Sanjula Jain leads the development of The Health Management Academy’s research and thought leadership agenda as the Director of Research and Strategy. Her research, which is largely focused on delivery systems, has been published in prominent journals such as Health Affairs and JAMA. She also contributes to readiness assessments and provider evaluations focused on regulatory and legislative payment reforms affecting large health systems.

Previously, Sanjula served as the Director of The Academy’s Chief Executive Officer Forum and Trustee Institute. She was also as an evaluation expert for the Office of Quality and Risk at a large academic medical center. She has experience teaching courses in health economics and public policy at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as leading workshops on Medicare payment programs for international audiences. Prior to joining The Academy, Sanjula completed fellowships in medical human factors and disease prevention at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School.

Sanjula holds a B.A. in Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Rice University and a Ph.D. in Health Services Research & Health Policy, with a concentration in Economics, from Emory University.

Melissa Stahl is the Research Manager for The Health Management Academy. As Research Manager, Mel leads The Academy’s major research projects covering the largest topics and trends in healthcare. Mel also conducts The Academy’s quick-hitting surveys and other research.

Since joining The Academy in 2015, Mel has been involved with numerous research initiatives covering a variety of strategic issues including technology integration, partnerships, and clinical and quality improvement, among others. Mel also leads an ongoing quarterly research project tracking health system strategies around themes such as consolidation, movement to value-based care, market share, physician alignment, and health policy, among other topics.

Prior to joining The Academy, Mel was a student at the University of Notre Dame where she also conducted research in biometrics. Mel received her B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Energy Studies from Notre Dame in 2014.