— College of Public Health — Departments — Department of Health Services Research & Administration — Faculty & Staff — Melanie J. Cozad, PhD, MBA, MA

Melanie J. Cozad, PhD, MBA, MA

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Research and Administration

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Phone: 757-613-1539

Melanie Cozad, PhD, MBA, MA is an assistant professor for the UNMC College of Public Health's Department of Health Services and Administration. Previously, she worked as an Assistant Professor for both the University of South Carolina and Furman University.

Before teaching, Dr. Cozad served as an officer in the United States Marine Core.

Education

2012, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2010, MA, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2007, MBA, Cameron University
2002, BS, United States Naval Academy

Research Interests

Dr. Cozad's research focuses on improving the quality and cost of care for patients with chronic and serious illness. She has a background in health economics with specific training and expertise mixed methods that includes qualitative interviewing and advanced computational methods to include multi-level modeling and quasiexperimental research designs.

Dr. Cozad's current research projects include development and evaluation of digital health interventions for rheumatoid arthritis and metatstatic breast cancer as well as analyses of electronic medical records and administrative claims to determine the the impact of policies and patterns of health care utilization.

Selected Publications

Svynarenko, R., Cozad, M.J., Lindley, L.C. (2024) An Age Group Comparison of Concurrent Hospice Care: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 26(4), 219-223.
Alshareef, N., Cozad, M.J., Macauda, M., Ostermann, J., & Thigpen, C. (2023). Patient attitudes and beliefs associated with self-referral to physical therapy for musculoskeletal complaints: a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 80.
Cozad, M.J., Crum, M., Tyson, H., Fleming, P., Kennedy, A.B, Stratton, J., Lindley, L.C., Horner, R.D. (2022) Mobile Health Apps for Patient-Centered Care: Review of United States Rheumatoid Arthritis Apps for Engagement and Activation. JMIR mHealth uHealth.
Cozad, M. J., Lindley, L. C., Crosby, K., Alshareef, N., Kennedy, A. B., Merchant, G., Evans, P., & Horner, R. D. (2022). Patient Goals for Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Qualitative Study. Clinical nursing research,10547738221075784.
Cozad, M. J., Svynarenko, R., Hinds, P. S., Mack, J. W., Keim-Malpass, J., & Lindley, L. C. (2022). Pediatric Concurrent Hospice Care: Cost Implications of a Hybrid Payment Model. The American journal of hospice & pallative care, 10499091221089337. 9(12):1436-1442.

Professional Affiliations

Academy Health
Institute for Health Care Improvement
Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute

Teaching Philosophy

Dr. Cozad's objectives as a teacher are to foster students’ understanding of economic incentives that exist within health care and develop their analytical thinking using these frameworks. Inherently, teaching implies conveying information; however, embedded within imparting knowledge is a responsibility to cultivate students’ confidence in their own problem-solving capabilities. To achieve these objectives, Dr. Cozad uses a mixture of mixed media approaches that build a foundation of economic intuition that can then be applied by the student in practical application settings.

She also carefully designs her course assignments and projects to reinforce future life-skills such as effective communication, analytical research capabilities, and critical reflection.