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Dr. Luxenberg founded PDA in 1984 as a one-person firm specializing in statistical consulting for medical research studies. Under his leadership, the firm has grown to comprise two divisions: Statistics and Evaluation, specializing in web-based solutions for reporting, analyzing and collecting of data. Dr. Luxenberg is most proud of PDA's dedicated and service-oriented staff who actively engage PDA's clients in decision-making processes.
Dr. Luxenberg received a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, graduating with honors, from Pratt Institute. He worked for the National Security Agency for two years before changing career paths. He received his doctoral degree in 1986 from the Psychology Department of the University of Minnesota with a focus on Behavioral Genetics with a double minor in statistics and genetics.
Working with researchers in various medical and behavioral science fields, he has co-authored over 70 articles, which have been published in refereed journals. As principal or co-principal investigator on many large-scale research projects and evaluations, Dr. Luxenberg has also published numerous technical reports.
Since 2001, Dr. Luxenberg has been Principal Investigator for the evaluation of ClearWay Minnesota’s QUITPLAN tobacco cessation interventions and also evaluates the Hawaii tobacco cessation Quitline for the Hawaii Department of Health.
From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Luxenberg was Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Connie Schmitz of Professional Evaluation Services and Dr. David Bass of the Benjamin Rose for the National Chronic Consortium's Alzheimer's Demonstration Project, on a national evaluation of a new model of integrated care for persons suffering from dementia. Also from 1998 to 2003, Dr. Luxenberg served as Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Connie Schmitz on an evaluation of a teen pregnancy prevention initiative (MN ENABL) for the Minnesota Department of Health.
He is currently a participating member of American Statistical Association (ASA), American Evaluation Association (AEA), Minnesota Professional Psychologists Applied to Work (MPPAW), and a board member and officer of the Minnesota Evaluation Association (MNEA).
Julie has worked as an Evaluation Specialist at PDA since 1997, and has been with the firm since 1992. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Philosophy from St. Mary’s University. Julie has designed and conducted evaluations in the fields of tobacco cessation, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and teen pregnancy prevention programming. In addition to her evaluation responsibilities, Julie serves as Vice President, overseeing the firm’s human resource needs.
Julie contributes to PDA's major evaluation projects and is expert in evaluation planning, development, piloting of data collection tools, and coordinating multiple elements of large evaluation projects. She is an exceptional problem solver who loves investigating technical issues.
Julie is currently contributing to several evaluations including tobacco cessation evaluations for ClearWay Minnesota and the Hawaii Department of Health, and projects for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and the MN Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She also presents evaluation results at national conferences and is a member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA).
Anne has been employed at PDA since 1995. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and is currently working towards her Doctoral Degree in Evaluation from the University of Minnesota, A.B.D. 2006. Anne designs, oversees and reports on formative and summative evaluations of statewide public health initiatives. She also supervises evaluation division staff and ensures the quality of evaluation deliverables.
Anne is excellent at managing multiple complex projects and finds using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to meet clients’ evaluation needs especially interesting. She has a passion for exploring evaluation strategies and working through technical issues to produce high quality, useful results for both the client and their stakeholders. Anne is a keen observer and she always asks the right question at the right time to help clients clarify their evaluation needs.
Anne is currently the project coordinator for several evaluations for ClearWay Minnesota including: Minnesota smoke-free ordinance impact study (focus groups, phenomenological interviewing and 18-month follow-up telephone survey methods), evaluation of a new tobacco cessation “triage” center, and a synthesis evaluation of a suite of tobacco cessation services. She is also the project coordinator for an evaluation of the tobacco cessation Quitline for the Hawaii Department of Health. Anne is a member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA).
Traci has been employed at PDA since 2005. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Health, focused in Community Health Education from the University of Minnesota in 2002. Traci has experience conducting formative and summative evaluations within single, multi-site and statewide community health promotion and disease prevention initiatives. She also has expertise in quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
Traci’s strengths are her patience, tenacity, thoroughness and thoughtfulness throughout the evaluation process. She carefully considers ramifications for evaluation actions, is attuned and sensitive to others, and has a great sense of humor.
Traci is currently the lead evaluator of several projects including: a community health worker (CHW) feasibility study for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, an evaluation of a new tobacco cessation “triage” center for ClearWay Minnesota, and a statewide evaluation of a fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) community grant initiative for the Minnesota Organization for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum (MOFAS). She is also a member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and the Minnesota American Evaluation Association (MNEA).
Annette has been employed at PDA since 1997. She received her Master’s Degree of Science in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota. Annette is an experienced database administrator, researcher, analyst and statistical programmer.
Annette has a passion for details and she is conscientious about data management. She enjoys designing tailored web-based solutions and excels in troubleshooting technical issues to create a seamless experience for our clients. At PDA, we like to call her our “data czar.”
Annette is currently working on the QUITPLAN tobacco cessation evaluation for Clearway Minnesota, the Hawaii Quitline for the Hawai'i Department of Health, and the statewide phone counseling referral project for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Matt first joined PDA in 1992. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Mankato State College and did graduate work in Psychology. Matt is experienced at performing sophisticated data analysis. He specializes in multivariate analyses and hierarchical linear modeling.
Matt is skilled at framing results for extremely technical projects and presenting information simply. He is a keen observer and excels at exploring technical issues to eliminate possible problems in analysis. Matt serves as a guide for our clients, transforming mass amounts of data into meaningful, accessible results.
Matt is currently working as chief statistician on a physical activity survey for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, a school bullying survey and reporting system for Hazelden, a health promotion and level of job satisfaction study for Gillette Children’s Hospital, an objective structured clinical exam reliability and validity study for the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery, and an evaluation of a media campaign for ClearWay Minnesota.
Harlan has been working at PDA since 2005. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Policy and Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Harlan designs, develops, and programs automated web-based reporting solutions for our clients. He specializes in Crystal Reports, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Ajax, SQL Server, Visual Basic, and VBA, but is also a pro at picking up new programming languages quickly and proficiently.
Harlan is a tenacious problem-solver who happily goes out of his way to find new and creative ways to meet our clients’ needs. He will never say that a client’s request is impossible, even when constraints imposed by a given programming language make it incredibly challenging. Harlan makes a habit out of persistently chipping away at a problem until he discovers a workable solution.
Harlan is currently developing an online reporting system for the Hazelden Foundation where schools can view the results of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Questionnaire® issued to their students. He is also creating a web-based reporting system for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.
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