Meet the Team
Grants
Teresa Sussman
Director, Grants
Email:tpoint@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-8470
Biography
As the OSP Director for Grants, Teresa oversees the administrative process associated with grant proposals and related awards. She manages the OSP Grants Group, a team of 15 professionals who handle all grant-sponsored funding for Emory University. Teresa’s 20 years in Research Administration have given her a broad range of experience and deep knowledge in the field. Over the course of her career, Teresa has worked at the school and central levels, in both private and state institutions, and with government, industry, and private and foundation sponsors. Teresa has been a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) since 2005 and has been an active member of the Society of Research Administrators (SRA) and the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA). Prior to embarking on a career in research administration, Teresa received a master's degree in English from Emory University.
Trevor Gilmer-Johnson
Associate Director, Grants
Contact Information
Email: tjohns8@emory.edu
Phone: (619) 402-9428
Biography
Trevor Johnson is the Associate Director of Grants in the Office of Sponsored Programs. He is responsible for managing a team of grants analysts who review and submit grant applications, negotiate grant awards, and manage post-award requests. Additionally, in conjunction with OSP leadership he provides workflow management, complex issue resolution, and training. Trevor joined Emory in 2020. Prior to Emory he spent over ten years in research administration at UC San Diego. He has a bachelor's degree in psychology from UMBC and is a Certified Research Administrator.
Tiffani Patterson
Associate Director, Grants
Contact Information
Email: tiffani.patterson@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-6765
Biography
Tiffani Patterson is an Associate Director for the Grants Team in the Office of Sponsored Programs. She joined the OSP team in 2014 with a background in non-profit program management and has 20+ years-experience as a grants writer, reviewer and community builder with statewide and local area organizations.
Tiffani has a Bachelor of Science from the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University in Human Resource Policy and Development. She is a 2021 Emory ORA Dragon Award recipient.
Cassandra Murphy
Assistant Director, Grants
Contact Information
Email: cmurph5@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-2339
Biography
Cassandra Murphy is an Assistant Director for the Grants Team in the Office of Sponsored Programs. She joined the OSP team in 2016 with a background in grant writing and conducting grant workshops. She manages a portfolio of departments and is responsible for reviewing grant applications, negotiating agreements, and managing grant awards. Cassandra holds a Doctorate from the University of New Orleans, and a Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts degree from Michigan State University.
Sunair Sayani
Assistant Director, Sponsored Research
Contact Information
Email:ssayan6@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-9819
Biography
Sunair Sayani is an Assistant Director for Grants in the Office of Sponsored Programs. In his tenure in OSP, Sunair has served both the Grants and Contracts Teams, giving Sunair broad knowledge across the spectrum of central pre-award research administration. Sunair received two MBAs from Georgia State University. The first MBA is in Corporate and Quantitative Finance and the second is in Managerial Sciences with a dual major of Statistical Business Analysis and Organizational Development. He is the 2020 ORA "Whatever it Takes" Dragon Award recipient, the 2019 ORA "Staff Dragon" Award recipient, and a Certified Compliance Trainer for Research Administration Essentials at Emory University.
Jasser Ahmed
Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: jasser.ahmed@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 544-9025
Biography
Jasser Ahmed is a Sponsored Research Analyst for OSP's Grants team. He graduated in 2022 with a B.A. in Economics from Emory University. Jasser reviews Compass Grant Forms requests for No Cost Extensions; PANs; and changes to effort, PI, and scope of work. He also assists with grant award closeouts, by interacting with sponsors as well as Emory faculty and staff to facilitate the quick completion and submission of closeout materials.
LaShanna Daniels
Assoc. Sponsored Research Analyst
Joy Floyd
Lead Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: asfloyd@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 712-1330
Biography
Joy Floyd is a Lead Sponsored Research Analyst in the Office of Sponsored Programs. She is responsible for reviewing grant applications, negotiating agreements, and managing grant awards. Prior to this, Joy served as the representative of OSP on the PeopleSoft Upgrade Team where she developed and presented business cases which outlined changes in PeopleSoft; initiated testing and troubleshooting in PeopleSoft; and facilitated PeopleSoft training sessions for staff and managers university wide.Joy has been with Emory University since 2008. She received her Bachelor's degree in Professional Writing from Purdue University and her MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School for Social Research (Currently called The New School).
Rachel Gelman
Assoc. Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: rhgelma@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 544-9016
Biography
Rachel Gelman is an Associate Sponsored Research Analyst with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Grants team and joined the OSP team in May of 2022. Her primary duties include completing both new and continued grant application reviews, setting up new and continuation awards, negotiating award agreements, and general management of grant awards. Rachel graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy.
Artis Hill
Lead Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: ahill01@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-2508
Biography
Artis Hill is a Lead Sponsored Research Analyst in the Office of Sponsored Programs. She is responsible for reviewing grant proposals, negotiating grant agreements, and managing grant awards. Prior to joining OSP, Artis has held positions in the Controller’s Office and several departments within the School of Medicine at Emory in both post and pre award research administration.
Artis joined Emory University in 1994 and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia State University.
Margaret Huntley
Sponsored Research Analyst
Ian Kaminski
Senior Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: ian.m.kaminski@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-2412
Biography
Ian Kaminski is a Senior Associate Sponsored Research Analyst with the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) Grants team. Ian joined OSP in January 2020. Ian's duties include reviewing new grant applications, continuation and supplemental applications to existing awards, negotiating agreements, executing award contracts and managing grant awards. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education at the University of Kentucky and Juris Doctorate at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.
Claire Mancebo
Sr. Associate Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: claire.pearce@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 217-5016
Biography
Claire Mancebo is an Associate Sponsored Research Analyst with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Grants team. Claire has been with OSP since January 2021 and with Emory University since 2011. Her responsibilities include reviewing new grant applications, continuations, and supplements to existing awards, negotiating agreements, executing award contracts, and managing grant awards. Prior to joining OSP, Claire worked in the School of Medicine's Division of Animal Resources.
Claire graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and received her Master of Natural Resources degree from Utah State University in 2020.
Jeff Nelms
Sr. Project Support Specialist
Contact Information
Email: jeffery.lynn.nelms.jr@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-8366
Biography
Jeff is the Senior Project Support Specialist in the Office of Sponsored Programs. This role includes the variety of duties such as assisting upper management with daily reports, monitoring and distributing OSP emails, keeping a running list of current proposal due dates, reassigning approvals for analysts, entering sponsors into Compass, entering documents into the Grants and Contracts Tracking System, and more. He has been working with Emory since 2013 holding a variety of titles in the School of Public Health, Office of Research Admin Business Operations, Office of Technology Transfer, and Office of Sponsored Programs.
Barry Prine
Sr. Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: barry.c.prine@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 727-1405
Biography
Barry C. Prine is a Senior Sponsored Research Analyst who joined OSP in December 2012. Barry's duties include reviewing new and continuing grant applications, negotiating agreements, executing award contracts and managing grant awards. Prior to coming to Emory, he practiced law in Alabama for nearly 20 years. Barry attended Davidson College and received his B.A from Auburn University in 1983. He also studied at the University of Kentucky in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology before receiving his J.D. from the University of Alabama in 1992.
Aaliyah Robertson
Assoc. Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: arrobe7@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 544-9026
Biography
Aaliyah Robertson is an Associate Sponsored Research Analyst with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Grants Team. Aaliyah joined Emory in 2022. Her primary responsibilities include providing assistance to faculty and staff in preparing standard grant applications and routine proposals for funding agencies and sponsors. Additionally, Aaliyah Interacts with funding agencies, faculty, and staff to resolve guideline, grant management, and proposal issues and to determine award status.
Aaliyah graduated from the University of Toledo with a bachelor’s in Political Science and a master’s in Criminal Justice and has also pursued a MPP from the University of Chicago.
Tenay Spann
Assoc. Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: tmspann@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 544-9254
Biography
Tenay Spann is a Sponsored Research Analyst in the Office of Sponsored Programs and is responsible for reviewing and processing NIH awards. Tenay has worked in Research Administration for more than 4 years in different capacities. She received her bachelor’s degree in Public Health from the University of South Carolina in 2015. She also received a master’s in Jurisprudence from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2023.
Ryan Youngblood
Lead Sponsored Research Analyst
Contact Information
Email: ryan.youngblood@emory.edu
Phone: (404) 712-3027
Biography
Ryan Youngblood is a Lead Sponsored Research Analyst for the Office of Sponsored Programs. He is responsible for the review and submission of proposals and awards related to grants including those from federal or state governments, corporations, foundations and certain types of incoming subcontracts. Ryan also handles post award functions for these grants related to non-financial matters. Ryan serves multiple departments for Emory in this capacity.
Ryan has been with Emory since 2016. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Murray State University with a major in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies. He received his juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 2010.