Ms. Talley completed her undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) at UNC-Charlotte. She received her Master’s of Science degree in Public Health with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her primary research interests at Carolina were focused on comparing the effectiveness and net benefit of complementary and alternative therapies with traditional medical treatments. She moved to the west coast upon completing her degree to pursue a career in health services research.

Her current focus is the development of Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) measurement instruments in a variety of GI conditions for eventual use in clinical trials. She also focuses on the development of surveys that provide critical insights into provider, patient, and system-wide issues that affect healthcare outcomes.

Ms. Talley has also worked on a number of research studies focusing on improving the quality of care for veterans including a health literacy study aimed at improving colorectal cancer screening and education materials for veterans, and the development of an educational booklet for patients on how to better prepare for a colonoscopy exam, which improved preparation quality and polyp detection.