James Ciesla Ph.D.

Title: Professor
Division: Nursing & Health Studies
Unit: Public Health
Office Location: Wirtz Hall 252
Office Phone: (815) 753-3409
Office Fax: (815) 753-5406
Email: jciesla@niu.edu

Courses Taught

• PHHE 453 Financial Management of Health Care Organizations
• PHHE 653 Financial Decision Making for Health Services Managers 
• PHHE 451 Economic Issues in Public Health
• PHHE 651 Health Economics for Health Services Managers 

Education

Ph.D. University of South Carolina (Health Services Research/Health Economics)
M.H.A. Tulane University (Health Administration)
B.S. Wofford College (Biology)

Training

PADI Certified Professional SCUBA Diver: Divemaster

Academic Interests

Dr. Ciesla’s academic interests focus on evaluating the outcomes of programs that provide services to people in disadvantaged or socially stigmatized groups. His research focuses on way to operationalize, measure and evaluate the outcomes of these services through the application of human capital economic s. He has published numerous refereed publications related to his research and evaluation work. Dr.Ciesla is an experienced principal investigator having served as the leader of various funded projects related to his research.

Research Interests

Dr. Ciesla coordinates the Health Services Research Group (HSRG). Current research underway in the HSRG involves the outcomes of treatment and services for people in disadvantaged populations or socially stigmatized groups.

Funded Research Projects

Stone D & Ciesla JR. (2012). Evaluation of the Kane County Planning Cooperative. American Public Health Association/Centers for Disease Control. $4,000. 3/2012 through 12/2012.

Ciesla JR, Bostwick, W. (principal investigator) Market Research and Data Collection to the Northwest Illinois Broadband Demonstration Program. Illinois Fiber Resource Group. National Telecommunications and Information Administration. $19,800. 6/2011 through 12/2011.

Robinson DL., Ciesla JR. & Stone D. (coprincipal investigator) Evaluation of the The Getting Illinois Low Income Seniors and People with Disabilities Online Demonstration Project. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Sustainable Broadband Adoption Project. $145,000. 1/2011 through 6/2012.

Spear SF. & Ciesla JR. (coprincipal investigator) Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes Research. Rosecrance Health Network. Rockford, IL. $1,200,000. 6/1997 through 6/2010.

Spear SF, Douglass C, Ciesla JR. (investigator) Program Evaluation of Winnebago County Drug Court, United States Department of Justice, $34,500.1/1998 through 1/1999.

Selected Publications

Samuelson DS & Ciesla JR. (2012). The getting Illinois low income seniors and people with disabilities online demonstration BTOP SBA project: A case study. The Journal of Community Informatics. 8(1):14-19.

Ciesla JR, Loeb G, Xie B. (2012). Technology for elders: Maximizing life now and in the future.  2012 Annual Conference of the American Society on Aging, Washington DC, 28 March – 1 April.

Ciesla JR & Baxter G. (2012). Computer training for low-income seniors: A sustainable broadband adoption demonstration project.  2012 Annual Conference of the American Society on Aging, Washington DC, 28 March – 1 April.

Ciesla JR & Yao P. (2011). Validation of a targeted peer relations scale for adolescents treated for substance use disorder: An application of rasch modeling. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment. 5(1):1-10.

Ciesla JR, Yao P, Mazurek KD. (2011). Using Ordered Probit Analysis to Assess Treatment Satisfaction: An Economic Interpretation, American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, October 30-31.

Ciesla JR & Mazurek KD. (2011). Measuring Relapse After Substance Abuse Treatment: A Proportional Hazard Approach, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Madrid, Spain 5-9.

Ciesla JR, Robinson DL. (2011). Program evaluation: Getting Illinois low income seniors and people with disabilities online. Invited presentation: eChicago 2011: Democracy, Diversity, and the Digital Divide. Chicago, IL, 22-23 April.

Ciesla JR. (2010). Evaluating the risk of relapse for adolescents treated for substance abuse. Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment. 9(2):87-92.

Ciesla JR, Yao P. (2010). Factor Structure of a Social Support Scale for Adolescents Treated for Substance Use Disorder. Thirteenth Annual European Congress of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Prague, Czech Republic, 7-10 November.

Ciesla JR (2009). Validation of a peer relations scale for adolescents treated for substance use disorder: An application of rasch modeling. Presented at the Second Latin American Conference of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 9-12 September.

Ciesla JR, Valle M, Spear SF. (2008). Measuring relapse after adolescent substance abuse treatment: A proportional hazard approach. Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment. 7(2):87-97.

Ciesla JR. (2008). Telephone hotline as an adjunct to continuing care for adolescents treated for psychoactive substance use disorder. Presented at the 11th Annual European Congress of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Athens, Greece 8-11 November.

Ciesla JR, Spear SF. (2007). Nonresponse bias in adolescent substance abuse treatment outcomes research: Implications for evaluating care. Journal of Adolescent Substance Abuse. 16(3):125-140.

Ciesla JR. (2007). Applying Cox regression to substance abuse treatment outcomes research using treatment setting as stratus variable. First Annual Latin American Congress of the International Society for pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Cartagena, Colombia, 8-11 September.

Ciesla JR. (2007). Comparison of substance abuse treatment outcomes for inpatients and outpatients in the adolescent treatment population. 135rd Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, 11-13 November.

Ciesla JR. (2006). Relapse in adolescents treated for psychoactive substance abuse disorder. 134rd Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association, Boston, MA, 17-19 November.

Ciesla JR. (2006). Measuring relapse after adolescent substance abuse treatment: A proportional hazard approach. 9th Annual European Congress of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Copenhagen, Denmark, 28-31 October.

Ciesla JR, Spear SF. (2004). Concordance of self-reported drug use and qualitative urinalysis in adolescents treated for substance abuse. Clinical Drug Investigation.21(11):789-795.