PPRNet Team

Steven Ornstein, M.D.

Professor of Family Medicine

Founder – PPRNet 

Dr. Ornstein trained in the Department of Family Medicine and joined the faculty in 1985. Dr. Ornstein is the director of the Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet), a national research of sites that use electronic medical records. His professional interests include health promotion and computers in medicine.
ornstesm@musc.edu 

Ruth Jenkins, PhD

Research Assistant Professor/Investigator 

Dr. Jenkins joined the Department of Family Medicine in 1987 as a Research Programmer/Specialist and Statistician. She completed her PhD in 2005 in Medical Informatics from MUSC's Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology and joined the Family Medicine faculty in 2006. She is the Information Manager for the Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet), a national primary care research network of practices that use electronic medical records. Her interests include Medical Informatics, Biomedical Statistical Computing and Information Management, EMRs, Quality Improvement, and Chronic Disease Management Research.
jenkinsr@musc.edu 

Loraine Roylance, MA

PPRNet Program Coordinator

Ms Roylance earned her Bachelor degree from Southern Illinois University and Masters Degree in Information Resource Management from Webster University.  She is the PPRNet Coordinator for PPRNet recruitment and has served as Program Manager on several PPRNet research funded projects.  
roylanlf@musc.edu

Carol Lambourne, PhD
PPRNet Analyst
Dr. Lambourne, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, is a co-investigator on the PPRNet research team.  She has several years experience in project management, data collection and management, and data analysis, in the evaluation of health outcomes from novel treatments and interventions as well as quality improvement in primary care. 
lambourc@musc.edu

Cara Litvin, MD
PPRNet Investigator
Dr. Litvin, Clinical Instructor in the MUSC Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, is currently a Health Services Research/Academic Generalist Fellow. She has worked with the PPRNet research team on several projects.
litvincb@musc.edu

Lynne Nemeth, PhD
Investigator
Dr. Lynne Nemeth is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing, and a Nurse Researcher at the Medical University Hospital Authority. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, her Masters of Science degree from Boston College as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, and her doctoral degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, in Nursing Science.  She specializes in implementation research, theoretical modeling and qualitative methods.

nemethl@musc.edu 

Paul Nietert, PhD
PPRNet Statistician 
Dr. Nietert, Associate Professor in the MUSC Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, is a PPRNet co-investigator and the PPRNet biostatistician.  He has worked closely with the PPRNet research team on all of its major funded projects by assisting in the design of the surveys, conducting randomizations, overseeing the creation of datasets for analyses purposes, and conducting data analyses.  Dr. Nietert has expertise in analyzing hierarchical data, which arises from patients being clustered within practices.
nieterpj@musc.edu 

Andrea Wessell, PharmD
PPRNet Investigator
Dr. Wessell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Andrea's involvement in Family Medicine includes clinical pharmacy services in the outpatient setting in addition to student and resident education in the inpatient setting. Her interests include geriatrics, evidence-based medicine and quality improvement.
wessell@musc.edu