Karen Ricci
Karen Ricci joined VEMEC two years ago, bringing 16 years of experience conducting research and managing large, complex health services research projects in the areas of emergency preparedness, public health, quality improvement, health care reform, and quality of care. Currently, she is leading “Hospital Preparedness Planning for Evacuation: The VA NY Harbor Healthcare System Experience”, a VEMEC project designed to examine the impact of hospital preparedness planning and experience on the Manhattan VAMC evacuations for Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
Prior to joining VEMEC, Ms. Ricci was a project manager and researcher with the RAND Corporation. Since 2003, her research at RAND focused on preparedness and response, and included work to support the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in its development of the National Health Security Strategy (NHSS). She led the research team that was focused on the provision of health services, particularly medical care, during emergency health incidents. Prior to her work on the NHSS, she was the project manager and a researcher on a six-year, multi-million dollar HHS project focused on developing tools to assess and improve public health emergency preparedness.
Ms. Ricci received her BS in Nursing and MPH in Health Policy and Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. She entered the health services research field with over 20 years of clinical nursing experience in women’s health, obstetrics, and pediatrics. She has practiced in a variety of inpatient, ambulatory and public health settings, and is an experienced health educator.