The Johns Hopkins ACG® R&D Laboratory represents a focal point for moving advances in health services research into practice. Formed within the Health Services Research and Development Center, the laboratory brings together clinical, informatics, statistics, and health services research expertise from across the University to support the evolution and expansion of the ACG toolkit. The Laboratory consists of a small core team of dedicated statistical analysts and programmers that is allied with a much larger group of affiliated staff and faculty who bring their special expertise to inform particular projects. Resultant products are then further refined and tested within Johns Hopkins Healthcare.
ACG System Research and Development Lab
David Bodycombe, ScD, MSc
Dr. Bodycombe is responsible for formulating and overseeing the R&D agenda of the lab. He is actively engaged in all phases of moving the work of the lab from initial conceptualization, methodological design, and analytics, to deployment and publication. He has nearly 40 years of experience in statistics, the design and construction of large clinical and epidemiologic databases, statistical programming, and information technology applications development.
Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty, Dr. Bodycombe served as Vice President of Analytics for Premier Inc., a major quality improvement and supply chain management organization. In addition, he was Director of Research for the American College of Cardiology. He has also consulted on a wide range of projects concerning prison healthcare, Native American sanitation programs, and HIV in minority communities.
Dr. Bodycombe holds a ScD in Health Policy and Management and a Baccalaureate degree in Biology from the Johns Hopkins University, as well as an MSc in Biostatistics from Georgetown University.
Chad Abrams, MA
Mr. Abrams has been a member of the ACG System Team since 1994. Today his primary responsibilities include managing the administrative and research activities of the ACG System Research and Development Team. He serves as a liaison to DST ’s Healthcare Group, the Johns Hopkins University’s (JHU) partner for the development and commercial marketing of the ACG System software. He serves also as a consultant to the software's myriad academic users. Mr. Abrams has extensive programming experience with SAS, AUTOGRP, and PC-Group software and is an author of several academic articles concerning the application of ACGs. Additionally, Mr. Abrams is a key member of the ACG International Team, acting as a liason with JHU in Baltimore as well as the project manager for numerous projects worldwide.
Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Abrams worked at the Urban Institute in Washington DC. Mr. Abrams holds a Masters of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California at Davis and a Baccalaureate from the College of William and Mary.Klaus Lemke, PhD, MSc
Dr. Lemke has been a member of the ACG System’s Team since 1998. A statistician by training, his primary expertise is in the development, management and analysis of health services data with an emphasis on applying risk-adjustment methodologies. Dr. Lemke is a SAS Certified Professional with extensive experience in the analysis of large administrative databases. His prior experience includes work as a Research Statistician for the Maryland Health Care Commission. Dr. Lemke is also the primary contact for all ACG System projects in Germany and has ensured the successful on-going use of the ACG System there.
Dr. Lemke received a Ph.D. degree in Statistics and Industrial Engineering with a concentration in Operations Research from Iowa State University in 1992. He also holds an M.Sc. degree in Statistics from the University of Georgia. Dr. Lemke has co-authored several research articles that required in-depth knowledge of the ACG Case-Mix System.
Huiyuan Zhang, MD, MS
Dr. Zhang has been a member of the ACG System Team since 2007. Her primary expertise is in the development, management and analysis of health services data. She has extensive programming experience with SAS and provides technical support to the Team. Dr. Zhang is also an integral part of the ACG International efforts in Asia, offering her analytical skills to projects there.
Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Zhang worked as a research analyst at Northwestern University (2004-2007) and as a PC system specialist at the University of Chicago (2003-2004). She worked as a practing Ob-Gyn for more than three years in the First Hospital of Anhui Medical University, the leading hospital in China's Anhui province.
Dr. Zhang received a Master degree of Computer Science from Loyola University in 2002 and was a Master degree candidate of Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago before joining the University of Chicago staff. She graduated from Anhui Medical University in China and obtained her Bachelor of Clinical Medicine in 1995.
