Institute For Change / Research Center
Who We Are
IFC Home | What We Do | Who We Are | Our Partners | Publications & Presentations
The Partners in Care Institute For Change (IFC)/Research Center consists of a multidisciplinary research staff with many years of experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative research projects, funded privately, locally and federally.
The IFC / Research Center is currently heading up a number of leading innovations in elder care, with special strength in care management and end-of-life care, as well as being a skilled resource for developing and disseminating model programs.
IFC/Research Center Director, Susan Enguidanos, MPH, PhD, has a multidisciplinary background in psychology, public health, and social work. She has more than 12 years of experience conducting research on an array of topics ranging from developing community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs to identifying statewide ethnic disparities in access to end-of-life care. Dr. Enguidanos’ areas of research currently focus on geriatric health and end-of-life care issues, with specific projects in the area of geriatric care management, physician-patient communications and new models of end-of-life care.
She has been an investigator on several randomized controlled and comparison studies conducted in the medical care setting. These studies include research investigating new models of end-of-life care (Brumley, Enguidanos, & Cherin, 2003; Enguidanos, Cherin, & Brumley, 2005; Cherin, Huba, Brief, & Melchior, 1998), care management practice (Enguidanos et al., 2003), and depression treatment (Enguidanos & Gibbs, 2006).
The impact of Dr. Enguidanos’ research has been far reaching, resulting in the development of programs that are improving the delivery of healthcare nationally for older adults and those with life-limiting diseases. Click here to view CV
Paula Jamison, MA, is a Research Associate at Partners in Care Foundation and has a Master’s degree in applied medical anthropology from California State University, Long Beach. She has worked in the area of healthcare research for the past eight years evaluating models of chronic care, end-of-life care and geriatric care management programs among various healthcare providers nationwide. She is trained in the use of qualitative and quantitative research design and methodologies. Currently she is conducting an applied anthropological study among people with Parkinson’s disease in order to demonstrate the multifactorial disease management strategies within which people navigate to maintain their well-being. Click here to view CV
Dr. George Shannon, has a Master’s and PhD from the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC). In 2006, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Veteran’s Administration (VA) Greater Los Angeles Center of Excellence; his primary responsibility was leading the Quality of Life section of the Minimum Data Set (MDS 3.0) Evaluation Project as part of a multidisciplinary team of investigators from the VA, the RAND Corporation, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Harvard University. Dr. Shannon is currently a Research Associate at Partners in Care Foundation investigating the phenomenon of naturally occurring retirement communities in the Los Angles area, as well as collaborating with Jewish Family Service and the Motion Picture & Television Fund to create innovative models of care for older adults in the community. Click here to view CV
Jorge Gonzalez is the Program Manager of the Research Center. Jorge has worked for Partners in Care for over 5 years. His educational background is in the field of public health. As Program Manager, Jorge has supervised and trained graduate level research assistants in the techniques of quantitative data collection. Click here to view CV
Short bios can also be viewed by clicking on names below:
Susan Enguidanos, MPH, PhD
Paula Jamison, MA
George R. Shannon, MSG, PhD
