PhD Faculty

Expertise: Health economics, health systems, Latin America, quantitative and qualitative methods

Bowser is a health economist focused on health system issues and research related to health financing, poverty, catastrophic health payments, quality improvement, human resources for health, decentralization, and health and economic growth. She uses econometric methods and costing techniques to evaluate health system changes globally with projects in the United States and around the world.   

Expertise: Public health, racial/ethnic disparities in health and social determinants of health, social policy and health

Acevedo-Garcia’s research focuses on the social determinants of racial/ethnic inequities in health, such as in residential segregation, neighborhood inequality and immigrant adaptation; the role of social policies in reducing those inequities, such as housing and immigration policies; and the health and wellbeing of children with disabilities and their families.

Expertise: Organization and financing of alcohol, drug and mental health service; quality and effectiveness of behavioral health treatment

Horgan’s research focuses on the organization, financing and quality of behavioral healthcare. She examines how alcohol, drug and mental health services are financed, organized, and delivered in the public and private sectors, and what approaches can be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of the delivery system.  

Expertise: Poverty, economic security, homelessness and housing, research methods/statistics, working with large national data sets

Meschede’s research centers on economic inequities and social and economic mobility with a specific focus on racial wealth disparities, housing and homelessness. A skilled qualitative and quantitative researcher, her work ranges from community centered evaluations collaborating with local non-profits and state departments to national data projects.

Expertise: Evaluation research, study design, survey tool design and validation, data analysis, including claims data, manuscript preparation

Perloff is an expert in health services research and evaluation, with a strong emphasis on value-based payment. She has been involved in numerous studies on the cost, quality and efficiency of nurse practitioner-delivered primary care, as well as research and policy analysis to support population health models and other value-based models, such as episode-based payment.

Expertise: Healthcare economics and policy; healthcare industry reform, Medicare

Expertise: Service programs, service-learning and experiential education; university-community partnerships; program evaluation; evaluation of advocacy programs

Expertise: Health economics; economics of long-term services and supports and post-acute care; economics of aging

Expertise: Asset development, program implementation and evaluation; poverty and economic security; precarious work; stakeholder engagement; qualitative methods and analysis; case studies

Expertise: Research and teaching on organizational leadership, DEA, health services research, performance management, health care management, 360 leadership coaching, executive education, and organization theory

Expertise: Statistics, econometrics, data analysis and applied causal modeling and data maintenance, special expertise in both Stata and SPSS

Expertise: Managed care, health care quality, substance abuse treatment services, insurance reform, performance measurement, healthcare datasets, survey data

Expertise: Health economics, managed care, economics of mental health and substance abuse, prescription drugs

Expertise: Anthropology and public health, Southeast Asia, US, and Catalunya, Spain, qualitative research methods, mixed methods, program evaluation, health services research, behavioral health, HIV/AIDS, trauma, ethnicities and nations, gender, kinship and social organization, ritual and religion

Expertise: intersectionality and bioethics, anti-bias/anti-racism workshops and pro seminars, discrimination analytics, clinical trial design optimization and problem solving, and evidence-based research methods; clinical and public health research in Africa and Europe

Madison is a public health researcher with extensive experience in clinical trials and population health disparities research. In addition to implementing evidence-based diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Heller, her research builds on multidisciplinary thinking to address systematized racism and close equity gaps through policy. She has received awards in pharmacovigilance and public history. She teaches racial determinants of health and inequality, and bioethics.

Expertise: Health and disability research; public health approach to disability; disability-related disparities in health and health care access; violence against persons with disabilities; perinatal health of women with disabilities; reproductive health care access; unmet needs and barriers to care for people with disabilities

Expertise: Statistical programming and analysis of large state and national databases

Expertise: Organizational research, community-based research, health policy and implementation studies, case studies, surveys and qualitative analysis

Expertise: Health services research, with a focus on substance use disorders (substance abuse, addiction, alcohol, drugs) and other behavioral health

Expertise: Statistics, quantitative methods, health services research

Expertise: General topics in applied moral and political philosophy; philosophy of development; comparative religions; theories of justice; development ethics; philosophy of law, comparative constitutional law, critical race theory, gender and sexuality, human rights and theories of democracy

Expertise: Social psychology, methodology, policy analysis; American Jewry

Expertise: Racial inequality and public policy

Expertise: Health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, health financing in the United States and globally, and their application to drug and alcohol abuse, cardiovascular disease, dengue and malaria

Expertise: Philosophy of development, political geography, poverty alleviation, agrarian reform, project planning and implementation, evaluation, organizational management

Expertise: Health services research, with a focus on financing and organization of behavioral health care; use of technology to improve access to and quality of behavioral health care

Expertise: Health policy, health technology transfer, state health reform, prescription drug policy, addiction treatment, Medicare and Medicaid coverage

Thomas researches and evaluates state and national health reform, pharmacy policy, insurance benefit design, and prescription drug abuse. Her work includes analyses of prescription drug utilization and spending trends, technology transfer, and impact evaluations of state coverage programs. Her work in behavioral health includes adoption and impact of new substance use disorder treatments, quality of treatment, and monitoring the prescribing and use of controlled substances. 

Expertise: Health services research, health economics, national and state health policy, research methods

Expertise: Children and youth with developmental disabilities and special health care needs, family adaptation, longitudinal studies, program evaluation