Our Team

Paul Fanikos, RPh, MPA/HA | Chief Operating Officer

Paul is responsible for providing leadership and oversight for the organization’s programs and services that focus on the development of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and outreach to providers and health systems. Paul has more than 25 years’ experience directing disease and pharmaceutical educational programs that are focused on improving patient outcomes, containing costs, and optimizing customer satisfaction levels. Paul has held leadership roles with the country’s largest pharmacy providers and pharmaceutical companies, developing innovative solutions to challenges that impact healthcare practitioners. Paul received his pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and his master’s degree from Suffolk University.

Ellen Dancel, PharmD, MPH | Director of Clinical Materials Development

Ellen was a pharmacist at the Massachusetts General Hospital for ten years prior to joining Alosa Health, serving in various leadership roles. She received her MPH in epidemiology from Boston University where she worked on a project looking for potential economic efficiencies in the global donor-funded antiretroviral market.  As Director of Clinical Materials Development, she leads the development of evidence-based, academic materials, in partnership with clinical experts, and oversees the production of clinical content from concept to completion.

Tony de Melo, RPh | Director of Clinical Education Programs

Tony manages field staff and leads training programs at Alosa Health. He attended Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, where he received a BS in Pharmacy with a minor in Business Administration. Tony’s breadth and depth of experience includes roles as account manager, product marketing and development, as well as leadership positions as a regional manager, associate director of managed markets training and head of sales training for pharmaceutical companies prior to joining Alosa. Throughout his career, Tony has successfully developed and executed marketing, training, and sales solutions to meet business objectives.

Jerry Avorn, MD | Physician Advisor

Dr. Avorn is a graduate of Columbia College and Harvard Medical School; he completed his training in primary care internal medicine within the Harvard medical system. Dr. Avorn pioneered the concept of academic detailing in the 1980s, with the creation, deployment, and evaluation of the first such program. After testing it in a randomized trial in four state Medicaid programs, he went on to study the approach in nursing homes and demonstrated it significantly reduced overuse of antipsychotic drugs and improved the cognitive function of overmedicated patients. Both papers written on these trials were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Avorn practiced internal medicine for over 30 years in ambulatory and in-hospital settings and helped to establish the program in geriatric medicine at Harvard. He is an expert in geriatric medication use, the study of adverse drug effects (particularly in patients with chronic disease), and medication cost-effectiveness analysis, and is the author of chapters on these subjects in the main textbooks in each field, as well being the author or co-author of over 400 papers in the medical literature. Dr. Avorn is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief emeritus of the Division Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, one of the main Harvard teaching hospitals. In 2004 he participated in the founding of the Alosa Health, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing doctors with non-commercial education about medications. He was a co-author of the Institute of Medicine report on the development of trustworthy clinical guidelines, and the author of Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs, published by Knopf and now in its 11th printing.

Michael Fischer, MD, MS | Physician Advisor

Dr. Fischer did his undergraduate work at Harvard College and attended Yale Medical School. At Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Dr. Fischer completed a residency in primary care medicine and has been practicing primary care since 2000. He received an MS degree in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health and is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a widely published health services researcher studying the effects of reimbursement policies and other interventions on influencing physician prescribing and patient outcomes. For several years he headed the physician medication education program at BWH and has worked closely with Drs. Avorn and Choudhry on the Alosa Health programs of academic detailing since their inception in 2005. In this role, he has helped lead the creation of prescriber education materials and taken a central role in training academic detailers for several public sector programs. He is the Principal Investigator of the AHRQ-supported National Resource Center on Academic Detailing, which supports the creation and improvement of academic detailing programs throughout the country.

Irina Matei | Finance Coordinator

Irina administers the flow of revenue and expenses, monthly reconciliations, financial reporting, and oversees the audit and budgeting processes. Irina has been working in non-profit accounting for eleven years. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Bucharest, Romania, and is currently pursuing a degree in Finance and Accounting Management at Northeastern University. She enjoys mathematical challenges and outdoor activities in the Boston area.

Dan McMahon, MPH | Program Director

Dan graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Hampshire with a BA in English, and he received his MPH from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His past work experience includes event planning and sponsorship negotiations, primarily in the medical education and biotech fields.  Among other duties, Dan oversees client support and program tracking, data analysis and management, field staff management, and grant proposals at Alosa.

Mackenzie Rowe, MPH | Program Coordinator

Mackenzie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and her MPH from Boston University. Before studying at BU, she completed two years of service with AmeriCorps: one with Public Allies Delaware and the second with Montclair State University’s Center for Community Engagement. Within these roles Mackenzie coordinated programs, managed databases, and worked to build the capacity of non-profit organizations. At Alosa Health, Mackenzie provides programmatic support for clinical education programs and academic detailer trainings.

Lanae Hicks | Office Administrator

Lanae brings 6 years’ experience in administrative work along with a background in finance. Prior to her role at Alosa, she worked in the events industry supporting daily operations and logistics. Lanae also has experience in the non-profit sector managing payroll, human resources, and other accounting systems for an arts organization in South Boston that focuses on underserved youth.

Jayda Germain, MS | Assistant Program Coordinator

Jayda received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from College of the Holy Cross and a Master of Science in Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. After graduating from Holy Cross, Jayda completed a year as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Boston.

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