Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM
Chief Executive Officer
Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM
For nearly two decades, Dr. Spangler, IVI’s Chief Executive Officer, has worked in the professional health policy and public health sector with pharmaceutical and non-profit organizations. Dr. Spangler joins IVI from his most recent role as Executive Medical Director and Director and Head of Global HTA Policy Strategy & Engagement for Amgen, Inc.
Dr. Spangler earned his MD at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in 1998 and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2002. His commitment to public health, preventive medicine, and health equity date back to his medical school residency, during which he served as a medical team leader for free clinics in Costa Rica, a resident coordinator for free clinics for homeless around UPMC, and a clinical educator in the International Medical Corps in Kosovo.
After serving one year as Chief Resident, Dr. Spangler joined Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals as a Public Health and Health Policy Consultant. He remained in this role for three years and then moved on to the Partnership for Prevention, where he started as a Managing Senior Fellow and was promoted to Chief Medical Officer until he was recruited to Amgen.
Jennifer Bright, MPA
Chief Engagement and Strategy Officer
Jennifer Bright, MPA
Jennifer Bright, Chief Engagement and Strategy Officer, brings over two decades of health care policy, issue management, patient advocacy, and executive leadership to the role. Bright is also founder and President of Momentum Health Strategies. She formerly served as executive director of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, representing physician, advanced practice nurse, and researcher members. Bright’s prior executive leadership at the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America) focused on advancing policy initiatives at the state and local level. She now serves on the Board of Directors for Mental Health America. She has also done issue analysis and issues management at state-oriented lobbying firms.
Bright earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College in Washington, and her master’s degree in public administration, with a concentration in policy analysis and program management, from the George Washington University.
Jessica Brown
Membership and Marketing Manager
Jessica Brown
Jessica Brown, Membership and Marketing Manager, brings perspectives to her role gained through experience across a span of healthcare organizations and nonprofits. She specializes in supporting members through operations, engagement and communications and holds a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Roosevelt University and Public Policy from Arizona State University.
Rick Chapman, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Rick Chapman, PhD
Rick Chapman brings decades of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) expertise to his role as Chief Science Officer. Chapman was Director of Health Economics at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review prior to IVI, where he led development of economic evaluations that accompanied rigorous reviews of clinical evidence. Formerly, he was VP of HEOR at Avalere Health. Before that, Chapman was a principal in HEOR at IMS Health, and a research analyst at the Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Chapman holds a PhD in health policy with a concentration in decision sciences from Harvard University. He also holds an MS in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Michelle Cheng, MHS
Research Associate
Michelle Cheng, MHS
Michelle Cheng is a health economist and serves as a Research Associate. She completed her master’s degree in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She was also a researcher at the JHU Drug Access and Affordability Initiative, conducting studies in HEOR to evaluate new healthcare technologies and inform health policy transformation. Formerly, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry for about three years and was responsible for medical communication for branches in southeast Asia. The therapeutic areas included but were not limited to – diabetes, infectious disease and vaccine. Before that, she was a pharmacist serving in a clinic setting.
Tiffany Huth, MPH
Chief Communications Officer
Tiffany Huth, MPH
Tiffany Huth, Chief Communications Officer, brings over 20 years’ experience in executive leadership, strategic planning and communications, health policy, and brand reputation management to her role. Prior to joining IVI, Ms. Huth served as Vice President of Communications and Programs at the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness. She has been the Vice President of Communications and Community Relations at Dohmen Life Sciences, Head of Public Affairs at the Personalized Medicine Coalition, and previously served in a variety of senior leadership and public affairs positions at the American Chemistry Council and the National Center for Genome Resources, as well as consulting for rare disease and healthcare companies. Huth earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and her master’s degree in public health from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
Mark Linthicum, MPP
Director of Scientific Communications
Mark Linthicum, MPP
Linthicum earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master’s degree in public policy from the University of Southern California.
Lisa Malecha, MBA
Chief Financial & Operating Officer
Lisa Malecha, MBA
Lisa Malecha, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, brings over 20 years’ experience in leadership, team management, and operations strategy to her role. She is also the founder of Malecha Business Solutions, working with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small nonprofits in development and implementing strategic change. She previously served as Director of Global Supply Chain for the Structural Heart Division of Medtronic, and was an Engineer Officer in the U.S. Army earlier in her career.
Malecha earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative politics from the United States Military Academy and her MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
Erica de Fur Malik
Director of Membership and Patient Engagement
Erica de Fur Malik
Malik earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William & Mary and her master’s degree in ethics from Emory University.
Melanie Ridley
Chief Development Officer
Melanie Ridley
Melanie Ridley, Chief Development Officer, is an experienced fund development professional with a background in writing and communications, research and health needs assessment, and project management. Ridley is an Institute for Healthcare Improvement-certified Improvement Coach; her professional focus has been community-based health care, public health, quality improvement, value-based care, and building capacity for health care safety net delivery systems.
Ridley served as Director of Fund Development for Essential Access Health, a statewide association in California advancing sexual and reproductive health; she managed a full lifecycle of federal and state grans and funder relationship management. Ridley formerly worked with Mental Health America supporting state mental health planning councils and state policy and advocacy initiatives.
Ridley holds a bachelor’s degree in community nutrition from the University of California, Davis.
Smita Sanwardeker
Communications Manager
Smita Sanwardeker
Smita Sanwardeker, Communications Manager, is an effective marketing and communications professional, passionate about crafting and bringing forth a coherent message and inciting action around it, while giving voice to ideas, donors and the community. Sanwardeker brings with her an understanding of leveraging social media to increase visibility with online audiences, building email campaigns to engage recipients, creating personas to better understand the audience and developing a content marketing strategy and branding implementation to position non-profit organizations for success with a cohesive message.
Sanwardeker completed her bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio, and her graduate degree from Ohio University’s EW Scripps School of Journalism.
Judy Thomas
Operations Manager
Judy Thomas
Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the West Virginia University.
Richard Xie, PhD
Director of Research
Richard Xie, PhD
Richard Xie is a health economist and serves as Director of Research. He has a track record of conducting studies in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) to inform health policy design and evaluation of health care interventions. Formerly, he was a consultant at the Analysis Group, managing a portfolio of studies to demonstrate the value of novel therapies for pharmaceutical clients. Xie was also a health policy researcher at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California, examining policy questions in medication non-adherence, health disparities, and healthcare innovation. His work has been published in leading journals, including Journals of the American College of Cardiology, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and PLOS One.
Xie earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Southern California.