Columbia University - Center for Education Research and Evaluation (CERE)

Dorene Balmer, Director of Evaluation

Dorene came to CERE in 2008 after working [ ] years in clinical nutrition. Dorene changed career paths to expand her involvement in health sciences education and skills in qualitative inquiry. She completed her doctoral work at Temple University and post-doctoral research fellowship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she gained a strong background in qualitative research methods, evaluation, and assessment. She works across CUMC’s academic community, developing and supporting efforts to evaluate learners, instructors, courses, programs and special projects.

Nanci Cooke, Administrative Coordinator

Nanci joined CERE in March 2008. Prior to joining CERE she was enrolled in a Masters program in Library and Information science at the Pratt Institute while still completing coursework for her undergraduate degree at New York University in Anthropology. Nanci plans to continue but is now on hiatus from school. Along with general administrative support for CERE, Nanci provides data management support, including the creation and administration of end-of-course evaluations in Courseworks, design and management of MS Access databases, and the CERE website.

Clarissa Cortland, Program Coordinator for Education Research

Clarissa joined CERE in the summer of 2008. She received her BA in Psychology and French from Cornell University in May 2007, with a predominant interest in social psychology research. At CERE, she provides direct research support to the Director of Education Research. She is particularly invested in ongoing research examining the framing of motivational goals in residency training programs. In addition, she helps implement the Teagle Seminars, a grant fellowship program that examines the implications of recent research and theory in psychological science in its application to student learning.

Mark Graham, Director of Education Research

Mark received a PhD in Educational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2002, and was a NIH post-doctoral research fellow in 2003 at Columbia’s Department of Biomedical Informatics. Mark supports CUMC faculty in collaborative research projects stemming from their ongoing involvement in educational programs. His personal research has focused on problem-solving, reasoning, decision-making, motivation and the relationship between cognitive strategies (reading comprehension, study skills, focused practice) and learning outcomes.

Melinda Perlo, Administrative Coordinator

Melinda joined CERE in January 2008 while pursuing a master's degree in Cognitive Studies in Education at Teachers College. Melinda completed her B.F.A. at the University of California, Santa Barbara and worked for 3 years at UCLA Medical School, serving as a program coordinator for undergraduate medical education courses in the Department of Family Medicine. She also worked closely with student leaders to develop programming and gain funding and support for several student groups, particularly the Student Run Homeless Clinics and the Family Medicine Interest Group. Now serving as an administrative coordinator at CERE, she works closely with Dr. Boyd Richards to oversee the implementation of New Innovations, an online evaluation and patient logging system for the 3rd year medical student clinical rotations. She is also involved with the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course, working closely with the course directors, Dr. Dorene Balmer and Dr. Mark Graham to assess curricular changes from an evaluation and cognitive learning theory perspective.

Deepa Rao, Program Coordinator for Educator Development

Deepa joined CERE in 2007. She divides her time between various CERE projects, including the CUMC Educator Development Initiative, and the New York Presbyterian Hospital’s ACGME Outcomes Project. She received her BA in Political Science from State University of New York at Geneseo and her EdM in Policy, Planning and Administration from Boston University’s School of Education. Prior to coming to CERE, she managed a six-state collaborative project for World Education in Boston, MA which supported the transition of non-traditional adult learners into post-secondary education.

Boyd Richards, Director of CERE

Boyd came to Columbia in 2007 from Baylor College of Medicine (1996-2007) and Wake Forest (1985-1996) where he gained valuable experience as a “generalist” in health-sciences education. He strives to help faculty without a strong background in education succeed in their roles as teachers, educational leaders, and educational scholars. A bridge-builder by nature, Boyd strives to help faculty understand the larger context of their work and thereby better network with colleagues across departments and institutions.