Baystate Research and Education Celebration 2023

Dr. Visintainer is a Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate.  He is Director of Scientific Integrity and Analytics and Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Research Core at Baystate Medical Center

Dr. Vital is a Nurse Scientist and Director of Nursing Research at Baystate Medical Center. Her research focuses on quality and safety of both patients and nursing staff including human and environmental factors that impact care. Her background is in simulation-based research specifically targeted at evaluating the nursing work environment and ways to improve quality and safety.

Recently, she completed a simulation laboratory study comparing the time it takes to achieve a desired hemodynamic parameter titrating a vasoactive medication using restrictive titration orders as compared to titration based on clinical judgement. The findings from this study will be used to improve clinical practice standards used when caring for critically ill patients with unstable blood pressure. 

This year, Dr. Vital was awarded two grants including the Learning Health System Grant to evaluate IV medication administration errors from IV flow rate inaccuracies. This work is critical as adverse events associated with IV smart pumps are among the most frequent sources of technology error reported to FDA.

In her role as a hospital-based Nurse Scientist and Director of Nursing Research, her goal is to engage in practice-informed clinical research that has proximate value for improving patient care at the point-of-care.  To achieve this, Dr. Vital is actively building her own program of research, working closely with frontline staff nurses to help them develop as nurse researchers, and building the relevant collaborations and partnerships outside of Baystate Health that can support us in achieving our research goals. 

Dr. Vital has a close partnership with the University of Massachusetts, Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation.

Dr. Giuliano is Professor, Elaine Marieb College of Nursing & Institute for Applied Life Sciences (joint), Co-Director, Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation and Nurse Scientist, Baystate Medical Center.

Dr. Giuliano’s specific interests focus on the intersection of clinical needs and medical technology use, development and innovation.  Throughout her career, Dr. Giuliano has focused on clinical outcomes research and new product development and innovation.

In 2012, Dr. Giuliano received the professional achievement award for innovative product development from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. In 2016, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Yale University, where she collaborated across the schools of nursing, engineering and business while working on improving the safety and usability of IV smart infusion pumps.  

The central focus of Dr. Giuliano’s work is to improve patient outcomes through innovation in health care delivery practices and products. Specific areas of interest include improving medication administration safety using IV smart pumps and she is co-investigator with Dr. Vital on the LHS grant.

Gerard Coly, MD, MPH, CCRP, is the Director of the Clinical Trials Office at Baystate Medical Center

Viorika Nelson, DNP, FNP-C, is the Associate Director, Sub-Investigator of the Clinical Trials Office at Baystate Health.

Dr. Pirraglia is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate.  He is the Division Chief, General Medicine and Community Health and Co-Chief Medical Officer, BeHealthy (Medicaid) Accountable Care Organization. 

Arvin Garg, MD, MPH, is Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair of Health Equity at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center.  Dr. Garg is also Associate Editor for the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 

Dr. Garg received his B.A. in Behavioral Biology from Johns Hopkins University, M.P.H from Boston University School of Public Health and his medical doctorate from Boston University School of Medicine.  After completing his clinical residency in pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, he worked for two years in private practice in Pennsylvania.  He subsequently completed a post-doctoral General Academic Pediatric fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Garg's first faculty position was at Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center.  Prior to joining UMass Medical School, Dr. Garg was at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine for ten years.  Dr. Garg has been recognized for his clinical teaching with awards from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, and the Boston Combined Residency Program.

Dr. Garg’s research focuses on addressing adverse social determinants of health (SDoH) within the delivery of pediatric care, particularly for low-income families, and has been cited in professional guidelines. During fellowship, Dr. Garg’s SDoH trial received both The Francis F. Schwentker Award Winner for Excellence in Research by House Staff and Fellows in the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Society of Pediatric Research Fellow Clinical Research Award.  Since 2009, Dr. Garg has been continuously funded by the NIH and has received extramural funding from private foundations.  He currently has four active R01 awards and has published over 100 publications.

Dr. Garg was co-chair for the Serving the Underserved Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) and was a member of the APA Task Force on Childhood Poverty.  He was recently the Chair of the Health Care Delivery Committee for the APA.  He has also served on various other committees focused on social determinants and community health, both locally and nationally.

Arvin Garg, MD, MPH, is Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair of Health Equity at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center.  Dr. Garg is also Associate Editor for the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 

Dr. Garg received his B.A. in Behavioral Biology from Johns Hopkins University, M.P.H from Boston University School of Public Health and his medical doctorate from Boston University School of Medicine.  After completing his clinical residency in pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, he worked for two years in private practice in Pennsylvania.  He subsequently completed a post-doctoral General Academic Pediatric fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Garg first faculty position was at Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, and prior to joining UMass, Dr. Garg was at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine for ten years.  Dr. Garg has been recognized for his clinical teaching with awards from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, and the Boston Combined Residency Program.

Dr. Garg’s research focuses on addressing adverse social determinants of health (SDoH) within the delivery of pediatric care, particularly for low-income families, and has been cited in professional guidelines. During fellowship, Dr. Garg’s SDoH trial received both The Francis F. Schwentker Award Winner for Excellence in Research by House Staff and Fellows in the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Society of Pediatric Research Fellow Clinical Research Award.  Since 2009, Dr. Garg has been continuously funded by the NIH and has received extramural funding from private foundations.  He currently holds four R01 awards and has published over 100 publications.

Dr. Garg was co-chair for the Serving the Underserved Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) and was a member of the APA Task Force on Childhood Poverty.  He was recently the Chair of the Health Care Delivery Committee for the APA.  He has also served on various other committees focused on social determinants and community health, both locally and nationally.

Peter D. Friedmann, MD, MPH, DFASAM, FACP

Dr. Friedmann is the Associate Dean for Research at UMass Chan Medical School – Baystate and the Chief Research Officer at Baystate Health

He is a Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School – Baystate and has secondary appointments as Professor of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate and Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School

He received his medical degree in 1988 from Boston University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Primary Care (Internal Medicine) at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY in 1991.  He received an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health in 1994, where he also completed a Clinical and Research Fellowship in the Faculty Development and Fellowship Program in General Internal Medicine.

He was the President of the Massachusetts Society of Addiction Medicine (2019 – 2021) and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

Alex Knee, MS, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the UMass Chan Medical School -- Baystate.  He is an epidemiologist and biostatistician in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Research Core (EBRC), as well as the Program Manager of the EBRC. He has more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and lectures regularly on study design and statistical analyses in clinical research.