Cathryn Gust received a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Iowa State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computational Methods and Statistics from the University of Wisconsin. Ms. Gust previously has been involved in analyzing large national claims data (e.g., MEPS and NHIS) to estimate the additional health care costs due to smoking related diseases in the support of suits filed by Maryland, Minnesota, and the federal government against the Tobacco industry. Immediately prior to joining M-SCORE, she was employed as a statistician at Thomson Medstat utilizing claims data to develop new products to aid clients in controlling health care costs. Since joining M-SCORE in the summer of 2008, her projects have included research related to disparities in health care and cost variations.