Research and Development (R&D) in Federal Health

Speaker:

CDR Michael Banyas

Senior Officer at U.S. Public Health Service and a Health Specialist in the National Institute of Minority Health Disparities (NIMHD)

Commander Michael Banyas is a Senior Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and a Health Specialist in the National Institute of Minority Health Disparities (NIMHD). The mission of NIMHD is to lead the nation’s scientific research to improve minority health and reduce health disparities. In his role, he is the Program Director for NIMHD’s SBIR/STTR program and oversees an award budget of almost $20.5 million and over 100 awardees. CDR Banyas specializes in underserved health care and public health systems with a focus on implementation science. Previously, he served as Public Health Analyst in NIH’s All of Us Research Program, where he led the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Pilot Project and Co Led the Tribal Engagement Strategic, as well as operational process improvement.

Additionally, he served as a Project Officer in the Health Resources Services Administration for FQHCs and as the Communications Lead for the Office of Health IT and Quality. Additionally, he served as a Fellow on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s Health Policy subcommittee and has worked in three academic medical centers. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Public Administration in Health Management and Policy from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, graduate work in health informatics from Columbia University, and a Masters of Arts at the U.S. Naval War College. As a UVM political science student, he was able to grow his interests and career experiences in how politics and policy affect each other, utilize political theory for philosophically analyzing problems, and explore political and historical areas, ranging from African security issues to Vermont town halls politics. His UVM political science and liberal arts education were invaluable in helping him develop critical thinking for policy formation and analysis, augment his ability to connect theory and policy to present and future political situations, and understand how to align interests with objectives. These skills sets have been invaluable in furthering his work in variety of health policy and political settings at state and Federal levels.

Dr. Susan Persky

Associate Investigator at the Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Dr. Susan Persky is an Associate Investigator within the Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH). She directs the Immersive Simulation Program (ISP), a research service lab that provides expertise, tools, and support for integration of virtual reality and other emerging technologies into research and clinical programs. Dr. Persky also heads the Health Communication and Behavior Unit which houses a behavioral science research program on emerging genomics technologies for common, complex health conditions. She earned a B.A. in psychology from Northwestern University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied at the Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior. After conducting postdoctoral research at Columbia University, she came to the NIH in 2005. Here, she built an immersive virtual reality-based experimental research lab, founded in 2006, now the central hub of the ISP. Dr. Persky has published extensively in the areas of health communication, genomics and immersive technology methods. She is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and has presented in venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.