Key Staff

Robert Restuccia, Executive Director

EMAIL: rrestuccia@communitycatalyst.org

Robert Restuccia, Executive Director of Prescription Project, has represented the interests of health consumers for over 20 years.  He was a founder of Health Care For All, Inc. in Massachusetts and became its Executive Director in 1989.  Under Rob’s leadership, Health Care For All became one of the largest and most effective state consumer health care organizations in the country.  While director, he both developed and led successful multi-stakeholder campaigns to expand state coverage programs and institute significant health care reform within Massachusetts.  His work has served as a model for state and national health care policy change.   In 2000, Rob became the Executive Director of Community Catalyst, Inc., a national non-profit advocacy organization established in 1997 to increase consumer participation in shaping the health care system.  Under his direction, Community Catalyst has established an impressive track record working with low income communities and state and local partners to achieve health care reforms in more than 40 states. 

Rob has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an M.P.A from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  He is an adjunct professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, RealBenefits Inc, Health Care For All, and the Commonwealth Care Alliance. He is also a member of the Stakeholder Group of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement.  Rob has been a recipient of numerous awards for his work in health care reform, including the Families USA Health Care Advocate of the Year Award.

David J. Rothman, Associate Director

EMAIL: djr5@columbia.edu

As associate director of the project, David J. Rothman brings his considerable expertise on medical professionalism to the crucial issues involving conflict of interest policies. His primary focus is changing the practices of academic medical centers and professional medical societies. He helps set the research agenda and frame the appropriate policies for implementation, and engages the leaders of medicine in this initiative and inform consumers and the media of its progress.

Professor Rothman is President of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons.  His books include Strangers at the Bedside: A History of how Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making (1991); Beginnings Count: The Technological Imperative in American Health Care (1997); and The Pursuit of Perfection: The Promise and Perils of Medical Enhancement (2003, co-authored with Sheila Rothman).  Among his articles are: “Medical Professionalism – Focusing on the Real Issues,” New England Journal of Medicine (2000); and "Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest," JAMA (2006).

Marcia Hams, Assistant Director

EMAIL: mhams@communitycatalyst.org

As Assistant Director of The Prescription Project, Ms. Hams directs the Project's state and public payer initiatives. She has worked for over sixteen years to expand access to health care through her work at Community Catalyst, a national non-profit advocacy organization, and and its partner organization, Health Care For All, one of the most influential state consumer health organizations in the country. Ms. Hams directed Community Catalyst’s Medicaid Matters project, a national collaboration to provide effective materials, messages and policy analysis for the defense of Medicaid.  As HCFA’s Deputy Director for Programs, she managed the major program areas; previously she conducted policy analysis, coordinated campaigns, did legislative advocacy and provided assistance to community organizations on children’s health access, Medicaid, managed care, free care and community benefits.  Ms. Hams also managed HCFA’s survey research on the insurance status of fishing communities in New England and helped develop the Massachusetts Fishing Partnership Health Plan, a comprehensive, subsidized plan to meet the needs of uninsured families.  She has completed her doctoral coursework in health policy at the Brandeis University Heller School and holds an M.A. from Boston University and a B.A. from Pomona College in Claremont, CA.  

Susan Chimonas, Co-Director of Research

EMAIL: sc2254@columbia.edu

As Co-Director of Research, Susan Chimonas helps guide a team of investigators exploring the implementation of policies on conflict of interest at leading AMCs and profession medical societies.  She and the other researchers explore how each organization manages physician-industry conflicts and promotes evidence-based, cost effective prescribing.

After graduating summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, Dr. Chimonas earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan in 2000. Before joining CMAP, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University's Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health, her doctoral and postdoctoral research examined historical shifts in scientific and popular beliefs about children's mental health and socio-emotional development. She is the lead author on a series of publications on conflicts of interest, including “New Federal Guidelines for Physician–Pharmaceutical Industry Relations: The Politics Of Policy Formation,” Health Affairs, (2005); and “Physicians and Drug Representatives: Exploring the Dynamics of the Relationship” Journal of General Internal Medicine (2007). She is also a co-author on "Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest," JAMA (2006).

Gabrielle Cosel, Project Associate

EMAIL:  gcosel@communitycatalyst.org

Gabrielle Cosel is a member of the Prescription Project, and works with the director of policy on federal and academic medical center policy initiatives. Prior to joining the Prescription Project, Gabrielle worked in grassroots development and capacity-building with the Fund for Public Interest Research in Cambridge, MA. She also spent three years working for Houghton Mifflin Publishers in Boston. Gabrielle holds an MSc in Human Rights from London School of Economics (2007) and a BA from Yale University (2002). She has particular interest in reproductive health policy and programs.

Allan Coukell, Director of Policy

EMAIL:  acoukell@communitycatalyst.org

Allan Coukell provides in-depth policy, research and analytic work and helps guide overall strategy for The Prescription Project. He has had careers in both pharmacy and journalism. After graduating from the University of Manitoba and completing a hospital pharmacy residency at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, he worked as a clinical pharmacist, specializing in cancer treatment and supportive care, at Victoria Hospital (now London Health Sciences Center), London, Ontario. Later, he worked as a senior medical writer and technical editor for Adis International, an academic journal publisher based in Auckland, New Zealand, where he wrote comprehensive drug monographs and disease management reviews and edited original research papers in pharmacoeconomics. In 1999, he established the weekly Radio New Zealand science program, “Eureka!” which he continued to host and produce until 2002. He held a number of positions at WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, most recently Health & Science reporter. He has contributed to numerous NPR programs, the BBC World Service, The Economist and the New York Times, among other publications, and has been adjunct faculty at the Northeastern University School of Journalism. He is the winner of several journalism awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2007 for hard news reporting.

Kathleen Gallagher, Organizational Coordinator

EMAIL:  kgallagher@communitycatalyst.org

Prior to joining the Prescription Project, Kathleen Gallagher interned for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) adapting and designing their Family Self Sufficiency Program for implementation under Mayor Bloomberg’s Commission on Economic Opportunity. From 2003-2006, Ms. Gallagher was a Program Assistant for Seedco in New York City, working on a national campaign to connect low-wage workers to income supports and providing capacity-building technical assistance to community based organizations.  She is a graduate of the University of Vermont and a Master’s candidate at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. 

Kathy Melley, Director of Communications

EMAIL:   kmelley@communitycatalyst.org

Kathy directs the Prescription Project’s national communications strategy. She has more than 15 years of experience working in the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. Prior to joining the Prescription Project, Kathy served as Director of External Affairs at Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries in Boston, where she oversaw public relations, special events, and government relations. She also worked in public relations at Brodeur, a Boston-based PR agency, and served as a policy analyst in the Massachusetts State Senate. Kathy has a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.S. from Boston University’s College of Communication. 

Kate Petersen, Communications Coordinator

EMAIL:   kpetersen@communitycatalyst.org

Kate Petersen holds a B.A. in English and the History of Science from Arizona State University.  Previously, she was a freelance reporter and columnist for the Arizona Republic and the San Diego Business Journal, and a biosciences writer for the Flinn Foundation in Phoenix. Kate has published stories and essays in several literary journals, including Phoebe, Quarterly West, and The Iowa Review.

Ian Reynolds, Program Associate

EMAIL:   ireynolds@communitycatalyst.org

Ian Reynolds joined the Prescription Project team in April of 2007, after serving two years as a Peace Corps community health worker with the Red Crescent Society in Turkmenistan.  Ian received his B.S. from the University of Michigan in cellular and molecular biology in 2004. He plans to continue his studies and pursue a career in public health.

Fiona Smith, Project Manager

EMAIL:   fsmith@communitycatalyst.org

As project manager, Fiona Smith coordinates the Prescription Project's activities, including state-based initiatives and research and advocacy on the role of health plans, private payers, and health professionals in the promotion of evidence-based prescribing.   She has a background as a health policy researcher and worked for many years developing websites for Medicare to help consumers and health professionals assess the quality of care at hospitals, health plans, and nursing homes.  Fiona also has experience in the management and monitoring of reproductive health programs in Africa, at one time serving as the program administrator for 29 reproductive health projects in seven countries in Africa.  Fiona has an M.P.H. from Tulane University and a B.A. from Hampshire College.