Key Staff

Administration
Margaret Gunter, PhD, President and Executive Director
In addition to serving as Executive Director of LCF Research since its incorporation in 1990, Dr. Gunter is a medical sociologist whose areas of research interest and expertise include health outcomes, disease management, patient safety, the role of health information technology in quality improvement, racial/ethnic health disparities, cultural and linguistic competence, and health care systems evaluation.
Pam Carpenter, Office Administrator and Human Resources Director
Ms. Carpenter coordinates the day-to-day operations of the office as well as manages employee benefits, employee relations, and coordinates policies and procedures. She has over 20 years of healthcare management experience.
Donald Nettles, MBA ,CPA, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Nettles holds an MBA with an emphasis in Quantitative Methods. He served as a CPA and marketing manager and an auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency. Prior to joining LCF Research in March, 2007, he was a Financial Consultant in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Health Services Research
Sarah Beaton, PhD, Senior Research Associate
Dr. Beaton’s areas of research expertise include health outcomes research, survey development, healthcare systems evaluation, and all aspects of research design, implementation, analysis, and reporting. She holds a PhD in industrial-organizational psychology with an emphasis on research methodology and statistics.

Shelley Carter, RN, MPH, MCRP, Director of Research and Education
A Senior Research Associate and Project Manager, Ms. Carter has extensive experience designing and managing programs to improve the health of New Mexico communities. Ms. Carter possesses expertise in designing and testing data collection tools, gathering Medicaid data, and in research project coordination and management.
Herbert Davis, PhD, Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Davis has a Ph.D. in statistics with over 40 years of experience. His previous positions include being an associate professor of mathematics at UNM, the original Chief of Biometry at UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center, a Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratory, a Senior Statistician at InLight Solutions and co-founder and Chief Technical Officer at VisionQuest Biomedical. As Chief Technical Officer at VisionQuest Biomedical he led projects for telemedicine approaches to detecting diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration or glaucoma, real-time calibration of fMRI brain scans, the development of a low-cost high-resolution fundus camera and a functional scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Prior to co-founding VisionQuest Biomedical, he consulted on a variety of bio-statistical and statistical applications. His activities included non-invasive screening for diabetes, intelligent sensors for detecting a biological or chemical attack, innovative ways to monitor HIV status in “controlled” patients, and improved methodology for placing EKG sensors. He has also worked on the detection of buried land mines, health effects from nuclear waste disposal, solar energy, geological resource exploration and the analysis of reliability databases for electrical power plant components. The statistical and bio-statistical methodologies involved have been as varied as the applications. As one of LCF Research’s Sr. Research Scientists Dr. Davis will be initiating new cancer research studies and will be a lead on an analysis of a study that addresses alcohol consumption and traffic safety.
Gene Hill, BBA, MA, Data Warehouse Manager/Data Analyst
Mr. Hill holds a BBA degree in General Management and an MA in Economics from the University of New Mexico and has acquired over 12 years as a business intelligence analyst and database developer. Mr. Hill’s duties include oversight of data management for the IT department and health services research projects with an emphasis on logical design, database performance, and the building of reporting systems. Mr. Hill’s past experience includes consulting and/or staff positions at AllianceBernstein, L.P. (New York), the City of New York (FDNY), Antena 3 Televisión (Madrid, Spain) and Thornburg Mortgage (Santa Fe).

Douglas Mapel, MD, MPH, FACCP,
Dr. Mapel’s areas of expertise include health outcomes and healthcare delivery research, pulmonary epidemiology and toxicology, and clinical study design. In addition to his extensive work in pulmonary disease, Dr. Mapel has conducted health economics research in a broad range of chronic disease areas. He has published numerous original articles and state-of-the-art reviews in the medical outcomes research literature, and he has presented his work at numerous international conferences.
Michael Schum, PhD, Senior Research Associate
Dr. Schum holds a BS, MS, and PhD in biology from the University of New Mexico and has over 30 years experience in toxicology, biomathematical consulting, and as Professor of Biology. He has provided scientific expertise in toxicology, environmental statistics, environmental fate and transport modeling, risk assessment, data reduction and statistical analysis.
Michael Shainline, MBA, Director of Research Development
Michael Shainline is the Director of Research Development at Lovelace Clinic Foundation. In this position, he will oversee and develop research possibilities. Mr. Shainline has experience in study design and biostatistical analysis, as a data analyst, statistician, and project manager. He has over 19 years experience in the health field, including designing programs and hiring staff, developing a curriculum and teaching staff education, developing and producing reports, developing and implementing a comprehensive marketing research and patient satisfaction system, and direction of a health plan quality management program.

Ann Von Worley, RN, BSHS , CCRP, Clinical Research Associate
Ms. Von Worley has varied experience in health services research including program coordination, medical record review, and clinical studies administration. She coordinates all medical record reviews and contributes to the data collection methodology, instrument design, abstract protocol, and abstractor training and oversight. Ms. Von Worley has been the Clinical Coordinator for several clinic-based studies and has worked extensively with clinics to identify and implement effective processes to reach study goals. She is certified by the Society of Clinical Research Associates as a Certified Clinical Research Professional.
Continuining Professional Education
April Salisbury, MBA, Director of Education
Ms. Salisbury is responsible for maintaining LCF Research’s continuing education accreditation, to provide credit-designated activities to physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. With over eleven year’s experience, she is skilled at managing projects and coordinating large and small medical symposia. Ms. Salisbury has a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Psychology and an MBA in Healthcare Management.
Health Information Technology
Jeff Blair, MBA, Director of Health Informatics
Mr. Blair served in many different staff and management positions within IBM for 30 years, with a primary focus on clinical information systems. He has been appointed for three consecutive four-year terms to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) by the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Blair has played a leadership role in the evaluation, selection, and recommendation of federal standards for EHR systems, e-prescribing systems, the functional requirements for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), and privacy and security issues related to health information technology. At LCF Research, he currently has lead responsibility for the NHIN Trial Implementations contract.

David Perry, Chief Information Officer
With over 25 years experience in information technology in health care, Mr. Perry has experience in executive level IT management, including more than seven years as Director of IT Infrastructure. His responsibilities include supervision of all LCF Research IT staff, oversight and strategic planning responsibility for all IT services, and serving as the Project Manager for the newly awarded Nationwide Health Information Network Trial Implementation federal contract.
Robert White, MD, MPH, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics
Prior to joining Lovelace Clinic Foundation in September 2006, Dr. White practiced general internal medicine and was an academic generalist with the University of New Mexico since 1979. His professional focus since 2000 has been using electronic medical databases for research and quality improvement projects. Dr. White currently works on four funded projects at Lovelace Clinic Foundation, assists Lovelace Medical Group with electronic medical record implementation, and is the medical director for the New Mexico Health Information Collaborative (NMHIC), the Health Information Exchange for the state of New Mexico.
Adjunct Scientist
Ludmila Bakhireva, MD, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor
Division of Dysmorphology and Teratology, College of Pharmacy and Department of Family and Community Medicine, UNM School of Medicine. Interest in HIV/AIDS, bone loss in older men (Rancho Bernardo Study), asthma, role of statins in prevention of osteoporosis, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Richard Hoffman, MD , MPH, Director of Cancer Prevention
UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center. Also Staff Physician at NM VA Health Care System and Associate Professor of Medicine at UNM School of Medicine. Interest in Type 2 Insulin Dependent Diabetes, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer screening. Was involved with the Diabetes Outcomes in Veterans Study (DOVES). Collaborates with LCF Research.
Glen Murata, MD, Director of Outcomes Research Program
NM VA Health Care System, Albuquerque, NM. Also Professor of Medicine at UNM School of Medicine. Interest in Type 2 Insulin Dependent Diabetes; was involved with the Diabetes Outcomes in Veterans Study (DOVES). Collaborates with LCF Research and UNM.