About Our Team

University Research Co, LLC

University Research Co., LLC (URC) works to improve the quality of health care, social services, and education worldwide. With our non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services, we manage projects in 30 countries and throughout the United States. URC provides technical assistance and field research to strengthen health systems and service quality by empowering health workers to identify and expand proven and locally appropriate solutions to critical public health problems.  

URC will direct the TRAction Project and provide support to USAID in soliciting, reviewing, awarding, and monitoring sub-awards to regional and host country research organizations in developing countries.  URC will also provide technical assistance to research organizations for the development, implementation, financial management, and results review of studies and will carry out activities to build the capacity, both technical and managerial, of new researchers and research institutions.

David Nicholas, MD, MPH, the Project Director, provides technical leadership and management to the TRAction Project. He is the former director of Quality Assurance Projects I, II, and III, the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, and the Primary Health Care Operations Research Project, a ten-year research effort funded by USAID to help developing country decision-makers and health program managers strengthen the delivery of primary health care services through applied research. 

Virginia P. Hight, Dr.P.H., Deputy Director, joined the project in December, 2010.  Her experience includes over 20 years as a researcher and monitoring and evaluation advisor in the area of global health.  Her research has encompassed maternal and child health, nutrition and family planning and has lead to numerous peer reviewed publications.  She also co-authored a book, Infant Feeding in Four Societies and served as a university faculty member teaching research methods for ten years. 

Stacie Gobin, the Project Coordinator, provides administrative and technical support to the TRAction Project and field-based projects and staff. She served as a Community Health Outreach Worker and a Health and Medical volunteer near Arusha, Tanzania, working in MNCH and reproductive health. She has also provided program support to Partners in Health, Global Action for Children, and Mental Disability Rights International.

Maura Gaughan, MPH, MA, Research Analyst, provides technical support to the conceptualization, development, and management of health research grants focusing on maternal, newborn, and child health. For two years she worked for the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University as a Research Assistant to Latin American projects. From 2004-2010 Ms. Gaughan worked as the Senior Clinical Research Coordinator at Children's National Medical Center, managing two NIH grants targeting research to reduce child health disparities and infant mortality in minority populations.

Stephen N. Kinoti, MBChB; MMED; MPSID, Senior Research Advisor, is a physician by training specializing in pediatrics and child health, nutrition, maternal health, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. He has deep knowledge and understanding of health systems in Africa especially in East, Central and Southern Africa, where he has worked closely with Ministries of Health to guide policy development and translating research into action. He has introduced quality management and improvement approaches into Health Ministries’ strategic planning processes in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Kenya. Dr. Kinoti also currently serves in the capacities of Senior Quality Improvement Advisor for the Health Care Improvement Project and Co-PI for the Integrated Infectious Diseases Capacity Evaluation Project. 

Kendra Williams, MPH, Research Assistant and Writer, provides technical support for TRAction's research activities, projects, and reports. She completed her MPH at Tulane University, with a focus on global maternal and child health. Kendra has spent time volunteering at rural health clinics in both India and Ghana. She has previously worked with grant-funded projects at Tulane University, as a Teaching Assistant for master's-level maternal and child health classes, and on nutrition and obesity initiatives at the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Alessandra Barbiero, the Meetings Organizer, provides administrative support to the TRAction project. Most recently, she served as a Research Assistant  for International Resources Group collaborating on materials for a West/East African climate change workshop. From 2004- 2010, Ms. Barbiero worked as a volunteer Program Assistant for various reproductive health and HIV/AIDS centered non-profits including Project Concern International India, Urban Health Resource Center India, Pact Malawi, and Concern Worldwide Malawi.

Harvard University School of Public Health

The Harvard School of Public Health advances public health through learning, discovery, and communication. Harvard will support the TRAction project by providing expertise in study design, reviewing study applications, and providing technical assistance to researchers carrying out TRAction studies.