Meet the PhD Students

Devoja Ganguli Heading link

Devoja Ganguli Headshot

Devoja Ganguli is a doctoral candidate in Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has a background in health economics and econometrics. Her research focuses on maternal and child health, behavioral health access, and healthcare utilization among vulnerable populations. She is currently working on evaluating Medicaid policies impacting health among pregnant and postpartum mothers.

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Mingjian Li Heading link

Mingjian Li Headshot

Mingjian Li’s research focuses on how government policies and programs affect individual choices and behaviors. He views the government as the biggest entity in society, impacting millions of people regardless of the policy size. Specifically, he explores the effect of the Children’s Health Insurance Program on people’s working hours and examines whether the Affordable Care Act has reduced labor participation rates.

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Rhea Nigli Heading link

Rhea Nigli Headshot

Rhea Nigli is a doctoral candidate in Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois Chicago. She holds an MPH in epidemiology and has experience as a forensic epidemiologist. Her research interests include maternal and child health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and substance use disorders. She is currently focused on evaluating state autism policies and the impact of neighborhood factors on maternal outcomes.

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Aline Vandenbroeck Heading link

Aline Vandenbroeck Headshot

Aline Vandenbroeck holds a BSc (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and MSc (Ghent University) in Economics. Her research interests include health economics, gender, migration, and reproductive policy. Her dissertation will examine how restrictive abortion policies influence women’s behaviors. She has also conducted research under Dr. Lisa M. Powell on food marketing and evaluation of food policies in the U.S.

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Mingyang Zhang Heading link

Mingyang Zhang Headshot

Mingyang is a Ph.D. student in health policy and administration at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. His research focuses on Health Economics, including cognitive aging, health policy, and population health.

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Highlighted HPA PhD Alumni Heading link

Joseph Benitez

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Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky, Martin School of Public Health

Onyinye Enyia Daniel

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Vice President, Data & Analytics Strategy at Highmark Health

Diane Howard

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Professor and Chair, Health Systems Management at Rush University

Jared Maeda

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Principal Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, Nonpartisan analysis for the U.S. Congress

Samantha Marinello

Samantha Marinello

Postdoctoral Research Associate & Adjunct Professor at UIC School of Public Health – Health Policy and Administration