Meet the Experts

Welcome to the online home Pew topic specialists. Policy makers, journalists and the public seek their expertise, which is valued for its nonpartisan balance and grounding in sound research.

Shelley A. Hearne

Managing Director
Pew Health Group

Shelley A. Hearne is the managing director of the Pew Health Group at The Pew Charitable Trusts and a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Donald Kimelman

Managing Director
Information Initiatives and the Philadelphia Program

Don Kimelman manages Pew's information initiatives, which are largely carried out by the internationally renowned Pew Research Center. The research center, based in Washington DC, produces timely reports on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It takes no positions on policy issues. In addition, Mr. Kimelman oversees the Philadelphia Program, which includes Pew’s Culture program, its Philadelphia-based Civic Initiatives and the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services.

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John E. Morton

Managing Director
Pew Economic Policy Group

John E. Morton is managing director of the Pew Economic Policy Group at The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Economic Policy Group houses the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative seeking to broaden the current national debate on income inequality to include a more substantive focus on economic mobility and opportunity. The department also focuses on fiscal and budget policy and on highlighting the full extent of government’s engagement in the market economy.

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Joshua S. Reichert

Managing Director
Pew Environment Group

Joshua Reichert heads the Pew Environment Group, which focuses primarily on addressing the problems of climate change, the preservation of large intact wilderness ecosystems, and the protection of the global marine environment.

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Susan K. Urahn

Managing Director
Pew Center on the States

As managing director of the Pew Center on the States, Susan Urahn leads efforts at The Pew Charitable Trusts to help states identify and implement policies that are fiscally sound,  provide a return on investment to taxpayers and, more than ever, help our nation tackle its toughest challenges.

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Nick Bourke

Manager, Safe Credit Cards Project
Pew Health Group

Nick Bourke is manager of the Safe Credit Cards Project at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to developing fact-based solutions to challenging public policy issues.

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Michael G. Caudell-Feagan

Deputy Director
Pew Center on the States

Michael Caudell-Feagan manages the Pew Center on the States Government Performance unit, overseeing the work of the Government Performance Project, Elections Initiatives and the Public Safety Performance Project.

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Allan Coukell

Director, Pew Prescription Project
Pew Health Group

Allan Coukell is a pharmacist and former health reporter. He directs the Pew Prescription Project, a drug-safety initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts to promote consumer safety through reforms in the approval, manufacture and marketing of prescription drugs.

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Lee Crockett

Director, Federal Fisheries Policy Reform Project
Pew Environment Group

Lee Crockett joined the Pew Environment Group in June 2007 as the director of Federal Fisheries Policy. Lee works to establish policies to end overfishing and promote sustainable fishing under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) -- the federal law that governs ocean fish management. 

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Phyllis Cuttino

Director, US Global Warming Campaign
Pew Environment Group

Phyllis Cuttino joined the Pew Environment Group in 2007 as the project director for the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, which played a critical role in passage of the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks in more than 30 years.

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Jane Danowitz

Senior Officer and Director, Mining Law Reform
Pew Environment Group

Jane Danowitz joined the Pew Environment Group in 2002 as a senior officer responsible for the U.S. public lands protection program, which seeks to preserve America’s wilderness areas and undeveloped national forests through federal legislative and regulatory protections.

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Adam Gelb

Director, Public Safety Performance Project
Pew Center on the States

Adam Gelb directs the Public Safety Performance Project, which helps states advance fiscally sound, data-driven sentencing and corrections policies that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections costs.

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Marian A. Godfrey

Senior Director, Culture Initiatives
Pew Charitable Trusts

Marian Godfrey has an extensive background in nonprofit arts management, production, administration, fund raising, strategic planning and grantmaking. Currently the senior director of Culture Initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts, Marian oversees programs that support the arts and heritage in Philadelphia and special civic projects that benefit the region and the nation at large. Prior to arriving at Pew in 1989, Ms. Godfrey has worked for such organizations as Mabou Mines, Dance Theater Workshop, and La Jolla Playhouse. She produced film and video projects, including the feature-length film, “Dead End Kids: A Story of Nuclear Power,” which aired on public television nationwide.

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Lori Grange

Deputy Director
Pew Center on the States

Lori Grange designs and leads strategic initiatives for the Pew Center on the States, which she was instrumental in creating in 2006.

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Douglas Hamilton

Deputy Director, Pew Economic Policy Group
Pew Economic Policy Group

Douglas Hamilton is deputy director of Pew’s Economic Policy Group. He joined Pew after a 24-year career at the Congressional Budget Office, where he served as deputy assistant director of CBO’s Macroeconomic Analysis division. He received an MPP from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Kil Huh

Director, Research
Pew Center on the States

Kil Huh manages the PCS Research and Development staff and agenda.

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Joseph Kennedy

Senior Officer, Pew Economic Policy Group
Pew Economic Policy Group

Joseph Kennedy is a senior officer in Pew's Economic Policy Group. Previously, Joe served as chief economist at the Department of Commerce and senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee. He received a PhD from the George Washington University and a JD from the University of Minnesota.

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Christopher Mann

Senior Officer
Pew Environment Group

Chris Mann joined the Pew Environment Group in 2007, leading a variety of ocean policy and science projects. He currently directs efforts to develop science-based, precautionary standards for marine aquaculture and to advance federal legislation implementing recommendations of the Pew Oceans Commission for ecosystem-based management of U.S. ocean waters.

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Erik Olson

Director, Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs
Pew Health Group

 Erik D. Olson is the director of Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts.  He was deputy staff director and general counsel of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works until November 2008 and has 25 years of experience in environmental policy and consumer advocacy.  Erik is responsible for consumer product safety, including efforts to improve food safety, overhaul toxic chemical regulatory programs to better protect children and other vulnerable people and establish safeguards for emerging risks in consumer products.

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Marcus Peacock

Project Director, Subsidyscope
Pew Economic Policy Group

Marcus Peacock is project director of Subsidyscope. Before coming to Pew, Marcus was deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He also served as associate director for natural resources, energy and science at the Office of Management and Budget, and held several senior committee staff positions in Congress. Marcus received an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

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Marvin Phaup

Project Director, Federal Budget Reform Initiative
Pew Economic Policy Group

Marvin Phaup is project director of the Federal Budget Reform Initiative and is also a research scholar and professorial lecturer at George Washington University. He previously served as deputy assistant director in the Financial Studies group of the Congressional Budget Office’s Macroeconomic Analysis division and as a senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Marvin holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

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Laura Rogers

Project Director, Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming
Pew Health Group

Laura Rogers has nearly 20 years experience in advocacy, public relations, crisis communications, marketing, brand management and fundraising. She serves as the Project Director for Pew Charitable Trusts’ campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

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Charles Taylor

Project Director, Financial Reform Project
Pew Economic Policy Group

Charles Taylor is the Director of the Pew Financial Reform Project. Taylor was formerly the Director of Operational Risk at the Risk Management Association, a Managing Director at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, an Associate Partner at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), and the Executive Director of The Group of Thirty. He holds a B.A. from Cambridge University, an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.

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Neville Vakharia

Director, Cultural Data Project
Pew Charitable Trusts

Neville Vakharia directs the Cultural Data Project, a Web-based data collection, management and reporting tool created to allow cultural organizations to benchmark results and streamline the grants application process, inform grantmaking strategies, and provide a powerful state-by-state tool for cultural policy research and analysis. An emerging national model, the Cultural Data Project is used by thousands of cultural organizations and more than 100 funders throughout the country, with continued growth each year. On behalf of Pew and as the project’s administrator, Neville oversees the operations and strategic expansion of the initiative, including the cultivation of new partners, creation of training programs, coordination of research activities and technical development.

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Aaron Wernham

Project Director, Health Impact Project
Pew Health Group

Aaron Wernham, M.D., is the director of the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts designed to promote the use of health impact assessments (HIAs) and support the growth of the field in the United States.

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Experts Feed

March 15, 2010

Oregon Health Officials, Others Taking a Closer Look at the Problems with Pepper

Food Safety
Erik Olson, Director, Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs, Pew Health Group

An Oregonian article on the risks associated with pepper quotes Erik Olson, director of Pew's...

March 10, 2010

Statement on Congressional Hearing Regarding FDA Drug Safety Reforms

Pew Prescription Project
Allan Coukell, Director, Pew Prescription Project, Pew Health Group

Allan Coukell, director of the Pew Prescription Project, issued a statement today, commenting on a...

March 10, 2010

FDA Says Basic Food Flavors Knew Plant Was Contaminated With Salmonella

Food Safety
Erik Olson, Director, Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs, Pew Health Group

A Washington Post article on a growing recall of processed foods at a plant contaminated...