Research Board

Our interdisciplinary research board selects QUOI grantees. In the past, it also has mentored and advised grantees to produce research that addresses pressing social, political, and economic problems facing contemporary societies.

Alan B. Cohen, Sc.D., is a Research Professor in the Markets, Public Policy, and Law Department at the Boston University Questrom School of Business, and Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health.  He also serves as Editor of The Milbank Quarterly, a leading multidisciplinary journal of population health and health policy.  From 1992 to 2016, he directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Program and, from 2013 to 2018, he also directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research Program.  At BU since 1994, he was Executive Director of the University’s Health Policy Institute from 2003 to 2013, and directed the Questrom School’s Health Care MBA Program from 1994 to 2003.  Earlier in his career, Dr. Cohen held faculty positions at Johns Hopkins University and Brandeis University, and was Vice President for Research and Evaluation at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Dr. Cohen is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.  He received his B.A. in psychology with honors from the University of Rochester, and his M.S. and Sc.D. in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Steven J. Hoeschele has received two degrees in electrical engineering: his baccalaureate from the University of Notre Dame and his M.S. from Pennsylvania State University. For the past twenty-five years, he has been a research team member and team leader at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For ten years, he specialized in the development of micro-machined, inertial-measurement instruments. For the past fifteen years, he has served as Lead Technologist in the development of radiation-hardened microelectronics for the Trident Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile -- in which capacity he has managed and coordinated the contributions of sub-contractor teams located throughout the United States.

Cindy A. Lewis’ professional background includes 13 years as an in-house corporate lawyer, where her primary responsibilities were to advise on environmental, health and safety law. She later got a Masters in Education and taught history to 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in Arlington, MA. She is currently acting as a special needs educational advocate, in particular to kids who are or have been in state custody. Ms. Lewis received her B.A. at Middlebury College, her J.D. at Boston College Law School, and her M.Ed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Matthew R. Minier received his B.A. in Philosophy at Colgate University. He is a CFA charter holder and is a regular member of CFA Society Boston.  Since 2000, he has worked at Equity Resource Investments, LLC, where he currently serves as a principal in charge of fund management.

Mark S. Thompson holds the first Ph.D. conferred by Harvard University in the field of Public Policy.  Between 1975 and 1983, he was Assistant, then Associate Professor at Harvard University, teaching courses on decision science, game theory, and social program evaluation at the Harvard School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.  He has been a visiting professor at the Université de Paris and the Universität Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.  Since 1983, he has served as Treasurer, then (and currently) as President of Equity Resources Group, Inc., a small, specialized investment firm located in Cambridge, MA, and affiliated with Equity Resource Investments, LLC. He has sole-authored four books, most recently, Disputed Decisions of World War II:  Decision Science and Game Theory Perspectives (McFarland, 2020).

Nicolas Jofre (staff) runs the product function for a financial technology startup in the credit decisioning space based in Orange County, CA. Prior to his current role, Nic worked in philanthropy, investing in mission-driven social impact organizations. He also managed a non-profit start-up in the k-12 education space. He holds a BA in Social Studies from Harvard College.