P. Antonio Olmos-Gallo, Ph.D.

P. Antonio Olmos-Gallo obtained a B.S. degree in Cognitive Psychology and a Masters Degree in Applied Statistics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and a Ph.D. from the University of Denver. Dr. Olmos-Gallo has worked for MHCD for the last 10 years, where he has lead the agency in the development of an agency-wide system of outcomes, and program evaluation for MHCD’s programs. Antonio is also associated with the University of Denver Department of Psychology and the Quantitative Research Methods program at the Morgridge College of Education, where he is an instructor teaching graduate courses on quantitative methods. Antonio has published in professional journals and has presented extensively in local, national, and international conferences on topics related to Statistical Methods, Program Evaluation and Instrument Equivalence across different subpopulations. In 2007, Antonio received the Katharine Reed Cummings award for outstanding contributions to program evaluation in Colorado.

E-mail: Antonio.Olmos@mhcd.org

Kate DeRoche, Ph.D.

As a research methodologist, Kate DeRoche’s main  interest is on method improvement for conducting research and evaluations in the social and behavioral sciences. She earned a B.S. in psychology, an MA in Human Neuropsychology, and a Ph.D. on Applied Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research interests include both qualitative and qualitative designs, including: measurement theory (Item Response Theory), longitudinal modeling (latent growth curve models), grounded theory techniques and community-based participatory research techniques.

Michael Hester

Michael Hester has been programming computers since the days of computer punch cards and FORTRAN. He has worked as a professional programmer for almost thirty years. Prior jobs include working for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Valley School District, Neodata Services, as a private contractor, and for Advanced Computer Systems for printers.

Michael has specialized in database and web programming in the languages of English 33, Fortran, C, Perl, Visual DataFlex and C Sharp. His prior specialty was fulfillment inventory systems for large printing companies.

Charles Leon, M.A.

Charles received his Masters Degree in Public Administration, and while doing his Thesis he found out his passion for research.  Before he joined the Evaluation and Research team on 2008, he worked as team leader in MHCD’s Survey Team.  One of his recent projects is researching blogs about mental illnesses.  He also works part time in Health Information Systems as a Health Information Coordinator.

C.J. McKinney, Ph.D. candidate

CJ McKinney earned his Master’s degree in Human Neuropsychology from the University of Northern Colorado, where he is also a Doctoral candidate in Applied Statistics. Prior to working for MHCD, he had 5 years of cognitive and behavioral research experience at both the University of Northern Colorado and University of New Mexico. His current interests include the relationship between Evidence Based Practices and Mental Health Recovery, and the use of advanced statistical methods and graphics to better describe individual change in health indicators

Cecilia Richey, B.S.

Cecilia earned her BS at the University of North Carolina where she double majored in Mathematics and Psychology. After graduation, she accepted a research position at the University of Denver in the Psychology department where she aids in research and measurement design in addition to her primary role as the Data Analyst. Cecilia joined the Evaluation and Research team in 2009 and she continues to explore new data analysis techniques, computer languages and statistical software in order to answer a diverse range of outcome questions.

E-mail: Cecilia.Richey@mhcd.org

Donald G. Sammons

Donald has been an Evaluation and Research team member since 2007. Donald has had a passion for computers since he was first exposed to them, and now exercises that passion every day using data scanners, Statistical software, electronic spreadsheets and relational databases. His current interests are in SQL, MS Access  and programming languages

Sarah Shaw, B.A.

Sarah earned her BS in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. While finishing her undergraduate degree, she completed an internship as a research assistant at the Mental Health Center of Denver where she worked on a groundbreaking study using qualitative ground theory to investigate child mental health recovery resiliency. The results of that study are currently being used to develop a new framework for evaluating Children's mental health recovery and resiliency. She has also participated in the analysis interpretation and dissemination of a larger-scale SAMHSA funded evaluation for HIV prevention in West Denver, a mostly Latino area. Currently, she is leading the evaluation efforts for a SAMHSA funded grant on Mental Health-HIV prevention on minority youth.