The

Current Team

Amy D’Agata, PhD, RN

Principal Investigator

Amy is a nurse scientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island. She was recently named the RHODE Study PI after joining Dr. Mary Sullivan and the RHODE Study in 2019. Previously, Amy practiced as a bedside nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit, caring for sick and prematurely born infants and their families. As a researcher, she has been studying how these early life experiences may impact later life health and development. Her undergraduate education was earned from the University of Saint Joseph and graduate education from the University of Connecticut. Her dissertation work explored the relationship of NICU stress and genetic variation on preterm infant neurobehavior. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of South Florida where she studied the gut microbiome of preterm infants. Amy is passionate about working with the RHODE study participants to advance our scientific understanding about how to promote the healthiest outcomes for individuals born preterm.

Mary Sullivan, PhD, RN, FAAN

Co-Investigator

Mary is a nurse scientist and Professor Emerita at the University of Rhode Island. She has been with the RHODE Study project since 1990 when the participants were toddlers. At that time, the Infant Development Study was located at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. She is thrilled to be a co-investigator for the 10th follow-up study. Her scholarly focus is developmental pediatrics, particularly the outcomes of premature infants. Across her career, she has studied health, function and development of infants in complex models involving longitudinal research designs. The RHODE Study is very special because of the dedication of the participants - both those born full-term and pre-term - and their families across more than 30 years! Likewise, the research teams across the years have also been dedicated and amazing. Together, the Rhode Island Cohort of Adults Born Preterm is making a mark on advancing the knowledge of prematurity outcomes to help those born early today and tomorrow.

Dr. Eaton is Professor of Family Medicine and Epidemiology. He has been at Brown for the past 30 years and is Director of the Center for Primary Care & Prevention, including its Clinical Studies Center.  Dr. Eaton is principal investigator for multiple epidemiologic studies and clinical trials, including: WHISH 2 Prevent Heart Failure-a large (40,000 women) pragmatic primary prevention exercise trial; Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in Heart Failure: A cross-cohort collaboration; site PI of the ASPREE, aspirin trial and its extension; PI of the clinical center of the landmark Osteoarthritis Initiative, now in its 18th year, and co-lead of the Community engagement Core of the RI-Advance CTR. Our Center has evaluated over 20,000 participants over the past decades including clinical exams, phlebotomy, cardiopulmonary testing, carotid IMT, coronary artery calcification, DEXA, body composition, doubly labelling water caloric assessments, fat and skin biopsies, X-rays, MRIs, dietary assessments, and accelerometry. Center professionals provide support for survey development, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, database development, data cleaning and statistical analysis.

Pam is a cardiac nurse practitioner currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Rhode Island. Pam earned her Bachelor's degree in Nursing from Villanova University and her graduate degree from Loyola University of Chicago. Most of Pam’s clinical experience has been at large tertiary centers in Chicago, involving all areas of cardiology from cardiac rehab and cardiac catheterization lab to bypass surgery and heart transplant.  Pam joined the RHODE Study team in 2019. In her free time, Pam enjoys spending time with her 3 awesome kids, sailing with her husband, and playing on a women’s softball team. Pam is fascinated with exploring the cardiovascular health of preterm born young adults.

Zach received his BS in Psychology from the University of Kansas where he was involved with research for 2 years focusing on peer victimization. His professional goal is to earn a graduate degree in pediatric psychology, focused on medical adherence and trauma from chronic illnesses. In his free time Zach enjoys watching sports and taking in the New England outdoors.

Susan McCormack is a senior laboratory technician at the Center for Primary Care and Prevention. She has been associated with the Center and Kent Hospital/Care New England for more than 40 years and been involved in more than 15 clinical research studies. Susan is responsible for assuring that your blood samples are properly collected and processed. It is very delicate work to process each sample using a centrifuge, transfer of blood to cryovials, and small pipettes. Because Susan is meticulous in her technique, we know that these important blood samples will be ready for shipment and analyses by our partnering laboratories in Boston and Chicago. Susan enjoys time away at Prudence Island and sharing special times with family and friends.

Maura Reilly, Madison Oratio

Undergraduate Research Fellows 

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Mary Roberts

Statistician