Jeff Lemieux is the Senior Vice President directing AHIP's new Center for Policy and Research. Prior to joining AHIP, Lemieux was Executive Director of Centrists.Org, a small think tank dedicated to pursuing bipartisan policy solutions. Before founding Centrists.Org in 2003, Lemieux worked as a senior economist for the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). At PPI, he was responsible for studies of overall economy including federal budget, tax, and entitlement issues, as well as health care. In 1998 and 1999, Lemieux served as the staff economist for the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, which was co-chaired by Senator John Breaux and Congressman Bill Thomas. Before joining the Commission, from 1992 to 1998, Lemieux was with the Congressional Budget Office, where he estimated the cost of national health reform plans and, later, the impact of Medicare reforms enacted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and other laws.

An economist specializing in health care and public finance, Jeff is the author of centrist proposals for health coverage, Medicare reform, and balanced budgets, and creator of long-term projections of entitlement spending and federal budgets used by Congress and the policymaking community. He has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and other committees in Congress on Medicare reform, tax-based proposals to expand access to health coverage, chronic care management, and other topics.

Ellen Bayer is the Director of Special Projects in AHIP's Center for Policy & Research.Currently she is working on projects related to disease management, Medicaid, cost trends, and consumer choice products. Prior to joining AHIP, she worked as an analyst for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Her work for ASPE focused primarily on privacy, heath plan accreditation, and tax credit issues. She has also worked as a policy analyst for Project HOPE's Center for Health Affairs and as a legislative assistant in the office of Congressman John LaFalce (D-NY). She received a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

Teresa Chovan is Executive Director of Research at the AHIP Center for Policy and Research. Her responsibilities include survey development and data analysis on topics of interest to members, legislators and policymakers. Before joining AHIP, Ms. Chovan was a State Health Policy Analyst at the National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc., Washington, DC where she focused on health policy issues as they relate to community health centers and low- income populations. She has also worked as a Medicaid Policy Analyst at the District of Columbia, Department of Human Services, and as a state health policy analyst at The Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, The George Washington University. She received a B.A. in Economics from Youngstown State University, and a Master in Health Care Administration from The George Washington University.

Hannah Yoo is a Deputy Director at the AHIP Center for Policy and Research. Hannah provides quantitative and qualitative research for the Center on topics such as Health Savings Accounts, Cost Trends, and the Individual and Small-Group Market. She received a B.A. in Media Studies, Political Science and International Relations from Scripps College in Claremont, California in 2004 and is pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Karen Heath is a Policy Analyst at the AHIP Center for Policy and Research. Karen supports the Center by gathering qualitative information about member programs and assisting in the design, data collection and analysis of member surveys. She received a M.S. from the University of Virginia and a B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, both in Mathematics. Before joining the Center, Ms. Heath was a health care consultant focusing on Medicaid program design and fiscal analysis with EP&P Consulting.

Christelle Chen is a Policy Analyst at the AHIP Center for Policy and Research. Her work focuses on conducting quantitative and qualitative research on topics such as disease management and Medicare Advantage. She also assists in the design and data analysis of member surveys. Ms. Chen received a B.S. in Public and Community Health from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2006.

Kelly Buck is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center. Her work focuses on grassroots efforts, customer services, and claims denials, as well as health information technology and quality issues. Kelly earned a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Public Administration and Political Science from Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Before joining AHIP, Kelly was the Associate Director of Policy and Government Affairs at The National Alliance for Health Information Technology where she monitored legislative and regulatory activities, conducted research and educated policy-makers on behalf of Alliance member companies which spanned the healthcare sector. Prior to working at the Alliance, she was the General Manager and Interim Executive Director of Centrists.Org, a small nonpartisan think tank and communications center for bipartisan policy-making.