Shyama Mahakalanda, PhD, MD, MA

Dr. Shyama Mahakalanda is a program evaluation specialist with experience focused in academia and healthcare. He has provided leadership in conducting training and implementing policy to improve healthcare services and outcomes.

Senior Research Scientist

Organization:

West Virginia University Health Sciences Center

Department:

Health Affairs Institute

Classification:

Staff

• PhD, Public Health-Health Policy, Oregon State University
• MA, Economics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• MD, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• MHA, Asia E University, Malaysia

Carolyn A Mendez-Luck, PhD, MPH, Diana J Govier, MPH, Jeff Luck, MBA, PhD, Esmeralda J Julyan, Shyama Mahakalanda, Angelica P Herrera-Venson, DrPH, MPH, Participation of Latinos in the Diabetes Self-Management Program and Programa de Manejo Personal de la Diabetes, Innovation in Aging, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2020, igaa006, https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa006

As a research associate with the Office of Health Affairs, Shyama monitors and evaluates quality improvement initiatives from data collection and analysis, develops and designs data collection tools, manages and maintains databases. The overarching goal of his work is to develop innovative program evaluation systems to support the decision-making process for programs and policies within the state of West Virginia.

Shyama comes to this position with a background immersed in data analysis and policy development, in not only the U.S. but also in international settings, including Sri Lanka, and Fiji, Tuvalu, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall islands and Republic of Palau. He has experience evaluating Medicaid expansion as well as other government-run programs, allowing him to build proficiency in analyzing data and managing large, complex datasets.