ASCENT Investigator in Residence Fellows
The ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program provides early-stage investigators focused on serious illness care across any phase of the lifespan with career development and networking opportunities. Each Investigator in Residence Fellow is assigned to one of the ASCENT Research Cores for one year. ASCENT Investigator in Residence Fellows engage in Core activities, including knowledge generation, developmental projects, and Core meetings.
Health Disparities Research and Community Engagement Core
Katarina AuBuchon, PhD
Assistant Professor, Research Scientist
Georgetown University, MedStar Health
Dr. AuBuchon is a Research Scientist at MedStar Health Research Institute in the Palliative Care research program and an Assistant Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University. In her work, she applies her expertise in health equity and social-behavioral methods/theory to palliative care and symptom management for patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. Dr. AuBuchon's program of research examines how communication, social determinants, and system-level factors shape symptom management patients, especially those who bear a disproportionate symptom burden.
Olga Ehrlich, PhD, RN, CHPN
Assistant Professor
Oakland University
Dr. Ehrlich received her Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing from Arizona State University, her PhD in nursing from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Phyllis F. Cantor Center in Nursing and Patient Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. Prior to becoming a nurse, Dr. Ehrlich was a homebirth midwife and has worked as a nurses’ aide, a surgical technician, and found her passion in palliative and hospice care. She is an ELNEC Trainer and teaches graduate and undergraduate nursing students. Dr. Ehrlich researches social processes influencing cancer pain for persons receiving palliative care and expanding rural access to palliative care using primary palliative care and community-engaged research methods.
Eberechi Nwogu-Onyemkpa, MD, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM
Assistant Professor
Washington University in St. Louis
Dr. Eberechi Nwogu-Onyemkpa is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Palliative Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and pursued fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Nwogu-Onyemkpa is committed to expanding access to palliative care and hospice for patients with non-malignant diseases. Her clinical and research interests focus on integrating palliative care into the management of advanced heart failure and sickle cell disease.
Measurement Core
Katherine Bernier Carney, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
University of Connecticut, University of Connecticut Health
Dr. Katherine Bernier Carney is a PhD-prepared nurse and an Assistant Professor in the Elisabeth DeLuca School of Nursing, with an affiliate appointment in the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. The primary goal of her research is to understand, amplify, and address palliative care needs among families of children with serious and complex conditions. Her work is driven by her experiences as a pediatric nurse in intensive and acute care settings, where she noted a pervasive lack of resources and systemic supports for parents. She is committed to leading a program of community‑centered pediatric palliative care research that develops and evaluates novel strategies to strengthen clinical, community, and social supports for parents and their children while minimizing caregiving burden and distress.
Jyotsana Parajuli, PhD, MGS, RN
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina Charlotte/University of Rochester
Dr. Jyotsana Parajuli is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and an Affiliate Faculty in the Gerontology Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her program of research focuses on identifying existing barriers and proposing highly innovative strategies to improve palliative care access and utilization among older adults with cancer and their family caregivers. Supported by an NIA R15 grant and Sigma/HPNF End-of-Life Nursing Care Research Grant, Dr. Parajuli is currently developing and validating a palliative care readiness tool for this population.
Population-Based Data Core
Phuong Duong, PharmD, MBA, BCPS
Assistant Professor
Oregon State University
Dr. Phuong Y Duong is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacist in acute care at Oregon Health & Science University. Her research focuses on improving medication-related outcomes for patients with serious illness, with current work in hospice and palliative care. She earned her PharmD from MCPHS University-Boston, completed her PGY-1 pharmacy residency at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and completed a clinical pharmacy fellowship in outcomes research at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she developed expertise in data management, analytics, and study coordination.
Research Design and Methodology Core
Ting Guan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Indiana University
Dr. Ting Guan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Indiana University and an Associate Member of the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on psychosocial oncology, family caregiving, psychosocial and palliative care interventions, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the social work workforce in healthcare. Ting earned her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Social Work from Peking University. She has over eight years of clinical experience as a health social worker in hospital settings in China.
Kristin Magan, PhD, MSN, AGNP-BC/AGACNP
Assistant Professor
University of Massachusetts
Dr. Kristin Corey Magan is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a certified adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner. She has extensive clinical experience working with older adults in long-term care, palliative care, and geriatric psychiatry. Her program of research focuses on the long-term effects of dementia caregiving on caregiver health, as well as the symptoms and disease impacts of Lewy Body Dementia.
Tori Wagner, MD
Assistant Professor
University of Texas Health Houston, University of Texas Health Science Center
Dr. Wagner is a new Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon and Assistant Professor at UTHealth Houston-McGovern Medical School. She completed her General Surgery residency training at the University of Kentucky and Lexington, Kentucky and completed her AAST Trauma and Acute Care Fellowship at Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Wagner's goal is to incorporate palliative care into the everyday practice of Trauma Surgery and improve end-of-life care for our critically injured trauma patients and their families. Additionally, she has an interest in trainee and provider education in primary palliative care.
Easton Wollney, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Florida
Dr. Wollney is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, Division of Implementation Science and Health Interventions, at the University of Florida College of Medicine. She also serves as the Assistant Director for Community Assessment and Impact Evaluation at UF Health Cancer Institute's Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. Dr. Wollney's research utilizes mixed-methods and qualitative designs to examine caregiver, patient, and clinician communication during supportive and palliative care, particularly in aging populations experiencing chronic health conditions such as cancer and dementia. Her research focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating health interventions to improve health outcomes in these populations.