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Matthew McCaa, MSOT is a dedicated healthcare professional and researcher with a diverse background in military service, psychology, and occupational therapy. He began his career as an Aircraft Rescue Firefighter in the United States Marine Corps, where he developed a strong commitment to service and public safety. He has worked as a case manager in a transitional housing program supporting Veterans who experienced homelessness and joined the VA in 2014 to support the implementation of the Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution program. He currently works on projects related to pain management and palliative care. Mr. McCaa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles and Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University in the City of New York.
Matt is excited to contribute to the Veteran Engagement Panel as a co-facilitator to support the inclusion of Veteran ideas and feedback into research and evaluation projects.
Kayla Gray is an accomplished research project manager with a strong background in in healthcare research, data analysis and policy development. She is passionate about improving healthcare operations and patient outcomes. She currently serves on the VA's Virtual Care CORE to support projects generating evidence in telehealth effectiveness that will shape national policies to enhance healthcare access for Veterans. Before joining VA in 2021, Kayla's work focused on teaching behavioral and social skills to at-risk youth. Kayla earned her Masters degree in Research and Experimental Psychology at San Jose State University.
Kayla will serve as a co-facilitator of the Veteran Engagement Panel and lead communications with panel members and the VA research community. She looks forward to working closely with our VA community and incorporating their voices into future research projects.
Cindie Slightam, MPH is a project manager and currently leads several projects that aim to incorporate Veteran perspectives on video visits and virtual care. She has worked at the VA for 15 years and has experience working on a variety of projects ranging from testing new treatments for PTSD, leading nutrition education and developing community gardens and collaborative programs to support caregivers. She is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and completed her undergraduate degree at Mills College (Biopsychology) and her Masters in Public Health from San Jose State University.
Cindie will support many of the activities that occur in the background to help the panel run smoothly. She looks forward to making sure Veteran voices are incorporated into new projects and that research projects are able to adapt their materials and projects to be accessible to all Veterans.
Donna Zulman, MD, MS, is Associate Director of VA Palo Alto’s Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i) and serves as one of the Principal Investigators for VA’s Virtual Care Consortium of Research. Dr. Zulman has been a primary care physician and researcher in the VA system since 2008. Her research focuses on improving health care delivery for veterans with complex medical and social needs and optimizing health-related technology to improve access, quality of care, and outcomes. After completing medical school at UCLA and Internal Medicine training at the University of Michigan, she received a Masters in Health and Health Care Research at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor VA.
Dr. Zulman will support the research community in bringing their project ideas to the panel and will ensure that panel feedback is incorporated at a variety of research project stages.
