Staff

meet the team building a culture of health

Systems for Action (S4A) is a signature research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that studies strategies for aligning medical, social, and public health systems in ways that improve health and health equity. The National Program Office is based at the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, under the direction of Glen Mays.

Glen P. Mays - PhD, MPH

Professor and Director

Glen Mays is professor and chair of the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. His research seeks to understand and solve coordination problems within and across public health, healthcare, and social service systems, with a focus on the health and economic implications of coordination. A graduate of Brown University, Dr. Mays earned Ph.D. and M.P.H. degrees in health policy and administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in health economics at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining Colorado, he served on the faculty at the University of Kentucky, University of Arkansas, and Mathematica Policy Research.

Julie Ressalam - MPH, CHES

Graduate Research Assistant

Ms. Ressalam oversees research translation and dissemination efforts for Systems for Action, including development of research syntheses, briefs, toolkits and training sessions. Julie is an active advocate within the Aurora immigrant and refugee community in Colorado and is passionate about sustainable community engagement methods. She is a public health researcher persuing a doctorate in health services research. She holds an MPH in epidemiology from Saint Louis University and a BS from Pennsylvania State University.

 

Carrington Lott - MPH

Deputy Director

Ms. Lott manages research coordination and communication activities including Research-in-Progress webinars, Think Tanks sessions, and email blasts. She also assists in managing intramural and extramural research activities and the development of research publications, briefs and syntheses. Prior to joining Systems for Action, she worked as a Research Assistant for the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey at the Colorado School of Public Health and as the Administrative Assistant for the Health Systems, Management and Policy Department. Ms. Lott received her MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health and BS from Mississippi State University.

Saddyna Belmashkan - MPH

Program Manager

Ms. Belmashkan directs the creation of communication materials, digital publications, and serves as the social media manager. Prior to joining Systems for Action, she worked as a program evaluator for the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center. She has worked as a Research Assistant on cancer prevention, cancer screening, and injury prevention studies. Ms. Belmashkan received her MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health and BA from Texas Christian University.