Learn More On Demystifying Health Equity

Luke Boulanger, MA, MBA

Lead Offering Manager, MarketScan Research Database

Luke is an academically-trained health economist, specializing in health economics and outcomes research for 26 years, with a focus on the design, implementation, and dissemination of real-world observational studies. He is the current Lead Offering Manager for the MarketScan Research Database

• Leads the MarketScan database offering efforts at IBM Watson Health
• Directed hybrid and retrospective observational studies that employed real-world data that analyze a wide variety of clinical and economic data.
• Has experience acquiring, linking, managing, and analyzing data from multiple sources / sites health records, prospective surveys, health-related national surveys, clinical trials, chart reviews, and other prospective studies.
• Has extensive experience in numerous therapeutic areas, including oncology, diabetes, chronic pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and atrial fibrillation.
• Authored more than 45 peer-reviewed publications during his career in journals such as Diabetes Care, COPD, HIV Medicine, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and Neurology.

Luke earned an MA (ABD) in Economics from the University of New Hampshire, an MBA from Plymouth State College, and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.

Jud Janak, PhD

Principal Epidemiologist at Real-World Data Research and Analytics group in Merative

Jud Janak, PhD, is a Principal Epidemiologist in the Real-World Data Research and Analytics group at Merative. He has over 10 years of experience as an applied statistician and epidemiologist in the private sector, public sector, and academia. He has published over 50 peer reviewed studies on topics related to traumatic injury, accelerated aging, chronic disease, and real world pharmacoepidemiology. He was the Director of Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the Department of Defense Joint Trauma System from 2017-2020. He also was an Associate Director of Epidemiology at CorEvitas from 2020-2023. His responsibilities focus on leveraging real world patient and clinical registry data to study the safety and effectiveness of FDA approved therapies with key opinion leaders and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Janak holds his master’s and doctoral degrees in Epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health.

BRANDI HODOR

Senior Healthcare Analytic Advisor, Merative

Brandi Hodor brings more than two decades of healthcare strategic planning and a demonstrated history of leveraging a consultative approach to identify solutions and devise highly customized strategies to transforming the healthcare industry. She is an industry expert in the integration of socio-demographics and Social Determinant of Health data and oversees a cross functional team with capabilities to deliver analytics with commitment to innovative solutions in both traditional and value-based care arrangements. Utilizing diverse subject matter expertise, much of her work has been focused on identifying opportunities and developing strategies to maximize revenue with a focus on data analysis to address business initiative. Ms. Hodor holds a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Jess Paulus

Vice President of Research, OM1

Jess Paulus, Vice President of Research at OM1 and leads a team of scientists with deep expertise in the designs and methods specific to leveraging real-world data networks to meaningfully inform clinical and regulatory decision making. Dr. Paulus provides senior scientific oversight regarding study design, analytic approaches, and dissemination strategies for RWD-based studies. Prior to joining OM1, Dr. Paulus was faculty at Tufts Medical School for over a decade, where she served as Research Director of the Tufts Predictive Analytics and Comparative Effectiveness Center and Associate Director of the Clinical and Translational Science MS/PhD Graduate Program. At Tufts, she led the conduct of federally-funded studies related to methods development in areas including comparative effectiveness research, clinical prediction models and heterogeneity of treatment effect. She also served on the faculty of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Heller School at Brandeis University. Dr. Paulus graduated magna cum laude from Haverford College and received a doctorate in Epidemiology from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she focused on epidemiologic methods for the study of chronic disease using observational data. She remains engaged in teaching epidemiologic and RWD-methods as adjunct faculty at Tufts and as a lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup

Research Director of Real-World Evidence (RWE) – Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy

Dr. Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup is the Research Director of Real-World Evidence (RWE) at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy in Washington, DC, strategically leading and managing the Center's RWE Collaborative. As an engagement expert, researcher, bioethicist, and policy practitioner, her work centers on addressing implementation and ethical, legal, and social implications issues at the intersection of health policy and innovation. She also partners with Duke University faculty, scholars, students, and external health experts to advance the Center's biomedical innovation work. She is presently adjunct faculty at rural Ohio University, teaching graduate courses in the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Science's Health Policy Certificate program, and has taught graduate courses within the Masters of Health Care Innovation program at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.