Research Team
Jane H. Brice, MD, MPH serves as the Chair of Emergency Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill, the Orange County EMS Medical Director, and our POG Project Investigator, among other positions and honors. She holds a Medical Degree from UNC Chapel Hill and completed her residency at the University of Pittsburgh. During her undergraduate education, she volunteered with the South Orange Rescue Squad and progressed to the paramedic level prior to receiving her MD. She worked with Durham County EMS for ten years and Carolina Air Care for five years. After joining UNC’s Department of Emergency Medicine, she founded the UNC EMS Fellowship for physicians seeking advanced training in EMS. She is also the Deputy Editor for the leading journal for out-of-hospital medicine, Prehospital Emergency Care. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and gardening.
Julianne Cyr, MPH works as the POG Project Manager. She brings to the team several years of research experience in Emergency Medicine and Public Health and holds a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology and Behavioral Health from Saint Louis University. In her previous roles, she has worked as a Research Assistant, a Statistician, and a Laboratory Scientist. In addition to POG, she works with Dr. Seth Glickman on a project examining prehospital behavioral health care for patients in Wake County, North Carolina. In her free time, Julianne enjoys hiking NC trails with her wife and dog, reading fiction, and trying new cooking recipes.
Lauren Gorstein serves as the Training Specialist for the PECC project, and designs educational courses and testing materials to improve prehospital pediatric medical care. She also serves as an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Collegiate Emergency Medical Services. Ms. Gorstein brings extensive experience in EMS practice, education, and program development. In her previous roles, she has worked as a social researcher, sexual assault victim advocate, and teen dating violence prevention educator.
Emily Forrest is the Research Assistant on POG. She is a former educator and has research experience in public health, food science, and nutrition. She holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from North Carolina State University where she helped develop the university’s beer fermentation lab. While she is not working on the POG project, Emily enjoys weightlifting, cooking for friends and family, and cheering on the Wolfpack.
Brian Barrier is the Director of Education and Support at the EMS Performance and Improvement Center (EMSPIC), a division of the UNC Department of Emergency Medicine. With over 20 years of experience, he is a self-described “general practitioner” within information technology, combining arts and sciences approaches to challenging IT issues. He assists the POG project through the creation and maintenance of the education portal. He also helped develop the infrastructure for the project website. Outside of work, he enjoys shooting off stomp rockets with his children and giving dramatic readings of poetic works such as Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.”
Amar P. Patel, DHSc., MS, NRP serves as the Director of the Center for Innovative Learning at WakeMed Health and Hospitals. He is assisting the POG Project by designing, developing, validating, and implementing educational simulation scenarios for EMS providers. Dr. Patel holds a BA in computer music from Goucher College, an MS in emergency health services education from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a DHSc from Nova Southeastern University. With more than 20 years of experience as a firefighter, paramedic, a hazardous materials technician, and an educator, Dr. Patel has been involved in all aspects of emergency services response, management, and education. He is currently a member of the Carolina Fire Rescue Magazine editorial board and contributes to simulation research, center design, and education methodology articles. Outside of work, Dr. Patel enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, and exploring the outdoors.
Andrew Petrilli, MA is a first-year medical student at the UNC School of Medicine. He has over five years of experience in EMS as a field provider in Wake and Forsyth counties and has presented at the National Collegiate EMS Foundation’s annual conference. He also has previous education experience as an eighth-grade teacher and holds a Master’s Degree in Education. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter in the outdoors.
Former Research Team Members
Mia Ives-Rublee, MSW works as the POG Research Assistant. She has several years of research experience in the social sciences and holds a Master of Social Work degree from the UNC Chapel Hill. She began her career in government as a Rehabilitation Counselor for the NC Division of Vocational Rehabilitation providing direct services to clients with health and mental health issues. In addition to assisting on the POG project, she works with Dr. Glickman on a project examining prehospital behavioral health care for patients in Wake County, North Carolina. Mia enjoys staying physically active, spending time with her dog, and dabbling with amateur photography.
Thomas Hunold works as an undergraduate research assistant. He brings a background knowledge of biostatistics and statistical programming. He is responsible for much of the SAS programming on this project. He plans to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May with a Bachelors of Science in Public Health with majors in Biostatistics and Chemistry before attending medical school at the University of Virginia. In his free time, Thomas enjoys rock climbing, playing tennis, and running.