Cassandra Leighton, MPH

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Biography

Cassandra Leighton, MPH, is a Graduate Student Researcher with the Health Policy Institute and a doctoral student in Health Services Research and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh Health Policy and management department. 

Her current interests revolve around increasing healthcare access and quality through innovative and efficient care team design and care delivery models. Prior to her time with the Health Policy Institute, Cassandra was an adjunct faculty member for Geneia’s The Geneia Institute, where she provided workforce retraining education to support population health initiatives across the United States.  She has also worked on a variety of policy and community health initiatives including: the South Carolina Dual Eligible Demonstration Project; the Puentes project, a Hispanic health empowerment program, in Columbia, SC; and the development of a transitions-of-care program for a regional BlueCross plan.  

Cassie’s research interests are related to system-level evaluation of care processes, structures, and interprofessional collaborations which impact both the patient’s and caregiver’s experiences. Cassie has been significantly involved in aim 3 of The Caregiver Project. She is part of the research team investigating the implementation of the CARE Act at local hospitals. She participated in observations and documented health providers’ demonstration of understanding and implementation of the CARE Act. She is examining the implementation of the CARE Act at hospitals across Pennsylvania, looking at compliance and implementation of the Act, as reported by hospital administrators.