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Health Policy PhD

Impact population health at a systems level.

Health policy is an interdisciplinary field that examines the organization and financing of health systems and services; the impact of health policies on population health; and the economic, social and behavioral determinants of health. It involves the investigation of all systems that affect population health, not just the medical care system. The purview of health policy is global.

The mission of our program is to prepare students for research careers in health policy and health services research; teaching; and public service in university, governmental and public policy settings. This program is distinguished by its interdisciplinary application of the social and behavioral science disciplines to real world health issues. Graduates are prepared to play lead scientific roles in addressing the many challenges facing health care and public health systems in the United States and countries around the world.

Curriculum

Students must successfully complete a health services research readings and methods seminar (two semesters), five specialty field courses, three quantitative research methods courses, and three additional graduate elective courses.

The program includes three specialty fields:

  • Health Economics specialty field

    The Health Economics specialty field draws on economics, epidemiology and statistics to understand the causal relationship between different aspects of health and the health care sector. With an emphasis on quantifying relationships, health economics covers a broad range of study areas including health production, demand and supply of health services, health care financing, behavioral responses to institutional or policy incentives, policy evaluations and other efficiency, and equity issues surrounding health.

  • Organizations & Management specialty field

    The Organizations & Management specialty field trains scholars in organizational behavior and political science in regards to health. Theories and methods in organizational sociology, political science and social psychology are central to the study of health organizations. Specialty field courses in macro-organizational theory, micro-organizational theory and organizational analysis of the health sector are required. This specialty field emphasizes the management of health care and public health organizations and systems, the implementation and dissemination of policies and practices within and across organizations, and the role of policy-making institutions as platforms for the creation and modification of health policies.

  • Population Health Sciences specialty field

    The Population Health Sciences specialty field trains students for research careers in the social, behavioral, and economic determinants of health and the study of interventions, policies, and practices that impact the health of populations and vulnerable communities. The specialty field emphasizes addressing the social and behavioral determinants of health through quantitative research informed by theoretical frameworks in economics, psychology, demography, and social epidemiology. Training in innovative methodologies for establishing causal relationships in quasi-experimental research is a cornerstone of the Population Health Sciences specialty field. Students will learn and integrate cutting-edge methods from key areas of strength at Berkeley: biostatistics, social science methods such as econometrics and formal demography, and the rapidly evolving set of data science innovations such as machine learning that are being advanced at Berkeley including in the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The explosion of health sector data availability, along with Berkeley’s innovation hub positioning, make this an excellent track for students looking to become quantitative experts who can lead research across a wide variety of population health science and health policy questions.

Students have access to all of UC Berkeley’s disciplines and professional schools, in addition to UCSF faculty and research programs. This is a full-time program geared for careers in academia and research and students typically complete it in four to five years. Our program is administered by Berkeley Public Health and the doctoral degree is granted by UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division.

Graduates can achieve and demonstrate expertise in the following major academic outcomes:

  • Develop domain expertise in core works in health policy and the selected specialty field.
  • Understand central social science theoretical frameworks and debates shaping health policy.
  • Demonstrate substantive knowledge of the specialty field sufficient to design and teach graduate-level courses in that field.
  • Demonstrate the ability to conduct rigorous quantitative research.
  • Plan and conduct independent research using advanced research methods.
  • Demonstrate the mastery of academia and grant writing, conference presentation, IRB procedures and ethics in research.
  • Engage in intellectual exchange among students and faculty across the university to enhance interdisciplinary research and training.

Qualifications

A master’s degree is not a requirement for this program, however, entering students should have completed introductory coursework in statistics, microeconomics, epidemiology and public health. Students without master’s-level coursework in these areas are required to take relevant courses at UC Berkeley or otherwise demonstrate mastery of these areas.

Employment

Graduates are well-prepared to assume academic careers in research and teaching. Many of our graduates move directly to positions in academia, government or research organizations. Other graduates receive postdoctoral fellowships to continue specific training in their area of interest and research.

Admissions

To apply to the Health Policy PhD program, please complete the UC Berkeley Graduate Division admissions application. This program does not use the SOPHAS application.

Submissions of GRE scores are optional but strongly recommended for this program. Especially if you have no other evidence of quantitative, verbal, or analytical abilities in your application. If not submitting a score, competitive applicants will need to provide alternative evidence of strong quantitative capability and should speak to their analytical and quantitative preparation for the PhD program in their application based on past coursework (e.g. statistics, microeconomics, math) and/or professional experience.

Please submit a writing sample and provide a list of publications and/or presentations related to your academic or professional background (include the PubMed ID if applicable).

If your work is published as a website or part of it, please provide the URL. Your writing sample can be a written assignment, journal article, report, Op-Ed, commentary, conference abstract, or other publication. Please enter your most recent citation first.

This is a quantitatively-oriented health policy program. Prospective applicants primarily interested in qualitative methods are advised to explore related programs such as the UC Berkeley PhD in Social Welfare or Medical Anthropology, or the UCSF Sociology program. Prospective applicants instead primarily focused on computational methods should also consider related UC Berkeley PhD programs in Biostatistics or Computational Precision Health.

Admissions Statistics

10%

5-year average admissions acceptance rate

3.62

Average undergraduate GPA of admitted applicants

3.68

Average graduate GPA of admitted applicants

87%

Average Verbal GRE scores of admitted applicants

88%

Average Quantitative GRE scores of admitted applicants

85

Average annual applications

8

Average annual offers

4

Average annual accepts

Core Faculty

The core PhD program faculty members of the School of Public Health, the Haas School of Business, School of Social Welfare, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, and Political Science.

Ben Handel
Associate Professor, Economics

Emeriti Faculty

Emeritus faculty of the Health Policy Faculty Group are Professors of the Graduate School and may serve on dissertation committees as Chair, inside members, or as an Academic Senate Representative. Their availability to students, however, may be limited compared to core faculty group members.

Health Policy Research Centers at UC Berkeley and UCSF

Health Policy PhD students have access to a wide range of resources at UC Berkeley and UCSF, including highly regarded research centers. Below are brief descriptions of a selected list of research centers most closely aligned with the Health Policy PhD program. These Centers include faculty from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines who bring expertise in health services research and provide settings for intensive training and mentorship opportunities for trainees.

  • Expand list of research centers
    • The Berkeley Center for Health Technology (BCHT), co-directed by Dr. James Robinson (Director) and Dr. Tim Brown (Associate Director), promotes the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare through research and education on the development, insurance coverage, payment, and appropriate use of medical technologies. The focus of BCHT is on biopharmaceuticals, implantable medical devices, insurance benefit design, and payment methods. Research initiatives include leadership roundtables, case studies of leading organizations, and econometric analyses of public and private data sources. BCHT helps stakeholders design a healthcare system that combines innovation and entrepreneurship with economic efficiency and social fairness.
    • The UC Berkeley Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, co-directed by Dr. Richard Scheffler (Director) and Dr. Brent Fulton (Associate Director), focuses on consumer protection, affordability and access to healthcare, especially for low and middle-income individuals. The Petris Center also focuses on and the role of information in consumer choice, and regulation and competition within healthcare markets.  The research center is named after former California State Senator Nicholas Petris, who advocated strongly on behalf of California consumers for affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare.
    • The UC Berkeley Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR), co-directed by Dr. Hector Rodriguez (Director) and Dr. Amanda Brewster (Associate Director) aspires to help make the U.S. healthcare system among the most responsive in the world through practice-based research and dissemination of evidence. CHOIR emphasizes innovations in healthcare delivery and assessment of organizational performance to improve the technical quality of care delivered, patient experience and outcomes of care, population health, and cost. CHOIR works to maximize their “voice” and impact through webinars, roundtables, and discussions with private and public sector action and thought leaders.
    • The Laboratory for Systems Medicine, directed by Dr. Ziad Obermeyer, applies methods from machine learning, biostatistics, and econometrics to the complex world of medical diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes. The center translates large observational datasets into new ways to understand and improve the life and death decisions that providers and patients make every day, in the US and across the world.
    • The Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging (CEDA), directed by Professor William Dow, was founded in 1993 to promote interdisciplinary research on the economic and demographic aspects of aging.  In response to the growing demand from government agencies, Congress, and academic researchers for timely, accessible, and practical information as well as basic research. At the central core of CEDA is a group of outstanding formal and mathematical and statistical demographers who apply their skills to a variety of research areas, including biodemography, demographic modeling and forecasting, and intergenerational transfers including fiscal accounting. This central core is enriched by other themes, notably psychological and behavioral economics with applications to economic and health-related behaviors.
    • The UC-Berkeley Opportunity Lab (O-Lab), co-directed by Professor Ben Handel and Professor Hilary Hoynes serves as the central research hub for Berkeley scholars conducting rigorous, data-driven research on social and economic inequality in the United States. Our network of faculty and graduate students work across disciplines and study a wide array of topics, from the role of childhood food security on long-term economic security to the disparate impacts of climate change on low-income communities.
    • The UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital carries out innovative research to prevent and treat chronic disease in populations for whom social conditions often conspire to both promote various chronic diseases and make their management more challenging. Beyond the local communities it serves, CVP is nationally and internationally known for its research in health communication and health policy to reduce health disparities, with special expertise in the social determinants of health, including literacy, food policy, poverty, and minority status, with a focus on the clinical conditions of pre-diabetes, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.  CVP is at the frontline of practice-based research on chronic diseases for the diverse and disadvantaged populations of San Francisco and the Bay Area. UCSF faculty mentors Drs. Margot Kushel, Courtney Lyles, and Urmimala Sarkar are core CVP faculty.
    • The Healthforce Center at UCSF was founded in 1992 to help healthcare leaders and  policymakers better understand the health workforce and develop successful strategies and policies. The Center’s dynamic leadership training programs have touched thousands of people across the entire healthcare ecosystem who continue to make significant and meaningful change in healthcare. UCSF Professor Janet Coffman and Professor Joanne Spetz are core faculty of the center.

Health Policy PhD Student Directory

Jeremy Rodriguez

Jeremy Rodriguez (he/they) is a PhD student in Health Policy on the Population Health Sciences track. His research interests include health care inequities, intergenerational health, and examining the effects of structural racism and colonization on health care access and utilization. Prior to joining the program, Jeremy was a program supervisor at a federally qualified health center, where he oversaw the volunteer and clinical student program, developed clinic support services, and facilitated learning opportunities for health professionals in training. His interest in research began at his undergraduate years, where he worked on projects concerning the impact of U.S. federal colonial policies on Puerto Rican maternal health outcomes, food insecurity, and examined the potential environmental and health effects of neonicotinoids (pesticide) legislation. He holds a BA in Anthropology modified with Public Health and Public Policy from Dartmouth College.

Jeremy Rodriguez on LinkedIn

Cindy Alvarez

Cindy Alvarez (she/her) is a Health Policy PhD student at UC Berkeley with a focus on Organizations and Management. Her research interests include primary care, Medicaid policy, and health workforce issues. Prior to graduate school, Cindy was a researcher at Mathematica, working on projects related to primary care, health equity, and public health interventions using qualitative methods. Cindy received a bachelor’s degree and MPH from Yale University.

Cindy Alvarez on LinkedIn

Niru Ghoshal-Datta

Niru Ghoshal-Datta (he/him) is a doctoral student in the Health Policy PhD program in the Economics track. His research interests focus on the design of public health insurance programs and the effects of privatization and consolidation in the healthcare industry. Prior to beinning his doctorate, Niru worked as a Research Assistant at the Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab at Harvard Medical School, a Data and Policy Analyst at Acumen, and a Research Fellow at the California Policy Lab. He holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Niru Ghoshal-Datta on LinkedIn

Alan Mozaffari

Alan Mozaffari (he/him) is a Health Policy PhD student in the Population Health Sciences track. His research interests include using prevention science, systems thinking, both participatory and causal quantitative methods, and critical theory to understand what social, legal, and welfare systems and policies require reinforcement, rethinking, and reevaluation to decrease risk and increase protective developmental and health factors for children during their early childhood through adolescent experiences. Prior to starting his PhD, he conducted community-based participatory research and quantitative analyses with youth populations in contexts ranging from Afghanistan, Pakistan, St. Louis, MO, and Massachusetts. Born and raised in San Francisco, Alan was motivated to look upstream and research the social determinants of health while teaching during the summers with the Breakthrough Collaborative. He holds a Masters of Education and a Masters of Public Health, both from Harvard University, and a Bachelors of Arts in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alan Mozaffari on LinkedIn

Julian Ramos

Julian Ramos (he/him), an Afro-Latinx native of South Sacramento and an early career researcher, focusing on power, justice, well being and democracy through empirical research. Currently a second-year Masters in Public Policy candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, he specializes in the nexus of the criminal legal system, democratic institutions, and public health. In 2023, Julian significantly contributed as a Graduate Student Research Assistant at the Democracy Policy Initiative alongside Dr. Charlotte Hill, focusing on voter turnout policy innovations and analyzing restrictive voter legislation. His pivotal work at The Possibilities Lab as a GSR involved advancing computational methods to enhance district attorney capabilities for resentencing, aiming to reduce sentences for individuals in correctional facilities. Julian’s academic journey began at Cosumnes River College, leading to a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley, where he published in Globus Mundi and engaged in criminal legal system research with Dr. Nikki Jones’s Justice Lab. Before his graduate studies, he bridged grassroots organizations with empirical research as a consultant at Everyday Impact Consulting, driving advocacy and program optimization. Julian’s dedication to impactful research and community upliftment shines through his work and academic endeavors.

Jaclyn Schess

Jaclyn Schess (she/her) is a PhD Student in Health Policy in the Health Economics Track. Her research interests are in the social and political determinants of mental health and substance use outcomes. At Berkeley, she conducts research on the impact of minimum wages on mental health and substance use. Prior to joining the program, Jaclyn served as a Research Associate at the University of Michigan where she investigated the long term and intergenerational impacts of early life endowments using a twins fixed-effects design. She has also conducted global mental health research with Sangath Community NGO in India and the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia. In addition to her research work, Jaclyn is the founder of Generation Mental Health, a youth-led nonprofit building a generation of leaders in mental health research, programs and policy. Jaclyn has an MA in Economics from Georgetown University and a BA in Economics and Certificate in Global Health Studies from Yale University.

Jaclyn Schess on Google Scholar

Jaclyn Schess’ Personal Website

Jaclyn Schess on LinkedIn

Stacy Chen

Stacy Chen is a Health Policy PhD student at UC Berkeley in the Organizations and Management track. Her research interests are in patient access to safety-net providers and government health programs, specifically among immigrants and low-income individuals. Prior to graduate school, Stacy worked as a healthcare economist at the MITRE Corp supporting government funded research and development projects such as income mobility in Census and optimizing virtual care for federally-qualified health centers in HRSA. Stacy received an MPH and BA in economics from Tufts University.

Stacy Chen on Linkedin

Alexander Adia

Alexander Adia (he/they) is a doctoral student on the Population and Data Science track and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. His research examines how changes in markets and policies can impact patient health and welfare, with a specific focus on heterogenous impacts by race/ethnicity and income. His pre-doctoral research includes papers in journals like the American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs, and JAMA Health Forum. Before starting the doctoral program, Alexander was a Senior Consultant at Precision Advisors in New York City. Alexander received a bachelor’s degree and MPH from Brown University and is the current President for the Filipinx/a/o Community Health Association.

Alexander Adia on Google Scholar

Alexander Adia’s Personal Website

Alex Schulte

Alex Schulte (she/her) is a Health Policy PhD candidate in the Organizations and Management track. She is interested in applying quantitative methodologies to better understand how organizational, market, and policy changes impact reproductive healthcare access and quality. Prior to starting her PhD, Alex worked as a healthcare consultant at Deloitte and later as a program officer at the Deloitte Health Equity Institute. She has bachelors degrees in Economics and Health Policy & Management from UNC Chapel Hill.

Alex Schulte on LinkedIn

Alex Schulte on Google scholar

Xuqian Ma

Xuqian Ma (she/her) is a PhD student in Health Policy, specializing in Health Economics. Her research focuses on the economics of aging, exploring how social and environmental factors influence health outcomes in older adults. She is currently investigating how individual preferences and decision-making quality affect health and healthcare choices, particularly within aging populations. Additionally, Xuqian is involved in a project examining the life-term determinants of mental and cognitive health in Vietnam. Her work also extends to studying the cognitive impacts of real-time air pollution exposure among an aging population in low-resource settings like Kenya. Prior to her PhD, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics and Econometrics from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from Cornell University.

Xuqian Ma on LinkedIn

Jorge A. Morales Alfaro

Jorge Morales Alfaro (he/him) is a PhD student in the Health Policy, Population, and Data Science Track focusing on healthcare services’ quality in pharmacy-adjacent clinics in Mexico and broadly on the health outcomes of the mixed-use of public and private services. Jorge is also interested in applying causal inference methods to disentangle the effects of social policy on health outcomes in LMIC and the US. He has worked at the Social Security Institute of Mexico (IMSS) doing applied quantitative research and in the non-profit and international organizations sector doing quantitative analysis on international development, poverty, inequality, and governance. Jorge studied Economics and Political Science at ITAM and has an MPP from Duke, where he specialized in Health Policy and International Development and worked in the Population Health Sciences Department at Duke.

Jorge Morales Alfaro on LinkedIn

Jorge Morales Alfaro on Google Scholar

Qi Jiang

Qi Jiang (she/they) is a PhD Candidate in Health Policy, Population Health Track, dedicated to addressing health inequalities faced by women and children in LMICs. Her research focuses on developing, evaluating, and scaling interventions to improve early child development and caretaker mental health. Her research emphasizes quantitative methods such as randomized controlled trials and quasi-experiment models to evaluate intervention effectiveness. She also conducts in-depth interviews and focus groups to enhance her understanding of intervention implementation. She collaborates closely with local stakeholders to ensure interventions are feasible, efficient, and impactful.

Qi Jiang  on Google Scholar

Qi Jiang on LinkedIn

Qi Jiang’s Personal website

Christine Lo

Christine Lo (she/her) is a PhD student in Health Policy at UC Berkeley with a focus in Organizations and Management. Her research interests include Medicaid delivery and policy, health care safety nets, and social care integration. Prior to her PhD, Christine worked with health systems to develop and scale programs aimed to improve clinical effectiveness and address patients’ social needs. Christine holds a MPH from Yale School of Public Health and bachelor’s degree from University of Washington.

Christine Lo on LinkedIn

Madeline Adee

Madeline Adee is a Health Policy PhD student with a specialization in Population Health and Data Science. Her research focuses on improving health for people involved in the United States carceral system through decarceration efforts, addressing human rights concerns, and improved medical care. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked as a programmer analyst on cost-effectiveness and simulation modeling studies focused on hepatitis C elimination and overdose reduction. Madeline holds an MPH in Health Policy from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a BS in Anthropology from Portland State University.

Madeline Adee on Google scholar

Madeline Adee on Linkedin

Madeline Adee’s Personal website

Eleanor Tsai

Eleanor Tsai (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Health Policy at UC Berkeley specializing in Population Health and Data Science.

Eleanor Tsai on LinkedIn

Solis Winters

Solis Winters (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Health Policy at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, with a specialization in Population Health and Data Science. She uses causal inference methods from epidemiology and econometrics to better understand what types of interventions and policies can improve reproductive and perinatal health in low-income and under-resourced communities around the world. Her primary research interest is on the first 1,000 days of life, from pregnancy through age two—a critical stage of the life course where poor nutrition can lead to large, irreversible health and economic consequences later in adulthood and across future generations. Her second area of research focuses on people who recently initiated HIV care, a period characterized by high mortality and attrition from care. Prior to starting her PhD, Solis worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, where she researched mechanisms for improving maternal and child health in low-income and indigenous communities in Latin America. Solis holds a BS in Biostatistics and Public Health from Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice.

Solis Winters’ Personal Website

Solis Winters on Google Scholar

Solis Winters on LinkedIn

Alumni

Graduates of the UC Berkeley PhD Program in Health Policy (formerly “Health Services and Policy Analysis”) hold leading research and teaching positions at academic and research institutions both within the United States and internationally. Many of our alumni hold tenured or tenure-track positions at respected universities and colleges such as Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, UCSF, and Dartmouth College. Our recent alumni have also successfully obtained post-doctoral appointments at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Yale University, and Stanford University.

  • Partial List of Alumni

    The following is a partial listing of PhD program alumni, their dissertation titles, and their current employment.

    Jonathan Agnew, PhD
    Cost and Utilization of Outpatient Prescription Drugs Among the Elderly: Implications for a Medicare Benefit
    Owner and President, Agnew and Associates Medical Writing
    Vancouver, BC

    Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia, PhD
    Professionalism among Physicians: Factors Associated with Outpatient Palliative Care Referral in a Managed Care Organization
    Senior Policy Researcher & Associate Director, Behavioral and Policy Sciences
    RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA

    Jim Bellows, PhD
    Use of Worker’s Compensation Medical Care: Health Insurance Matters
    Managing Director
    Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute, Oakland CA

    Aman Bhandari, PhD
    National Estimates and Predictors of Pharmacy Utilization and Out-of-Pocket Prescription Drug Expenditures in Underserved Populations
    Vice President, Data Strategy and Solutions, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Boston, MA

    Claire Boone, PhD
    Essays in Health and Behavioral Economics
    Postdoctoral Fellow
    University of Chicago

    Timothy T. Brown, PhD
    Three Essays on the Labor Market for Nonphysician Clinicians
    Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management
    Associate Director of Research, Berkeley Center for Health Technology
    University of California Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley CA

    Sahai Burrowes, PhD
    Essays on the Political Impact of Development Assistance Allocation in Malawi
    Associate Professor of Public Health
    Touro University, Vallejo CA

    Drew Cameron, PhD
    The effect of short-term subsidies on future demand for potable water in rural Bihar, India: A randomized controlled trial
    Assistant Professor of Public Health (Health Policy)
    Yale University School of Public Health

    Lawrence Casalino, MD, PhD
    Medical Groups and Physician Organization; Physician-Hospital and Physician-Health Plan Relationships; Physician Organization and Quality
    Professor Emeritus of Population Health Sciences
    Weill Cornell Medical College

    Aaron Caughey, MD, PhD
    Applications from Behavioral Economics to Decision Making in the Setting of Prenatal Diagnosis
    Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
    Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR

    Paulette Cha, PhD
    Essays on Health Economics and Immigration
    Fellow
    Public Policy Institute of California

    Susan Chapman, PhD
    The Experience of Returning to Work for Employed Women with Breast Cancer
    Professor, UCSF School of Nursing
    San Francisco, CA

    Ann Chou, PhD
    Shared decision making: The selection process of treatment options and resulting quality of life implications for women with breast cancer
    Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, Health Sciences Center
    University of Oklahoma

    Elizabeth Ciemins, PhD
    The Effect of Mental Health Parity on Children’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service Utilization in Massachusetts
    Director of Research and Analytics
    American Medical Group Association Foundation, Alexandria, VA

    Janet Coffman, PhD
    All Capitated Systems are not Alike: Effects of Organizational Structure, Culture, and Climate on Medicaid Recipients Use of Inpatient Psychiatric Care
    Professor of Health Policy
    Institute for Health Policy Studies, UC San Francisco

    Carrie Colla, PhD
    Effects of the San Francisco Employer Health Spending Mandate
    Professor of Health Economics
    Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover NH

    Leeann Comfort, PhD
    Applications and Extensions of Organization Theory: The Context of Accountable Care Organizations
    Scientist Administrator, Social Science Researcher
    Division of Healthcare Delivery and Systems Research
    Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

    David Contreras-Loya, PhD
    Managerial Practices and Altruism in Health Care Delivery
    Research Professor
    Escuela de Gobierno y Transformación Pública
    Tecnológico de Monterrey

    Jan Cooper, PhD
    Money, Sex, and Power – An Analysis of Relationship Power in the Context of Conditional Cash Transfer Interventions to Reduce Risky Sex in Tanzania
    Researcher, Global Health and Policy Analysis
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

    Jae Corman, PhD
    Foreclosures and Health
    Senior Director of Analytics
    Folx Health

    Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD
    Changing Markets and Hospital: Managed Care, Horizontal Integration and Vertical Alignment
    Professor of Health Administration and Policy
    Associate Dean of Research, College of Public Health
    George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

    Julie Dang, PhD
    Two Shots to Cancer Prevention: Improving the Uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine among Preadolescent Patients of a Primary Care Network
    Assistant Professor & Executive Director, Office of Community Outreach and Engagement
    UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

    Maria Dieci, PhD
    Patient vs. provider incentives for malaria care: A cluster randomized controlled trial in Kenyan pharmacies
    Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management
    Emory University

    Ebbin Dotson, PhD
    The Business Case for Leadership Diversity in Health Care
    Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management
    University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, MI

    April Falconi, PhD
    Perimenopause as a Sensitive Period for Women’s Health and Aging: A Review of the Chronic Disease Literature and Two Empirical Tests of Significance
    Associate Director, Elevance Health

    Kevin Feeney, PhD
    Essays on Cash Transfers and Health
    Economist, Amazon
    Los Angeles, CA

    Sara Fernandes-Taylor, PhD
    Provider Communication, Self-Reported Health, and Post-Treatment Regret among Young Breast Cancer Survivors
    Scientist III
    Department of Surgery
    University of Wisconsin School of Medicine

    Robin Flagg, PhD
    Governor Decision Making: Expansion of Medicaid Under the Affordable Care Act
    Continuing Lecturer, Division of Health Policy and Management
    University of California, Berkeley

    Jennifer Frehn, PhD
    Understanding the Influences and Organization of Systems to Improve Community Health
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Public Health
    UCLA

    Vicki Fung, PhD
    The Effects of Losing Brand-Name Drug Coverage: Changes in Use of Inhaled Steroids and Clinical Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Asthma
    Associate Professor of Medicine, Mongan Institute for Health Policy
    Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA

    Daniel Gentry, PhD
    Organizational Bureaucracy, Legitimacy, and “Thrival”: A Study of the Response by AIDS Service Organizations in Twenty California Counties to the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990
    President & CEO, Association of University Programs in Health Administration

    Gabrielle Goldstein, JD, PhD
    A Market for Ethics
    Counsel
    Nixon Peabody LLP
    San Francisco, CA

    Julia Goodman, PhD
    Three Essays on Maternity Leave Policies, Utilization and Consequences
    Assistant Professor of Public Health
    OHSU & Portland State University School of Public Health

    Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, PhD
    Gender norms as a social determinant of health and well-being of married adolescent girls and young women in South Asia
    Postdoctoral Fellow
    UCSF

    Ilana Graetz, PhD
    The Impact of EHR and Teamwork on Care Transitions and Patient Outcomes
    Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management
    Rollins School of Public Health
    Emory University, Atlanta, GA

    Chaoran Guo, PhD
    Social Learning in Health Insurance Choices: Evidence from Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
    Senior Data Scientist, Netflix
    Los Gatos, CA

    Emily Hague, PhD
    Antecedents and Outcomes Associated with Hospital Participation in a Clinically Integrated Network
    Health Policy Researcher
    Mathematica Policy Research, Oakland, CA

    Courtnee Hamity, PhD
    Social Influence and Innovation Adoption in the Clinical Setting
    Senior Program Officer, Evaluation and Data Strategy
    Blue Shield of California Foundation, San Francisco, CA

    Alein Haro-Ramos, PhD
    Racism, Illegality, and Population Health: Mechanisms, Interventions, & Community-Engaged Research
    UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow
    Department of Health, Society, and Behavior
    University of California, Irvine

    Zoë K. Harris, PhD
    Private Health Insurance Sponsored Wellness Programs:  Examining Participation in the Healthy Lifestyle Rewards Financial Incentives Program on Health Care Costs, Utilization, and Risk Behaviors
    Executive Director, Head of Customer Engagement Strategy & Operations
    Genetech

    Nianyi Hong, PhD
    Essays on Patient and Firm Behavior in Health Economics
    Analyst, Congressional Budget Office
    Washington, DC

    Thomas Huber, PhD
    The Role of Micro and Macro Level Organizational Coordination in Accountable Care Organizations
    Adjunct Professor, The Ohio State University

    Dorothy Hung, PhD
    Behavioral Preventive Service Delivery, Productivity, and Staff Turnover in Primary Care Practices: The Role of Participation in Decision Making and the Chronic Care Model
    Research Scientist and Director, Center for Lean and Engagement Research, School of Public Health
    University of California, Berkeley

    Vanessa Hurley, PhD
    Collaborative Learning among Health Care Practice and Systems to Improve Patient-Centered Care
    Assistant Professor of Health Systems Administration
    Georgetown University

    Jenny Hyun, PhD
    Person-Centered Care Program Philosophy in Capitated Community Mental Health Centers in Colorado
    Director, Business Intelligence
    Vituity, Emeryville, CA

    Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PhD
    State Medicaid Coverage for Tobacco Dependence Treatments: Implications for a Federal Mandate
    Dean and Professor, College of Public Health and School of Social Welfare
    Temple University, Philadelphia PA

    Jae Kennedy, PhD
    Americans Needing Assistance with Activities of Daily Living: Current Estimates and Policy Implications
    Professor of Health Policy and Administration
    Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
    Washington State University, Spokane WA

    Jung Kim, PhD
    Examining factors associated with learning and performance in primary care Graduate Medical Education organizations
    Assistant Professor, Health Systems Science
    Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

    Margae Knox, PhD
    Health System Efforts to Address Health Related Social Needs: Implications for Public Health, Health Services Use, and Quality Outcomes
    Postdoctoral Delivery Science Fellow
    Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente

    Heather Knauer, PhD
    Parenting and Child Development in Rural Mexico: Examination of a Large-Scale Parenting Program
    Adjunct Assistant Professor
    School of Social Work
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

    Ada Kwan, PhD
    Can We Improve Quality of Care in Private Health Sectors? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Kenya
    Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Medicine
    University of California, San Francisco

    Susan Lehrman, PhD
    Hospitals’ Participation in the Nursing Home Market
    Professor and Dean Emeritus, Rohrer College of Business
    Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey

    Jing Li, PhD
    Altruism and Efficiency Preferences of U.S Medical Students and their Expected Specialty Choice
    Assistant Professor of Health Economics
    School of Pharmacy, University of Washington

    Rui Li, PhD
    Effect of Financial Incentives on Physician Productivity in Medical Groups
    Senior Economist, Division of Reproductive Health
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta GA

    Michael Lin, PhD
    Nursing Home Quality: Structure and Strategy
    Senior Scientist, Telligen
    Denver, CO

    Jenny Liu, PhD
    Healthy Time, Home Production, and Labor Supply: The Effect of Health Shocks on Time Use within Chinese Households during Economic Transition
    Professor of Health Economics
    School of Nursing
    University of California, San Francisco

    Christopher Lowenstein, PhD
    Essays on labor markets and health: Employment conditions and drug, suicide, and alcohol-related mortality among working-age adults in the United States
    Postdoctoral Fellow, Epidemiology
    Stanford University

    Martin Marciniak, PhD
    Too Good to Be True? The Effect of Nicotine Replacement Therapy on an Individual’s Ability to Quit Smoking
    Vice President and Head, US Health Outcomes
    Chiesi USA, Inc.

    Soledad Martinez, PhD
    Income, Health Insurance Type and the Quality of Primary Care Systems in Chile: Effects on Health Outcomes and Utilization of Services
    Assistant Professor
    School of Public Health at Universidad de Chile, Santiago Chile

    Jill Marsteller, PhD
    The Relationship between Non-Racial Diversity in Team Composition and Performance and Creativity in a Chronic Illness Care Quality Improvement Intervention
    Professor, Health Policy and Management
    Bloomberg School of Public Health, John Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

    Peter Martelli, PhD
    An Argument for Knowledge Variety in Evidence-Based Management
    Associate Professor of Healthcare Administration
    Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, Boston, MA

    Sean McClellan, PhD
    When does Adoption of Health Information Technology by Physician Practices Lead to Use by Physicians within the Practice?
    Health Policy Researcher
    Abt and Associates, Boston, MA

    Rodney K. McCurdy, PhD
    Network Influence on Chronic Illness Care in Large Physician Organization:  A Study of the California Managed Care Network in 2001 and 2006
    Professor and Program Director
    National University
    Detroit, MI

    Kathryn McDonald, PhD
    Ambulatory Care Organizations: Improving Diagnosis
    Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
    Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Nursing

    Sara McMenamin, PhD
    Organizational Support for Smoking Cessation Interventions in Physician Organizations
    Associate Professor, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity
    University of California, San Diego

    Angela Merrill, PhD
    Subjective Expectations of Nursing Home Use, Medicaid, and Economic Behavior by Older Americans
    Principal Researcher
    Mathematica Policy Research, Cambridge MA

    Chris Miller-Rosales, PhD
    Advancing Organizational Capabilities to Improve Patient Engagement in Health Care
    Associate, Analysis Group
    Menlo Park, CA

    Eric Nauenberg, PhD
    Air Pollution and Hospitalization for Asthma in Los Angeles County: Economic and Policy Implications
    Associate Professor of Health Economics
    Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care/Dept of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada

    Zachary Olson, PhD
    Can a Conditional Cash Transfer Reduce Teen Fertility? The Case of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia
    Senior Economist, Amazon
    Seattle, WA

    Michael K. Ong, MD, PhD
    The Effects of Regulatory Change on the Safety of Pharmaceutical Innovations
    Professor in Residence, Division of GIM & HSR
    Associate Chief of Staff for Research
    Department of Medicine, UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA

    Laura Packel, PhD
    Who Changes How: Strategies and Motivation for Risk Reduction Behaviors in the Context of an Economic-based HIV Prevention Intervention in Tanzania
    Research Director, McCoy Research Group
    University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health

    Mary Paterson, PhD
    Financial Status of Retiree Caregivers: An Analysis of the Asset Structure of the Retiree Caregiver
    Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing
    The Catholic University of America, Washington DC

    Krista Perreira, PhD
    Exits, Recidivism, and Caseload Growth: The Effect of Private Health Insurance Markets on the Demand for Medicaid
    Professor of Health Economics
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine

    Dana Petersen, PhD
    Social Capital, Social Support, and Quality of Life among Long-Term Breast Cancer Survivors
    Senior Researcher
    Mathematic Policy Research, Oakland CA

    Aryn Phillips, PhD
    The Impact of Retail Availability on Health Behaviors: Policy Applications for the Prevention & Management of Chronic Conditions
    Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management
    School of Public Health
    University of Maryland, College Park

    Kathryn Phillips, PhD
    Public Policy and Screening: The Influence of State Policies on Utilization of Human Autoimmunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Screening
    Professor of Health Economics and Health Services Research
    UCSF School of Pharmacy, San Francisco CA

    Jessica Poon, PhD
    Multilevel Pathways to Patient-Centered Care
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Research
    Kaiser Permanente

    Alexis Pozen, PhD
    Price Variation for Colonoscopy in a Commercially Insured Population
    Assistant Professor
    City University of New York School of Public Health
    New York NY

    Brian Quinn, PhD
    The Effect of Community-Level Unemployment On Preventive Oral Health Care Utilization
    Associate Vice President, Research-Evaluation-Learning
    The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton NJ

    Nadia Safaeinili, PhD
    Evaluation of a statewide integrated medical and social service case management policy innovation: A multi-level assessment of equitable implementation for frontline staff and high-risk, high-need Medicaid patients
    Research Scientist, School of Medicine
    Stanford University

    Robert Schell, PhD
    Understanding the Role of Socioeconomic, Health Behavioral, and Genetic Factors in Cardiovascular Disease Risk
    Associate, Analysis Group
    Menlo Park, CA

    Julie Schmittdiel, PhD
    The Effect on Primary Health Care Orientation on Chronic Care Management
    Research Scientist and Associate Director of Health Care Delivery and Policy
    Division of Research
    Kaiser Permanente Northern California
    Oakland CA

    John Schneider, PhD
    Regulation and Regulatory Reform in the U.S. Hospital Industry, 1980-1996
    CEO and Founder
    Avalon Health Economics, Morristown NJ

    Neil J. Sehgal, PhD
    Social Influences on Healthcare Outcomes in a Major Academic Medical Center
    Associate Professor of Health Systems and Population Health
    School of Public Health, University of Washington

    Tetine Sentell, PhD
    Literacy, Health, and Health Services Use in a Nationally Representative Sample
    Chin Sik & Hyun Sook Chung Endowed Chair
    Department of Health Policy and Management
    Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health

    Gordon Shen, PhD
    Global Mental Health Policy Diffusion, Institutionalization, and Innovation
    Assistant Professor of Management, Policy and Community Health
    The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health

    Timothy Snail, PhD
    The Effects of Hospital Contracting for Physician Services on Hospital Performance
    Vice President, Charles River Associates
    Boston, MA

    Sean Sullivan, PhD
    The Demand for Prescription Drugs in Elderly Americans
    Professor of Health Economics and Dean Emeritus
    School of Pharmacy, University of Washington

    Aaron Tierney, PhD
    Virtual Diabetes and Hypertension Care in Community Health Centers: Use, Quality, and Patient Preferences
    Clinical Informatics Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Research
    Kaiser Permanente

    Yi-Wen Tsai, PhD
    Cigarette Taxation, National Health Insurance
    Professor, Institute of Health and Welfare Policy
    National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan

    Lauren van der Walt, PhD
    Increasing Women’s Access to Information about Safe Abortion Methods through Local and Global Hotlines
    Executive Director, Optio
    Berkeley, CA

    Megan Vanneman, PhD
    Consequences of Devolution: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity in California’s County-based Public Mental Health Care System
    Assistant Professor of Medicine and Population Health Sciences
    University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

    Todd Wagner, PhD
    The Economics of Consumer Health Information
    Director, Health Economics Resource Center
    Department of Veterans Affairs
    Professor of Surgery
    Stanford University

    Zachary Wagner, PhD
    Community Health Workers to Increase Use of ORS and Zinc to Treat Child Diarrhea in Uganda: A Cluster Randomized Trial
    Associate Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation
    Santa Monica, CA

    Neal Wallace, PhD
    A Production Function Approach to Mental Health Service Coordination in California’s Publicly Financed Mental Health System
    Professor of Health Systems Management and Policy
    OHSU-Portland State University School of Public Health

    Jessica Watterson, PhD
    Influences on the Effectiveness of Health Information Technology Innovations in Primary Health Care
    Senior Research Fellow in Public Health
    Monash University
    Melbourne, Australia

    Christopher M. Whaley, PhD
    The Effects of Consumer Information and Cost-Sharing on Healthcare Prices
    Policy Researcher
    RAND Corporation

    Justin White, PhD
    A Team-Based Behavioral Economics Experiment on Smoking Cessation
    Associate Professor of Health Economics
    Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, School of Public Health
    Boston University

    Frances Wu, PhD
    The Role of Health Information Technology in Early Accountable Care Organizations in the U.S.
    Research Associate, The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute
    University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Jill Yegian, PhD
    Politics, Economics, and Organizational Innovation in the Small Group Market for Health Insurance
    Principal, Yegian Health Insights, LLC
    Oakland, CA

    Myoungsoon You, PhD
    Determinants of Risk Perception among Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer
    Professor
    Seoul National University, Korea

    Jim Zazzali, PhD
    Executive Director, Head of Health Policy and Systems Research, and Modeling
    Genentech

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