Meet Our Fellows

Elena Chiappinelli

Administrative Fellow, 1st year

Elena was born and raised in Illinois. She earned a degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While in college, Elena advocated for children in a variety of ways including leading therapy sessions in a juvenile detention center and researching interventional strategies for at-risk youth. After college Elena spent two years as a legal assistant serving children in the Chicago area. She then returned to the University of Illinois to earn her Master of Social Work.  During this time Elena traveled to India where she conducted an organizational analysis for a non-governmental organization aimed at rural development initiatives and micro-credit financing. After receiving her Masters, Elena returned to Chicago to serve as the program director for an organization focused on Autism legislation.

Elena recently completed her Master of Health Administration at the University of Iowa.  During this time she was a graduate research assistant for Iowa’s Community Circle of Care Program focused on continuum of care programs for children with mental health diagnosis. She also served as administrative intern at Carle Foundation Hospital during health system integration. Some of the projects Elena worked on include: analysis of service-line partnership and physician outreach contract models, creation of a report card for monitoring regional network development efforts and tools to evaluate success of regional hospital partnerships, and development of transition plans to operationalize the perinatal program in accordance with state level codes.

Elena’s main interests in healthcare revolve around child welfare and health issues, access to care, and strategic planning.  Outside of healthcare, Elena enjoys outdoor activities such as running and biking, and listening to live music.   

Aaron Fields

Administrative Fellow, 2nd year

Aaron is originally from Floyds Knobs, Indiana and will always equate its rolling hills and friendly small town atmosphere with home. He earned a degree in Biology from the University of Dayton. While on summer break from college he worked on West Nile Virus surveillance for the Indiana Department of Health.  
After college Aaron spent three years doing congestive heart failure research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Aaron completed his Master of Health Administration at The Ohio State University in 2010.  During this time he was a graduate administrative assistant for Rehabilitation Services at The Ohio State University Medical Center.  Some of the projects Aaron worked on at OSUMC include: process improvement for outpatient scheduling, formation of a therapy-time monitoring system, analysis and reduction of delays in the inpatient therapy schedule, and the creation of a therapist specialization / retention program.  

Aaron’s main interests in healthcare revolve around strategic planning, hospital operations, and hospital-physician alignment.  During the Nationwide Children's Hospital year of his fellowship Aaron was project manager for the design of NCH's first suburban surgery center, and responsible for user satisfaction, budget, and timeline.  For four months, Aaron was interim operations lead for neurology and endocrinology outpatient clinics.  He also performed a market analysis to determine the location of NCH's next two urgent care centers.