MDRC President Gordon Berlin recently announced that two MDRC staff members have been named to new leadership positions:

JoAnn Hsueh has been named Deputy Director of MDRC’s Family Well-Being and Children’s Development Policy Area. Hsueh, a developmental psychologist who joined MDRC in 2004, is one of the lead investigators of the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) project, an evaluation of a marriage education program targeting low-income, racially and ethnically diverse married couples. She is also the principal investigator of a complementary study within the SHM project that uses a daily diary measurement approach to catalog everyday family interactions among mothers, fathers, and adolescent children. Earlier she led an evaluation of Early Head Start programs enhanced with parental employment and educational services. Hsueh received her Ph.D. in developmental and community psychology from New York University. 

John Martinez has been named the Deputy Director of Program Development. Martinez, who joined MDRC in 1997, is an expert in project incubation and start-up. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director of MDRC’s Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area, where he focused predominantly on projects targeting young people, including youth with disabilities and those in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. He is also the project director of the TANF/SSI project, which is exploring the relationship between the disability and welfare systems. Martinez currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Youth Employment Coalition. Prior to joining MDRC, Martinez conducted research in a substance abuse treatment center and in a community health center with patients with schizophrenia. He began his career as a food stamp eligibility worker. Martinez holds a master of public health degree from Columbia University.