Meet the CCRA Teams

Johanna Chesley is honored to serve BMC clinical research, its patients and communities, and the future of healthcare. Johanna and teams'  primarily responsibilities include: 1. building Industry and Principal Investigator partnerships around clinical trial financial activities, 2. building clinical research operations infrastructure with senior leaders at BMC and Boston University, and 3. cultivating an environment that includes all voices in discovery and medical advancements. Johanna is skilled at complex process analysis and derives great satisfaction from collaborating with others to develop and implement solutions. She is a proud mama of three girls and enjoys exploring the great outdoors – throughout all four seasons – with her husband and children. These days, skiing, tennis, and coaching soccer are Johanna’s preferred ways to build strength, remain centered, and engage with her community.

Email: johanna.chesley@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-2861

Kaye joined BMC in 2021 and is honored to serve its patients and communities toward the advancement of health care for all.  A career switcher, Kaye took her first job in clinical research in 2005 before becoming a research compliance officer in 2007, with increasing oversight through 2020.  Previously, she was a newspaper reporter and editor and then philosophy instructor and occasional book editor, all of which contributed to her research compliance career.  

Michael Porreca provides financial management support for clinical trials and manages the CTO staff members. With more than 10 years of experience in research administration, Michael has a strong background in financial planning, budgeting, and analysis. In his role, he works closely with clinical trial teams to ensure that they have the necessary financial resources to deliver successful outcomes.

Email: michael.porreca@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-5669

Ryan Schroeder joined BMC in 2021 to serve as the director of the Clinical Research Network and build a team of innovators who are reimagining what clinical research can look like when merging community-engaged values with traditional staffing models to define new metrics of excellence in clinical research. In addition to leading the rapid activation and management of BMC's high priority trials and community engagement efforts, the CRN serves as an incubator for progress that affects the BMC research program broadly.

n fiscal year 2025, Ryan's role expanded. He now serves as Senior Director, Business Operations Clinical Research Unit and Clinical Research Network.

Ryan brings more than 20 years of experience with functional and technical leadership expertise in research administration and clinical research operations at universities and academic medical centers. He is passionate about building high performing and inclusive research programs through strategic planning, physician outreach, community engagement, and promoting a team philosophy of credibility, trust, and accountability

Email: ryan.schroeder@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-7075

Michael Porreca provides financial management support for clinical trials and manages the CTO staff members. With more than 10 years of experience in research administration, Michael has a strong background in financial planning, budgeting, and analysis. In his role, he works closely with clinical trial teams to ensure that they have the necessary financial resources to deliver successful outcomes.

Email: michael.porreca@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-5669

Minhao Yin serves as a Team Lead of Clinical Trial Office. He
joined the team in July 2019 and mainly assists Cancer Care
Center, Neurology and Psychiatry with industry funded studies
management. He also assists with projects such as potential trial
connection, master budget negotiation with top sponsors,
Research Operations quarterly financial dashboard and smart
form development for internal ancillary service providers. It is
his honor to work with outstanding professionals to help more
patients and build a healthier community. He enjoys traveling,
cooking and snowboarding.

Email: minhao.yin@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-2844

Amy Chung is happy to be part of the Clinical Trial Office at
Boston Medical Center. She joined the team as a Financial
Analyst in March 2021. Her duties include managing the budget
and negotiations for several departments (Cardiology, Radiology,
Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology, and Nephrology). She
along with the other CTFAs strive to strengthen the
communication, workflow, and efficiency between the
departments and sponsors we collaborate with. During her free
time, she enjoys hiking, playing board games, and traveling to
new cities.

Email: amy.chung@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-2836 ext. 42836

Employing 15+ years of experience in marketing, analytics, and finance, Natalia handles budget negotiations and financial support for clinical trials life across multiple departments.  She also concentrates on research billing review and compliance. Natalia loves constantly learning and is excited about new challenges. She is proud to be part of Boston Medical Center, a hospital dedicated to serving a truly diverse community.

natalia.kats@bmc.org

Fernanda Fortes is a seasoned billing compliance specialist with
more than 15 years of dedicated experience in the healthcare and
research sectors. She excels in ensuring accurate and compliant
billing processes for clinical trials, managing intricate financial
data, and liaising between clinical departments and billing
offices. Fernanda's meticulous attention to detail, combined
with her extensive knowledge of regulatory requirements, has
been pivotal in streamlining billing operations and ensuring
financial integrity for numerous research projects. Beyond her
technical expertise, she is deeply committed to fostering
transparent and ethical financial practices within the realm of
medical research.

Email: fernanda.fortes@bmc.org

Phone: 617-414-1613

Sandy Lok joined the Clinical Trial Office
nearly a decade ago. Her role includes pre-award and post-
award management of clinical trials, confidential disclosure
agreement review, research policy review, VelosCT training for
new users, and other tasks to help facilitate research at BMC.
Sandy has been happy to see research at BMC grow and develop
over the years, and is excited to continue working to better
serve the institution, research community, and patients.
During her free time, Sandy enjoys playing piano and long walks
along the beach.

Email: Sandy.Lok@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-2847

Bryant Shields is honored to serve as the Project Manager for
the Clinical Trial Office at Boston Medical Center. She joined the
team in November 2019. Bryant is responsible for clinical
research billing review, submission, and reconciliation to ensure
compliance with research billing regulations, policies, and
procedures; Front-end management of the participant
reimbursement process; Manages a variety of Clinical Research
Operations projects within CTO, across the medical campus and
throughout the hospital and clinics; Develops and provides
monthly ClinCard and Research Billing Compliance workflow
trainings for clinical researchers, and more. During her free time,
she enjoys hiking, traveling and snowboarding.

Email: Bryant.Shields@bmc.org
Phone: 617-414-2863

Tran joined the Clinical Trial Office nearly two years ago and serves as Research Data Analyst. She supports research teams by providing training and resources for Velos-CT, BMC's clinical trials management system and ClinCard, the platform used to manage participant reimbursements. Tran assists study teams in setting up ClinCard for new studies and develops smart forms that streamline workflows for the Research and Sponsored Programs team. She finds great purpose in her work, knowing that each day contributes to advancing clinical research and supporting the teams behind it.

Duncan Schulte is the Clinical Research Regulatory Project
Manager for the Clinical Research Network (CRN) at Boston
Medical Center. As a regulatory project manager, Duncan is
responsible for managing the CRN’s research portfolio, service
lines, and research infrastructure building collaborations at BMC
as they intersect with federal, state, and local regulations and
policies for clinical research. Duncan shares a passion with CRN's
mission to reimagine clinical research with the highest standards
for inclusive values and as responsive to the cultural and
linguistic differences of all people.

Email: duncan.schulte@bmc.org
Phone: 915-203-3812

Quinneil Simmons is the Program Manager for the Clinical Research Network (CRN) at BMC. As the Program Manager Quinneil oversees the financial management of the CRN's clinical trial portfolio; facilitates relationships between clinical trials departments, study teams, and ancillary departments throughout the BMC/BU community; and supports instructional operational initiatives as they relate to the advancement of research. Quinneil is proud to be a part of a team that values community and looks forward to witness the CRN's efforts in clinical trials research innovation result in increased access, education, inclusivity, and participation in research.

Email: quinneil.simmons@bmc.org

Benjamin P. Linas, MD, MPH, is an infectious disease specialist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and a professor of infectious diseases at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Linas is also an associate professor of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. He is a national leader in hepatitis-C virus (HCV) infection and HCV/HIV co-infection comparative- and cost-effectiveness research using computational biology, clinical epidemiology, and clinical economics methods. Dr. Linas also directs the HIV/HCV core of the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorders, HCV, and HIV, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in collaboration with Cornell, U Penn and Miami. He has over 20 years of experience.