairs for the Washington Statistical Society.