Meet Our Team
JoAnna Leyenaar, MD, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator |Professor
A pediatrician and health services researcher, Dr. JoAnna Leyenaar’s work is focused on improving the quality of healthcare provided to children, particularly those who are vulnerable and underserved. Dr. Leyenaar works as a pediatric hospitalist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and serves as the Batalden Distinguished Chair in Healthcare Improvement at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Dr. Leyenaar’s main areas of research interest include: care coordination for children with chronic illnesses, urban-rural disparities in healthcare quality, hospital-to-home transitions, integration of mental and behavioral healthcare in pediatrics, and care of opioid-exposed infants. She is currently receiving funding from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Leyenaar received her MD from McMaster University (Canada), her MPH from Harvard University, and her PhD from Tufts University.
Stephanie Acquilano, MA
Research Project Director
Stephanie Acquilano is a health services researcher whose areas of interest include: mental and behavioral healthcare for children, shared decision-making, patient-centered care, coproduction of healthcare services, healthcare disparities and technology-based recovery support services. At the Leyenaar Lab, Ms. Acquilano is currently working on projects developing a brief intervention for children experiencing mental health boarding and comparing pediatric hospitalization admission processes. She earned her BA from Dartmouth College and her MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Andrew Schaefer, PHD, MA
Senior Programmer | Analyst
Before coming to TDI, Andrew received his PhD in Sociology form the University of New Hampshire where he also worked as a Research Scientist at the Carsey School of Public Policy. In that work, he used US Census data to investigate rural-urban disparities in various economic, educational, and social outcomes. On Dr. Leyenaar’s team, Andrew is currently working on a project aimed at understanding children with medical complexity. In this project, Andrew provides programming and analytic support in all-payer claims data for NH, MA, and CO. His main research interests include programming and rural-urban disparities in health.
Jacqueline Pogue, MPH
Research Project Manager
Jackie is a health researcher and project manager who joined the Leyenaar Lab in 2025, where she is currently working on projects about participatory research methods, safety planning and lethal means counseling for rural youth, and prenatal opioid exposure. Her main areas of research interest include behavioral health for youth and adults, vocational rehabilitation, behavioral health workforce development, and occupational mental health and well-being. Jackie earned her BA from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD and her MPH from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Hailey Cantwell, BA
Research Coordinator
Hailey Cantwell joined the Leyenaar Lab in 2025 as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She earned her BA in psychology from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH. Hailey supports Plan & Protect, which focuses on developing culturally sensitive safety planning and lethal means counseling for adolescents in rural emergency departments. She is passionate about suicide prevention, youth behavioral health, and improving access to mental health care for underserved communities.
Hannah Leavitt, MPH
Research Coordinator
Hannah Leavitt is a research coordinator at The Dartmouth Institute. Her previous research experience includes implementation science, shared decision-making, and patient-centered care for women’s health and mental healthcare for children. In her current role, her primary responsibilities include feedback dashboard development, partner communications, and data collection/analysis. Before joining The Dartmouth Institute as a researcher, Hannah received her BS in public health from the University of South Carolina and her MPH from TDI.
Seneca Freyleue, MS
Programmer | Analyst
Seneca joined Dr. Leyenaar’s team in 2021 and has since been providing the team with programming and statistical support. He primarily works with all-payer claims data to assess urban-rural disparities in healthcare among children with medical complexity. His main areas of interest are statistical methodology in health services research and analytic programming. Seneca completed a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Vermont in 2019 and then received his Master of Science in biostatistics, also from the University of Vermont, in 2020.
Saskia Vanderwiel, BA
Research Coordinator
Saskia joined the Leyenaar Lab as a clinical research coordinator to pursue her interest in the development of interventions for those experiencing mental illness in underserved populations through community-based research. At the Leyenaar Lab, she is involved in mixed-methods research on safety planning efforts and lethal means counseling for youth with suicidal ideation in rural areas. Saskia completed her BA in psychology at Wellesley College.
Vinisha Velmineti, MPH
Research Coordinator
Vinisha is a clinical research coordinator with the Leyenaar Lab. Her previous research experience includes urban and rural disparities, unmet social needs during pregnancy, and lead poisoning in children. Currently, her role includes research on safety planning and lethal means counseling for youth in rural areas. Vinisha received her BS in Interdisciplinary Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and her MPH from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Mary Arakelyan, MPH
Research Project Manager