Current Fellows
Michael Ray, DC, MS
Michael Ray earned his Master of Science in Exercise Science from the University of South Carolina in 2010 and his Doctor of Chiropractic from Sherman College of Chiropractic in 2015. From 2016 to 2022, he practiced clinically in Harrisonburg, VA, primarily consulting with individuals living with chronic pain. His research interests for the P-CART project focus on non-pharmacological interventions and the implementation of evidence-based practices for chronic pain management. He is particularly interested in exploring treatments such as pain education and physical activity. One of his key areas of focus is the emergency department, where he plans to assess the baseline quantity and quality of care for patients presenting with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Additionally, he aims to identify and address barriers to implementing evidence-based practices in primary and emergency care settings for those with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Keith Cox, PhD
Keith received his PhD in sociology from UCLA in 2024. As a medical sociologist with an interest in communication, he uses conversation analysis to study video-recorded medical visits in a variety of clinical contexts including primary care, oncology, and pediatric neurology, among others. His dissertation research dealt with a range of issues related to uncertainty and news deliveries in a corpus of pediatric neurology visits for overnight video-electroencephalogram testing. He is particularly interested in how physicians and patients/families manage dilemmas and overcome challenges that arise in complex medical contexts.
Michelle Clausen, PhD, CNM, MSN
Michelle Clausen has been with GW since 2005, completing her undergraduate studies in Public Health in 2009, followed by GW's accelerated nursing program in 2013 and obtained an MSN with a concentration in Nurse-Midwifery in 2015. In 2024, she earned her Ph.D. from GW's School of Nursing, where her research was focused on the influence of maternal factors, such as spiritual well-being and early childhood adversity, on the health of pregnant individuals.
Beyond her role as a researcher, Michelle also serves as a Nurse-Midwife where she provides comprehensive medical, gynecological, and reproductive care. She advocates for accessible, high-quality midwifery services and is dedicated to preserving the integrity of physiological birth in diverse settings, including hospitals and out-of-hospital environments.
In May of 2024, Michelle joined the Primary Care Research Program (P-CART) where she is focusing on developing interventions that incorporate trauma-informed strategies and spirituality to improve health outcomes.
Meredith Norwood, OTD, MOT, OTR/L
Meredith earned her Master’s of Occupational Therapy from Saint Louis University and has been a practicing pediatric occupational therapist since 2017. During her clinical practice, she developed a special interest for helping children and their families who suffer from chronic pain. She earned her post-professional Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from George Washington University in 2021 and joined the Primary Care Research Program (P-CART) at George Washington University in 2022. She will be partnering with Children’s National Hospital’s Pain Medicine team throughout the P-CART program to study the correlation between objective pain measurement and the child’s functional level to improve clinical pain evaluation and treatment.
Alumni
Senait Tekle, PhD
Senait is pursuing her post-doctoral training through the George Washington University (GW) Primary Care Research Program (P-CART). She holds a PhD in Prevention Science from Washington State University - an interdisciplinary program focused on study design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of prevention programs. Her research interests primarily address wellness, health promotion, and disease prevention. Senait’s P-CART project
focuses on improving the outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Veterans and identifying the barriers and facilitators in using complementary and integrative health (CIH) treatments. This is a mixed-method research project involving EHR data, focus groups, and interviews to improve TBI outcomes in Veterans. Senait enjoys listening to audiobooks, music and traveling in her free time.
Neil Mittal, MD, PhD
Neil received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2021 and is now a post-doctoral researcher with George Washington University's Biomedical Informatics Center through the Primary Care Research Program (P-CART). He has a broad background in translational research, across clinical medicine, engineering design, computational modeling, and statistical analysis, with a long-term focus on improving the options for patient care and medical practice. He plans to apply data science techniques and genomics-related research to investigate the impact of commercial determinants of health.
Luke Lindemann, PhD
Luke Lindemann received his PhD in Linguistics from Yale University in 2019. His research interest is in characterizing patterns of speech variation in order to understand the causes of miscommunication in healthcare encounters. He is currently a member of the Advanced Metrics Laboratory, in which he studies communication and decision-making in complex healthcare encounters. These include interactions that involve individuals in disordered states of consciousness, and interactions with individuals that require the services of a language interpreter.
Abigail Haenssler, PhD
Abigail received her PhD from East Carolina University in 2021. Her previous
research focused on using MRI to study anatomical variations in individuals with cleft palate and speech and surgical outcomes. Dr. Haenssler also worked clinically, treating individuals with speech and resonance disorders associated with velopharyngeal dysfunction. Dr. Haenssler’s research interests include speech acoustics, motor control of speech, resonance disorders, craniofacial anomalies, and velopharyngeal dysfunction. Dr. Haenssler’s current work focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms of speech impairment for individuals with ALS and their impact on communication participation.
Ava Williams, DNP, MS, MSN, CRNP, FNP-BC
Ava has ten years of clinical nursing experience and has served in various nursing roles, including research, inpatient care, public health, management, quality improvement, and regulatory positions. She earned her MSN and DNP from George Washington University. Her career goal is to improve access to care in underserved/vulnerable communities. She aspires to influence the field of nursing through scholarship, leadership, and research. Ava's current research project involves designing a telehealth medication management and reconciliation study to address polypharmacy, patient safety, and person-centered communication for community-dwelling seniors under treatment for diabetes, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular disease —to improve care, shared decision making, quality of life, and disease control. Ava loves to travel, and her favorite place to travel to is the Caribbean.