EMHA Faculty Profiles

Courses Taught  

• Population Health for Health Executives
• Health Information Systems and Informatics

Research Interests  

• Remote Monitoring
• Electronic Medical Records
• Chronic Disease Management

Biography

Cynthia Williams is an Associate Professor in Health Administration in the Department of Health Administration and the EMHA Director. Dr. Williams completed her doctoral work at the University of Central Florida, where she investigated The Quality Effects of Remote Monitoring in Patients with Heart Failure. Dr. Williams’s current research focuses on the quality outcomes of health information technology in chronic disease management and behavioral healthcare.

Contact Information

cynthia.white-williams@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4019 

Courses Taught  

• Strategic Planning and Marketing in Healthcare

Research Interests  

• Financing and Access to Health Care
• Value-Based Purchasing and Quality Care
• Global and Public Health 

Biography

Dr. D. Rob Haley is the Director of the Master in Health Administration Program and an Professor with the University of North Florida's Brooks College of Health’s Department of Health Administration His research is focused on health care quality and patient safety. He served as an evaluator of graduate health administration programs for the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).

Dr. Haley received his Ph.D. in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Public Health, MBA from the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, and MHS from the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. He served as a hospital administrator for a large, integrated health care delivery system and as a Senior Director for Florida Blue. Dr. Haley is a J. William Fulbright Senior Specialist in Global and Public Health for Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and served on the Fulbright Public and Global Health Review Committee.

Contact Information

rhaley@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4039A 

Courses Taught  

• Health Policy and Law

Research Interests  

• Economical Burden of Chronic Disease
• Medicare and Medicaid Financial Reform
• The Relationship between Health Policy and the Behavior of the Healthcare System
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Complex Survey Data Analysis

Biography

Dr. Hamadi came to the UNF August 2014. She received her MS from George Mason University and her PhD from University of South Carolina in Health Services Policy and Management with a concentration in health policy. Her research agenda focuses on (1) the evaluation of health outcome initiatives (HOIs), with an emphasis on cost effectiveness and policy impact of socialdeterminants-focused Health outcome initiatives; (2) the relationship between HOIs and population health, and (3) the evaluation of state-by-state Medicaid-related policies and their impact on reimbursement, physician behavior, and costcontainment efforts. Dr. Hamadi has also collaborated and continues to collaborate in the research area of value-basedpurchasing and quality of hospital care with several faculty members from the MHA program.

Contact Information

h.hamadi@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4017A

Courses Taught  

• Managing Human Resources in Health Care Organizations

Research Interests  

• Health Care Organization
• Organizational Theory
• Population Health
• Health Care Outcomes 

Biography

Sinyoung Park, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Administration at University of North Florida. Dr. Park obtained her doctoral degree in Health Services Research from the University of Florida in 2014 and her M.S. in Health Administration at the University of Colorado at Denver and her M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. Her research areas are in Healthcare Organization, Organizational Theory, and Healthcare Outcomes. Her previous work revolved around analyzing the impact of provider services networks on Florida Medicaid managed care on healthcare process and outcomes. Her current research topics focus on population health management in the hospital industry and patient experience in hospital settings. Particularly, she is interested in hospitals’ commitment to population health and how it translates into patient outcomes. She has published articles in the Journal of Health Care Finance, Journal of Healthcare Management, Journal of Health Administration Education, and others as well as presented at scientific conferences.

Contact Information

sinyoung.park@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4053

Courses Taught  

• Quality Management in Health Care Services
• Leadership and Organizational Behavior in Healthcare Systems

Research Interests  

• Health Care Quality
• Oncology
• Practice Management

Biography

Shyam Paryani attended the University of Florida, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering magna cum laude and a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering/Radiation Physics. He also earned a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of North Florida in 2002. In his second year of college, Doctor Paryani was admitted early to Medical School in the Junior Honors Program. After graduation from Medical School and being inducted into the National Honor’s Society of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), he traveled west to Houston, Texas for his internship. He received training in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas and M.D. Anderson Hospital. Following this, he kept traveling west and landed in Stanford, California, where he received his training in Radiation Oncology. Following the completion of his training in 1983, he returned to Jacksonville to join his father and Doctor Walter Scott in practice. He helped found the Florida Radiation Oncology Group (FROG). He has served on the UNF Foundation Board, College of Health Dean’s Council and the Health Administration Advisory Board. Dr. Paryani was selected as the UNF Distinguished Alumnus in 2007 and the Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Health Administration in 2017.

Contact Information

n00088686@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 3009B

Courses Taught  

• Financial Management for Health Care Organizations
• Research Methods for Healthcare Management 

Research Interests  

• Health Care Economics
• Health Care Finance
• International Health
• Epidemiology

Biography

Jasper holds a Ph.D. degree in Statistics from the University of Georgia, as well as a Master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of North Florida. Prior to joining UNF Jasper has been working at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. since 2009. He has served as leading biostatistician to support multiple projects across JJVCI Global Product Platforms, including Presbyopia and Emerging Technologies. He has been a vital and critical team member in the launch of ACUVUE® Advance Plus and 1-Day ACUVUE® Moist Multifocal contact lenses. In addition, he has been leading a cross functional project to provide a more robust and compliant data model specification to map clinical data. He also oversees the statistical services from a variety of clinical research organization (CRO) partners as well as provides on-site training to qualify their services.

Contact Information

jasper.xu@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4054

Courses Taught  

• Health Economics, Financing and Reimbursement 

Research Interests  

• Organizational Financial Performance
• Quality and Patient Safety
• Value-Based Purchasing
• International Health 

Biography

Dr. Zhao is the Chair of the Department of Health Administration. She received her Ph.D. in Health Services Organizations and Research from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Master in Health Administration from Shandong University, Jinan, China. Dr. Zhao has participated in several research initiatives, including studies of financial pressures affecting hospital quality of care and health promotion and disease prevention services in rural hospitals. She has been the principal investigator for a multiyear grant from the Brooks College of Health Brooks Research Grants in which her research team examined organizational and financial influences on multi-dimensional aspects of nursing home quality of care. She has published widely in numerous journals including Inquiry, Health Policy, Health Care Management Review, Health Services Research, and others. Dr. Zhao won the Outstanding International Leadership award due to her great contribution to propelling the University toward internationalization in spring 2009. She was also the recipient of 2010-2011 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards at UNF. Because of her great achievements in higher education, she obtained the Outstanding Leadership Education Award in 2012 from Jacksonville, Florida. Due to her exceptional contribution to Jacksonville area, she won the City of Jacksonville Mayor’s Asian American Association Board (MAAAB) Outstanding Community Service Award in May, 2015.

Contact Information

mzhao@unf.edu

Building 39, Room 4032