Faculty
In the UW Master of Health Administration program, you'll learn from a diverse faculty with a rich blend of expertise and experience and a strong commitment to innovation.
Courses are taught by professors and researchers from the UW, as well as local industry professionals who have experience leading health care organizations.
The MHA faculty includes leaders in health administration research who are investigating areas such as clinical processes, health systems, health care finance and delivery, risk and insurance and health care policy.
MHA Program Faculty Members
Paul Fishman — Interim Program Director
Paul Fishman is a professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the Cheryl M. Scott — Group Health Professor. He is the interim program director for the MHA program and a senior scientific investigator at Group Health Research Institute. He teaches classes in health economics and health policy, and conducts research on the cost of chronic illnesses and alternative ways to organize and finance primary health care. Fishman earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Washington.
Geoff Austin
Jerome Dugan
Jerome Dugan is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the Leo Greenawalt Professor of Health Policy for the MHA programs. He currently teaches the HSMGMT 500: Risk & Insurance Seminar. His research examines how health-related factors, such as an individual's health insurance status or the structure of providers and payer institutions, impact medical decision-making and the cost and quality of care sought and received. Dugan earned his bachelor's in economics from Clemson University and his master's and doctorate in economics from Rice University.
Penny Edlund
Penny Edlund is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. She is currently a senior health care management consultant at Milliman, Inc., and her career includes leadership positions with Optum/UnitedHealth Group, Kaiser Permanente, Centene and Tenet. Edlund is committed to improving health care quality, value and outcomes, and in her more than 30 years of experience in clinical operations, program design and strategy, she has focused on population health, innovation, and quality and performance improvement. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Pepperdine University, and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.
Profile | penelope.edlund@gmail.com
John Hartgraves
Tanya Karwaki
Tanya Karwaki is an affiliate instructor in the UW School of Law. Her research interests focus on the intersection of health law, bioethics and health policy, and her research examines the impact of law and regulation on health care access and delivery, including emerging trends in health care delivery, health care professionalism and provider-patient relationships. Karwaki earned her master’s in zoology from the University of California, Davis, and her juris doctor and master’s and doctorate in law from the UW School of Law.
Branko Kopjar
Branko Kopjar is an associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the director of the Executive Master of Public Health program. He is also director of the Clinical Research Center (International Division) at Chongqing University in China. Kopjar’s research and academic focus is on evidence-based health policy, clinical epidemiology and health outcomes. He has authored or co-authored over 400 scientific publications. He has a doctor of medicine from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Robert Malte
Robert (Bob) Malte is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the past practitioner-in-residence for the MHA program. His academic interests include leadership best practices, governance, effective organizational systems, culture, DEI, and climate change-teaching courses in health systems and public health. Malte also leads the Case Competition program and serves on the Education Committee. He retired as the CEO of EvergreenHealth in 2018, capping a 40-year management career. He previously served as president and CEO of Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Denver and also held senior leadership positions with ThedaCare, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Loyola University Medical Center and Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Malte was a board member and chair of the Washington State Hospital Association, and currently serves on the board of the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Linda Marzano
Linda Marzano is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the practitioner-in-residence for the MHA program. She holds an master's degree in health services administration from Barry University.
Christina Mastrangelo
Christina Mastrangelo is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Systems & Engineering and a joint professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. Mastrangelo's primary research fields are systems engineering, quality engineering and empirical stochastic modeling. Her research interests include the areas of operational modeling for semiconductor manufacturing, system-level modeling for infectious disease control, multivariate quality control, statistical monitoring methods for continuous and batch processing and multi-response modeling. Mastrangelo earned a doctorate in industrial engineering from Arizona State University.
Kurt O'Brien
Kurt O’Brien is an associate teaching professor with the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. He specializes in leadership development and coaching, interpersonal skills development, team development, strategic planning and conflict resolution. He also designs and conducts workshops on topics such as dialogue, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, influencing change and TeamSTEPPS. O’Brien has a master of human resource and organizational development from the University of San Francisco.
Sallie Thieme Sanford
Sallie Sanford is an associate professor in the UW School of Law and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. Her research interests focus on health reform, health care delivery systems, health administration law, Medicare and Medicaid, comparative health law, and medical and administrative ethics. Sanford previously worked as a legal representative for the University of Washington Health Sciences, including the UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center. She is past president of the Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys. Sanford has a juris doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dennis Stillman
Dennis Stillman is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and an independent consultant. Before joining the UW faculty and establishing his consulting practice, Stillman worked in health care organizations for 20 years, including as chief financial officer of the UW Medical Center. He has more than 15 years of teaching experience in accounting and financial management at the UW. He is active in the Washington/Alaska Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and became a fellow in 1991. Stillman has a master of health administration from the University of Washington.
Edward West
Ed West is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. A health care transformation subject matter expert, consultant and leader, he has more than 25 years of experience helping health care organizations achieve their transformation goals. He has had leadership positions and/or consulted for several prestigious health care organizations, including Mayo Clinic, MedStar Health, Sutter Health, Providence Health & Services and Premier Healthcare Alliance. He earned a Lean Healthcare Certificate from North Carolina State University and has served as an instructor and mentor for that program. He has also served as an adjunct professor for the Health Care Management & Policy programs at Georgetown University. West earned a master’s degree in organizational development at Johns Hopkins University, a master of health administration at the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology at Macalester College.
Ken White
Ken White is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and an independent consultant. His research interests include health care quality assessment and patient satisfaction. White has a doctorate in health services from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master of health administration from the University of Washington.
Rachel Wortman Morris
Rachel Wortman Morris is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health. She is also a director of future skills at Microsoft. Wortman Morris previously worked at Virginia Mason Medical Center and UW Medicine leading work on quality process improvement. She serves as a board member for Transplant House and a member of the Smooth Transitions working group at the Foundation for Health Care Quality. She holds a doctorate in comparative studies from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in literature from Middlebury College.