THEORY
As a research associate at the Heller School’s Relational Coordination Research Collaborative within the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, doctoral candidate Saleema Moore is helping to advance understanding of organizational issues in health care settings. Moore’s dissertation explores how organizations enact, coordinate and manage change and how this process impacts the outcomes of change and organizational performance. Her work is shedding light on operations and management issues in health care, and has made her a valued consultant to organizations including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Freedman Healthcare.
on several initiatives, including disaster response efforts in Haiti. Today, as country director for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in the U.S. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, she serves as a policy analyst and adviser to senior defense officials on politico-military issues and other aspects of U.S. defense relations, including security cooperation. “I’m indebted to the Heller School for the analytical skills and practical insights that I put to use every day,” she says. Education and defense are just two of many areas in which Heller students, faculty and alumni are helping to shape more effective social policy. IMPLEMENTATION
As a research assistant at Heller’s Institute for Behavioral Health, doctoral candidate Margaret O’Brien has helped further our understanding of the risks and protective factors associated with alcohol and substance use during pregnancy. For her dissertation, O’Brien is exploring several theories, including her hypothesis that a combination of stressors and the initiation of substance use before age 14 increases the likelihood of prenatal substance use. POLICY
Anna O’Connor, MPP’09, works in the delivery unit of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Recently, the unit predicted that completion of MassCore (the state’s recommended high-school course of study) will contribute significantly to college and career readiness. “The delivery team helped develop state policy recommendations designed to incentivize completion of MassCore,” O’Connor says. “If adopted, the policy changes will ensure that more students take this important step toward success in postsecondary education and careers.” As a 2009 Presidential Management Fellow, Jessie Babcock, MBA’09, worked for the Pentagon
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IMPACT
Whether it’s responding with immediacy to a sudden natural disaster or gaining a full understanding of a population’s needs, Heller graduates are expert at effective implementation. Akiko Mera, MA/SID’05, had been executive director of Oxfam Japan for less than two years when a severe earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast. Understanding the Japanese state’s extensive emergency relief capabilities, Mera could focus on those in need of more-specific assistance. Under her direction, Oxfam Japan partnered with local organizations to aid non-Japanese speakers, persons with disabilities, and others. While a student, Brenna Schneider, MBA’12, consulted for American MoJo, a social enterprise that supports single mothers’ employment and child care needs. Today, as the organization’s vice president for operations, Schneider is implementing initiatives to create more jobs and help employees develop greater skills. “We want to show that American businesses can compete successfully and offer benefits that protect an employee’s future,” says Schneider.