MEI Team Members
- Dori Schatell, MS
Executive Director - Paula Stec Alt, MBA
Marketing Director - Kristi Klicko, CHES
Senior Project Manager - Brian Frick
Web Systems Manager - Carol Pruess
Business Manager - Sharon Sahr
Office Manager - Meg Wise, PhD
Research Consultant - Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
Resource & Policy Associate
...plus additional associates in medical writing, research, design, production, IT systems, and communications.
Dori Schatell, MS
Executive Director
Dori brings a life-long interest in chronic disease, a passionate commitment to patient self-management, and more than 19 years in the renal industry to her role. An experienced medical writer/editor with more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, booklets and books, fact sheets, and other pieces to her credit, she is also a national speaker and a policy advocate. She directs the Life Options program, Kidney School™, and Home Dialysis Central; staffed the first DOQI Anemia Guideline; produced two editions of the Core Curriculum for the Dialysis Technician; evaluated CMS’s Dialysis Facility Compare website; and Chaired the Fistula First Marketing workgroup
She has a BA in Psychology and History of Medicine and an MS in Child & Family Studies, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Paula Stec Alt, MBA
Marketing Director
Paula has 20+ years of medical marketing and communications experience with advertising agencies and non-profit organizations, and has worked with MEI since its inception. She produced the Life Options Exercise Program, helped develop the Keys to a Long Life materials, and staffed the hemodialysis adequacy work group for the NKF-DOQI™.
She has a BS in Communications from the University of Illinois and an MBA in Marketing from Loyola University, Chicago.
Kristi Klicko, CHES
Senior Project Manager
Kristi has 10+ years of MEI experience managing all facets of research, from IRB submissions to subject recruitment, data collection, and peer-reviewed journal articles.
She has a BS in Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
Brian Frick
Web Systems Manager
Brian joined MEI in 2004, and has worked for more than 17 years as an HTML, database, and web programmer. Currently he focuses on XHTML and CSS standards, Section 508 website compliance, and ambient music.
Brian has a BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Carol Pruess
Business Manager
Carol joined MEI in 2006 as the Business Manager. She has more than 20 years of varied accounting management and financial systems experience.
Carol has a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sharon Sahr
Office Manager
Sharon has been on the MEI team since 1993. She answers the phone, provides office and administrative support, and manages fulfillment.
Meg Wise, PhD
Research Consultant
Meg is an Assistant Scientist at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on how patients and families learn to cope with the medical, practical, and psychosocial challenges of chronic and life-threatening illness. Meg has worked with MEI on assessing Internet use among renal patients, disease self-management behaviors among people with CKD, the effects of providing patients with education materials, and on exploring how home dialysis affects patient and caregiver quality of life.
She holds a BS in Anthropology and PhD in Adult Education & Lifespan Development, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
Resource & Policy Associate
Beth, a renal social worker since 1978, has worked with the MEI team since 1993 as a contributing writer, researcher, technical consultant, and community outreach expert. She served on the work group that developed the NKF K/DOQI™ Clinical Practice Guidelines for chronic kidney disease. She has expertise in employment issues for people with chronic diseases.
Beth holds an MSW from the University of Kansas.