Our Team

Thuy Nguyen, PhD, MPA
Director of the M-SUPER Network, Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy
Thuy Nguyen is a health services researcher and health economist with interests related to the US opioid epidemic and health policy. Her research utilizes novel data to investigate topics including treatment access for opioid use disorder, prescribing behavior, and incentive issues affecting medical providers. 

Soham Deshmukh, MBA, MS
Statistician
Soham Deshmukh is a biostatistician with experience analyzing healthcare claims and clinical trials data. He received his master's in statistics from Rutgers University prior to working as a research assistant at the Indiana University School of Public Health. Soham enjoys working with healthcare data, drawing on his statistical understanding to elucidate meaningful insights.

Ushapoorna Nuliyalu, MPH 
Statistician 
Usha provides analytic support to research projects led by Dr. Thuy Nguyen. She analyzes health care claims data such as Medicaid, Medicare, IQVIA, and MarketScan for health policy related research. Her experience includes hierarchical models, difference in difference analysis, regression discontinuity design and survival analysis. SAS and Stata are the main programs she uses for data management and statistical analysis. Usha holds a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. Usha enjoys hiking, biking, and gardening with her family.

Basil Isaac
Economics Doctoral student
Basil Isaac's research informs debates in healthcare policy. His work characterizes the effects of drug shortages and identifies the role healthcare providers play in mitigating its impact. Additionally, Basil studies whether  prevailing inequities in healthcare access are exacerbated by healthcare providers’ responses to prescription drug insurance utilization policies - such as pre-authorization requirements.

Alixandria T. Mascarin , PhD
Opioid Research Institute postdoctoral research fellow
Alixandria T. Mascarin joined the University of Michigan's Opioid Research Institute as the inaugural postdoctoral research fellow in September 2025. Her professional interests include opioid-related policy, community education, and the advancement of harm reduction approaches. Prior to joining the ORI, Alixandria completed her Ph.D. in Translational Neuroscience at Wayne State University in Detroit. During her doctoral training, Alixandria conducted studies across the translational spectrum. Her dissertation work examined neurobiological mechanisms of relapse in animal models, and she collaborated with clinical scientists to characterize genetic, demographic, and behavioral contributors to individual differences in substance use and related outcomes. Outside of her professional work, Alixandria serves as a political activist and foster for shelter dogs in Detroit.

Kyle Buchwalder, MD
Project Manager
Kyle Buchwalder is a resident in the University of Michigan Preventive Medicine Residency program. He serves as project manager for the M-SUPER Network. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Colorado and completed residency training in emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University where he developed an interest in substance use disorders and population-level approaches to health.

Shannon Lester-Pelham
Project Manager
Shannon Lester-Pelham joins M-SUPER as a project manager. She brings over nine years of research experience to the team, and has over six years of experience with NIH funded projects. Shannon earned her bachelor of science in Public Health Education from Central Michigan University, with a concentration in substance abuse prevention and therapy.

Xiaoyuan (Chloe) Qi, MS
HMP Doctoral Student
Xiaoyuan (Chloe) Qi is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Management and Policy. She specializes in data analysis and management of both public and Medicare datasets. Chloe earned her bachelor’s in mathematics from Michigan State University and her master’s in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan. Her analytical skill and passion for healthcare motivate her pursuit of innovative solutions to address the opioid epidemic.

Previous Team Members

Raman Singh, MS
Statistician 

Amy (Yang) Jiao, MS, MPP
HMP Doctoral student

Keerthi Manikonda
Research Assistant

Devon Stein
Research Assistant

Jonathan Wang
Research Assistant

Jim Wang
Research Assistant

Erisa Rosen
Research Assistant

Olivia Morris
Research Assistant

Sophie Hartl
Summer Research Intern