Program Research & Administration Staff

Jedediah Horwitt, M.P.H.

Mr. Horwitt is Associate Director of the HPI, where he manages a portfolio of health research projects on quality improvement, hospital performance, and health information technology.  He joined the Institute in 2007, having spent two years in the Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research at the BU Goldman School of Dental Medicine.  In his role there as Program Coordinator, he managed the Division of Dental Public Health’s postdoctoral program, the Graduate Medical Sciences Program in Oral Health Sciences, and various recruitment pipeline programs to attract minorities and underrepresented groups to the field of dentistry.  Prior to that, he spent two years in immunology and bioinformatics research at Mount Holyoke College where he investigated the genetics of immunodeficiency in a murine model of HIV/AIDS.  He received his B.A. in biology from Amherst College, and his M.P.H. in international health from Boston University School of Public Health.

Christine Halbig, M.P.H.

Ms. Halbig is Research Analyst for the RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research Program and Program Manager of the Health Policy Institute.  She joined the HPI in 2011 after having served for one year as the Project Manager at the Boston Medical Center’s Medical Information Sciences Unit overseeing various research and administrative functions.  Prior to that, Ms. Halbig was an Executive Assistant at the Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven, Connecticut, where she worked to improve patient access and clinical efficiency as team leader for the Access & Redesign Regional Collaborative.  She received her B.S. in film and television and M.P.H. in epidemiology from Boston University.

Catherine M. Player, M.A.

Ms. Player is Deputy Program Director for the RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research Program. She joined the Program in 2007, after spending five years at the Committee for Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium involving twelve large Midwest research universities. In her role there as Assistant Director for Academic and International Collaboration, she managed and coordinated various graduate programs among the member institutions. Prior to that, she spent six years in London, first serving as Assistant Director of Programs in the Centers for Academic Programs Abroad, and then as Administrative Officer for Quality Assurance at Queen Mary College, University of London. She received her B.A. in political science from Emmanuel College and her M.A. in international relations from Boston University.

Melissa E. Manolis, B.S.

Ms. Manolis is the Program Manager for the RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research Program. She joined the Program in 2007, after having served for two years as Project Coordinator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Partnerships for Quality Education (PQE) Program at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to that, she spent six years supporting faculty, engineers and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in several administrative positions and also spent one year as office manager for a MIT start-up company. She holds a B.S. in political science from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.