About Helen Mach
Job title: Research Specialist (on call)
Degrees: BS, MA, PhD ’18
Career stage: Mid-career
State of practice: Philadelphia, PA
Current practice settings: Research – academic, Public health / nonprofit
Lived career experiences/transitions:
- Changing specialty
- Work/Life balance
- International Development
- Non-profit research and evaluation
Graduation year from the UW School of Medicine: 2018
Research or other professional interests: Caregivers of people with neurologic conditions (currently focused on Parkinson and atypical parkinsonism) with communication disabilities; strategic oversight of research and evaluation at nonprofits related to rehabiliation science in international development
Helen’s Bio: I have experience working across different sectors and in different roles related to research and practice. I have clinical experience as a speech-language therapist working with children and adults in education and healthcare settings in the U.S. Most recently, I served as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Jamaica in the role of a Speech Therapy Advisor. I am also currently a volunteer Director of Data Strategy and Evaluation at the International Rehabilitation Forum, a non-profit focused on developing and sustaining Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Allied Health services to people with disabling conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lastly, I am an on-call Research Specialist at Michigan State University where I advise on qualitative and mixed-methods research, pursuing projects that are focused speech conditions in people with Parkinson disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonism (APD), and adapting a tool for measuring third-party disability in caregivers of individuals with these conditions. Sitting at the intersection of research and evaluation, data, and community voices, my career goal is to bridge evidence into strategic decision-making at a systems level to help organizations advance their mission in healthcare domestically and globally.