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Health Systems Research (HSR) welcomes three new American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellows who will begin working with HSR Central Office in September 2025. The AAAS is a global scientific community that works to advance scientific excellence and achievement and provide actionable evidence for public policy advancements. AAAS Fellows are recognized for their achievements across disciplines: from research, teaching, and technology to administration in academia, industry, and government to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public. Election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor. HSR is pleased to welcome these AAAS Fellows: Katie Babcock, PhD, Jessica Barth, PhD, and Kenneth Nimley, PhD.
Katie Babcock, PhD
Dr. Babcock earned her PhD in Anatomy and Neurobiology from Boston University, where she studied under Dr. Ann McKee at the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center Brain Bank, known as the Unite Brain Bank, located at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans’ Hospital. Dr. Babcock has more than a decade of experience studying sports and military-related brain injury, including CTE, with a special focus on how astrocytes (type of brain cell) and blood vessels become altered after repeated head trauma. Dr. Babcock was originally drawn to CTE because of personal connections to sports and the military, and is looking forward to joining HSR, where she can continue to work on issues aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of Veterans. She also has an interest in aging and age-related diseases, and is eager to work on VA’s high-priority objectives, such as drafting a chronic disease research agenda.
Jessica Barth, PhD
Currently, Dr. Barth is an Advanced Health Fellow at the THRIVE Center of Innovation at the VA Providence Healthcare System. A licensed occupational therapist, she has extensive training in clinical and translational science, dissemination, and implementation science. Dr. Barth received her PhD in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis, where her studies focused on developing and validating measurement tools for clinicians using machine learning algorithms to bridge the gap between laboratory-based and real-world assessment of upper limb function. Her research expertise spans rehabilitation outcomes measurement, wearable sensor technologies, stroke recovery, upper-limb prosthetics, and implementation science. Through her AAAS Fellowship, Dr. Barth will bring a unique combination of clinical expertise, advanced research methodologies, and implementation science knowledge to support VA’s mission of improving health outcomes for Veterans.
Kenneth B. Nimley, PhD
Dr. Nimley is a human-centered computing researcher and user experience strategist whose work lies at the intersection of technology, human factors, and socio-technical systems. His research explores how to design and evaluate user-centered technologies in complex, high-stakes environments, with an emphasis on information behavior—how individuals seek, interpret, and use information to make decisions. He earned his PhD in Information Science from Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics, where he focused on mapping workflows and information prioritization to align information systems for better support of decision-making in complex socio-technical environments, particularly in advancing public health technologies and services. As an AAAS Fellow, Dr. Nimley is particularly interested in advancing HSR’s artificial intelligence initiatives, supporting implementation science, and helping develop data-driven decision-support tools that improve health outcomes for Veterans.
