Team
Harry J. Smolen, M.S.
President, CEO, and Founder
Mr. Smolen has successfully led and is currently leading over $9.73
million of projects and grants. These include over 115 commercial
modeling and evidenced-based projects with leading pharmaceutical
and medical device companies, as well as university medical centers.
He is currently/formerly Principal Investigator for six National
Institutes of Health (NIH) research and development grants. Each of
these projects and grants involves(d) the integration, analysis, and
presentation of clinical evidence as well as quantitative analysis of
the benefits and costs of pharmaceuticals or medical devices. Mr. Smolen
is the founder of MDM, and has over seventeen years experience applying
computer simulation and other techniques to analyzing the effectiveness
and cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions. Mr. Smolen is a study
section member of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Healthcare
Delivery and Methodologies review group as well as a member of the NIH
Surgical Sciences, Biomedical Imaging, and Bioengineering review group.
He has also been a peer reviewer for the U.S. Army Medical Research and
Material Command and the NIH's Biomedical Computing and Health Informatics
group. He is an active member in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics
and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), as well as a frequent journal reviewer for
Value in Health, Medical Decision Making, and Health Policy.
He earned an MS from Purdue University in Industrial Engineering with a
concentration in healthcare computer simulation and a BS from the University
of Southern California in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in
computer systems.
Robert W. Klein M.S.
Lead Decision Analyst
Mr. Klein has over 30 years experience focusing on the application of
discrete event simulation and other decision tools to the
cost-effectiveness analysis of healthcare problems. Since joining MDM
in March of 1999, Mr. Klein has overseen the design and analysis of all
pharmacoeconomic models the company has developed. Mr. Klein has authored
or co-authored 24 peer-reviewed publications and more than 30 abstracts
related to modeling. Prior to joining MDM, Mr. Klein was the Decison Analyst
for the Bowen Research Center at Indiana University (1997-1999) and held
several positions at the Regenstrief Institute for Healthcare (1979-1997).
He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Operations Research and the Management
Sciences (INFORMS), the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes
Research (ISPOR), and the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM). He is an
active journal reviewer for ISPOR's Value in Health and SMDM's Medical
Decision Making. Mr. Klein holds three degrees from Purdue University: a
Master's degree in Applied Statistics, a Bachelor's degreee in Industrial
Engineering, and a Bachelor's degree in Statistics.
Lee J. Smolen, B.S.
Lead Software Developer
Lee has over 29 years experience in the design, development, and implementation
of software systems, concentrating on the modeling of interactive processes.
He has led all MDM pharmacoeconomic software design projects for the past
eleven years. During his tenure with MDM he has directed the development of
of a variety of health outcomes-related software projects, including budget
impact models, cost-effectiveness analysis models, disease progression models,
and customized analysis tools. Lee has designed and developed projects in a
number of software design environments and for a number of disease areas. The
design environments include MDM's Java-based CafeSIM development environment;
TreeAge; and Microsoft Visual Basic, Excel, and Access products. Lee has
worked in a diverse range of disease areas, including: osteoporosis, urology,
oncology, neuroscience, cardiology, and diabetes. In terms of model structure
and design, he has implemented medical decision models as decision trees,
Markov chains, Monte Carlo-based microsimulations, and time-to-event simulations.
Previous to joining MDM, Mr. Smolen enjoyed a successful career as a Senior
Computer Systems Engineer with the international technical services division of
General Electric, heading software iplementation projects in eight different
countries over a 19-year period. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Nicolas M. Furiak, M.S.
Senior Decision Analyst, Software Developer
Mr. Furiak has 9 years of experience with MDM as a project designer,
manager, researcher, and programmer. His specialty is in initiating
research and design of new disease and therapeutic areas. He has led
projects at MDM that include a disease state microsimulation for
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which was ultimately used to
identify population segments and medical comorbities that coorelate
with opportunities to improve care for GAD patients. Also, Mr. Furiak
has lead MDM's research and design of a microsimulation for the
treatment of patients with schizophrenia. He has also served as
co-investigator on several of MDM's NIH SBIR grant projects which
included microsimulation of diabetes and its complications for use at
the point of care and more recently, a discrete event simulation of
hospital residency programs. Mr. Furiak earned his B.S. and M.S.
Degrees from Ball State University in Physics specializing in research
of stellar evolution.
Timothy M. Klein, B.S.
Software Programmer, Developer
Since starting with MDM in 2006, Mr. Klein has led MDM's efforts to
leverage discrete event simulation techniques to simulate resource
availability and usage in an emergency room setting, research funded by
the NIH. Additionally, Mr. Klein has served as lead decision analyst on
MDM's NIH Diabetes Modeling Project. He has also worked on
standardization of software development in MDM's Java development
toolkit and has advanced MDM's approach to software interfaces in Excel
spreadsheets using Visual Basic. Mr. Klein earned his B.S. from Purdue
University as a dual major in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Julie A. Myers, B.S.
Health Economics Research Analyst
Ms. Myers joined MDM in 2007. She has earned a B.S. in Biology from
Purdue University with Academic Honors. She comes to MDM with
experience as a researcher at Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis, IN. She
is currently finishing her Master's Degree in Public Health with a
concentration in Epidemiology from the Indiana University School of
Medicine.
Ron Wielage, M.P.H.
Health Economics Research Analyst, Programmer
Mr. Wielage joined MDM in 2007. He has over 15 years experience
programming in a variety of languages and database management systems
working principally in the health and life insurance fields. His
educational background includes a B.M. from the University of Nebraska
and M.A. from the University of Illinois at Springfield. He has
recently completed his Master's Degree in Public Health with a
concentration in Epidemiology from the Indiana University School of
Medicine.
Christopher A. Bly, B.A.
Research Analyst
Mr. Bly joined MDM in November 2007. He has earned a B.A. in Chemistry
from Wabash College. He previously worked as an analyst in the
financial and mortgage industry. He is currently pursuing a graduate
degree at Indiana University.
Kimmer L. Graham, M.M.S.
Research Analyst
Mr. Graham started at MDM in September 2008. He earned a Master's Degree in Medical Science
from Drexel University after obtaining a B.A. in Chemistry from Wabash College. He previously
researched at Thomas Jefferson University while earning his M.M.S.
Emily P. Petrack, M.M.S.
Research Analyst
Ms. Petrack joined MDM in October 2008. She earned her Master's Degree in Medical Science from
Drexel University after graduating cum laude from Bucknell University with a B.S. in Biology.
She previously did research at Jefferson Medical College's Kimmel Cancer Center while working on
her M.M.S.
Megha Bansal, M.A.
Health Economics Research Analyst
Ms. Bansal joined MDM in June 2009. She obtained her B.A (H) and M.A. degrees in Economics from
India. She completed a second M.A. from Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI)
in May 2009 with more emphasis on applied economics and econometric modeling. Previous to MDM,
she worked with The Regenstrief Institute Inc., Indianapolis for 2 years as a graduate assistant.