Linda Cummings, Ph.D., is director of research for the National Public Health and Hospital Institute (NPHHI). For five years, Dr. Cummings headed a department in the Massachusetts Office of Economic Affairs that was responsible for business relations and training for low-income communities. She worked for 10 years as a health policy and communications consultant in the Washington, D.C., area on issues such as adolescent health, family planning, and Medicaid managed care. During that period, she was a consultant with Radiant Communications as part of a team that trained more than 300 community-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grantees across the country. Dr. Cummings received her Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.