Meet the INHALE Team!

The INHALE team has rich expertise in pediatric and adult asthma, COPD, allergy, quality improvement, and data analytics.

Clinical Leadership

Njira Lugogo, M.D.
Njira Lugogo, M.D. Program Director, Asthma Expert
Dr Lugogo is a Professor of Internal Medicine. She specializes in pulmonary diseases with an area of practice in adult asthma care. She is committed to improving the quality and performance of care for everyone who have asthma and COPD, so everyone can have and achieve an optimal health and quality of life.
Michael Sjoding, M.D., MSc
Michael Sjoding, M.D., MSc Program Co-Director, COPD Expert
Dr. Sjoding is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine specializing in pulmonary and critical care medicine. He is passionate about improving the outcomes of patients with asthma and COPD through health services research and inpatient hospital quality measures.
Gary Freed, M.D., MPH
Gary Freed, M.D., MPH Pediatrician and QI Expert
Dr. Freed is the Percy and Mary Murphy Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health Delivery and the director of the Division of General Pediatrics. Dr. Freed has more than 25 years of experience in children’s health services research. He serves on several national and international committees regarding child health and is one of the content experts for the INHALE CQI.
Toby Lewis, M.D., MPH
Toby Lewis, M.D., MPH Pediatric Asthma Expert
Dr. Lewis is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Environmental Health Services. She is a practicing pediatric pulmonologist and is dedicated to the research of Epidemiology and public health of childhood respiratory disease. She serves as one of the content experts for the INHALE CQI.
Anna Kovalszki, M.D.
Anna Kovalszki, M.D. Allergy Expert
Dr. Kovalszki is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine. She specializes in allergy and immunology. She went to medical school at University of Michigan, Residency at Tufts New England Medical Center and fellowship at the University of Michigan. She serves as one of the content experts for the INHALE CQI.
Rommel Sagana, M.D.
Rommel Sagana, M.D. COPD and QI Expert
Dr. Sagana is a Clinical Associate Professor. He is a practicing adult pulmonologist. His area of interest are COPD, Lung Transplant, Patient Safety/Quality Improvement, and Clinical Simulation. He serves as one of the content experts for the INHALE CQI.

Coordinating Center Staff

April Proudlock
April Proudlock Program Manager
April joined INHALE as the Program Manager in September 2023. She has over 12 years of experience in various capacities within the CQIs. She most recently served as a Sr. Project Manager in the Quality Department at Michigan Medicine focusing on local site performance within the BCBSM CQIs. April has a nursing background and previously worked in Research and Development at Pfizer. In her spare time, she enjoys working on home DIY projects and spending time with her family.
Sean Lezak
Sean Lezak Associate Program Manager
Sean joined INHALE in November 2023. He has 15 years of research experience as a study coordinator, project manager and manager at the University of Michigan and in a private practice setting. His research experience includes over 11 years in pharmaceutical clinical research, including 6 years as a clinical study coordinator and 5 years as a clinical research manager investigating medication for asthma, allergies, chronic urticaria, hereditary angioedema & Multiple Sclerosis.
Karla Stoermer Grossman
Karla Stoermer Grossman Clinical Site Coordinator
Karla is a nationally Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C) since 2003. She has more than 20 years of experience educating high-risk asthma patients in both the home and clinical settings. Karla has a BA from Kalamazoo College, a BSN from University of Michigan and a Masters in Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University. In her free time she loves to figure skate, walk, and binge Netflix. 
Brenna Dressler
Brenna Dressler Project Manager
Brenna is a dynamic public health professional who has been working in the field for a little over 4 years. She has a Masters in Public Health degree from University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Health Science from Saginaw Valley State University. Brenna enjoys traveling the world, spoiling her dog, exercising and spending time with family and friends in her free time. 
Kelly Shelton
Kelly Shelton Administrative Specialist
Kelly has 18 years experience in administration. She has a degree in elementary education and is currently working towards her PACE certification. In her free time she loves to listen to podcasts, read and binge Netflix. 
Meghan Spiroff
Meghan Spiroff Engagement Coordinator
Meghan Spiroff has over 10 years of experience engaging patients and partners in research. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Western Michigan University and a Master of Health Administration from Eastern Michigan University. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family and traveling.
Dawn Zinsser
Dawn Zinsser Senior Data Analyst
Dawn is an analyst with over 25 years of healthcare data management and statistical programming experience. She processes EHR and claims data to support INHALE’s quality measure development and works closely with the CQI Population Health Registry on reporting measure results to INHALE’s participating POs and providers. Dawn has a BA in Mathematics with an Applied Statistics minor from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.