Established Leaders Cohort 2026-27

Amiya Waldman-Levi, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is Professor and Program Director of the Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program at Rutgers University School of Health Professions. With more than 20 years of experience in occupational therapy, research, and higher education, she provides leadership for academic programs, curriculum development, faculty mentorship, and student success initiatives. Her scholarship focuses on resilience among individuals, caregivers, and families facing adversity, with particular interests in play and playfulness, caregiver-child relationships, and community-engaged interventions. She has co-developed strength-based programs, assessment tools, and questionnaires, and secured multiple grants and copyrights. Dr. Waldman-Levi is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association (FAOTA) and serves as a grant and manuscript reviewer for more than 20 national and international journals. She is committed to advancing excellence in health professions education through leadership, mentorship, scholarship, and advocacy, with a particular focus on promoting equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging in academic and professional communities.

Amjad Alwaal, MD, is Associate Professor of Urology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he serves as Director of Reconstructive Urology and Men’s Health at University Hospital Newark and Director of Urology at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. A fellowship-trained reconstructive urologist, his clinical practice focuses on urethral stricture disease, Peyronie’s disease, prosthetic urology, and male incontinence. His research spans clinical trials, health services research, and translational work on fibrosis and cellular senescence in urethral stricture, and he serves on the AUA/SMSNA Erectile Dysfunction and Peyronie’s Disease Guidelines Panel. Through ALP-RH, he hopes to strengthen his skills in program building, mentorship, and institutional leadership as he grows multicenter research and clinical programs at Rutgers Health.

Anjana White serves as Department Administrator at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where she supports the academic mission by partnering with faculty, staff, and institutional leaders to advance medical education, faculty affairs, admissions, student success initiatives, and strategic programs. With more than 20 years of experience in academic medicine and higher education administration, Anjana has demonstrated expertise in leading complex operations, managing multi-million-dollar budgets and grant-funded initiatives, and developing sustainable processes that enhance organizational effectiveness. She is passionate about building strong relationships, fostering collaboration, and creating solutions that enable teams and programs to succeed. Through her leadership, Anjana is committed to advancing excellence in education, supporting innovation, and contributing to a culture of continuous improvement. Anjana earned a Master of Business Administration from Dowling College and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Montclair State University.

Barbara Sinacori, PhD, RN, CNE is Interim Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Associate Professor at Rutgers University School of Nursing. In this role, she provides strategic leadership for undergraduate nursing education, overseeing curriculum alignment, student success initiatives, academic policies, transfer pathways, and faculty support across programs. A respected academic leader, Dr. Sinacori has served as Director of Traditional Students, Chair and Vice Chair of the School of Nursing Faculty Council, Co-Chair of the Entry-to-Baccalaureate Curriculum Committee, and Rutgers University Senator. Her leadership has focused on strengthening curriculum quality, improving student progression, and advancing evidence-based educational practices. Dr. Sinacori also contributes to the nursing profession through leadership roles in national and regional organizations, including serving as Vice President of Sigma Theta Tau International’s Alpha Tau Chapter, a member of the National League for Nursing Nominations Committee, and a former Secretary of the New Jersey League for Nursing. Through her scholarship, service, and mentorship, she is committed to developing future nursing leaders and advancing excellence in nursing education.

Caroline Coffield, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Co-Director of The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development, and Director of the New Jersey Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NJLEND) Program. Dr. Coffield directs the Seminar on Family Centered Care and Developmental Disabilities, a required component of the pediatric clerkship for all third-year medical students at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and coordinates the Advocacy Rotation for the Pediatric Residency Program at Robert Wood Johnson. Dr. Coffield’s research interests include a variety of disability specific topics such as health disparities in diagnosis and access to care for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families, transition to adult healthcare, and the impact of education and training about developmental disabilities on healthcare providers. Dr. Coffield obtained a doctorate in Psychology from Rutgers University in 2010, a Master’s degree from Rutgers University in 2005 and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2003.

Colleen A. McLaughlin, MEd is Co-Director of The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development and the Director of New Jersey’s federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). Ms. McLaughlin is responsible for directing the Center’s UCEDD activities guided by the Developmental Disabilities Act. Ms. McLaughlin received her MEd from Temple University and a BS from the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has focused on inclusive community supports and services for people with intellectual disabilities. With more than five years’ experience working at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University and more than 15 years of experience at The Boggs Center, Ms. McLaughlin brings expertise in disability policy, direct support workforce development, person-centered systems, service coordination, and quality improvement. Ms. McLaughlin is a fellow of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), sits on the NADSP Frontline Initiative Editorial Board, is a member of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Public Policy Committee, serves on the AUCD HCBS Special Interest Group. She recently served on the AUCD board, was a co-chair of the AAIDD Direct Support Professional Interest Network, and was co-chair of the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities Direct Support Professional and Support Coordination Competency and Capacity Building Committees. Ms. McLaughlin was a 2015 National Goals in Research, Practice, and Policy strand leader and primary author for related Workforce Development publications. In addition to multiple publications developed for The Boggs Center, Ms. McLaughlin most recently co-authored a chapter in Direct Support Workforce Solutions: A Guidebook of Strategies and Collective Action Toward Workforce Stability.

Jeannie Garmon, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (RWJMS), Research Division. She is also Assistant Director of Administration at the Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies (INTS). In that role, she oversees staff whose work spans the administrative functions of INTS. She is also a public health and behavioral science researcher whose current work focuses on tobacco marketing surveillance and in examining psychosocial and socio-environmental factors associated with patterns of tobacco product use. Jeannie is a first-generation, three-time graduate of Rutgers University, earning a bachelor’s degree from Douglass College, an MPH from the School of Public Health, and a PhD from the Graduate School-Newark.

Kenneth J. Gill, Ph.D., is founding Chairperson and Professor of the Rutgers Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers. He also serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty Development in the School of Health Professions and is co-director of the Northeast, New England and Atlantic Mental Health Technical Assistance Hub, funded by SAMHSA and principal investigator of grants supporting peer to peer support for people who are blind in the Eye2Eye program. He is principal investigator of NYS Office of Mental Health’s Academy of Peer Service, first funded in 2013. In his role as department chair, he oversees 60 staff and faculty and supervises academic programs from the bachelor’s through doctoral levels. He is co-author of Psychiatric Rehabilitation (4th ed., in preparation) and People in Recovery as Providers: Building on the Wisdom of Experience and more than 90 peer reviewed articles and chapters. As a graduate of Columbia and Marquette Universities, he combines a background in measurement, evaluation, and statistics with his experience in psychiatric rehabilitation to develop, implement, and evaluate, training, implementation, and dissemination projects aimed at supporting individuals with serious mental illness to live full lives in the community. The states of New Jersey, New York, and Washington fund these projects. He has served on the boards of mental health organizations: Project Live, Inc. (Newark, NJ), Triple C housing (North Brunswick, NJ) Northwest Essex Community Healthcare Network (Belleville, NJ). He is the past editor in chief of the journals Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal and American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and formerly chair of the Commission on the Certification of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners.

Lindsay Lawer Shea, DrPH, MS is the director of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. Dr. Shea also holds a faculty appointment at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Psychiatry. She is experienced in public health, health services, and disability policy research, with special expertise in the use of large administrative datasets, including national Medicaid claims, to understand population-level trends among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Dr. Shea focuses much of her work on improving health outcomes and service systems for autistic adolescents, adults, and older adults, with an emphasis on service access, addressing health disparities, and policy-driven system reform. Ongoing projects include the Autism Transition Research Project (ATRP), which examines transition outcomes for youth entering adulthood, and Advancing the System of Care for Autistic Older Adults, which seeks to improve services for older autistic individuals. Her research portfolio includes several major NIH-supported projects, including National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)-funded research programs focused on aging, maternal health outcomes, and disparities in health outcomes among Medicaid-enrolled individuals with autism. Dr. Shea has been recognized for her work by organizations including the School District of Philadelphia, where she received the Denny O’Brien Excellence in Community Advocacy Award (2016). Prior to joining Rutgers, she served as the director of the Policy and Analytics Center at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute and an Associate Professor and interim Department Chair in the Health Management and Policy Department at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. She earned her Doctor of Public Health in Health Policy and Social Justice from the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University and holds a Master of Science in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. M. Chiara Manzini is an Associate Professor at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology and a Resident Scientist at the Child Health Institute of New Jersey (CHINJ) where she is Associate Director for Basic Research. She led the strategic planning process for the Brain Health Institute and is currently the Vice-chair of the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee and Chair of the Neurodevelopment Focus Area Working Group. She was elected as Vice President for Basic Research – New Brunswick campus in the Rutgers School of Medicine Faculty Assembly. The main goal of Dr. Manzini’s research is to bridge the genetics and mechanisms of disease to identify genes that are essential for human brain function and to define the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders focusing on autism and neuromuscular disorders. She started her training in Human Genetics at the University of Pavia in Italy and received her PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University. She then completed postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Neurogenetics. Before moving to Rutgers in 2019, she was an Assistant Professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC.

Nancy R. Kirsch, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, is a professor of physical therapy and Chairperson of the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences in the School of Health Professions. She currently serves on the Board of Physical Therapy Examiners in New Jersey. She previously served two terms as President of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT), and also previously served as President of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association APTA. She owned a physical therapy private practice prior to entering academia full-time. She serves on the faculty of PROBE for ethics remediation. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Temple University, her master’s from Montclair State, her clinical doctorate in physical therapy from Massachusetts General, and her PhD from UMDNJ (Rutgers). She completed the Kennedy Institute for Biomedical Ethics at Georgetown University and has a certificate in Health Care Administration from Seton Hall University. Her research interests are in professional development and return-to-practice for practitioners with ethical concerns.

Nicholas DePinto, DMD, is an Associate Professor of Restorative Dentistry at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, Director of the Rutgers Health University Dental Associates, and a practicing dentist in comprehensive and interdisciplinary patient care. He is actively involved in dental education, faculty practice administration, and clinical operations, with a focus on advancing high-quality patient care while supporting innovation in academic dentistry. Dr. DePinto’s academic and clinical interests include restorative dentistry, prosthodontic rehabilitation, digital dentistry, practice management, and the integration of emerging technologies into dental education and clinical practice. He is committed to improving educational outcomes, optimizing clinical workflows, and expanding access to evidence-based care through interdisciplinary collaboration. In his leadership role, he oversees faculty practice operations and initiatives that enhance the patient experience, clinical efficiency, and faculty engagement. Dr. DePinto earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. He continues to contribute to the advancement of academic dentistry through teaching, mentorship, clinical leadership, and scholarly activities.

Reka Somodi serves as the Senior Director for the Promotion of Well-being. Through her prior acute care nurse practitioner clinical experience in trauma and surgical critical care and her academic career as adjunct faculty at the school of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, she has developed a passion for faculty, clinician, and student well-being. She focused her doctoral studies in stress mitigation in clinical spaces. In her current role, she works collaboratively with the Chief Wellness Officer and within the Office for the Promotion of Well-being to provide vision and strategic planning for well-being across Rutgers Health.

Samantha Michaele serves as Chief Financial Officer of the Rutgers School of Nursing, where she leads financial strategy and business operations in support of the school’s mission to advance nursing science, education, and health equity. She brings more than fourteen years of progressive higher education leadership at Rutgers University, spanning financial planning, sponsored research administration, human resources, and compliance. Most recently, she served as Director of Business Services at the Rutgers School of Social Work, acting as the school’s chief business and human resources officer. She views sound financial stewardship as foundational to advancing the School of Nursing’s mission and the central role nurses play in improving health equity. Beyond Rutgers, Samantha serves on the Board of Trustees of Fulfill, the leading hunger-relief organization in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, where she helps advance the fight against food insecurity, a key social determinant of health and a natural extension of her commitment to community well-being. She is an active member of NACUBO, EACUBO, NCURA, and EDUCAUSE, and the International Society of Sustainability Professionals. Samantha earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain Management & Leadership from Rutgers Business School. Samantha Michaele, MBA Chief Financial Officer, Rutgers School of Nursing Rutgers Health Email: sjmichaele@sn.rutgers.edu www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-michaele

Sophia Chen, DO, MPH is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where she previously served as the Associate Dean for Preclerkship Education. In her current leadership role, she oversees strategic development, regulatory compliance, and physician wellness across all residency and fellowship programs. Driven by a passion for educational innovation, she has a proven track record of spearheading major curricular transformations. Dedicated to cultivating the next generation of clinicians, she remains focused on implementing institutional best practices to elevate graduate medical training. Sophia earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Johns Hopkins University, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Susan Pories is Professor of Surgery, Vice-Chair for Quality and Safety, and Director of the Rutgers Breast Center at University Hospital, NJMS Department of Surgery. Previously she was Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Hoffman Breast Center at Mount Auburn Hospital. Dr. Pories served as President of the Medical Staff at Mount Auburn Hospital and Associate Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School She served on the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Board of Governors for two terms and also served as Chair of the ACS Women in Surgery Committee (WiSC) and President of the Association of Women Surgeons. Honors include the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School, Shirley Driscoll Dean’s Leadership Award for the Enhancement of Women’s Careers at Harvard Medical School, Honorary Fellowship in the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons Diversity, Equity, Inclusion: Distinguished Service Award, and the Olga Jonasson Award from the Association of Women Surgeons.

Vin Lo Re, MD, MSCE, FIDSA, FISPE, is a tenured Professor of Medicine (RWJMS) and Epidemiology (SPH), board-certified infectious diseases physician, and physician-scientist with a focus on clinical epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology of infectious and liver diseases. Vin serves as director of the Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science, which generates actionable evidence on the need, use, safety, and effectiveness of interventions and medical products, particularly drugs, biologics, vaccines, medical devices. Vin’s research has focused on the utilization, effectiveness, and safety of drugs in large populations, particularly among people living with HIV infection, viral hepatitis, and other liver diseases. His team pioneered the use of electronic healthcare data for the study of liver diseases and was the first to develop computable phenotypes for many liver-related conditions, such as decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, hepatic steatosis, severe acute liver injury, and acute liver failure, within electronic healthcare data. The application of these methods has led to the conduct of important pharmacoepidemiologic studies. His research has been supported by a variety of funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Department of Veterans Affairs. He maintains a clinical practice devoted to the care of patients with chronic viral hepatitis. He has held various leadership positions in the American College of Rheumatology, Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance, and International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. He also serves as a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee. He has been an active member of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology, serving on the Board of Directors from 2015-2018, Scientific Program Chair for the Society’s 35th annual meeting in Philadelphia in August 2019, and President from 2021-2022. He has also been Regional Editor for the Americas of the Society’s journal, Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, since 2018. He has chaired the US FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee since 2022. He also served as Co-Chair of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases/Infectious Diseases Society of America Hepatitis C Guidance Panel from 2022-2025 Vin earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Georgetown University, a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Wendy M. Purcell Ph.D., FRSA Full Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Justice, Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Dr. Purcell is an elected University Senator, member of the Senate Executive, and co-chair of the University Structure and Governance Committee. She also co-chairs the Rutgers Health Climate Action Group, is Deputy Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare, and a member of the Rutgers Health Leadership Council on Teaching Excellence where she co-chairs the Establishing Academy group. Dr. Purcell is a Visiting Professor at University College London Global Business School for Health and a Fellow of the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges and chairs its Leadership Academy held at the University of Cambridge each year. She is a Governing Board Member of the European University EELISA, on the International Advisory Council of Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia, and Member of the American Association of Universities and Colleges. She works with the United Nations (UN Habitat, UN Environment), the Quality-of-Life program, and the Urban Economy Forum. Before joining Rutgers, Dr. Purcell led research and education on leadership and governance for transformational change as an academic research scholar with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University (2016-2022); she maintains her association with Harvard as a Visiting Researcher and Instructor. She is President Emerita of Plymouth University in the UK (2007-2015), taking it to the top 1% of world universities and number 1 ‘green’ UK university, and was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Medal for Excellence in Higher Education. Dr. Purcell is an Emeritus Professor of Biomedicine. Dr. Purcell has authored over 100+ papers across fields in biomedical sciences, sustainability, higher education, and leadership. Her book, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Agenda for Transformational Change, was published in 2022 and went into paperback in 2025. She is series editor of 17 books on Higher Education and SDGs and editor of the title Higher Education and SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being. She is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal for Social Progress, on the editorial boards of several international journals, and Goal Adviser to Emerald Publishing on the Fairer Society. Dr. Purcell’s purpose lies in transforming lives through education and research in pursuit of social equity, the knowledge economy, and sustainable development.