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SHADAC Leadership Transition Announcement
November 25, 2024:
After more than 25 years of work and dedication to health policy research and to the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) Founding Director & Principal Investigator Dr. Lynn Blewett has announced her decision to begin a phased retirement. Deputy Director Elizabeth Lukanen will step into the role of SHADAC Director on January 1, 2025.
Dr. Blewett’s work as a founding director of SHADAC leaves a lasting impact on the University and on the many students and staff who have had the privilege of working with her. Dr. Blewett created a thriving health policy center aimed at bridging the gap between research and policy. Her dedication to collaboration throughout her career has created a work environment that embraces different perspectives and individuals with expertise from a wide field of disciplines.
Deputy Director Elizabeth Lukanen, reflects, “Lynn did something bold when she created SHADAC by centering the needs of policymakers at the heart of her research. She has created a place where methodological rigor and applied practice go hand-in-hand, and the translation of results is a top priority. We are so grateful for her vision and excited to continue her legacy.”
Dr. Blewett founded SHADAC recognizing the need to connect policymakers, community members, and researchers to accessible data and information on health and health care. This important work, and the passion for it, will continue as SHADAC’s Deputy Director, Elizabeth Lukanen, takes over the role of Director. During her phased retirement, Dr. Blewett will transition to a Senior Advisor role.
“I am so proud of the contributions SHADAC has made to state health policy over the past 25 years,” says Blewett. “As the policy environment has undergone massive shifts, our researchers have grown & evolved, but never wavered from our commitment to provide practical, data-driven research and guidance to policymakers. Under Elizabeth’s leadership, I am confident SHADAC will continue to serve this role for years to come.”
As SHADAC’s Deputy Director, Elizabeth oversees center research, providing strategic direction and oversight. In this capacity, she manages SHADAC’s work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) State Health & Value Strategies (SHVS) project, providing technical assistance to state policymakers and Medicaid agencies on a variety of topics, including: innovative data solutions to inform insurance exchange outreach efforts; designing evaluations to meet 1115 evaluation requirements; filling gaps in data on social determinants of health; measuring health disparities; efforts to enhance health equity; monitoring eligibility and enrollment performance; and designing analysis and modeling to inform coverage and access policy.
Ms. Lukanen also serves as the Principal Investigator on a project that provides technical assistance, data analysis, and statistical modeling to inform Medicaid policy for the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) using a wide variety of federal surveys.
Before joining SHADAC, Ms. Lukanen served as a Senior Research Economist at the Minnesota Department of Health Economics Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from McGill University and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University.
While leadership may be changing here at SHADAC, our values are not. Thanks to the strong foundation and culture that Dr. Blewett built along with Ms. Lukanen’s experience and leadership, we will continue to work collaboratively to provide accessible, relevant, and important data & information to states, community members, and policymakers.
