Our Team
Sara Chrisman, MD, MPH
Dr. Sara Chrisman is a pediatrician, adolescent medicine specialist and epidemiologist. Her research is centered around concussion. She has published multiple articles that explore concussion reporting behavior, the association between depression and concussion and the effects of concussion legislation. Read her full bio.
Emily Kroshus, ScD, MPH
Dr. Emily Kroshus is an assistant professor at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development. Her research interests include social and contextual determinants of health-related behaviors and intervention design and evaluation. Read her full bio.
Beth Bollinger, PhD
Dr. Beth Bollinger is a research scientist at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She provides oversight and mixed methodological expertise to various studies at Seattle Children’s evaluating ways to improve health outcomes for adolescents and families. Learn more about her research.
Cari McCarty, PhD
Dr. Cari McCarty is a clinical psychologist and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. Her research program focuses on intervening to promote behavioral health among adolescents, including addressing mental health concerns; preventing and reducing substance use; and implementing behavioral health interventions across school and medical settings.
Safia Ali
Safia Ali is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Public Health. She is currently working as a clinical research coordinator on a study that involves treatment for concussion symptoms in youth.
Allina Flaat, MPH
Allina Flaat received her master’s in public health from the University of Arizona. Since joining Seattle Children’s Research Institute, she has been working as a clinical research coordinator on a study involving treatment for youths with persistent concussion symptoms..
Tayler Hennings, MS
Tayler Hennings received her master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. She previously worked on a variety of research topics. Since joining Seattle Children’s in 2023, she has been working as a clinical research coordinator III for adolescent behavioral health research and program evaluation, including an intervention study for youth with persistent post-concussive symptoms.
Margo Samuelson
Margo Samuelson is a research coordinator at Seattle Children’s with a background in biology.
Mary Kathleen Steiner, MPH
Mary Kathleen Steiner received her master’s degree in public health (MPH) from the University of Washington in 2017. She has worked on a variety of concussion-related studies at Seattle Children’s since 2019, where she serves as a clinical research coordinator III.
Carolina Nieto-Ruiz, MA
Carolina Nieto-Ruiz is a bilingual (English–Spanish) qualitative researcher. She works as a clinical research coordinator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, where she collaborates on research projects that involve treatment for youth with persistent concussion symptoms.
Our Collaborators
Frederick Rivara, MD, MPH
Dr. Frederick Rivara is the Seattle Children’s Guild Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research and is vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics. He is an internationally recognized expert in pediatric injury research. He is editor-in-chief of JAMA Network Open. Learn more about his research.
Christine MacDonald, PhD
Dr. Christine MacDonald is a professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center. She is a professor and vice chair of Neurological Surgery, James and Gaye Pigott Endowed Chair, and Research Director of The Sports Institute at UW Medicine. Learn more about her research.
Ann Glang, PhD
Dr. Ann Glang is a research professor and director of the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training at the University of Oregon. Learn more about her research.
Nathalia Jimenez, MD, MPH
Dr. Nathalia Jimenez is an associate professor at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She works as a pediatric anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is also a member of Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development and is associate faculty at Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center.
Tonya Palermo, PhD
Dr. Tonya Palermo is a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington with adjunct appointments in pediatrics and psychiatry. She has been in Seattle since 2010, where she directs the Pediatric Pain & Sleep Innovations Lab. The focus of her research is on behavioral, psychosocial and family factors that affect pain experiences, the interrelationship of sleep and pain and innovative psychological treatments for managing and preventing chronic pain.
Jay Mendoza, MD, MPH
Dr. Jay Mendoza is a general pediatrician, University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine professor of pediatrics, UW adjunct professor of health services, and core faculty for the UW Nutritional Sciences Program. He teaches and practices general pediatrics at the Pediatric Clinic at Harborview Medical Center, King County's safety net hospital. He is the associate director of community outreach and engagement at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center/UW Cancer Consortium, where he leads the consortium's Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. He is also the associate program head of the cancer prevention program in the division of public health sciences at Fred Hutch. He leads several research projects on eliminating inequities in physical activity and nutrition among racial/ethnic minorities and children with chronic diseases, and his research program is based in the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Research Institute.
Eileen Klein, MD, MPH
Dr. Eileen Klein is an attending physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is the director of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship at Seattle Children’s and the University of Washington and co-director of Emergency Department Research at Seattle Children’s.
M. Alison Brooks, MD, MPH
Dr. M. Alison Brooks is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Orthopedics, Division of Sports Medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She serves as the primary University of Wisconsin team physician for Badger men’s soccer and women’s ice hockey, and also as the associate director of Concussion and Nutrition Research for the Badger Athletic Performance Program. She specializes in the care of the child and adolescent athlete, but also provides care for athletes and active individuals of all ages.
Colby Hansen, MD
Dr. Colby Hansen is an associate professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Utah. His clinical interests are in amputee rehabilitation; concussions and other forms of traumatic brain injury; and electrodiagnostic assessments. He has particular interest in traumatic brain injury and has developed a concussion management program for athletes, non-athletes, adults and children.
Chris Giza, MD
Dr. Chris Giza is currently a professor of pediatric neurology and neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Mattel Children’s Hospital and director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Steve Tisch BrainSPORT program. He serves on advisory committees for TBI/concussion with the CDC, NCAA, MLS and USFF and has been a clinical consultant for the NFL, NHL and MLS.
Gerard Gioia, PhD
Dr. Gerard Gioia is the division chief of Neuropsychology and the director of the Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program at Children's National Hospital. He is a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine. He directs the Neurobehavioral Core research laboratories for Children’s National’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center.
Emily Law, PhD
Dr. Emily Law is an experienced pediatric psychologist and clinician-scientist conducting NIH-funded research focused on understanding psychological risk in youth with chronic headache and developing and evaluating self-management interventions for youth with chronic pain and co-occurring conditions.
Doug Zatzick, MD
Dr. Doug Zatzick is currently a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Over the past two decades, he has developed a public health approach to trauma-focused research and clinical work that has emphasized clinical epidemiologic, functional outcome and early intervention studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related comorbid conditions. Learn more about his work.