Health Poll Database

Carolyn Miller, a senior program officer in the Research-Evaluation-Learning unit, joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2013. Previously, as the principle of Carolyn Miller Consulting in Princeton, Miller provided quantitative and qualitative research for commercial and academic research organizations, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and professional/medical specialty associations. She also held research positions with Mathematica Policy Research, the Gallup Organization, and Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Her research has spanned a range of issues in health and health care, public policy, public opinion, and survey research methodology.

Liz Hamel is Vice President and Director of Public Opinion and Survey Research at the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), where she directs KFF’s polling work including the monthly Health Tracking Poll and ongoing survey partnerships with news media organizations such as The Washington Post. Her research focuses on understanding the U.S. public’s views and knowledge on health care policy issues, and the role of opinion in health policy debates. Hamel is an active member of both AAPOR and its Pacific chapter (PAPOR), and has served on the Executive Councils of both organizations. She holds a BA from Harvard University.

John Benson is a Senior Research Scientist and is Managing Director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. At Harvard since 1992, John has directed numerous national and international polling projects leading to more than 80 publications in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, Public Opinion Quarterly, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Social Science Research, and other domestic policy and polling journals. Since 1995, John has played a key role in the design and analysis of a series of surveys with The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation on public knowledge, values, and attitudes on domestic policy issues. He has managed survey projects with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Public Radio, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and The Boston Globe. 

Katherine Carman is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, director of RAND's Center for Financial and Economic Decison Making, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research focuses on behavioral economics, health economics, and public economics. Carman is particularly interested in how individuals' beliefs, perceptions, and decisionmaking processes affect their choices. Currently she is studying health behaviors, health insurance decisions, and retirement decisions. She is also interested in the effects of peer behavior and characteristics on individual choices.  

Jamila Michener is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on poverty, racial inequality, and public policy in the United States. Her recent book, Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press) examines how Medicaid--the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low income--affects democratic citizenship. Unpacking how federalism transforms Medicaid beneficiaries’ interpretations of government and structures their participation in politics, Fragmented Democracy assesses American political life from the vantage point(s) of those who are living in or near poverty, (disproportionately) Black or Latino, and reliant on a federated government for vital resources. 

Jeff Niederdeppe is a Professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. His research examines the mechanisms and effects of mass media campaigns, strategic health messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior, health disparities, and social policy. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medicine journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is an Associate Editor of Communication Methods and Measures and serves on the editorial boards for eight other journals.

Peter K. Enns is a Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University, Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, and Innaugural Co-Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences. He is also co-founder of Verasight. His research focuses on public opinion and political representation, mass incarceration and the legal system, and data science. He has published two books—Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World and Who Gets Represented? (edited with Chris Wlezien)­—and dozens of academic articles and op-eds. His research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, FWD.us, Koch Foundation, National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Russell Sage Foundation. In 2017, he received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section of the American Political Science Association, presented to the top scholar in the field within ten years of her or his doctorate.

Kathleen Weldon is the Director of Data Operations and Communications at the Roper Center. She joined the Roper Center in 2014 as Research Coordinator. Kathleen manages data provider relations, oversees the data curation process, plans archival development, and works closely with the IT development team in building new user tools. She also uses the Center’s rich data collection to write overviews of the history of public opinion on a wide range of topics for the Roper website and Huffington Post. A graduate of Wesleyan University with a BA in English, she started her career in public opinion at Harvard University designing surveys with media and foundation partners. 

Bethany joins the Roper Center team as Project Director after working at Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield on technology modernization projects. Prior to Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, she assisted her employers in building production support departments, creating new products, and with business development. Bethany will be using her past experience to help the Roper Center create the new Roper Health Poll Database.