Overview

Healthcare quality, cost and access are significantly affected by government policies and by a wide range of institutions, including hospitals, physician groups, pharmaceutical companies and health insurers. To formulate effective health policy and improve clinical practice, it is essential to understand the interactions among these institutions, medical decision making at the population level, and the social and economic environment of healthcare.

Given the complexity of health policy and its far-reaching effects on societal health, it is important that physicians with training in health policy issues and research are involved in shaping national health policies. The Scholarly Concentration in Health Services and Policy Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine provides just such training. The program emphasizes the fundamental issues and methodologies of health services research, and it encourages students to explore areas of particular interest.

Faculty and Administration

The scholarly concentration in Health Services and Policy Research is offered by the Department of Health Policy (DHP) and Stanford Health Policy (SHP). SHP is a community of faculty, students and researchers within a variety of centers at the Stanford School of Medicine and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, all working to improve the health of people around the world. The DHP/SHP faculty conduct multidisciplinary research and oversee pre- and post-doctoral fellowship programs in health services and health policy research.

The concentration directors are Laurence Baker, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Bing Professor of Human Biology, and Erin Holsinger, MD, MS, Professor of Pediatrics and Lecturer in the Department of Health Policy. SHP staff members provide administrative support for the concentration under the direction of the executive director.

The concentration is overseen by an executive committee and is guided by the expertise of a steering committee, both composed of core and affiliated faculty. The committee members are listed below:

Executive Committee

Laurence Baker

Mark Hlatky

Douglas Owens
 

Steering Committee

Laurence Baker

Jay Bhattacharya

Mary Goldstein

Paul Heidenreich

Mark Hlatky

Douglas Owens

Ciaran Phibbs

Randall Stafford