Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC)
Current Fellows
Sarah Bochat, AuD, PhD, CCC-A
Fellowship Period: 2025 - present
Fellowship Track: Independent Investigator
Dr. Sarah Bochat is a clinical audiologist and early-career investigator. She is returning to the VAPORHCS after earning her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of South Florida. Clinically, she specializes in working with older adults with hearing loss to rehabilitate their sensory impairment using hearing aids. This clinical interest is central to her research. In her recent doctoral work, she examined the influence of hearing aid use on psychosocial and physical outcomes—such social and physical activity—in middle-aged and older adults with hearing loss. During the fellowship, she looks forward to expanding this line of research. She aims to take meaningful steps towards her long-term career goal of leveraging clinical interventions to enhance the quality of life of older Veterans with hearing loss. She also has the unique opportunity during the fellowship to receive mentorship from CIVIC and the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR). This mentorship will allow her to develop expertise in health services research while building on her foundation as an audiologist.
Professional Interests and Goals: "Under the guidance of CIVIC and the NCRAR, I aim to become a health services research methodologist who develops, tests, and adapts interventions and rehabilitative programs that improve the lives of Veterans with hearing loss. I am particularly interested in clinical interventions that improve functional health outcomes such as social engagement and effective hearing aid management."
Why did you apply to the Fellowship with CIVIC?
"I applied for the CIVIC fellowship to deepen my methodological skill set related to qualitative and quantitative methods, implementation frameworks, and program evaluation. Strengthening these skills will allow me to use comprehensive, patient-centered approaches to identify areas where interventions are needed, what components should be included, and how they can be delivered effectively while overcoming barriers to implementation. "
"I also greatly enjoyed my previous experience at the VAPORHCS! In 2019, I completed the final year of my audiology doctoral program at the NCRAR and within the clinical audiology department. I missed the culture of the VAPORHCS, and after earning my Ph.D., I was eager to return!"
What projects are you or will you be working on?
"I am excited to contribute to multiple, ongoing clinical trials at CIVIC and the NCRAR related to loneliness, cognitive rehabilitation, and diverse applications of hearing aid intervention!"
Brooke Jespersen, PhD
Fellowship Period: 2023 - present
Fellowship Track: Independent Investigator
Dr. Brooke Jespersen received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 2023, where she developed expertise in cross-cultural aging, migration, and qualitative methods. Her research projects are united by an interest in how individuals and families pursue well-being and meaningful lives, despite constraints at multiple levels of the environment. For example, Dr. Jespersen employed remote ethnographic methods to understand the role of migration in older Puerto Rican adults’ quests for a subjective good old age. By tracing older adults’ quests across space and time, she showed how nation-state power structures beyond US migration law simultaneously condition migration as a strategy for the pursuit of a good old age and contribute to the inequitable circumstances that make a good old age hard to find for some groups. Dr. Jespersen has additionally published work on how neighborhood structural factors and social processes contribute to child well-being. She holds an M.A. in Medical Anthropology and Global Health from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. in Anthropology and Spanish from Western Washington University.
Professional Interests and Goals: Dr. Jespersen’s future research aims to improve access to, and delivery of, healthcare services for older adults in rural areas. She is especially interested in the relationship between healthcare access, geriatrics, and the ability of older adults in rural areas to “age in the right place,” or places that align with their preferences and needs.
Why did you apply to the Fellowship with CIVIC?
"In my dissertation research, I learned that older adults in rural areas of Puerto Rico faced many barriers to accessing health services. These barriers contributed to their decisions to migrate to the US mainland, even if they would have preferred to spend old age in Puerto Rico. While some aspects of this process are specific to Puerto Rico’s neocolonial status, the struggle to access health services is common to older adults in rural areas throughout the United States. I pursued the CIVIC fellowship to acquire the methodological and topical training necessary to transition to an applied research career focused on improving healthcare access and quality of life for rural older adults. CIVIC’s strengths in rural health, healthcare access, and Veteran engagement also made the fellowship a great fit."
What projects are you or will you be working on?
"I anticipate working on projects related to healthcare access and delivery in rural areas, aging, chronic multi-symptom illnesses (e.g. Gulf War Illness), and home- and community-based models of care."
Kate LaForge, PhD
Fellowship Period: 2025 - present
Fellowship Track: Independent Investigator
Kate recently graduated from the University of San Francisco California, where she received her PhD in Sociology. Her research spans three main areas including mental health and suicide prevention, chronic pain, and substance use. Kate is a mixed methods researcher, with expertise in one-on-one interviewing, qualitative analysis, and survey design. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing from her academic training in public health and sociology, experience as a health services researcher, and time volunteering as a Crisis Text Line counselor. She is excited to be a Health Services Fellow at the VA, continuing to learn and refine her research skills and contributing to CIVIC’s vital research portfolio.
Professional Interests and Goals: "Drawing from my academic training in public health and sociology, I aim to build a research portfolio at the intersection of suicide, technology, and mental health services. Ultimately, my aim is to further our understanding of suicide and design and improve technological tools to ameliorate the burden of suicidality. Through my work, I aim to create real-world impact and improved services for Veterans and those suffering from mental illness."
Why did you apply to the Fellowship with CIVIC?
"The CIVIC fellowship was appealing to me for many reasons. CIVIC hosts a wealth of talented interdisciplinary researchers. The CIVIC research portfolio is diverse in its methods and topics areas, I was eager to learn alongside the many talented clinicians and social scientists who call CIVIC their professional home. I am also thrilled to be in the open, collaborative environment at CIVIC, participating in local and national Early Career Professionals groups. As a long-time Portland resident, I was excited about the opportunity to continue to build professional connections in Oregon and improve the health of Oregonians."
What do you hope to gain from the fellowship?
"I have two primary goals. First, I am eager to expand my methodological toolkit by learning advanced quantitative methodologies, working with large data sets, and exploring implementation science through self-learning and co-authoring publications. Second, I aim to develop a Career Development Award Proposal exploring suicide-related services for Veterans. "
What projects are you or will you be working on?
"I will be working alongside my mentors and CIVIC investigators on projects related to suicide, suicide prevention, and crisis lines. "
Emily Masucci, PhD
Fellowship Period: 2024 - present
Fellowship Track: Independent Investigator
Dr. Emily Masucci received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Oregon. Her dissertation research broadly explored the social determinants that shape access to health and social services for survivors of intimate-partner violence (IPV), particularly among low-income women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At CIVIC, Emily hopes to continue exploring questions pertaining to women’s health, IPV risk and resilience, and access/barriers to care for help-seeking survivors. She is eager to collaborate with CIVIC researchers to explore how these issues intersect with other variables specific to the lives of women Veterans.
Professional Interests and Goals: Dr. Masucci’s research focuses on women’s health and experiences of care, particularly as they relate to intimate-partner violence (IPV) and associated social determinants of health, including social and community support, housing stability, and access to care. Her primary professional goal is to develop projects that bridge the gap between research and policy in order to improve the quality, efficacy, and accessibility of health care and social services.
Why did you apply to the Fellowship with CIVIC?
"I was attracted to CIVIC, in large part, for its strong emphasis on mentorship, collaboration, and impact. Specifically, I found CIVIC to be a research environment that a) uplifts early career researchers—providing the methodological training and professional development opportunities necessary to advance an applied research career; b) prioritizes collaborative research—engaging multiple stakeholder groups in the process of designing and conducting research; and ultimately c) produces impactful research designed to improve care for communities in Oregon and beyond. Put simply, CIVIC checked all my boxes!"
What do you hope to gain from the Fellowship?
"My primary aim is to cultivate a research identity around IPV and access to care, and to acquire the skills and experience necessary to advance a career in health systems research—including methodological training (i.e. mixed methods and implementation science), a strong publication record, relationships with community and operational partners, and applied research experience."
What projects are you or will you be working on?
"As a CIVIC fellow, I anticipate working on projects related to women’s health, IPV, and access to care and drawing on a social determinants of health framework to understand their associations with social environmental factors such as housing, income, rurality, and social support. I look forward to collaborating with Dr. Anais Tuepker and community partners to understand the importance of Veteran-led community spaces of care for reducing isolation, addressing trauma, and facilitating healing; as well as with Dr. Kathleen Carlson on projects related to firearm injury prevention among rural Veterans."
